Fire Flies
2008 - 16"x20" Acrylic, charcoal, oil pastel, collage on canvas.
Finished with one coat brush on Liquitex Matte Varnish #5232
(Private Collection - California)

January 2008

I started this painting earlier in 2007, but it was a chaotic mess and I never finished it. It started as a paper collage of artwork photos I clipped out of an art auction catalog. The only one that is clearly visible is the sun below the moon. There was also an art photo of a mayonnaise jar that was painted over. I added the fire flies over it, and then drew in the outline of the jar.

The big blue animal is a possum. I used to see them (but not blue ones) where we lived in California. I had never seen fire flies before moving to NY. I saw them for the first time while attending an evening, outdoor concert in the summer.

Energy conservation is a big deal in NY. The Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center and the ball that drops in Time Square both used LEDs for the low power consumptions qualities.

The two possums (Chewey & Blue) live in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. They found their own way to conserve energy by using the fire flies in the jar. The only problem is they haven't figured out how to turn them off.