How to think of images flying far in the sky?

As a painter I had to think about how the image could be translated into a kite seen from a long distance. I asked family members to walk the pieces down the street so I could see if the visual images were prominent enough to fly up against the sky. I eventually began to think of the paintings  as 3-D relief sculptures.  In that way I could imagine the heavy lines and dark shadows needed for such  a distance against the sky. It was interesting to think that way because the Kitikata paper is translucent, light weight, with the appearance of tissue paper. This juxtaposition came about in the same way that  the paintings themselves were conceived. A desire to paint disenfranchised and grounded creatures who  could fly.

Greg  Kono showed me how to place the bamboo on the kite, glue it and sew it. It took three hours to build one kite. Kono the master did ingenious 3-D work to make my paintings into kites. Look closely and you will see that even his knots are intricate and gorgeous.

My favorite day was a beautiful sunny one when we took the blue kite out on Alki Beach in West Seattle and Greg let me pretend I knew how to fly that thing.  By the way, check out his website at www.konodesign.com.

What a thrill to see paintings in the air. I’d take it anytime over the stuffiness of a gallery. Our work has traveled  and we followed it to Oaxaca for the Day of the Dead thanks to the invitation of Francisco Toledo and the Drachen Foundation.

Thanks to Drachen for the funding of this website and the grant to complete the work.

All works mixed media on Kitakata paper.