My dad has always been one of my heroes. He is the reason I started creating art since he encouraged me to start creating it just months before he passed away from a long battle with cancer. He was a luthier and artist himself. Before he passed away he gave me the guitar that was used in this piece. It was an old Fender that he had shaved and colored. He called the guitar ‘The Clown Show’. I kept it for many years, not sure what to do with it. I finally came up with the idea to use it to make a piece of art. I first used record cover albums from many of his favorite bands to cover the canvas. I then cut out various lion heads to cover the neck and then used white roses from my garden and put them on it as well, as a symbol of my dad. I also added an ultrasound photo of my son Michael Jack since he was conceived about 6 months after my dad passed, and was in many ways a miracle. I then used acrylic resin to put it all together. When the resin dried I noticed that a tiny and perfect bee had landed on it, and was permanently stuck on the piece as well. I looked up the meaning of bees and they represent fertility and new life, which was so perfect. This piece will forever stay on my wall and is dedicated to my father.
This is one of my absolute favorite pieces! I originally painted a yellow background and then use a toilet plunger I found in my art studio to paint at least 10 layers of different colored circles all over it. I wanted to originally call it ‘The Plunge’. However when my childhood best friend Jessica came to visit me and saw it she said it looked like it was missing something. I had to agree. I therefore decided to paint a huge neon pink heart on top of it and then used hundreds of teen little hearts all over it, which added a ton of beautiful complexity to this gorgeous piece. I named it after my best friend Jessica and finished it by putting a final layer of acrylic resin on top of it to give it a glossy shine. It looks completely different under a black light, which I love. All of us are complex and I love how one piece can represent the complexity inside each of us. It is signed and framed in a white lacquer frame. It will be the highlight of any room and needs black lights to show the different looks.