Several months ago Circuit City went out of business, so I went dumpster diving behind the local Circuit City store.  Jackpot!  I scored 3 large Circuit City signs that I plan to use as canvases.

I used one of the Circuit City signs for my painting below.  Before I painted on it with acrylic paint, I slathered 2 coats of white gesso on it.

When it was time to paint, I decided to paint with my hands, not brushes.  (Kindergartners have nothing on me.)

I also decided that I wanted to paint something for the garden, to place in the garden.

Also, I decided that I wanted to screw one of my California license plates into the painting (I wanted to go mixed media, dude).

When I finished painting, I sprayed the painting  with weather-resistant stuff and placed it in the garden.  Here it is:

Oh, California

Magical Blue Night, Bitches

If Summer Looked Like a Circle

Dirt

Dirt on a Starry Night (I like this painting better without stars, as shown above.  The dirt is the real star.)

Pinky In Love

Spring Passion (a.k.a., The Burning Tree; a.k.a., Joy, Joy, Joy; a.k.a., Go, Cubbies!)

Orange You Glad I Didn’t Paint a Banana?! (The first in the fruit series! Of course.)

Daydreaming

Into the Fire

Our growing gallery …

Bird in Flight

The Winker

I recently finished 3 pieces: 2 small panels (below, the hummingbird and the buffalo) and 1 big honkin’ mo fo (below, the horse, which I still need to hang on the wall).

I used cardboard as my canvas (yep, all those Amazon.com and IKEA boxes are good for something!).

Here’s my secret process: On the Google Images website, I searched for illustrations of a subject I wanted to paint (a humingbird, for example). When I found an illustration I liked, I printed it out (on normal paper), cut it out, placed it on the cardboard (after I had painted my background color), traced it, then painted it (with inexpensive acryllic paint). Yea, Baby! Now that’s hot (for someone who can’t draw)!

My style is probably best described as … um … “minimalist.” This is truly Zen pop art (whatever that is).

It’s been so much fun to come up with a vision for my living space (including the art) and then create the art for it.