On February 1, 2018 my first official gallery exhibition was a smashing hit. The crowd was serenaded by smooth jazz, the wine flowed, and 170 people appeared to enjoy the evening. The day before was the Super Blue Blood Moon with a full lunar eclipse. I tried my best to find it at 5:45 am, but the sky was overcast. So instead, I drove up Casper Mountain and paid a visit to Crimson Dawn, where legend has it that witches lived there a hundred years ago and performed their rituals. At that altitude, the fog looked like hazy lakes, and the trees and grass were covered in frost. The view atop the hill was as if it was out of a fairy tale. 

My theme included nature and myth. Everything was made of raw materials, mostly rusted, up-cycled steel. I was given the remains of an old water tank from Lander, and it has been showing up in my works consistently. There are still a few bits left that will make their way into some form of art eventually. 

The peonies I made out of an old coffee can. The elk was crafted from pipe and sheet metal. The moons were hammered out of angle iron, and the birds were bearings and scrap slivers of steel swept up off of the floor and covered in layers of weld. The caduceus is an symbol that revisits me when I am creating art for art's sake. I love the reminder that everything has an equal opposite, but that at their core, they are the same. It's a symbol I was captivated by in Alan Moore's Promethea. Tim Burton was an inspiration for the style of the flowers. The mandala mimics the tattoo on my forearm I designed 11 years ago. And the wings I made out of steel because my other wings are invisible. 

The Lotus Fire Pit