lara

Not a color i use often - green. This background started out as a rag i had used to clean up some splatter or paint or something. Then i kept in the color palette and finished it up with one my favorite themes - Fear. Change brings growth and that is something that definately should not be feared!




This has been in progress for months now as far as it's a page i wipe off my brush or brayer when it has purples on it. I pulled it together with some stencilling, stamping and ink spray.
This quote is pretty special to me. I've met my hero twice now - Bono - the first time i met him he called me an artist when i handed him a card. This last time he said "I love your stuff" when i handed him another card. I have such a stubborn mental block regarding calling myself an artist and even admitting i have any kind of creative talent. It's hard to think through why - maybe its because i admire artists so much and i still have self accceptance issues, maybe its because artists should do things no one else has done before and i feel like all my stuff is completely derivative of something else. But obviously it's who i'm not thats holding me back from really exploring and accepting myself as an artist!




This last page is an ongoing experimentation with different mists at different times. I decided to keep some white space and make it a finished page. I go through periods of listening to certain artists or music genre's on repeat and lately it's been Pink Floyd (again). And i believe "Turning Away" is my absolutely favorite song by them. I thought the page was somewhat exuberant and this verse culminates the song into action from observation. Damn i love singing it at the top of my lungs! It makes my heart swell.

Kind of wanted to see what the last six Bono Birthday Cards looked like if put all together. Because i'm cursed with the "overthinking" gene i was curious what he meant when he said "I like your stuff"

I don't feel like i have a true "style" yet - I'm still looking for that. I also still don't feel comfortable with calling myself an artist OR these cards "art" like Bono and other people have. I just don't know why.

But, looking at these together, and it's literally the last six years of my "artistic" evolution, i guess i can equate my style to bold color ... texture texture texture ... grunginess ... layers...interactive...?

For the 13th year African Well Fund held its annual "Build a Well for Bono's Birthday" fundraiser and again i made the card that housed messages sent to Bono from people who donated to the fundraiser. And this year, i have to say, the card was highly inspired.


When formulating the idea for the card the thought of using bicycle gears not just inspired me but amused me as a tongue in cheek reference to Bono's bike accident last fall.

So, I found some used gears on etsy in various sizes then textured the background with DecoArt crackle paste. I actually successfully got the effect I was hoping! Big cracks in the center fading into smaller cracks to the edges.


The watch face i had gotten at a flea market. There are several reasons why i added it that was inspired by U2's music. I had just seen two live shows in Chicago of the Innocence and Experience tour and the running theme in both the show and the album is "time". The past, present and future. Acknowledging the good, bad and ugly that happened in the past which because of time can be reflected on to move forward with peace and happiness.

In addition, one of my most favorite U2 lyrics (which is in not one of my most favorite songs), always jumps out at me and haunts me even when i'm not listening to it. It's from the song "City of Blinding Lights" and goes "Time won't leave me as I am ... but time won't take the boy out of this man..."

Lastly the lyric "Stronger than Fear." Where do I even start about this line... it's from the song "Raised by Wolves" and i almost got it tattoo'd on me with the wolf dog Bono drew on my arm. I've been really exploring the idea of fear in my artwork over the last year or so, and try to live my life by the premise that "everything good is on the other side of fear" - so this line in a song about moving past something. "Stronger than fear ... if i open my eyes, you'll disappear" -

After all, fear is a construct of our imaginations.


This year i also hand wrote the note ... i think it says everything it needs to say :)


On the back i used a stencil with some light molding paste and for the first time signed my name. In the past I haven't because i didn't want it to seem like it was from me, but this year i decided to sign the piece cause it is so special to me. Plus, i think by now he gets it's from the fans...