PIPEDREAM (2008)
Acrylic - 20” x 30”
Most days I take a walk in the late afternoon to clear my head and stretch my legs. Sometimes I come across trash thrown in a field or left in a parking lot and I get annoyed thinking about how thoughtless people can be. Before I know it, my mood has spiraled into a negative worldview and I come home more stressed than when I left. 1/5
SILVER TIDE (2006)
Acrylic on Canvas - 60" x 36"
Painted as I was 55 turning 56 and pondering the intransigence of time. I swear I was not consciously thinking, "Time and Tide wait for no man!"
PASSAGE: THE RAINBOW (1991)
Acrylic on Canvas - 36” X 48”
The surface meaning of my Passage paintings is technical—it signifies a passage from working nearly exclusively in acrylics to attaining a greater technical flexibility in oils. 1/2
LUMEN 4 (1997)
Acrylic on Canvas - 48” X 36”
Despite the numbering, this was the first painting in a series of gallery paintings. 1/3
FLOWERS AND WEEDS (1997) Acrylic on Canvas - 36" X 48"
When my son Adrian was 3 or 4 years old, we used to go to an abandoned construction site where there were huge slabs of concrete embedded with iron reinforcing rods.
When we struck the rebar with a stone or another piece of metal they would ring like bells. It was interesting to hear such beautiful tones coming from such ugliness and he really enjoyed it. 1/3
EDGEDANCER (2002)
Acrylic on Gessoboard - 28" x 22"
From the End of Nature subset of my gallery work, a cautionary tale, “All good things come to an end...” 1/2
AFTERNOON SHADOWS (2006)
Acrylic on Panel - 12” x 9”
Dedicated to my beloved mother-in-law Pat Larsen. “Mum” will never be forgotten.
Inspired by a ruined abbey I saw on the coast of England, this study is an exploration of feelings about the inevitability of time. 1/2
EROSION (1999)
Acrylic on Panel - 32" x 40"
The fourth of my End of Nature paintings. The figure is stranded on a pillar of human folly, looking up to a symbol of technology—the lamppost—for her deliverance from the perils signaled by the oncoming storm. 1/2
GLIMPSE (1992)
Acrylic on Canvas - 48" x 36"
I think this is the first time I used the red glass heart as a symbol for the immediate and/or material possessions. 1/2
THE REACH (1999)
Acrylic on Canvas - 48” x 30”
Almost a Lumen painting, in which figures are trying to work their way out of enclosed spaces and get into the light. 1/3
Michael Whelan