Notes from the Nemenator

Between stories and editing I’ve kept on painting, this week was a handful (mouthful?) of John Deere tractors.

These pictures stood the test of Nebraska: my mother, my publisher, and two of my publisher’s sisters are from the Cornhusker state, and when they saw the paintings at my reading/open house, the reaction was along the lines of “what is THAT doing THERE?” While tractors get dirty, they are far from lewd, but people see what they want. It’s a bit ludicrous that as soon as something goes in your mouth it becomes obscene, especially considering that these paintings are exploring visual representations of speech and what comes out of your mouth more than vulgarity. In any case, seeing people’s reactions to the mouths, both good and bad, has been great. In addition to a couple sales, the work landed me a ride on a real tractor.