165 Great Things About America

I did this painting in the spring of 2001 for the Americana show at Roq la Rue. It took over 200 hours to do all the research and painting. Now that I don't live in the US, I kind of miss Old Glory, so this one hangs in my Canadian kitchen.

Bat Cave, North Carolina  Sea monkeys  Herman Melville  Lollipop, Texas  Maryland blue crabs  Vidalia onions  Polaroid cameras  Maya Angelou  Flashlights  Bubblegum  Chuck Close Punching nun puppets  Bill of Rights  Hot Coffee, Mississippi  Roller skates  Kermit the frog  Barbie dolls  Barbed wire  Astroturf  Blue Jeans  Maurice Sendak  Ogden Nash  Hell, Michigan  Happy Birthday to you  Compound horseshoes  Panic, Pennsylvania  Airplanes  Jello  Charles Addams  Salem, Massachussetts  Liquid Paper  The Monkees  Graham crackers  Motels  Polio vaccine  Cracker jacks  Mountain lions  Julia Child  H.P. Lovecraft  Bat Man  Paper grocery bags  Ear muffs  Alaskan Huskies  Chesapeake Bay retrievers  Iced tea  Bug Scuffle, Arkansas  Marshmallow peeps  Monkey's Elbow, Kentucky  Boston terriers  Yum Yum, Kentucky  Toad Suck, Arkansas  Space Needle  Ichiro Suzuki  The zipper  Smithsonian Institution  Armadillos  Margaret Sanger  Separation of church & state  Safety pins  Dorothy Parker  Tim Burton  Ray Bradbury  Hollywood  Ice cream cones  Washington Irving  Trylon & Perisphere  Jupiter, Florida  Crayons  Airstream trailers  Spotted owls  Jazz  Washington Monument  James Thurber  Frankenstein, Missouri  Statue of Liberty  Corn  Empire State building  Dulcimers  Toilet paper  Crash test dummies  Eek, Alaska  Vaseline  Rock shop dinosaurs  Luray caverns  Key lime pie  Dr. Seuss  World’s largest lutefisk  World’s largest catsup bottle  Boll weevil monument  Hungry Horse, Montana  Appaloosas  Tillamook extra sharp cheddar  Rhode Island Reds  Alexander Calder  Buffalo  Tabasco sauce  Emperor Norton  Oz  State mottos  Peanut Butter  Rabbit Hash, Kentucky  Miniature golf  Smokey the Bear  King Kong  Jack o’ lanterns  Dodge Darts  Elephant Butte, New Mexico  Mark Twain  Bigfoot  Burning Man  Escalators  Play-doh  Saguaro cactus  Alka-seltzer  Hot dogs  Johnny Appleseed  Teddy bears  Spam  Rattlesnakes  Art Instruction Schools  American Beauty rose  Grand Canyon  Moon landing  Route 66  Sousaphones  Bloodbanks  Brian Wilson  Telephones  Sporks  Andy Warhol  Georgia O’Keeffe  Edward Gorey  Magic 8 ball  Band aids  Opossums  Coat hangers  Bald Head, North Carolina  Edgar Allan Poe  Rudolph the red nosed reindeer  Ouija boards  Fortune cookies  Post-it notes  Chocolate chip cookies  Spray paint  Keith Haring  Light bulbs  Lizard Lick, North Carolina  Nathaniel Hawthorne  Dewey Decimal System  Mars, Pennsylvania  Singing cowboys  Winsor McCay  Bald eagles  Turkeys  Black widow spiders  Stephen King  TV dinners  Ghost towns  World’s largest ball of twine  X-Ray Specs  Bourbon  The bra  Kitty litter  Potato chips  Raccoons

Acrylic on canvas

Comments

[Harley Working]

Don't feel too bad, we have Bigfoot in Canada as well.

OK, feel bad, there's no Toad Suck. We've got Dildo and Spuzzum, though.

This should be a poster.

[Kirsten]

Ah memories...I coulda sold that sucker a zillion times over...

[John Salmon]

Nicely done.

But you forgot South Street in Philadelphia.

[barfious barbovillian]

I'm very glad you finally posted this!!!
I've seen it in person and it's gorgeous.
Too bad those seattlites were too blind to buy it.
I love this one.

[Cyclops Kitten Natividad]

Well, to be fair to the seattleites, it never was for sale, cuz even just paying myself minimum wage it would have had to retail for around 5 grand and I ain't Ryden. Kudos to Kirsten for putting up with the "NFS" tag.

[Deaf "Skunk" Bastard]

I'm glad those Seattlites were too blind to buy it, 'cuz we've got the original hanging in the kitchen!

[Noelegy]

What fun! Arkansas doesn't boast the only "Toad Suck," though...the small town where I grew up in Texas used to be called "Toad Suck" back in the 1800s before it gained its present name: Collinsville.

And please tell me it's not just happy coincidence that Liquid Paper is right next to The Monkees? :)

[Kipling]

Nope. That there is a wee joke. There are a few of them in there...all those darned little cartoons...my favorite for sheer "screw this, I can't draw it anyway" is the "watch your step" panel, which represents the Grand Canyon. I mean seriously, YOU try and paint the Grand Canyon in a one inch square. Can't be done.

[Kipling]

Although now watch Filbrandt do it, just to show me up.

[Miss Cellania]

Heh heh. Rabbit Hash, Kentucky is not far from Hell Fer Certain, Kentucky