The Field Painter

Manifest Hope DC Party

2009-01-26T11:15:00.000-08:00

Jim and I were so lucky, we got some VIP tickets to the Manifest Hope DC Inaugural Party on Monday, the 19th of January in Georgetown. So Monday morning we drove down to a Metro stop in Maryland and jumped on a train headed into the city. We didn't have a room or a place to stay, and we couldn't bring bags with us, so we had to make due with what we had on our backs.

The warmest outerwear we have are our Dickie coveralls. We made screen print for them, stuffed our pockets full of necessities, and wore them as our roaming hotel room. They worked so well! We stayed warm all the way till the end, when I have to admit, the cement felt warmer to me than the air... But it was so worth it! I would have gladly frozen some more, because this trip was by far the best experience and the most exciting day and night I have ever had.

I'm old enough to have been to plenty of places with big celebratory crowds before, but the emotional energy that was moving around DC, was like nothing like I have ever witnessed. What a gift to have been part of this energy; it was a human happening, a reach deep into the positive potential of united humanity. I am grateful Jim convinced me that watching it all happen on TV wouldn't be good enough.

Just imagine no hate, no fear, no anger, and replace all that crappy frenetic energy we are bombarded with daily, with hope, relief, celebration, with the peace that comes from people looking forward to the next day of living, to joining in and rebuilding something precious, something sacred, something created by big minds and big hearts through big sacrifice for all of us. A better tomorrow for EVERYONE! That's what's alive in DC and that's what is alive in the United States of America.

Thanks to everyone who helped to make this dream our reality! We were so fortunate to spend this night with so many of the artist activists who were moved by Barack Obama and his message to get up and participate in manifesting hope. Everyone was really friendly and genuinely happy to be together. Thanks so much for this party! Here's to our tomorrow.

Polite In Public are some of the nicest people!
(I can't figure out how to link this, but here is their url)
http://www.politeinpublic.com/event/487/manifest-hope--dc-p

Oh, and thanks for everyone who signed our coveralls! Especially, Shepard Fairey, thank you very much! I still have to take some pictures of the completed coveralls and will add those later. I already wore mine for wood chopping when I got home, but I let Jim do most of the work, (as is my typical nature) and I was careful not to get them too dirty. I guess I need a new pair to work in. I can't bear to ruin these!

After we left the party, Jim and I took a taxi to 18th Street. We were looking for the 18th Street Grill. Unfortunately, that was the wrong name of the place we were supposed to go to. So we walked up and down the street looking for a place that didn't exist. The street was packed at 3 AM. People were eating these giant slices of pizza, which looked fantastic! Later on, when I was eating rubbery fake eggs and potato slices fried in phoney something at a dive on the road home, I knew I should have grabbed one.

I was starting to freeze, everyone was sort of buzzed and talking to each other, everybody wanted to write their names and doodle on us! This really fantastic looking man, who drew Lady Liberty on my suit, told us about the 18th St. Lounge. That sounded more like it. An old Victorian mansion with couches....and good music.

So, we took a bike rikshaw ride in a pedi-cab, down to Dupont Circle headed for our Shangra-la. Duncan from Boston was the driver. He had never heard of the place and wasn't that familiar with town, but he was great fun and had a shining attitude. Turns out he loves Moby and was hoping to get to meet him. If we ever found the place, he was going to come in to get warm. Well, after much peddling on his part and more freezing on our part, no luck. Turns out this place is so cool, there's no signage. And some part of Thievery Corp. a band we LOVE, is an owner.... Whatever was going on, we missed out.

My lip got fat...from freezing in the bike basket, or perhaps an allergy to a new chapstick with a ball bearing applicator which I overused. It was about 4 am, and Jim and I decided to go down into the Metro station to get warm. It was more than crazy down there, and the gate was still locked down. We caught the first train out of the city, headed back to our car. Already, at 4 AM the trains started coming in. They were jammed. It was fun to wave at the people from the other side of the tracks. The whole train waved back! When they pulled away, hardly any people waiting had even gotten on, and the platform kept filling up. It was crazy.

In reflection, I think if we had a place to stay, catch some sleep and warm up, we would have stayed for another day. Instead, at about 5:30 or 6:00, we made it all the way back to our car, which was covered with ice, put on the defrost, and once we we stopped chattering we drove the 4 hours home to watch the inauguration on TV.

Here is how it would have looked if we stayed for the next day.

Here are the party pictures.....
Let us know if you see yourself, we can send you the pic in a larger format!
Peace and Goodwill to all of us!!

Washington DC

2009-01-26T10:10:00.000-08:00

Inauguration of Barack Obama

44th President of the United States

Jim and Hilary's Elmer-Fudding adventures

Dupont Circle Washington DC

January 19, 2009

Jim and I arrived on the Metro and departed at Dupont Circle.

First person we met on the circle was

Bill May with this humongous art project.

We signed our names to it.

Bill is at the top left, Jim is signing.

Hey, There Billy! Looking Mighty Fine.

By the time we got here this giant piece had been filled with thousands of names!

I loved this project, I declare, it was the biggest piece of canvas I have ever seen.

Sorry for stepping on your art.

I didn't write WEED, but somewhere near it you'll find my name.

Bill was the first person to sign our suits.

After that, when we were wandering around his signature got mistaken for Bill Clinton's!

We brought our sharpies with us to get our suits signed in DC. Before we left home, we printed our Dickie Coveralls with a stencil of Obama

using the perspective from our field painting, under it we wrote...

"His Truth Will Abound the Land"

January 20, 2009

A few people asked us what Abound meant. We told them it was a great spilling out and over the boundaries of what was before. It is a flooding, a very refeshing and needed drink of hope and trust in truth for all of our hearts. They agreed!

By the way, the line came from one of our favorite pieces of music,

State of Independence, Vangelis and Jon Anderson.

Moodfood Moodswings has a fantastic cover, too.

Get it on, if you don't already have it.

We also printed a silk dress that I was wearing underneath this get up

so I could go from Coveralls to Cover Girl... (plus hat hair, minus the shoes and make-up) for the Manifest Hope party later that night.

Jim had on a velvet blazer, vintage 60s with a great vintage paisley shirt.

We were headed to 3333 M Street in Georgetown, but first we took an 8 mile detour

and walked all around the city first.

(I am sure its an exageration, but hey, not by much!)

The last leg into Georgetown was along the river, we hooked up with a sprinter-walker, hence no pictures of the way there, we were too busy trying to keep up with our helpful friend.

2008-11-17T18:30:00.000-08:00

“The Wings of Hope” is the 1st in an edition of three mechanical sculptures made by Jim Lennox to commemorate the election of Barack Obama on November 4th, 2008.

This series is the coupling of Shepard Fairey's Obama campaign poster together with Jim's series of mechanical Hope puppets, which he has created over the years for fellow artist and friend, the ever avid supporter of Hope, John Bromberg.

The first sculpture, pictured here was created specifically for the annual Arists For Art holiday benefit auction in Scranton, PA. The auction will take place on Saturday the 22nd of November, at the AFA gallery. http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/articles/2008/11/13/lifestyles/sc_times_trib.20081113.c.pg1.tt13afaauction_s1.2084933_fea1.txt

2008-11-10T09:14:00.001-08:00

Do you believe it? We now have the largest painting in the world of our new President Elect Barack Obama. Woo Yay!!! Yes, Barack Obama is our new President!!! HOPE won, and it just keeps on winning. So many of us who just simply cannot, (will not) get this smile off our faces. A new day dawning.

The field painting is still holding up quite well. I have to tell you, that it is an amazing feeling to be living right next door to this carpet of colors. Jim and I keep thinking about it, and we look at each other and say, "Let's go out to climb the ladder and gaze down". It is a beautiful sight. You know we have both thought privately about the view the man who floated away on his helium balloon lawn chair would have had, but neither of us plan on this kind of ride. Really, and someone dared call us us kooks on their blog.... ha, ha.

Can you see Jim? He put the ladder in his tractor bucket to add an extra 6 feet for the picture. I didn't climb with that setup.

Over the last few weeks we have had a few visitors, including Polaris Images photographer, Phil McAuliffe. He flew over a few days before the election and took some beautiful wide aerial views. I hope someone will pick up some of his 14 released images. Not only because I want to see them out here, but because I think they are awesome. They showcase the magnificent rural setting we are nestled in. This painting really pops out here in the wilds! Tagging our field may just become an annual tradition.

In the days before Phil arrived the weather was awful. First we had a downpour mixed with a very brisk wind. That not only gave me a comb-over hair do, but it coaxed tons of leaves to dance themselves right off the trees and onto the painting. All that mess was followed by our first snowfall. Luckily it warmed up and the sunshine melted the white world. Jim and I removed the leaves from the poster, and we bailed out the leftover puddles with a sponge. Then we then hauled the water away in buckets. I thought digging sweet potatoes was hard work, but hand plucking leaves was back breaking. Imagine cleaning a 15 foot ear!

Phil was due to arrive over head at 11:00 am. I managed to keep the painting free of leaves all morning. Then as I heard his engine, I put on an old leather jacket with a huge American Flag on the back, and I stuck myself on and around the painting for scale. I waved and danced about a bit, too. Drats, I had hoped you could see this grand jacket from the plane, but alas, you will have to just imagine it on me, the tiny ant like figure in orange sneakers on this giant painting, instead.

So, hey, if you are the press, and you are reading this blog. Rock this painting, man! Get out these images so we can all shout, "Woo Hoo"! I can find no reason to stop the celebration of Barack yet. Let's just keep it going on!

We are on the Daily Heller http://blog.printmag.com/dailyheller/Who+Designed+The+Obama+O.aspx

Denise Dennis on Huffington wrote about us too. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/denise-dennis/ and scroll down her archive.

We got a shout out in Moby's journal. We love Moby, and were actually listening to his music when we were preparing the painting. How cool is that! http://www.moby.com/journal/2008-10-24/pretty-amazing.html

This coming Saturday the 15th we are on the ireport show on CNN

SATURDAY 7:30A EASTERN (11:30A GMT)
SUNDAY 2P EASTERN (6P GMT)
MONDAY 9A EASTERN (1P GMT)
MONDAY 1:30P EASTERN (5:30P GMT)
We also stream this show at the following website:
http://cnn.com/ireportforcnn

You can see our report here http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-133354

Woo Hooo, here's my shout to you,
Hilary

2008-10-27T16:54:00.000-07:00

The Pennsylvania artists who painted this super-sized Obama HOPE poster.

Jim Lennox, Shickshinny, Luzerne County
Jim is a sculptor and a painter. He's the leading artist, who designed and funded the project. www.jimlennoxart.com I'm Jim's wife, Hilary. I am writing this blog and I'm an organic gardener.

Karen Poels, Wilkes Barre, Luzerne County
Karen Poels is a contemporary artist and an abstract painter.

Karen is a blast to work with... willing, energetic, strong, and exuberant. She is a frequent and welcomed contributor to various art projects at our home. Here she is hamming it up on the field of HOPE...

Tim Sichler, Wyoming County
Tim is a professional engineer and a University Instructor. This year he grew his own wheat and ground it into flour! Tim baked all the delicious pizzas. Thanks, Tim. The pesto pizza was the best!

John Bromberg, Lakewood, Wayne County
John is a puppet artist who loves living in Northeastern PA. He feels his greatest achievement is establishing the annual Mudball Festival in Lakewood, PA.

Being with John is like taking a magic carpet ride. He has woven an interesting tapestry as he has made his way through the warp of the art world. We all enjoy his recollections, as well as the recent colorful tales which he shares of his experiences. Whatever you do, don't miss out on his Mudball Festival. It's an August must do event.

Here's Jim and John putting their heads together. I have to say, this is always a good combo. Double the fun with pleasure, always towards the betterment of us all.

Trudy Gerlach, Wyalusing, Bradford County
Trudy is a graphic illustrator and an environmentalist. She is the 2007 recipient of the NEPA Regional Art Award. Trudy's observations of nature are astounding, as are her detailed interpretations of them.
Mark Webber, Waverly, Lackawanna County

Mark is a figure painter who has exhibited in NYC, Atlanta and San Francisco. He teaches painting at Marywood University. Mark just finished an article about this project for the Weekender. Here it is http://tinyurl.com/56lpw4

Barbara Remington, Thompson, Susquehanna County
Barbara is a book illustrator, who lives an enchanted life in the wilds of PA. She is one of the most interesting people we know. I am not supposed to say much, so ... Check out her name in google to see her work.

Ken Marquis Wilkes Barre, Luzerne County
Ken is the owner of Marquis Art and Frame in downtown Wilkes Barre and downtown Scranton, Pa. He is currently heading up a non-profit corporation, Landfill Art, Inc. which is undertaking a large reclamation art project involving 1041 artists on a global scale. http://www.landfillart.org/

Nina Davidowitz, Kingston, Luzerne County. Nina is a landscape painter and she owns a gallery, Modern Vintage in downtown Wilkes-Barre, PA.

Cathy Blum, Wilkes Barre, Luzerne County. Cathy is a baker and a natural food specialist.

Daniel Davidowitz, Kingston, Luzerne County. Daniel is a high school student and one of the most creative young artists in the valley. He does the comic strip for his school paper.

Grace Ross, Uniondale, Susquehanna County. Student artist

Lucia Dailey, Waverly, Lackawanna County. Lucia is a writer and a musician. Her book, Mine Seed, is a historical novel about the lives of a group of coal miners in our local region.

Russell Roberts, AIA, Dallas, Luzerne County. Russ is an architect who has practiced in the region for more than thirty-five years.

2008-10-26T18:54:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of the first color going on

An AOL slide show titled, beyond bumper stickers...the Hope field is photo #11

http://tinyurl.com/6drw5q

The field is on an inspiring music video by Bill Harley, folk musician from Seekonk, Massachusetts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3aSmRpN9wA

2008-10-26T15:35:00.000-07:00

Three weeks ago my husband, Jim Lennox and I were looking for the Obama campaign Hope poster, and we couldn't find one. Then we started looking through all of the art that was generated for the Obama campaign, but we kept coming back to Shepard Fairey's designs.

Jim was hammering metal in his studio, after mowing the field one evening. When all of the sudden he encountered a flash of the frequent Got-An-Idea variety. We bounced his idea around, until, just as suddenly as it had surfaced, plans were underway to paint the 7000 square foot Hope poster on our field.

During the week, Jim measured and plotted out the field and secured all the materials. He rendered a giant paint by numbers canvas on the grass in preparation for artists and friends, who were invited out to the Obama painting event on the weekend. We used water based athletic field paints that don't harm the grass.

Friends cooked up chili, sweet potato stew, and wood fired pizzas, and we all had a great time painting. Our excitement kept growing stronger as each color was applied and the image began to take shape. When we climbed up in the tree, on the 28 foot extension ladder we could hardly believe our eyes.

That is when we knew we had really created something special. And when our desire to share our giant HOPE with all of those who have supported its growth throughout the Obama campaign was realized.

Thank you everyone for your inspiration, Hope matters!

Go Barack!

Hilary Ross

2008-10-26T15:24:00.001-07:00

Here is the link to the Field of Hope page on the the Obama Campaign Website
With 2 high res printable pictures and a slide show of us painting HOPE

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/fieldofhope

See Jimmy May's AP Press Photos from the Press Enterprise helicopter

http://tinyurl.com/6s4aja

http://tinyurl.com/5k9lj3