I didn’t go full-tilt Hopper this week, but in this acrylic and water color on textured paper piece I do attempt to employ some of his light and shadow technique.

The story behind this piece is that, on my July trip to Chicago, while I was biding my time sitting on a bench in Giddings Plaza in Lincoln Square (while Mrs. PopCulteer was shopping in stores that sell stuff with strong fragrances), I noticed a young lady sitting on the bench opposite me across the park furiously drawing or writing in a journal. From the movements of her hand and arm I assumed that she was drawing.

She may have been drawing me, or she may have been drawing whatever was behind me, or something altogether different. I don’t know because I don’t want to be the creepy old man who goes up to young women to ask, “Hey, what you doin’?”

Besides, it’s possible she was drawing  stick figures of me with knives and bombs and fighter jets killing me, so it was best not to find out.

While I didn’t want to be creepy enough to bother her in person, I was creepy enough to be sitting in the park taking reference photos for this latest stretch of Monday Morning Art, and she happened to turn up in several of the pictures. So I sort of conglomerized them into one, got the composition I was happy with, and came up with this painting. It’s really more of a study for a future painting, but my fingers were cooperating pretty well on this one.  I’m particularly happy with the tree branches and their shadows.

To see it bigger try clicking HERE.

Over in radioland, Monday at 2 PM on The AIR, we bring you a brand-new episode of Psychedelic Shack, and then at 3 PM a brand-new edition of Herman Linte’s weekly showcase of the Progressive Rock of the past half-century, Prognosis.  You can listen to The AIR at the website, or on the embedded radio player elsewhere on this page.

For the first time in months, I have playlists for these shows.  At 2 PM Nigel Pye brings you an hour of Psychedelic Shack, and this week he has some more contemporary mind-expanding aura chex mix for you, along with some vintage goodies. Check out the playlist…

Psychedelic Shack 080

The American Dream “Storm”
Blur “Goodbye Albert”
Apokalipsa “Ta Duda”
Brown Spirits “Who’s At The Door?”
Utopia (Germany) “What You Gonna Do?”
Stackridge “Teatime”
The Siegel-Schwall Band “I Don’t Want You To Be My Girl”
King gizzard & The Lizard Wizard “Dragon”
The Knickerbockers “High On Love”

Psychedelic Shack can be heard every Monday at 2 PM, with replays Tuesday at 9 AM, Wednesday at 10 PM, Friday at 1 PM,  and Saturday at 9 AM.

At 3 PM Herman Linte takes over with a two-hour mixtape edition of Prognosis.  This episode is a stiched-together live music experience that blends live recordings of several great prog bands, and this time Herman stretches the definition a little to include proggier tunes by The Who, Ultravox and Zappa Plays Zappa.  Check out the playlist…

Prognosis 107
Live Prog

Gentle Giant “The Runaway Experience”
PFM “Alta Loma Five Til Nine Medley”
Dream Theater “The Big Medley”
John Wetton “Open Your Eyes”
Ultravox “The Voice”
The League of Gentlmen “Inductive Resonance”
Jethro Tull “Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of A New Day”
Zappa Plays Zappa “Inca Roads”
Marillion “The Leavers”
The Who with Orchestra “Love Reign O’er Me”

You can hear Prognosis on The AIR Monday at 3 PM, with replays Tuesday at 7 AM, Wednesday at 8 PM, Thursday at Noon, and Saturday at 10 AM. You can hear two classic episodes of the show Sunday at 2 PM.

At 8 PM you can hear an encore of last Wednesday’s episode of The Comedy Vault, which featured more wild stuff from National Lampoon.

Monday at 9 PM the Monday Marathon presents ten hours of classic episodes of Mel Larch’s musical theater showcase, Curtain Call. .