Topper 79 x 38 inches large pen and ink drawing

Linda (the model’s spouse) phoned me last summer to say that she and her husband LOVED my drawing of “Arthur” which they’d first seen at the Kemper Museum’s Backstage Pass show, and again later at Arthur’s home.  She wanted to give her husband, Topper, a portrait (of him) for his birthday.  I thought Christmas might [...]

‘Joanne’ painting 35×21 inches on tinted paper

Today I completed this (little bit scary) portrait of my Mom (Joanne) painting in white and black Golden Liquid Acrylics over paper tinted blue-gray using dilute sumi and prussian blue applied to the paper by wiping with a sponge.
This and the previous painting of ‘Lee’ completed a few days ago are experiments in the sort [...]

‘Lee’ painting 35 x 21 inches

‘LEE’ 2009, 35×21 inches, acrylic painting on tinted paper

Jessica Paper Doll

Late last year, the Beach Museum of Art commissioned me to produce an edition of 30 prints in connection with the exhibition of my work there (which opened April 14, 2009). The prints were to be no larger than 10×15 inches and ’suitable for family viewing.’
Bill North and I had some interesting discussions about [...]

Figuring it Out at the Beach Musuem of Art

Figuring it Out: Mike Lyon Drawings and Prints at the Beach Museum of Art, Manhattan, Kansas opened April 14 and runs through July 19, 2009. Exhibition CATALOG PDF download also see the Beach Museum’s web site blurb

from the Beach Museum of Art web site:
Figuring it Out: Prints and Drawings by Mike Lyon
April 14, 2009 — [...]

SGC Panel: Printmaking with Extreme Technology

Erik Brunvand invited me to join him, Steve Hoskins, and Ed Bateman on a panel during Southern Graphics Council’s Chicago convention  called Printmaking with Extreme Technology. Each of us spoke for approximately 15 minutes.
Printmaking with Extreme Technology (Erik Brunvand, Chair with Edward Bateman, Stephen Hoskins, and Mike Lyon) 10-11:30am Friday, March 27 at Columbia College, [...]

“Linda” 77×46 inch pen and ink drawing in spiral

Today, after 11 days non-stop drawing, I completed a large pen and ink drawing of Linda which sorta ‘marries’ my long interest in tiles and spirals with the squiggly cross-hatched drawings of recent years. I think it’s pretty successful and depicts my angelic wife (who doesn’t much mind my long hours in studio) with a [...]

“Annette” 70 x 45 inch watercolor with pen and ink drawing

I don’t know that I so much completed this drawing today as simply called it ‘done’. Either way, I’m moving on! “Annette” is my mother-in-law and she does NOT appreciate this portrait at all — she thinks it makes her look too old and wrinkly (she’s only eighty-one years old, after all) and just hates [...]

Crosby pen and ink drawing with watercolor 90 x 45 inches

When my “Sarah” drawing was first exhibited at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, the founder’s wife appreciated it and invited me to create a similar life-size portrait of her husband, Crosby, a giant of a man and huge patron of the arts.  They loved this portrait and it was later purchased by the museum [...]

“Jim” Collaboration with Lawrence Lithography Workshop

“Jim“, 2008, 43.25 x 30 inches, lithograph from seven plates on BFK Tan paper is available for $1,800 from Lawrence Lithography Workshop edition of 26 (or place your ON-LINE ORDER HERE). Collections: Springfield Museum of Art, Beach Museum of Art, The Collectors Fund
At the opening of the Kemper Museum “Backstage Pass” show last month, [...]