Mike Lyon

Painting Drawing Printmaking Japanese Woodblock Printing Furniture Lighting

King Size Four Poster Ball Bed for Andy

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I promised my wife Linda that I’d complete a king-size bed for Andy’s room before Andy and Lauren arrived home for Christmas.  This was an interesting project. The idea was to make a mortise and tenon bed frame to support a plywood platform and memory-foam mattress – with fabulous stacked spherical posts.  The spheres would […]

Maggie 85 x 44 inches watercolor and ink (pen and ink drawing)

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN30BRx25xY The inimitable Maggie Rose Mull “Let’s Fall in Love” ukulele style As Eric Fischl spoke at the opening of America Now and Here, a young woman in the crowd stood out as though haloed in sparkler-sparks.  I asked my friend, Donald Rosenfeld, who is THAT girl? Don knew her and told me her name […]

Madeline and Kit, 13 x 5.7 inches, woodblock print from 17 blocks

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My intern this year, Madeline Cass (who is responsible for scanning and data entry of my collection of Japanese prints – see woodblockprints.org), and her roommate, Kit Landwehr, modeled for me June 8.  Years ago I’d really loved printing the stripes of a seersucker robe and Kit’s striped dress was a natural for another attempt […]

Exhibition: America Now and Here – Kansas City

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Famous artist Eric Fischl and film-producer Donald Rosenfeld were in Kansas City to select work for the Kansas City Collection and selected my work. At the same time, Eric introduced the idea of America Now and Here and included my “Michael” drawing in the America Now and Here show the following year.

Danielle – developing two color drawing technique

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I’ve mentioned before that I’m fascinated by Renaissance drawings on tinted paper with light and dark inks or chalk and charcoal.  Here are some examples by Albrecht Durer painted in white and black with a brush on tinted paper: My kids know of my interest  — for Christmas Scott and Andy gave me a variety […]

Grass-2 large woodblock print 22.5 x 72 inches from 16 blocks

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My lawn seems a near-perfect subject for drawings and woodblock prints.  Grass-1 was a drawing (not yet completed).  Grass-2 is a woodblock print — sixteen blocks cut two blocks to a sheet of 4×8 foot quarter-inch cherry plywood.  Grass-3 is another drawing under construction at the moment.  This format allows me to ink and print […]

Michael – 74 x 44 inches large pen and ink drawing

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October, 2009, Michael Rees was one of 15 artists invited to Kansas City by the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art for their 15th Anniversary Celebration.

Michael is a great guy, established artist, extroverted, outspoken, and a bit larger than life. We’d made a date for him to visit my studio and shoot sources for a portrait while he was here, and I thoroughly enjoyed him! After the shoot I went to a huge breakfast with Michael, his wife Mary Ann Strandell, and Chris Brown (another guest artist in town for the event) at YJ’s, the cozy cafe next door to Birdies (Peregrine Honig’s lingerie shop)… What a great morning — I don’t get out much — this was so VERY stimulating!!!

16 Views of Peregrine Bunny 128 inch pen and ink drawing

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An unusual edition of three original pen and ink drawings plus two proofs — drawing began in late April and finished up in late May.  Can drawings be prints? These are not at all printerly, but there ARE three identical (in the sense of an edition of prints) original drawings, each one measuring 18 x […]

An Upholstered Bench with Eccentric Turned Legs

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This month I built a bench for our living room.  It’s 18 inches high, 55 inches long, 19 inches deep and is the only upholstered furniture I’ve designed.  Linda and I picked out the fabric in advance and I intended my six legs to reflect the ovals design of the fabric. The six eccentric turnings […]