photo by: Marc Havener / Resonate Pictures

Stan Herd, a local crop artist, finished this piece on March 22. It's a thank you to essential workers battling COVID-19.

Stan Herd’s latest crop art project is a thank-you note for front-line workers battling COVID-19. It’s a pot filled with flowers, with “thank you” written on it.

Herd said the idea for the project came from his family and friends, who all agreed that a thank-you note was a positive message that could be appreciated worldwide during the current crisis.

“Everybody is just coming to the understanding of how incredibly important these people are who are putting themselves on the line to help us all,” he said.

The crop art is located off 650 Road, about 6 miles south of Lawrence, Herd said. Wes Flory, of Flory Farms, allowed the artist to use his land.

Herd was drawn to Flory’s land because of the prevalence of henbit. The purple weed is common in the spring on land that was harvested in the winter, Herd said.

Farmers don’t like it because it’s a weed, Herd noted, but “we artists like it because it turns the whole field a beautiful purple.”

Unfortunately, during the formation of Herd’s art, which took about six days to complete, the henbit died earlier than expected, leaving the flowers without their intended purple hue. Herd embraced the flowers nevertheless, noting that his favorite Van Gogh paintings are of dead flowers.

Other materials in Herd’s canvas include mulch and leftover cornstalks that Herd found on the land.

“I like to use everything I can from the field itself,” he said.

The spring is Herd’s favorite time to create crop art, and he said he was happy to get out of the house to work on the project. Although the henbit lost its purple color this year before his project was completed, Herd said Lawrencians can expect to see more crop art next year involving the purple weed.