Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Wetlands Forest Study


A Daily painting.
From a visit to the Minto Brown Refuge last weekend. At first I thought hmmm, sort of dull. We kept walking and either the light changed or I did. The color was subtle but the ability to see deep into the forests was unusual.

mixed watermedia on paper 7"x5"

Available Work

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Trinity Alps


A Daily painting.
From my time in Northern Calif. last Spring. I wouldn`t have guessed there were such beautiful and 'undiscovered' places left in Calif. Shasta and Trinity counties were so gorgeous, it makes me wonder about Modoc. Next visit.


mixed watermedia on paper 5"x7"

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Evening Slough


A Daily Painting
The Columbia River Slough in the most northern part of Portland.
There is finally a page of some available work with prices. A link is in the sidebar.


mixed watermedia on Bristol 12"x9"

Thursday, February 23, 2012

The Sky in the Water


A Daily painting.
The mossy rocks and pools at the beginning of Oswego Creek.



watermedia on paper 5"x7"

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Creekbank


A corner of Tryon Creek in the heat of summer, the water barely moving.
This one was a gift, it only took a week and no angst.



oil on canvas 48"x36"

December Dusk


A Daily painting.
I tinted the paper a rose color first.
Early last December I took a walk on Mt. Talbert at sunset. It was drizzly but I was in the area and I wanted to see the last of the fall color at dusk. It got dark quickly but I took a few photos and managed not to slip and fall. It occurred to me that it might be foolish to be there. I`m a middle age guy, I had forgotten my cell phone and the light was fading fast. This second guessing myself is the part of getting older I find most confusing.


watermedia on paper 7"x5"

Monday, February 20, 2012

A New Season


A Daily Painting.
I was in the art supply store yesterday and bought a couple of small watercolor blocks. I`m going to try to resume the daily painting practice even as I`m doing large oil paintings. I have a big close up of a creek bank in process and it looks promising.


watermedia on paper 7"x5"

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Autumn Tree Study


A Daily painting.
I walk by this clump of maple trunks often and think I may do a big painting of them.


Oil on panel 6"x6"

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Bandelier


The canyon of the Frijoles Creek in Bandelier National Monument New Mexico. This was the subject I chose to demonstrate the mixed media technique I use to my visiting friend. It was fitting, as she is the one who introduced me to the park 36 years ago.


Mixed watermedia on Yupo 15.5"x11.5"

Monday, February 13, 2012

Lacamas Creek


This is a painting that may never be finished. I began it at least four years ago and I haul it out every so often for another round. Maybe next time it will fall into place. My first friend in New Mexico is visiting and she came here to paint. She thought the mixed media technique I use could expand her practice beyond a lovely but time consuming way of working. So for three days now, she`s on one side of the studio and I`m on the other. I`ve been working on this again while she`s here.
In 1976, having dropped out of college and art school, I moved to Santa Fe to begin my life as an artist. I was 22 and knew no one in the city. By tremendous good fortune, the apartment I rented was a duplex. On the other side lived Kathy who would become one of my closest friends. She was a native and knew everything cool and beautiful about my new home, and gave me a thorough and gentle education about the unique culture of that state. Had she not lived next door, I`m certain my life would have taken a much different trajectory. Now she`s painting a few feet away from me on a rainy day in the completely different world of the Pacific Northwest.


oil on canvas 16"x12"

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Sauvie Island Study


Every local landscape painter I know of goes out to this island to paint, especially in the summer. For good reason, it can make you love your life. It has a unique spaciousness that feels timeless. I`ve painted here with friends long into the warm evening, happy to be making my watercolors, with people I care about, surrounded by beauty.



Oil on canvas paper 12"x9"

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Bryant Woods December


In the rain forests here, some fall color can linger into the new year.



Oil on canvas 30"x24"

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Poplars in the Gloaming 2


After a visit to beautiful Menucha, I painted a small study of these poplars. Now a larger version. I`ve always loved tonalist painting with its subtlety and mystery. When I was a young man, I would smoke pot and walk into the forest at dusk. Gradually, space, color and shadow would collapse into darkness. Those early experiences were crucial in my becoming a painter. I learned to see.


oil on canvas 20"x16"