Thursday, January 21, 2016

Coastal Creek - winter wetlands

                                                        Coastal Creek oil on canvas 48x36


 Finally something new and big! I wanted a larger version of this. After complaining so much about summer and the overwhelming green, I do this in the dead of winter! I really don`t like being so perverse but there you go.
Those streams pouring off Cascade Head are so pure and undisturbed, I hoped to get a sense of the lush vitality of those summer forests.













 Here are some winter paintings. These 12x9 studies were painted ten years ago and the subject is the dormant wetlands of the Crystal Springs right in the middle of the Reed College campus. The beautiful little canyon thrives due to volunteers and careful stewardship. I spent a lot of time in its cool shade while living in the treeless Brentwood Darlington neighborhood in Portland. Angelita Surmon has also painted a body of work based on the canyon.


 I had never seen the name and I still don`t know how to pronounce it. Whether Diarmuid Kelly was male or female was also a mystery. Then I stumbled on this video.
 A dude, and he can paint like a master!
 I saw the piece below years ago and thought it oddly enigmatic. The figure's hands have a gesture of blessing or surrender and he seems to be lying in a livestock water troff in a convalescence of some sort. What`s going on?


                                                              Diarmuid Kelly


 Here is one of his gorgeous still lives. He even got the fuzz!!


                                                          Diarmuid Kelly-peaches


 In a collaboration with the Lake Oswego Arts Council, the Johnstone Financial Advisors are displaying a dozen of my paintings, the majority of them large. They look better than I`ve ever seen on the deep blue walls. Visit during normal business hours or come say hello at the reception Friday, February 5th.





I just finished Audible.com`s incredible reading of Wallace Stegner`s Angle of Repose. This historical novel of the American West is a rich and thorough examination of a marriage. The narrator, Mark Bramhall, is such a gifted actor, every character is vibrantly believable. It`s a long book that I savored and it helped keep me afloat during the dark December.





work for sale in my studio



5 comments:

BlueHwyGal said...

I could live in the world you paint, Randall. Thanks for introducing Kelly's work - I love his notion of just stopping painting when he gets bored ("filling in space without grappling"). And keep reading Stegner - he's a great one! I remember reading "Angle of Repose" when younger and remembered it as a "frontier mining" story. I reread it this autumn and was astonished to find it a study of love and relationships. Some things are best savored in maturity...

E.M. Corsa said...

I am crazy about these winter studies my friend. Wish I had what you have in me!

Libby Fife said...

Randall,

Another lovely rendition of a "secret creek" area. (That's how I think of those spots of sun dappled water and land with the greenery.)

I hadn't heard of the painter you mentioned, Diarmuid Kelly. Some amazing work. I thought the gentleman in the galvanized tub maybe had a "medical" issue of sorts. That blue piece of fabric under his elbow had me wondering:) It's fun to sort of make up a story about what might be happening isn't it?

It would be nice to see your work on some deep blue walls-sounds like a great backdrop.

Back at it. Good for you:)
Libby

Gary L. Everest said...

Hi Randall,
Great new work! I'd really like to see the "Big Green" painting on a wall with some furniture in the photo, or in your studio with you along side for a sense of scale, but you've heard that before.
Thanks for introducing us to Mr. Kelly. Fascinating and beautiful work.
Hope your exhibition goes well, but I know it will.
Sincerely,
Gary

RH Carpenter said...

I like all of these works but that top one just takes my breath away - beautiful!!