Sunday, October 9, 2016

Two Watercolors and a road trip

                                                       September Marsh watermedia on Yupo 12x9


 A little corner of Bryant Woods where I walk frequently. Looks nothing like I intended but feels like what I saw. That keeps happening and I think it`s interesting. Same with this one;


                                                            Untitled Iceland watermedia on Yupo 12x9


 I found the south Icelandic landscape to have a raw austerity yet it was lush. Every day was overcast and it often rained. Green mountains like in Kauai rose just beyond bleak windswept beaches. Being there in mid July, I probably saw the island as verdant and benign as it ever is. Watching storms roll over the mountains was a daily experience.


 My show in Coos Bay ended on Oct. 1st and we decided to retrieve it ourselves and make the trip a little holiday. I rented a van and got inside information on the good stuff in Bandon OR. I wanted to be near the ocean and Coos Bay is a port. My source delivered. We stayed in an old motel perched on a bluff overlooking the Pacific and the beach below was crowded with sea stacks, riddled with caves! My inner twelve year old flipped out!














 Near minus tides with the weather parting as we arrived and closing in as we left. The drive on OR highway #138 was sublime in the gentle rain.


 Guess what, I won the Lake Oswego plein air prize with my big watercolor "Iron Mountain";


                                                          watercolor on Yupo 26x40

 I had a piece of sheet insulation that was almost the exact same size as a large sheet of Yupo that could be my support. I figured if I worked fast in black and white in sunny weather, I could manage the big dimensions. Here is a process shot;



 I was with my friend Mitch and he was painting me as I painted;

                                                                 by Mitch Burrel

 Really fun plus I won some bucks and a set of Gamblin alkyd oil paints!


  Mary Alice Beard is spending her retirement savings buying my paintings. God bless her. I just sent Metolius Morning to her and she wrote a poem about the painting;

                                         Wordless, the morning sun
                                          slants through the trees,
                                          nudging the river awake.

                                          Waterlight rises.
                                          Dancing ripples push
                                          mystery into the shadows.

                                          Nothing new here.
                                          All is new here.
                                          Behold the day.
                                                                 _Mary Alice Beard 2016


 I love it! The magic in the ordinary. What I hope for in my work.



                                                         Metolius Morning oil on canvas 30x48


Creativity is a birthright and good for your health. Research is proving it too. Check this out.
Ever created in a group? There is a hum of satisfying concentration whether it`s a life drawing session, working outdoors on location,  trying something new in a class, playing music with friends or rehearsing a play. It makes you glad to be alive when you make something.


In my humble opinion, here is a perfect painting;

                                                                      Phillippe Croq


I wish I painted that!


 In this latest Donald Trump scandal of sexual predation, Armistead Maupin gets it right:

 "Here's what I've been noticing: All these panicked Republicans saying: 'As a husband and a father, I'm offended.' How about as a man, period? How about as a human being? To these assholes, women are afforded dignity only if they can be defined somehow as property. MY wife. MY daughter. It all comes back to the man in the end. Always has."






I`ll close on a positive note, kitten in a sink. My brilliant Lyndon.


I`m with her!


work for sale in my studio



11 comments:

Libby Fife said...

Randall,

Look at that Lyndon! That face! They manage to find the best spots don't they?

Congratulations on the win and the sale. And what a lovely compliment your friend and collector paid you. To have your work acknowledged in a poem. A real treat.

The pictures of the coast are beautiful. I like the flatness of that sand against that rockiness.

As for being creative and reducing stress, people get degrees in that sort of work. It's easy to lose sight of what 30 mins of creative downtime can do for you. It's like taking a walk or a ride or something. Something is kicking in to help soothe you if you let it.

A chock-a-block post in a good way. Thank you!
Libby

Ruth Armitage said...

Great new work... and big congrats on a well-deserved prize! I've got to meet Lyndon in person. I can't stand how cute he is!!! Let's set a date!

Mitch said...

Congratulations on winning the plein air event! I'm sorry I was out of town and didn't get to see the show, but just seeing how you hit a wall with your painting and then were able to go back into it and work your magic should give all painters the courage to forge ahead and not give up on a piece. And the Metolius painting, what magic there! Fully deserving of a happy owner/poet, and wouldn't we all be so much better off if the rest of our society tried to get up out of the gutter and celebrate beauty and peace?
PS our cat has been hanging out in sinks since he was a kitten, refusing to drink from a bowl, and we have to turn the tap on a trickle so he can drink. I've wondered if he wasn't a plumber in a previous life, he likes plumbing so much.

RH Carpenter said...

Congratulations! I LOVE that painting and so glad others do, too :) Love the photos, too - future paintings waiting? And the kitty in the sink - what is it about sinks and cats? He's a handsome fellow with such canny eyes, like he knows something we don't? Thanks for the quote - so correct and so real - why justify why this offends you - can't we all just be offended as humans by this behavior and constant aggressive sexual talk by him?

E.M. Corsa said...

Congrats on winning that award! I told you, you can't beat plein air work! It just has that freshness about it.

OMG why do orange cats love sinks? Both Buddha and Kizzie loved the sink and I have pics of them in that same position. Though I must say, Lyndon's eyes...enchanting!

Melody Cleary said...

Congrats on the plein air prize - wonderful painting in black & white! Super photos from Bandon - food for more paintings!

Dump Trump!
Melody

Betsy said...

wow I think I took photos from those same caves!

Donna Thibodeau said...

Love your work, all of it,and I'm not surprised when you win an award. Your work is so fresh. I have to comment on the Trump tapes. I keep hearing he demeans women. In my opinion, he demeans men. He is a man and speaking for men. Men be offended.

Randall David Tipton said...

Thanks Donna. He demeans humanity. Just as the Obama presidency revealed the racism of our country, Hillary is exposing deep misogyny. The hatred of this woman is stunning.

Dr Sock said...

Your work is fabulous! I really like the two new watercolours. And I can see why you won the plein air prize for Iron Mountain.
-Jude

Randall David Tipton said...

Thank you Jude, you`re a good writer [and driver]!