This is the latest in a series of the forests on Cook`s Butte where I often walk. Every time I try for the actual density of those woods but never seem to get it;
Or the color either! Maybe I need to impose order on all that chaotic growth?
Numbers 1,2, and 3 are below, all are 20x16.
Yesterday the paintings in my joint show with Tom Cramer, 'Environments', were delivered and hung. After bringing them in, I had 23 paintings leaning against the wall like a police line up;
The opening is Friday March 6 at 5 pm. We`ll have a gallery talk about the work Thurs. evening March 19 at 6:30 pm, and on Thurs. March 26, I`ll give a demonstration at the gallery at 11 am.
Museum 510, downtown Lake Oswego at the corner of 1st. and B ave. I hope some of you can see the show, I think it`s a good one. Here`s a write up in the local newspaper.
A couple of months ago I had some correspondence with the Massachusetts painter, Ginny Zanger. She wanted to compare notes on our watermedia techniques on Yupo, that slippery plastic paper that bedevils many. When I saw her work I immediately felt she was on a similar mission. This is vain but much of her work sort of looks like mine. She`s interested in the incidental minutia in the landscape like I am. Here`s an example;
She has an interesting biography having grown up in South America and she`s done what many landscape artists including me would like to do, address environmental catastrophe in our work. The dilemma is about creating beauty out of tragedy and it paralyses many of us. She marched right through that and produced a stunning body of work based on the Gulf Oil Spill. Well done Ginny!
When I was visiting my old friends in California a couple of weeks ago I saw this tiny watercolor I did in the early 90`s, a difficult time.
This was a study for 'Roses for St. Anthony' which I gave to my Dad, a devout Catholic.
Ruth called me a colorist recently and if that`s true, it may be why I`ve retreated to black and white frequently over the years. Didn`t Monet say something about color obsessing and tormenting him every single day? I`ve noticed many times, if there doesn`t seem to be enough colors, I`ve used too many already. Sometimes none is best. Black and white paintings seem directly connected to the subconscious and are truly refreshing to paint. Here are some others;
He`s always said it best;
work for sale in my studio
studio demonstration Sat. March 14, 10 am. 5373 Lakeview Blvd. Lake Oswego OR 97035
3 comments:
I enjoyed that police lineup!
I also looked at Ginny's work and bio. I can see that you both have similar ideas/perceptions.
The black and white pieces really, really caught my attention. Color enthralls me as much as the next person but those pieces! It's the contrast and the absence of color that gets me. Very, very elemental and complex all at once. There is something about black and white work that color just doesn't deliver.
Good luck with the opening of your show. Sounds like it is going to be quite fun.
Libby
Your black-and-white work gives me a completely different feel from what I experience when I see your paintings in color. And my response is, Wow.
Police lineup makes me laugh. I can imagine how this could be spun out into a gallery event, with everyone putting a finger, so to speak, on the paintings they want. Hope they all find buyers.
I think I am still partial to December Forest #2. A visitor noticed it on the way out the other day, asked about it, and then realized she had been in your studio to buy some paintings for her workplace. She lives in Clackamas and may show up for one of your studio demos.
I'm glad that you included the address of Museum 510; I don't think they included it in the article in the Lake Oswego Review.
Post a Comment