I needed to goof off, I`ve been working on large Important paintings for months. Ideally art making is always play. Ideally. I`ve known for years some of my best ideas come from puttering with paint. No serious intentions just whims. Among my urges this week was to explore pure abstraction some;
Also did a couple of landscapes from memory;
And I even got out into the landscape with my pal Mitch for some plein air work!
We were at the city owned beehive of activity known as Luscher Farm. This place is fascinating! It contains sprawling community gardens, barns and outbuildings, some with classes in progress, chicken coops, birthday parties, curious tourists wandering around, a humongous farm house and acres and acres of fields with sweeping views. Everyone is completely focused on their tasks and assumes you are too. I could jump up on a tractor and take it for a spin and I don`t think anyone would notice.
When the humidity is low in western Oregon, it feels like a personal gift. Painting up on a hill, in shade, with this desert breeze traveling through was like a dream. We`ve already had a couple of periods of high heat, but if it`s dry, who cares? Every time it happens I`m transported back to New Mexico. It can even smell like the Southwest and that, of course, brings back the memories. I try to enjoy them realistically, I don`t trust nostalgia.
Laura Foster`s comprehensive guide to the Columbia Gorge is here at last!
As with her other books, this is packed with helpful maps, drive times, insider tips on food and lodging, historical photos, anecdotes, hiking suggestions, fishing advice, water sports information, tons of cool little things to do you would never know about, lots of history and a cultural perspective on the native residents and through it all, Laura`s intelligence and humor make it a super fun read! Twelve weekend getaways are featured to give you delightful experiences without much decision. I`m all for that!
She will give a presentation in downtown Lake Oswego at the museum 510 in the evening of June 18. Contact janrimerman@gmail.com to reserve a seat.
Take a look at this short video on addiction, it`s quite provocative. I`m not sure what to think but it`s an issue I`m more than familiar with. Everyone finally is in agreement that the war on drugs was a disaster. Especially for African Americans.
Now there is widespread opioid addiction and skyrocketing deaths from overdose. This is a field ripe for some innovation.
work for sale in my studio
5 comments:
Randall,
You know that I am going to say that I like all of the pieces. But the abstracts! Especially exciting. That third one in particular. All of those little marks and spaces are very fun. And I like the Luscher field one looking through the frame of the leaves-it reminds me of something I can't put my finger on.
How nice to have a crazy refuge like that close by! Our county could use something like this-we certainly have the space.
And thank you for the link to Laura's book. I know next to nothing about Washington state but I have it on my list of places to visit. Her book will help.
A great post-thank you!
Libby
Lovely work, Randall. You have a way of revealing our world in a way that's unlike any other. I sure like these little pieces... sketches that may lead to a new thing.
You've been busy! Loving the abstracts.
Okay, the black and white abstraction really hits home for me as does the May abstraction. Why is it that I gravitate to the work like these and the Ipad drawings so much? To you, they are just play; to me they are fabulous.
Really like the abstractions! I keep thinking that top one is a bull charging - or a dog with a skull face (yes, we all TRY to make something out of abstracts! ha ha). The third one, I'd like to turn on it's side so there is a big blue shape at the top like a big abstracted flower. Lovely colors and shapes in all of these. Ah...we are all addicted to something and addiction to drugs (illegal or prescribed) is such an epidemic. There is a an interstate here I-471 that goes from KY to OH and it's now called Heroin Highway because the police say they pull over A LOT of people around 10 am in their pajamas going over to Cincinnati to buy their drugs. Why they are in the pjs, I don't know but it's scary to think you have to contend on the road with distracted drivers (cell phones, texting, reading, smoking, eating, drinking, etc.) but now you have to contend with drivers so stoned they cannot stay in their lanes (plus we are having more and more deaths from drivers going the wrong way on the major interstates because they are too stoned to know they just went the wrong way)!! Stay safe and paint :)
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