All the news sites, including the Weather Channel, predicted it so I set my alarm for 7. By 8 I was at Fanno Creek at its confluence with the Tualatin River exulting in the ice fog. It did not disappoint!
Four paintings were born though one didn`t make it. Spectacular morning!
I bought some ink. First I did a little research and chose Higgins Fadeproof. Not many color choices but the ones they have are intense and mix nicely with watercolor and acrylic. I also purchased Daler Rowney Pro-White and it is a game changer. I`ve finally found a strongly opaque white that is water soluble. It can be used for delicate highlights that can only be obtained in watercolor through the use of a masking fluid which leaves stark unnatural edges.
I am not a happy shopper of anything so finding promising new materials is really exciting.
My first experiment with the inks [above].
Since we were together, I`ve painted some abstractions too. I keep circling back to non-representational work to see if it`s a fit. I admire this kind of painting so much. But nope, not at all something I could sustain. I need a motif to propel me most of the time.
This is new and a complete mystery to me. I was trying for rock but I seem to have arrived at traumatized flesh. When I`m at the beach, it`s the cliffs and their merge with the sand that interests me. Sure I love the ocean but it keeps moving, it`s hard to hold in my mind. The Pacific Northwest is blessed with astounding headlands. The bluff that inspired this painting is at Hug Point which is rich in gorgeous rock formations. I will consider this a work in progress and resume at a later time.
To my delight and amazement, my sister in law Mary has taken up painting in her retirement! It began as a social thing but she seems to be hooked. She came by the other day to get some tips and she brought a self portrait drawing and it looked like her! I can`t do that! At my suggestion she had bought Betty Edwards` Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain and apparently absorbed it! I`m not saying she`s a prodigy, not yet. Nonetheless, it is so cool to see her excited by this. The camellia was a little demo I did while she was here.
My beloved Bryant Woods in its bleak soggy glory. This will be in the show Nature Perceived at the Grant`s Pass Art Museum Feb. 23-March 30. Joining me will be Ruth Armitage and Don Gray. Both are terrific painters and beautiful souls.
See the razor blade on my work table? Me neither. This is how a day of working with watermedia begins, searching for the razor to clean off the palette. During the Portland Open Studios I do a good cleaning and even organize some. It is remarkable just how fast I can trash my work space. Not deliberately of course but through concentrating on my project. I`m beyond shame.
News;
I didn`t win but I was a finalist to be the artist in residence at Halekala National Park! I will apply again and again until they let me stay in that crater.
Thanks to Jeremy McWilliams, my website has been updated.
My mini-interview on the Savvy Painter is now available. My ten minutes is near the end. It took me a week until I had enough courage to listen to my voice. What is with that? Nearly everyone has a mortal dread of hearing themselves recorded!
I`ve been asked to teach a workshop at the Seattle Artist League this summer. This would be fun and I`ve said yes. If I can. Since this blog is all about me, let me explain.
One of the reasons I wanted a break from blogging was to grapple emotionally with my disability. By November I could see I wouldn`t even be close to my predicted Christmas full recovery. It dawned on me that my situation was as good as it would get. But then it got worse so I had MRIs of both knees. They showed that the infection had deteriorated the 'good' parts of the knees which explained the sharp new pain. So I`m scheduled to see a new surgeon and probably will need total replacements, one at a time, in both. Bring it on. Although this isn`t life threatening like cancer, it has really messed with my mental health.
Ever wonder how Willem de Kooning began a painting? This audacious young man from the Museum of Modern Art will show you how.
My new hero, Carola Schapals. She has powers of observation that are incredible and a deep understanding of both nature and architecture.
new additions to my blog of available work;
Work for Sale
7 comments:
The new abstractions are wonderful! And of course, your wetlands paintings move me, always. Looking forward to seeing our show!
Love the Fanno Creek work.
Lovely piece by your sister-in-law. I’ll be sure to take a look at Schapals’s work.
So sorry to learn you’ve continued to have knee troubles. Perhaps you should come out to see the knee docs at Johns Hopkins, where they do state-of-the-art replacements. It’s where I’d go if I were looking at that kind of surgery.
Carola Schapals-wow1 This is a totally different level of skill. Amazing.
I really love the 9" x 11" on Yupo but honestly, they all seem like beautiful and distant spaces to me.
Ice fog. That sounds scary and treacherous but I bet it was haunting and beautiful. Nature doesn't disappoint does it?
I am sorry that I didn't realize you were having such trouble with your knees. Are you able to get around OK? I will be rooting for you with both surgeries and am sorry things didn't go well the first time. This sort of stuff shakes you to the core doesn't it and makes you reassess what is what. It's humbling and leveling, in my opinion.
You have been productive. Glad to see it. I will listen to that interview:)
Libby
Your new work is fabulous Randall. I have finally learned I can do two types of painting at the same time; I have struggled with that for years. So please continue with the abstracts too. Loving that yellow one!
Now about your knees. Your situation is every bit as devastating as cancer, trust me I know and I know how you're feeling. But look what you're accomplishing even through all this? You will be past this one day, and just imagine what your life will offer then!
It's great to see you back posting, but can you manage to maintain the level you have set for yourself with this epic new delivery of new work and news and information? It is jam-packed with beauty and sensitive narrative, which we have missed, so thank you for the return! The Fanno Creek work is soul-soothing. And I can't wait to see how your new materials influence your work.
Wow, just wow, Randall. Your eye for landscape and your skill at showing your audience how you feel about it continues to amaze me.
Oh, those ice fog paintings are beautiful! They are what is most beautiful about January, whereas in my everyday life of going to work in the dark and the rain and the cold I feel like I hate January. It's all a matter of perspective...
Great to listen to you, and hear your enthusiasm for Pinterest, the magic rabbit hole! The art that I find there just blows me away.
So sorry to hear about your knees but hoping that they improve and take a backseat again x
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