Window-'Re-dos'-ancestors

                                                                Window oil on panel 26x24


 When I paint purely from imagination, I can sure get bogged down in my compositions. Lots of trial and error to get this to look plausible. I`ve never seen such a view but I like the idea of openings leading to another 'reality'. Portals if you will. Coastal Oregon has so much in common with Hawaii, you can sit on the beach [with a blanket] and imagine the tropics just on the other side of those rocks.


Watercolors;

                                                                            6x6 paper

                                                           Grove 11x9 Yupo [plein air]


And here are some paintings I reworked. When I`m lacking an agenda in the studio, there are always lots of paintings around to improve or ruin.

                                                       Rainforest Windfall oil on canvas 40x56

                                              Streamside Spring watermedia on yupo 14x11

                                                     Fog in the Forest oil on canvas 40x30

                                     From Albuquerque to Home watermedia on paper 16x12

 A non-Tipton relative sent me a large box of Tipton memorabilia she had come into possession of. I poked through it some and it was wonderful to see photos of some of the elders I knew in New Mexico, younger and having fun. I`m waiting to be with one of my brothers to really dig in together. Ultimately I`ll share it with my Mormon niece who will know exactly how significant the trove is.
What the box will not contain is any information on my grandfather.
Anthony Meyers was a Catholic priest in Watrous New Mexico. He had a love affair with my grandmother Mary Tipton. The community was tiny and this scandalous relationship had to be hidden. When she became pregnant she fled to Durango Colorado to a home for unwed mothers where my father was born. She returned to New Mexico saying she had adopted her baby. She maintained that fiction well into my Dad`s life and as you can imagine this damaged him in many ways. There are many reasons I have so little respect for religious institutions and this a major one. It`s my understanding my grandfather never acknowledged my Dad as his son and the 'sin' of my grandmothers` tortured her the rest of her life. She was no fool, he had to have had compelling characteristics but they were imprisoned by their time and could not be honest. How utterly sad.
Priests still cannot marry.

                                                           painting by Harry Stooshinoff


 Harry Stooshinoff is a painter from Ontario Canada that I admire very much and have written about before. He takes the modest landscape where he lives and mines it for gold. His work is a rich exploration of what surrounds him. Then he sells them at very affordable prices. He`s really prolific and explains how he came to his unusual self representation in this podcast. It`s well worth listening to as he talks about practical matters such as economic survival and his business model. Great interview!

                                                              Harry Stooshinoff


 A friend asked me recently what my take on this 'virtue' of looseness in painting. My thoughts seem, even to me,  too extreme on the subject. Unfortunately it looks to me as just another way to impose hierarchy. The idea that an improvisatory technique is a pinnacle to strive for is absurd. Even if my own methods are described this way. I have the chaotic closets that prove it but others like more structure in their work [and lives too maybe]. The motives and means for painting are vast. It irks me to see earnest painters condemned for being 'tight' or careful or meticulous. Everyones nature is different! And the term plays into the worse stereotypes of artists. That we are irresponsible, libertine, unrealistic hedonists. Artists are so carefree!
Not at all, but we are resourceful. If you have a problem and a limited budget, talk to an artist before a lawyer.
 I can be an opinionated asshole about painting too but I try hard not to be. I shouldn`t criticize others. All life suffers, we know that. The painting path is rewarding but certainly not easy. Let`s try to be respectful and tolerant of all artists.

some work for sale in my studio

White Bird Show in Cannon Beach OR - September 1 through October 16
watercolor on yupo demonstration Sept. 23, 2 pm

Broken Spruce

                                                          Broken Spruce watercolor on Yupo 12x9


 Another on the theme of distance juxtaposed with decay, the mortal and the eternal. Georgia O`Keefe mined this vein thoroughly with her vistas and bones though the oceans in her work were vestigial. The Southwest was once submerged under the sea for millions of years.
The impulse for this came from walking around Cape Arago after teaching last July. The winter storms wreak havoc on the front line of the forest and it often looks like a battle scene. I visited the coast a few years ago after a severe storm and saw a whole hillside of young alders snapped off at the same place.

                                                      Harry`s Sunset oil on canvas 16x20


 The remarkable painter Harry Stooshinoff posted a similar piece on Facebook recently. I told him in a comment I was going to steal it. He didn`t warn me away and I did. Scale is an element he skillfully plays with.

                                                                Three Iris watermedia on Terraskin 13x9


 It was a week of tinkering and repairing as I thought about a big new painting to be. My favorite sort of studio time. Small projects, rescued paintings and ambitious ideas. Please return to my last post with an Icelandic waterfall in Gjain. It finally is right! Here are a couple of other improved older works;

                                                        Riverbank Study 14x11 watermedia on Yupo

                                                         Fiscalini Surf watermedia on paper 20x16


 The great jazz musician Toots Thielemans died in August at 94. His instrument was the harmonica and he could make it say anything! My Dad played harps as well and idolized this artist. He might be best known to the general public for performing the theme to Midnight Cowboy written by the phenomenal film composer John Barry. The melody is plaintive with just a bit of hope. Dad learned to play it for me because I thought it was so moving.
With the passing of Toots last month, many memories of my father and his musical life rose to the surface.
In the late 70`s I was living out in the country in northern New Mexico working at a restaurant that has become quite well known, Rancho de Chimayo. My parents were visiting from California and I took them to the restaurant for lunch. Tiptons are always running late so as we finished eating on the patio, most of the other guests had left. We had that well fed glow. All of the sudden Dad pulls a harmonica out of his pocket, puts it to his mouth and belts out a passionate rendition of Release Me! I remember feeling intense horror, pride and embarrassment all at once! Like a third grader, I wondered what everyone including my boss would think. We are a family of introverts. Friendly, but we look forward to retreating to our rooms. I sat there and wondered who he really was. If a person, even a father, is comfortable enough to be spontaneous with me, I take it as a compliment.

                                                 painting by Miguel Acevedo


Isn`t that a terrific painting! The placement of the clouds seems to compress the focus into a single moment in time!
I love good seascapes!! This seems to be a 'golden age' in this genre. Ran Ortner,  Dion Salvador Lloyd, Zaria Forman, Kurt Jackson,  Hanna Woodman, Ruo Li and many others are doing innovative outstanding work.

                                                                  Babytable


For the Lake Oswego Plein Air Festival, I intend to take into the forest a 26x40 sheet of yupo and paint in black and white watercolor. I have never painted anything close to this big on location and I`m excited to try. This will be on Friday the 23rd near the Red Fox Hills entrance to Tryon Creek State Park. I think I have the logistics figured out and will begin around noon. If you`re looking for me, send me a text; 503 380 4731



available work for sale in my studio

"New Landscapes" Coos Art Museum July 9 - Oct. 1

Early Spring Rainforest +Etsy

                                                     oil on canvas 20x20

 More of the alders and maples on the north side of Cook`s Butte. Such a beautiful little forest though none of the trees are large. It has been logged at least twice but in Oregon you can`t keep anything from growing.

 During the Q&A part of the gallery talk Tom Cramer and I gave the other night, the topic turned to livelihood. The audience was mostly painters and this issue always comes up. It always has. Everyone has to find their own way, mine was by way of a part time restaurant career that spanned 30 years.
 With the domination of the internet into nearly everyone`s life, new opportunities for commerce abound. Even for artists. Etsy has become a phenomenon showcasing all manner of hand made arts and crafts. With it`s own complex culture, I`ve never quite figured it out but I know it is earning a living for many artists. Such as the two fine painters, Harry Stooshinoff and Jeremy Miranda. Both work with the landscape. Harry explores his corner of Ontario with obsessive attention. His paintings always reveal something new in his familiar subjects, his dedication to the local environment is always evident. This commitment no doubt shows us his character.
 Jeremy, a former Portland resident, is juxtaposing man made structures within wild and moody landscapes. At a glance one might think surrealism but to me they explore the ideas of shelter and safety and our place in Nature. In my view, no one has painted the Oregon coast so truthfully.
 Both these guys have Etsy shops, both have well over a thousand sales apiece and over 500 positive reviews. What they have in common is affordable prices. This is their brilliant populist tactic. It`s a radical idea.
 I`m not sure at all how a mid career artist like me backpedals to such a stance, not yet anyway.
 I admire so much their independence and entrepreneurship! And with no loss of quality or integrity!

                                                          Barbara Demott

 Back in January, a new friend in British Columbia persuaded me to work with her over a weekend. Teaching causes me so much anxiety, I try not to do it. But Barbara was sure I had something to give her. Because I work so thin, I showed her how I use gravity by tilting the surface. Once home she took that idea and ran! Isn`t that the most gorgeous, emotionally accurate rainforest ever painted?!

 When I moved to Portland the first time in 1985, the Portland Building was new and extremely controversial. Nearly everybody was a vocal hater. Having just arrived I didn`t know any of the back story and just delighted in how quirky it was. It was like a child had made it out of Legos! When the architect Michael Graves died recently, I thanked him mentally for his service. Almost alone at first, he restored a humanity to modern architecture. Despite the ridicule.

                                              The Denver Public Library

 Then it became his mission to bring good design to the masses. He partnered with Target to produce many 'happy' household items such as his famous tea kettle;

I own one and love to water plants with it.
I recently bought a new cat carrier from Target Online that is absolutely elegant. I wanted a top loader, I hate mooshing a terrified cat into a long rectangular tube! This one works beautifully and I wonder if it too is a Michael Graves design?

 This is the last week for my show at the Museum 510 in Lake Oswego. The hours are 11-4 Tues. -Fri. Or call me, I have access after hours, including the weekend. 503 380 4731

I`ll demonstrate my watermedia technique there at 11 am this Thurs. the 26th.

work for sale in my studio

The Affordable Care Act is five years old!

Thank you President Obama!