Riverlight[s] - Reflections

                                                           Riverlight 1 oil on canvas 20x20

                                                           Riverlight 2 oil on canvas 20x20


 These are new paintings of the Tualatin River near where it joins the Willamette southwest of West Linn. The bluff shades the river much of the time with bits of the shore in sunlight.


My show at the White Bird Gallery continues, please take a look if you`re on the north coast.
And opening next Saturday, Aug. 1 is a group show of work with the theme of 'Oregon City' at In Bocca al Lupo Fine Art. I was asked if I`d like to participate and agreed as a prompt to finally paint a view of the falls and the mills that I`ve had in mind for years. Definitely out of my comfort zone with all the straight lines and perspective;

                                                       Oregon City January 30x48 oil on canvas


 After seeing how Astoria has reinvented itself two weeks ago, I`m confident Oregon City has a similar future. The Willamette Falls Legacy Project is going to turn that town into something radiant. Investors take note!

Yesterday I moved some of my late brother Gary`s paintings to my studio for storage or possibly resale. He would have been 68 two days ago and started buying my work when he was in his twenties and I was still a teen. The quality of his collection is therefore quite mixed. Now seven years since his death, his wife Mary has decided to sell the house and move into something smaller and more practical with all the girls adult and on their own. It`s a poignant moment. Having these pieces around me has sure made me miss him. There was nothing equivocal about him and his instincts were good. Though not his taste. He also collected those porcelain plates with fairy tale illustrations on them and glass crystal balls which were everywhere in his bachelor condominium. His wife was first his employee at Hewlett Packard and she tells a funny story about a meeting his staff had in his home. Being completely unhomophobic, he had watercolors of naked men I had done on the walls, about a dozen of the obnoxious plates on the mantel and at least one colored crystal ball on every level surface. Everyone  respectfully kept on topic with nervous glances shooting all around the living room. He was so funny and such a leader, smart supervisors just let him be himself.
This was before Carly Fiorina trashed the company. Now she wants to be President!?
Here is one of the paintings;

                                                       watermedia on paper 48x36


work for sale in my studio

Winter River-re-do`s-Oregon City

                                                  Winter River  oil on canvas 24x24

 In January I happened to be walking in Brown`s Ferry Park along the Tualatin River on a gorgeous mild sunny day. The park has plenty of paved walkways but also a muddy path right along the water`s edge. In the low angled sunlight the bare branches had a golden glow that reflected in the flat glassy water.

 Almost ready for our show in downtown Lake Oswego! My pal Tom Cramer will be showing his relief wood carvings and pointillist paintings.
 In assembling my work, I could see a couple needed new attention;

                                          Rainforest Clearing  oil on cradled panel 20x20

 This was first painted last year at Sitka and looked like this. Not bad but I think I was too persuaded by my reference photo. In reworking it, I just relied on memory.

                                             Oswego Creek Spring oil on canvas 30x24

 This has been a favorite but something I couldn`t identify was off. Finally, I could see that the shoreline was too hard. Now it is softer.

 Last night Roxanne Colyer Clingman`s relocated gallery, In Bocca al Lupo, celebrated its new life in historic Oregon City. The place was mobbed and there was genuine excitement that a 'real' gallery was joining the community.
 I tell anyone who will listen that this town is almost ripe. With the huge redevelopment of the Blue Heron paper mill and access to the falls a certainty, this town is going to mega blossom! The Willamette Falls Legacy Project is doing this right. Lots of public input, sensitive to the native first inhabitants, the courageous early entrepreneurs, its industrial heritage and the unique natural beauty, the whole downtown area is poised to become something wonderful. Even better than it is now with it`s friendly funky atmosphere. Mark my words, in 10-20 years, OC will be renown as an arts center. The New York Times will have features on the best galleries and restaurants. Artists know these things, pardon my immodesty. I had a studio in the Pearl District of Portland before anyone ever called it that. The reason is simple, artists want and need affordable studios in interesting and/or beautiful places. Often these neighborhoods have been mostly abandoned. Artists come in because it`s cheap and eventually gentrification begins. This doesn`t have to be a negative development. With oversight and careful zoning, a diverse, dynamic community can evolve. That`s the plan in Oregon City. I`d love to live here if I could talk John into leaving Lake Oswego.
 When I lived in Portland, I was shamefully ignorant of Clackamas County. What was there to know? Who cared? Portland was so eccentric and fun and beautiful and it was even affordable. As long as you were renting. We were hesitant and skeptical new residents down here but it had everything we had prioritized at a price we could afford. I`m happy we came.
 Here are a couple of photos of the industrial core of OC;

Finally this joyful painting from the late Norbert Schwontkowski. Quiet and exuberant!

work for sale in my studio

Plein Air Oregon City

The day could not have been more beautiful, my subject could not possibly have been more complicated. On the rare occasion I paint on location, I sit down with the painting on my lap using watercolors. That didn`t work out so well, I couldn`t see what I wanted to paint.  So I stood on the Promenade, above the industrial district, balancing my board on a column and did my best. This was the view;

I`m not a straight line kind of painter but I`ve always thought the mills were fascinating visually. I focused on just a section of one a couple of years ago;

Earlier in the morning, John and I toured the defunct Blue Heron Paper Mill and heard all about the ideas to restore and develop the 23 acre abandoned property. The location is just sensational with the Willamette Falls right beside it. Oregon City was our state`s first capital and I also learned it was the first industrial area west of the Mississippi River with it`s mills and hydroelectric power station. This project is one of the most exciting urban redevelopment schemes I`ve ever heard of. I plan to be involved somehow. Below are some photos from the tour including one of my fiance! We got our marriage license yesterday from the great state of Washington! We need a wedding within 60 days!

available work in my studio

Portland Open Studios just a week away!

Canemah Rock

Between deluges I painted on location the other day in historic Canemah. This is the place where Native Americans and later, settlers got out of their canoes and boats and walked them around the falls you see in the photo. We painted near the cemetery in an open meadow on a basalt bluff overlooking the Willamette River. I was almost done with the rock when it started to mist. Needing to work fast, I got out some ink and blacked out the background and squirted some liquid white acrylic in the foreground to simplify it and called the session over.
watermedia on paper 9"x12"


work in my studio