Adrift

                                                        Adrift watercolor on Yupo 14x11


 Though the release from pain has been joyous, to my surprise, a surge of innovation did not rush in. So as I often do, I tinker. My studio has lots of failed or unfinished paintings about. There are many opportunities for rescue.
 As rapid as my recovery has been, I`m careful not to over extend my new knee. So I haven`t yet been back to some of my sources of inspiration. However we are planning a visit to Minto Brown Island. I`ve never been there in the summer and its cool muddy lagoons will be seductive and quiet. I will happily work with the thousand shades of green.
 Meanwhile, these are what I`ve been up to;

                                                  FC Wetlands watercolor on Yupo 14x11


 Because it`s always best to have a paintbrush in hand when inspiration sweeps in, sometimes I`ll do something I`ve already done. Usually in a different medium like I did here. The site, the confluence of Fanno Creek with the Tualatin River, is dense with possibility. What I mean by that is not just the beauty but also the spatial relationships of trees to water to grasses. That couple of acres is almost Japanese in its elegant proportions.

                                                 Flood Plain watermedia on paper 12x16


 As I remember, I had recently returned from the Finley Wildlife Reserve and I was trying to depict the delicate new grasses arising from a huge field that had been underwater. I believed she texted and said she was in the area and wanted to meet me. I said sure and because I was already in process with this, she watched me paint. Probably because I was talking, that fresh green field turned into a scene of apocalypse right before our eyes. Oh well. She was worth meeting.

                                            As the Moon Rises watermedia on yupo 14x10


 As the Moon rises, eyes of the animals rise from the forest into her light.
That was the opening sentence of a poem I read in 1970 in a library. I`ve been trying to find the complete work ever since, to no avail. With the internet, I should be able to find it but haven`t.


 Notorious Pam was here again doing what she does best, redistributing wealth. She was on a mission and when she was through she had bought nine of my best works on paper! She sent me photos after they were framed;

 She sure did honor the paintings! Thank you Pam, you do beautiful things.



 Among the many sad aspects to living with chronic pain is how small your world becomes. In my recent experience, I couldn`t shake the feeling that I was at the end of my life. Time to wrap things up. It wasn`t rational, I know what the actuarial tables predict but it was there. My family assured me it was the legs and they were right. I`m appalled at the idea now and feel sorry for that guy getting ready to go. I feel better than I have in years. Far more than I should after having atrophied for so long. And to my delight, arthritis elsewhere in my body, such as the other knee, is mostly gone!
 The universe sent me this story just the other day;

                                                                       Trudy Smith

 She was lonely after her husband died so she took up painting. She was 85! Read her remarkable story!

John says we need to paint the house.
If my house looked like this one in Burkina Faso, I`d just sit on the lawn and look at it.

                                                                     by Endre Penovac


 This is why I love watercolor.

                   In Mexico this dog walked through a parade for the Pope thinking it was for him





work for sale in my studio [updated]

Arch Cape Creek

                                                      Arch Cape Creek oil on canvas 20x20


 Nine years ago today I began this blog. What it means for me has changed over time. Its promotional aspect is still my priority but now I also think of it as a journal of sorts. This may be why I`m so surprised when I hear someone reads it. Thank you for doing so! I never thought what I said would be of interest particularly when my passion was painting. A blog visitor told me she reads it to her husband at dinner! Now that is gratifying.
I`ve thought if my eyes failed I would take up writing seriously. Try to study with somebody I admire. But for now, I`ll focus on painting. It`s been going well, it feels natural again.
 Nine years ago, I had no idea my world would be forever sadder. I did not know on July 1, my comic and dear brother Gary would be given the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer in three weeks, then die two months later. This is when I finally grew up. This is when I understood at last how fragile reality is.
Pancreatic cancer is very fast once it is obvious. There is no 'pap smear' test to alert us but there are some warnings. Please look these over.

                                                  Slow Summer Water oil on canvas 56x44


 This was in my show at the Coos Art Museum last summer. Before I sent the paintings off I carefully reviewed each one for glitches. I had time for corrections, then away they went. When I retrieved them in the fall, several seemed to have glaring problems. They didn`t change, it was me. So I`ve reworked some of them including the one above. It`s better now.

Below are my last two small plein air efforts. The weather has been sublime and I`ve been much more inclined to relax and soak in summer once we`re set up, than paint. With all the walking I do [or did], I rarely just sit outside and do nothing. It`s nice. Smells good.

 Here is a thoughtful set of remarks by professionals in the art market. The demise of smaller, less well heeled galleries has been accelerating. The usual culprit, the internet, is to blame. Collectors are buying from the artists directly, from the comfort of their homes. Like everything else.
I got involved in this when my Portland gallery closed just before the Big Recession.The galleries that still did represent me were not close and I felt I had to try something to earn some income. This blog was part of that effort and it was the best business decision I ever made. It definitely begat sales and even better, led to friendships. Strangers wrote to me, bought paintings and some became companions.
The downside to all this oncoming digital commerce is that real places to see art are intimate, offering a richer experience. Local venues will take chances on unknown artists too. My first show in New Mexico [1978] was at the Los Alamos public library. Because a gallery owner saw it, I was offered representation in Santa Fe. Good things happen when our communities have the opportunity to experiment. The pop-up shows of recent years are a great example. Portlander Chris Haberman came up with the idea for a huge show of affordable work created by 500 different artists at Christmas time. Brilliant! It earns the artists some cash and exposure and benefits the worthy Oregon Food Bank.
 I hope there will always be art galleries.

 It`s shocking, but listen to the new advertisement from the NRA if you haven`t seen it. It`s important to know what the opposition thinks although this is obviously inflammatory.
We really have so much more in common than our differences.
We are always better together.

                                                                   by Su Sheedy

                                                            by Su Sheedy


 Finally the glorious, intelligent paintings of Su Sheedy! Damn, I can look at one of her paintings for hours! They are so generous, teaming with squirming, pulsating color! Mesmerizing! So skillful in balancing such strong color with patterns and neutrals. Her work makes me glad to be alive.


This is as good a definition as I`ve ever heard;

work for sale, mostly in my studio

Tyron Creek Autumn

                                       

                                                               Watercolor on Yupo 26x20

  My first post from an I-Pad!

We're at the coast and it's beautiful, Oregon style. Which is quite different than the beach experiences of my young life in S. Calif. I couldn't stay out of the water as a kid. The contrast is why our neighboring state has many more millions of citizens than Oregon. Even on a perfect summer day, at this latitude, you don't really want to turn your back on the ocean. It's not your friend. So we fly kites, beachcomb, eat a lot of candy, shop, sit around fires, maybe wade a bit depending on your age, and love the sea very respectfully. 

 I'm crazy about my adopted state, but I'm grateful I grew up swimming in the ocean. A thousand miles south. I miss Laguna Beach a little on a sparkling day like today.

Portland Open Studios Tour - Unposted New Work

 By now, anyone at all who visits this blog knows that I`m taking part in the Portland Open Studios Tour this weekend and next. Please come by if you can. Maps with the locations of all the artists are being sold at New Seasons Markets and I have some too. The organization asks that we not post our address publicly because the sale of those maps and calendars finances the tour. If you`d only like to visit me, which would be missing out on some wonderful work, email me for the location of my studio. I will be demonstrating a mixed watermedia technique on Yupo at noon each day and may have a chance to continue painting as the day progresses. Here are some recent paintings that I never blogged about but they`ll be in the studio too, as well as large and small canvases and many works on paper.

other available work

Spring Hillside

From a drawing I did in Portland`s Japanese Garden.
This story is off topic but it`s a good one. Believe it or not;
In 2006, when it was still legal, my friend Pam was introduced to online slot machines by her father. She`s not much of a gambler but she gave it a go, depositing a small amount in the 'bank' with her credit card. While waiting for her husband, before going out one evening, she decided to play. In short order, she won over $600,000!! Of course she couldn`t believe it so she called her Dad and after hearing the details, he said it sounded real. There was paperwork, taxes and red tape and it took nine days to get the money into her account. On that day, again waiting for her husband, she returned to the website and played again. Within minutes she won! Also over $600,000! Now, she`s sort of terrified and wondering, what does this mean? But this jackpot too proved to be a reality! This where it gets fun, she`s exactly the kind of person you hope good fortune comes to. With her smarts and good values, those funds were going to do things! She invested some, spent some frivolously such as flying her nephews to DC to see the museums, gave a lot away to worthy causes and she bought art. My art. In the fall of that year, she flew to Portland, rented a car and arrived at my house with a mission. She chose maybe a dozen paintings, some for her family members and she pulled from her purse a huge roll of cash to pay for them. That money allowed me to leave an unhappy job and become a full time painter.
She was just here for a visit last weekend. Since junior high in the 1960`s, I`m happy to call her my friend.
watermedia on paper 21"x 14"

Minto Brown March 2 - Reed Canyon Spring

Two different moods seven years apart. The Minto Brown stuff is ongoing, and the somberness of those wetlands is the thing that attracts me.
In my former neighborhood, I often went to the Reed College campus to hang out in the improbable canyon which cuts right across the school. Crystal Springs originates here and it`s the last free flowing spring in Portland. The place was an oasis for me and many paintings resulted from my visits.
I sold the painting to a senior woman who drove out from Boise ID, alone, to buy it in between kidney dialysis appointments.  It was a humbling compliment.
oil on paper 16"x12"
oil on canvas 48"x36"


available work