Monoprints!

                                                                             20x20

                                                                           15x11

                                                                         20x20

                                                                            15x11


 To make a monotype, one essentially paints an image on sheet of plexiglass, a piece of paper is carefully placed on top and then this 'sandwich' is squeezed through a printing press. The painting transfers to the paper with surprising results. It`s an exercise in non-attachment as the painting will not look like the print, just 'related'. I tried this 30 years ago and wondered why I didn`t just eliminate the whole 'creating through pressure' step and just do a painting. The question remains though I know the answer;

                                                         monoprint by Jason Mayer


 Jason, who claims not to be a painter, dashed this off in moments. That`s why I try.

                                                         monoprint by Forrest Moses


 The idea is to make something spontaneous, send it through the press and see what you got. Hopefully something fresh and spirited like this one by the New Mexican artist Forrest Moses.

                                                         monoprint by Edgar Degas


 Degas did some too!
My friend, the formidable artist Don Gray, turned his studio into a laboratory and invited me, Ruth Armitage, Jim Young and Jason Mayer over to play with this process for a couple of days. Our leader and technical advisor was Jason. He was an extraordinarily patient and thorough instructor and he did not get much of his own work done. This party included a sleepover for Ruth and me and Don`s wife Brenda saw to our nutritional needs. What fun! The experience was carefree much like the plein air painting I do with friends. Such simple intimacy is too rare in my life.

                                                                monoprint by Don Gray

                                                                    Don and Ruth

                                                         Hog Island oil on canvas 20x16


 I did it! Finally a painting of Hog Island that feels like the place.

It`s those murky shadows under the trees that get me. In summer, with the oaks leafed out, it is just another green view. The mystery is a winter pleasure.

                                                            by Lorrie McClanahan


 I have a new friend in Texas!  Lorrie McClanahan appeared to me on Instagram and we had a mutual sympathy with each others work. She is fearless as she explores all manner of mediums and materials.

                                                               by Lorrie McClanahan


 Artist Books are an important part of her practice. Look at this clever way she displays them on an acrylic shelf together;

                                                           books by Lorrie McClanahan



Instagram, btw, is a direct and effective means of interacting with interesting people/painters. See something you like? Write the artist a thoughtful comment and you`ll most likely hear back from them.

 My buddy Ruth Armitage is going to France and will be exploring color in the landscape with a handful of fortunate painters. She told me the other day that there were two spots open. She`s rented a chateau and has experienced, fun guides to whisk everyone from painting locations to villages to wineries to restaurants for seven days. Sounds amazing to me!

                                                La Sagrada Familia when finished in 2050


 This thing is nearly finished! I remember reading about it in an encyclopedia when I was a kid. I couldn`t imagine something taking over a hundred years to build. Guess it could. Probably won`t be open for worship in my lifetime but it`s getting close!

 In this photo you can see the final central towers emerging. How incredibly exciting!

 The architect, Antoni Gaudi, is a universally beloved artist. His designs are so rich in imagination, they delight the child and stun the adult.

                                                   The Sitka Center for Art and Ecology


April 16 is the deadline for applications for an artist in residency at the phenomenally nurturing Sitka Center. Trust me I`ve been one, this place is magic! The campus sits upon Cascade Head, a geological marvel that juts out into the Pacific. It is so pristine and healthy, it is a protected UNESCO site. Safe for introverts too, no communal anything!
Here are some photos I took in 2014;

                                                          The Marcia Burtt Gallery


 The wonderful Marcia Burtt Gallery in Santa Barbara California is featuring an online exhibition of my work on paper. Please check it out!

                                                     Gerard Depardieu enjoying his life



work for sale in my studio

Prints from Fine Art America

Untitled Rainforest + Sitka Invitational!

                                            Rainforest Fall oil on canvas 36x50


 I will probably use google translator to help find a different title but not now. The challenge here was keeping this fallen tree, a tree. Not so easy for me! People are always saying my trees are dancers so I worked hard to thwart any creature associations. In the dense forests along the coast, immense specimens will topple in a windstorm and soon be colonized by mosses and ferns. The hole in the canopy allows more light until the surrounding trees close in.

 The annual Sitka Invitational is coming up soon, just days before the election. This is about the best opportunity to see a whole lot of quality landscapes and nature inspired art work, ever! It`s huge!  I`ve written a lot about the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology on the central Oregon coast and this massive exhibition is in support of this worthy institution. They offer terrific unusual classes all summer and artist residencies in winter. I`ve had the great fortune to have painted there for a month, two different times. It sits on a flank of Cascade Head, a biologically diverse and protected rainforest and it is stunning!
 To promote the show, I will be doing a demonstration at the Dick Blick art supply downtown this Sunday [Oct. 23] 1 - 3 pm. I`ll be painting in watermedia, probably on Yupo.
On the last day of the exhibit, Nov. 6, I will speak about my work at 3pm.
Hope you can make it!


 If you haven`t seen it, let the Canadians comfort you in this bitter election season. We`re going to be OK but this sure hurts.

 And let David Hockney explain how image making is utterly human. That wonderful Brit, by the way, has spent a big chunk of his career celebrating America.


This week`s masterpiece is by Karl Klingbiel;

                                                    Lester Leaps In by Karl Klingbiel


 Isn`t that rich?! Oh my god, I could look at it the rest of my life! I love this guy!!


 Cat owners, I suspect that`s all of you who read this, are you tired of those plastic scoops breaking when you`re trying to pry up a urine soaked corner in the litter box? After buying dozens throughout my life, I finally had enough. Behold the Dura Scoop!;

$9.99! I could clean up after a lion with this beauty!


work for sale in my studio

Bryant Woods Spring

                                          Bryant Woods Spring oil on canvas 40x40


 From my unexpectedly beautiful walk in the rain last week in Bryant Woods.
I guess as the new normal, this Spring too is a month early. It`s beginning to feel like Northern California!
Lots of small experiments in this one. I wanted the forest to be in shadow but with a lot of color variety and texture. As usual this involves placing paint down in a given area then moving it around with squeegees and spatulas, cutting through it with rubber scrappers, wiping it with rags and drawing into the wet with q-tips. Section by section. Nearly every successful idea requires adjustments elsewhere. Eventually it coheres or doesn`t, more luck is involved than skill. But I don`t give up easily. The foreground was to be the brightest element just as the meadow was the day of my visit.


 The magnolias are out and as splendid as always! What an extravagant tree, it`s nearly embarrassing! These 8x8 studies on wood were created in 2008 for an arts benefit sale.

 In 1983 my brother Gary clipped a article out of the Oregonian newspaper and sent it to me in Santa Fe. It was a review of the poet Lewis Hyde`s book 'The Gift'. It had the provocative subtitle of 'Imagination and the erotic life of property'. [Since changed] Well that was too intriguing and I bought it immediately. Right from the start this guy started explaining the way art comes into being and why I found the life of an artist so confusing. I have never been quite as educated and consoled by a single book. I reread it every few years and always find new insights. The introduction is beautifully written and seductive. You can read it here and this includes a link to a pdf file you can download of the whole introduction. If you`re not moved, do stop, it`s not for everybody.

 The deadline to apply for a residency at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology on the gorgeous Oregon coast is fast approaching! April 18!
I`ve stayed twice and each time was exceptional. This is the perfect opportunity to really concentrate on a project, I highly recommend it.

                                                  Autumn Slough I-pad painting


 A study for a large painting I just completed and will post soon. Procreate is perfect for composing as it is easy to change things quickly.


My favorite Frida Kahlo;

                                     What the Water Gave Me by Frida Kahlo



work for sale in my studio

Demo-Sauvie Island + sketches + affordable frames

                                          Sauvie Island watermedia 18x18

 The last studio demonstration for a while was yesterday. I had floundered so at the last one, I needed to succeed. So I chose a 15 year old sketch to work from. It was so safe, my demo was about to conclude after just a half hour. And it was boring, which is unacceptable. Only when I was ready to fail did anything interesting happen.
 Chris and Tim Lally were there and she documented the process and my messy studio in a sweet tribute.
 I once was adamantly opposed to using photography in my process. I thought it was obvious when someone did. Young people can be so principled! I think it may be part of identity building. We often know who we`re not before we know who we are.
 When digital cameras became the norm, I learned a bit about Photoshop and saw that I could manipulate a photo any number of ways, including illuminating the shadows! The ease of cropping an image led me to slowly adopt this into my practice. Eventually, I realized this was a much more productive use of my time than sitting in a lawn chair sketching. Like many people, I don`t particularly like to draw even though I think it`s critically important. Working from a live model is the most fun I`ve had drawing and that may be because I had no agenda for those drawings. Or it may be because I was drawing naked people. With the tiny landscape sketches, they were for basic compositional purposes. I needed them! Now I`ve come to believe that drawing and memory are closely linked though I don`t have any data to support that. I think all the drawing I`ve done allows me to paint now with minimal references.
 Here are some of the minuscule landscape drawings that became the source of much larger paintings. The first was the one I used yesterday in my demo;

Marine Air oil on canvas 18x18

  This is a painting from that time [2000ish]

   

Jackie McIntyre told me about them a few years ago and she was right, they are affordable! The Canvas Place makes very attractive floater frames at a great price. There is one catch whether you want canvases or frames, they come in multiples. I recently bought some 12x12 black frames and they were a bundle of six for $62. I think if I had taken a painting that size into some of the frame shops around me, it would have cost a magnitude more than $10.50. I guess there are actually two caveats, the other being the buyer must attach the frame themselves. That meant a learning curve for me but I suspect most people could figure it out quickly. This company has even developed a floater frame for panels 1/4 inch or less. This was a response to the daily painter movement and the demand for something suitable for all those 6x6 squares! Great company, I`m even buying canvases from them now. Check it out.

Have you ever seen anything this beautiful? This marvel of geology is recent, accidental, growing rapidly and is on private property in a remote part of Nevada. It`s a 'fly geyser'. More pictures and the story here. Go to the end to see an astonishing aerial video.

 Robert Gamblin has been making high quality oil paints in Portland for years now. He is a gentleman. When their line of 'radiant' colors came out, I assumed [wrongly] they were like interference colors or opalescents. A gimmick in other words. Since they weren't too expensive I bought a tube of radiant turquoise. It was so opaque it radically altered anything I mixed it with. Even though transparency is a hallmark of my work, I`ve come to depend on it. I use it in small amounts and especially like to have it on my brush with some other color. The stroke is then two toned. The white is just dazzling and I use it whenever the brightest value is called for. I find it indispensable. 

Two days left to apply! $10! Going to be fun!

Four days left to apply for this opportunity of a lifetime!

no more studio demos for a while, I`ve revealed everything!

work for sale in my studio

Cold Fog in the Morning

                                                                 oil on panel 20x20

This was once this.
I did my best back in March but it just wasn`t something I wanted to keep looking at. That is a simple standard I can trust for my work, does it hold my attention?
I didn`t really know her writing, but I knew her story. When Maya Angelou died last week I thought "Oh shit, we`re on our own now". She made an art out of survival. It was wonderful to hear the tributes and listen to the excerpts from her readings and speeches. I ran across this little video of a beautifully filmed conversation she had with the comic Dave Chappelle, someone younger but with great moral authority as well.

Watermedia on Yupo Workshop, July 19 and 20, Lincoln City OR

work for sale in my studio