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



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

Understory

                                                             Understory oil on canvas 36x60


 I`ve been locked in mortal combat with this painting the last 10 days. This is the second painting on this canvas and the process made me wonder if it ever got easier? Doesn`t experience count? I`m so sick of it, it will just have to be 'good enough' for now. Elizabeth Gilbert makes the point that perfectionism will make us crazy and that sometimes it`s best just to accept the work when it isn`t our best. Move on to the next good idea. All I wanted was to create an intimate sense of summer. Maybe I did...       No more green for a while!


Unknown works of Richard Diebenkorn have come into view at the Van Doren Waxler Gallery in New York! Look at this beauty;

                                                             Richard Diebenkorn work on paper


 And his sketchbooks were donated by his wife to Cantor Arts Center at Stanford and every single page is online! There is no better way to know what an artist thinks than by perusing their sketchbooks. They are the thing I grab when the house catches fire.


 Good news, bad news. Your spouses were right. There is enough research now to confirm that creative individuals have very high levels of psychopathology. But they also test extremely high for psychological health. It seems that contradiction and paradox are the norm. As if we need to be told! The coexistence of opposites is the engine of creativity.

                                                          Silver Sand oil on canvas 5x5

The Johnstone Financial Advisors give great advice, like good art, drink nice wine, and serve delicious hors d`oeuvres. Come meet them and me this Friday evening Feb. 5, 5-7 pm. The location is on 3rd St. just a block south of A [toward the lake] in downtown Lake Oswego.

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Red Surf-hospice

                                                                 oil on canvas 8x8 2010


The ocean is the source of life on earth and our blood is the same salinity as the sea.

My mother entered hospice this week and all trajectory stopped. At 88, after a lifetime of health problems, she said no more treatment. I admire her decision. How marvelous it is to see someone face imminent death without fear. That is a gift to the living. I`ve been present for a birth  and a death and the profound gravity and intimacy are similar. It`s a privilege to be there.
She`s watching a movie tonight, so it appears Mom lives another day!

                                        Barcelona triptych three oil on panels each 24x24


I delivered this commission to the building site of the Barcelona apartments. The project is to provide low income housing in the 'old town' part of Beaverton. I was 'hired' by the Kimberly Kent Art Brokerage. I find commissions really tricky because there isn`t a personal motivation propelling the painting. But the client liked my work, I was given the theme and the specs and I thought I can do this, I`m a professional.


My show in Oregon City continues through Dec. 23, though a couple of holiday related closures are happening. If you`d like to view it, give a call first.

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Moonlight - plein air - Bartow

                                         Moonlight on Oxbow Slough oil 20x16

This is a redo. I thought it was finished but it couldn`t stand the test of time. I didn`t want to look at it after only a month. Not good. When I like something, I linger over it, look at it in different lights, sometimes take a picture on my phone so I can see it in bed in the morning, there`s  a minor obsession involved. So I had to try again and this time I got it.

The plein air festival in Lake Oswego ended last week, I painted four of the seven days. I really enjoyed it too thanks to engaging friends, sublime weather and Oregon`s embarrassment of riches, its natural beauty.
Here I am with Ruth Armitage submerged in the tall grasses and trying to paint the creek just a few feet away;

Burt Jarvis took the photo and that`s his set up in the foreground. Although we were trespassing, his family had once owned this property at the mouth of Tryon Creek and he had great stories of his young life, right there!
I was painting with watercolors when it began to rain. That`s not a happy combination and it`s disastrous if working on Yupo. My piece was ruined but the experience was fun.
A couple of days earlier I did this painting of Oswego Creek;

                                       Oswego Creek Pool watercolor on Yupo 12x9


 A long time hero, Rick Bartow, has been given a retrospective at the Jordon Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon. I don`t get out much but I wasn`t going to miss this. I asked Eugene friend Carol Marine to join me;

 The show was huge and emotional. This artist is such an interesting man, he gives it all to the project he`s working on. Having spent much of my life in New Mexico among lots of sentimental 'Native American' art that seemed made for tourists, Rick`s work is refreshingly dark. It`s in his sculptures that his inventive mind really shines;

And he`s a fine painter as well. I saw florals I wasn`t aware of;

and the more familiar animal/human metamorphosis;

Then Carol and I did some painting on location at the Clearwater Park in Springfield. Not in love with my effort though I did seem to suggest sunlight and shade;

                                          Springfield Plein Air watercolor 14x11


Here`s a better plein air painting from a couple of years ago;

                                             Minto Brown March watermedia 12x9


Wayne Thiebaud is probably the most beloved of living American painters. For good reason too, his paintings are imbued with joy;

Here is a wonderful, in depth profile.

In conclusion, I have a product endorsement.
If you`re a sweathog like me, or married to sweathog, take note of this sunscreen which [so far] does not melt and leak into one`s eyes! Stinging blindness while out in the summer bliss is the leading cause of sunscreen non-compliance. This stuff stays put! The texture is sort of challenging, it`s super sticky and you need soap to get it off your hands.  Available at Costco;

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I-Pad Paintings - the East - Mother Ireland!

                                                                        Volcano!

                                                                 Botanical Garden


 I did these on the plane last night, I think I`m making progress!

We stormed the East!
Beginning in Boston, we celebrated my talented niece Mackenzie`s graduation from BU. With her mother, her sisters, their significant others, John and me all in one beautiful historic Air BNB. That was fun! Any time with the nieces is predictably joyful! Here is the graduate with her extraordinary sisters Elizabeth and Stephanie;

 Next we took NYC by bus! Bolt Bus! Who knew buses could be pleasant?
My old pals John and Sandra showed us hidden corners of Queens where they live, and escorted us to the High Line and then the Tenement Museum for a humbling lesson in perseverance. But we mostly talked while I admired their children. The babies I used to hold are now kind, competent adults. I had to withhold myself so they wouldn`t feel interviewed.

 New Rochelle was our final destination.
In 1973 when I was just 19, a dropout from college and art school, I found my way to a communal farm on the North California coast. There I met Lake, a single Mom of a two year old girl. She was 28. Other than my parents, she has been the most influential person in my life. A New Yorker for years now, she is a maniacal gardener,  a lover chickens and all other birds, an amazing cook and a friend extraordinaire. Isn`t she lovely?

John took this picture of me painting from the second story of her home, a rehabilitated barn;

This is what I painted;

                                                 Sky over New Rochelle watercolor 12x9


She paints too;

                                                 Home by Lake Charles watercolor


 We went to the incomparable New York Botanical Garden to see a rare and interesting show by  Frida Kahlo.

On my last visit to New York in 2007, Lake introduced me to the dynamic artist Debra Coulter. She knew my work from the web and was full of praise. Though I don`t remember hearing about this, she used some of my paintings to teach her young students about landscape painting. I saw her again a couple of nights ago and she gave me a flash drive of their work. I have to say, these strong paintings challenge the delicacy common to my stuff. Take a look, first the student`s, then mine.

                                                                 Aidan 2014

                                                                      Devin 2013

                                                                    Gillian 2011

                                                                    Matthew 2011

What an ego trip! Thanks Debra!

Now I want to thank Ireland. Nearly as monumental to me as the Supreme Court reversing DOMA and Prop 8 two years ago, the Irish vote for marriage equality last Friday was stunning in its overwhelming numbers, its insistence that all love is worthy. The huge expatriate vote brought me to tears. The fair, open hearted Irish should understand that they released scores of children from bullying and torment. This is the gay agenda! Make our god given natures so ordinary it`s unremarkable. The Irish should also know this gives courage and hope to those persecuted in Cairo, Moscow, Kingston and Kampala.
Beautiful Ireland!

Lake Oswego Plein Air Paint Out is next week, I hope I bump into some of you!

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Glacial Lake + advice from the Master + LO plein air!

                                                        oil on canvas 30x24

 Contrary to how I always work, this did not come from a visit with a mountain. Not recently anyway. This unwound after covering two previous failed paintings, the last one a larger version of this view of Oswego Lagoon. I turned the canvas 180 degrees and began painting it with light colors. I was just trying to cover it up before beginning something new. Then this landscape took shape as I was concealing the dud. From the top working to the bottom, each new section fell into place. It was a strange experience and what is most odd is how specific a place it looks like. I definitely broke rule #5!

 Though I have trouble believing that is Richard Diebenkorn`s handwriting, the language and tone sound exactly right. These were notes he wrote for himself and he would probably be horrified to know they were now widely read. When I worked with him in 1985, he noted my interest in patterns but advised I must always 'violate' them. He was right. By interrupting the repetition, the whole feels less 'designed' and there is greater figure/ground integration.
 Such a beloved, influential painter! He was gone much too soon.

                                       Black Mesa from Chimayo-Night oil on canvas 48x30

Above was a piece done about a year before the month long workshop with Diebenkorn. I was doing lots of paintings with layers, stacking up the landscape elements like a tower.

                                             Parade watermedia on paper 46x32

 This was done soon after. I wrenched myself, with his encouragement, from those orderly rows.

 My show with Tom Cramer proceeds at the Museum 510 gallery space in downtown Lake Oswego. The official hours are limited Tues.-Fri. 11-4, but if anyone would like an 'after hours' look, I have access to the gallery. Just give me a call; 503 380 4731

 Tom and I will be speaking about the work in an informal talk Thurs. evening, March 19 at 6:30 pm.
The following Thurs. March 26, I will be giving a demonstration at the gallery at 11 am. All are welcome.

In my own studio, I will be demonstrating with watermedia this Sat. March 14 at 10 am. 5373 Lakeview Blvd. Lake Oswego 97035

 The city of Lake Oswego is having another plein air festival! Read all about it here! I`m participating and need some companions to paint with! My community is a beauty, lots of good places to paint! The public is invited to watch us.

 The exciting Willamette Falls Legacy Project is entering its next phase! It won`t be too long before something gets built! Oregon City is about to be reborn!

In closing, here is an article which was posted by encaustic artist Linda Robertson on Facebook. It`s about creativity and time management. It sure helped me understand my obsessive need to paint and the social fallout from that. It gets more intense with age. I`ve come to really resent sleeping for instance. When I was young, that was near the top of my list of pleasures! Now I force myself to bed. The great British artist Frank Auerbach began sleeping in his studio and refused social invitations at 78. He felt he was running out of time. I`m happy he`s still with us at and now 83.

                                                          Frank Auerbach


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I support President Obama