Yellowstone Geothermal

                                                          watermedia on Yupo 20x20

My final painting of 2013.
 One of the most striking aspects of the geothermal fields in Yellowstone, is the stark contrast between the jewel like beauty of the pools with the devastated landscapes they create. Scenes of 'natural' violence and death surround these gorgeous, seductive waters. I read that tremors underground shift the access of the scalding water and suddenly whole forests have roots that are boiled alive! We joked more than once that it`s tough to be a tree in Yellowstone. Yet in some places, grasses colonize the areas very close to the water. Life will find a way.
 I was asked to list the colors pictured on my new palette in the last post. Since it was a true shopping spree, I couldn`t remember them all and had to look at the receipt;
Titanium White [I use lots of this to create translucency and to add 'liftability' to other colors]
Ivory Black
Sepia
Payne`s Gray
Cobalt Blue
Ultramarine Blue
Compose Blue
Emerald Green Nova
Cobalt Green
Terre Verte
Cerulean Blue
Compose Green #2
Lavender
Cadmium Orange
Mars Violet
Cadmium Red Orange
Yellow Ochre
Shell Pink
Jaune Brillant #1
Permanent Yellow Lemon
Naples Yellow
Permanent Yellow Deep
Golden Earth
Cadmium Red Medium
Hansa Yellow Light

 Now I don`t think for a minute all of these are necessary, this purchase was therapy.
 In 1985, when I worked with Diebenkorn, I was painting tonalist abstractions; lots of murky grays and browns. He pointed to the edges of my palette where the fresh, vibrant tube colors were, then to the center where I was mixing my mud, and asked "which would you rather look at?"
That was effective teaching!


work in the studio

Over the Foothills

 This was begun during my residency at Brush Creek Ranch in May of 2012. It used to be bigger. During our rainy orientation tour of the ranch, I saw a huge stand of bare cottonwoods that I wanted to paint. Once I could, I pulled out a giant sheet of Yupo and began with watercolors. With a vista, I usually give the sky some intense attention early, knowing it will set the emotional tone of the painting. That went well but those trees resisted all my efforts. With just two weeks to paint in  Wyoming, I set it aside and did a lot of smaller pieces. So a year and a half later now, I cut the painting down saving my 'good' sky, sealed it with varnish, then made a new landscape beneath the clouds in oil paints. This does capture the no-nonsense austerity of the late winter environment I experienced there.
watercolor and oils on Yupo [plastic paper] 12x34


work in my studio

Fumarole

It`s estimated there are around 4,000 fumaroles in Yellowstone National Park. Most of the ones I saw were in concentrations of geothermal pools. Once though, I was walking along a creek and came upon a singular vent shooting steam into the air just a few feet away from the cold flowing water. From an elevated view one can see them steaming all across the landscape. In places, the heat can be felt through the soles of your shoes. It is eerie and humbling to feel the inert earth itself quite alive and in motion.
watermedia on Yupo 6.5x7.5


White Bird Show
Waterworks Show

Portland Open Studios Tour [Oct]

Brush Creek

When I arrived at the ranch on May 1, the cottonwood and aspen groves along the creek were still mostly dormant. A Rocky Mountain winter takes a long time to let go. This particular place looked like it flooded repeatedly. There were rocks strewn about, broken trees and lots of dead vegetative stuff in heaps. It looked like a bone yard. But cottonwoods, despite their relatively short messy lives, are genuinely majestic. In the two weeks I was there, this circle of trees came alive! High above the chaos on the meadow beneath them, the branches sprouted tender new leaves and the atmosphere became ethereal.
oil on canvas 40x54


available work