Chimayo Spring

                                                           watercolor on paper 22x15

Nice to be home again, nice to be working in my cozy man-cave/studio.
This is from the late 80`s, one of hundreds of images I had transferred from slides to DVD this winter. To my shock, a great many of them I have no memory of. I know what time of my life they were from, where I was living and by the execution, what my motives were but actual pieces, like this one, no recall. This was a prosperous time in my life, between recessions, and I think lots of stuff went out the door quickly. Anyway, I kind of like it. It will take me awhile to digest my month at Sitka, meanwhile here is a hopeful painting of spring for my friends in the East.


some available work

Over the Sea 26 - class demo

                                                         watermedia on Yupo 20x26

This was my demostration painting from this morning at the Newport Visual Arts Center. I was invited to paint for the Yaquina Art Association members. The site is stunning, perched on a bluff right above the ocean. The classroom has huge windows overlooking Nye Beach and the sea beyond. As I proceeded and explained my methods and intentions, I only had to glance up and out for inspiration. You can see the seascape outside, in the photos below. I had a special visitors too. Joan Corley  and her brother in law Frank Issac drove down from the Hood Canal in Washington to watch! An effort like that means a whole lot to me, I feel like I`m communicating.
Also, I`m working out details to teach a two day workshop in Lincoln City this summer at the Art Center, early July maybe.

available work in my studio

Over the Valley

                                                             oil on paper 15x22 1995

 The cloud is New Mexican and the land is the Willamette Valley. I was new to Oregon in the nineties and feeling my way through this new landscape.
 For the month of March I`ll be painting at the Sitka Center on the coast. The last residency I had there I was so intent on making the time count, I didn`t cook and turned feral eating just peanuts and cereal. I`m going to try to slow down, look around Lincoln City, drive up the highway and check out wetlands and beaches I`ve never walked on.


available work

Wetlands Somewhere Redux

Two years ago, as a demonstration painting, I did a huge cloud as an illustration of using the sky as a 'framing' tool. I`ve been painting so many trees lately, I need to get out of the forest for awhile. Space is the great gift of winter here. You can finally, easily see distances. The leaves are down and everything opens up.
oil on Yupo 26x20


available work in the studio

Fertility

So I had a  red cloud. I liked it. First there was a seascape underneath but that wasn`t working, too cold. A couple of years pass and I figure it out, it needed green. Something growing.
This isn`t a recommended way to paint but sometimes it takes time to understand what to do.
oil on canvas 10x8


available work in my studio

Distant Peak

Once again, the demonstration painting from today`s class. By restricting the color to only one, value [the degree of light, dark and in between] becomes all important. I read on someone`s blog, that color gets the credit but value does the work. Without the concern for color and therefore realism, a painter is free to emphasize something else. I think with less choice, something more pure in one`s intention results. Some simple, atmospheric work was done this morning.
watercolor on paper 17"x14"


available work

Wetlands Somewhere [again]

Look familiar?
Occasionally someone comes over to work with me.
This began as a demonstration the other day to show a mixed watermedia technique. Just as I did with the first version in oil last December, I chose a cloud as the subject because the sky is the most flexible, forgiving element in a landscape. I don`t usually repeat a painting this closely, but when I`m teaching, I want to paint things I`m fluent with to make my point.
watermedia on paper 12"x9"



Available Work