Showing posts with label contemporary landscape painting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label contemporary landscape painting. Show all posts

Thursday, August 18, 2022

Fair Kansas!

                                   Across the Canal, Aug. 22, watermedia on Yupo 26x20 inches 


Thank you Kansas! Your unequivocal common sense vote to uphold reproductive freedom sent a clear and strong message to our countries 'leaders'.  No, you can`t roll back 50 years of settled law to reimpose limits on a woman's right to choose her own destiny! No one thinks of women as property anymore, who do you think you are?? A 6 to 3 vote of the Supreme Court to allow laws forcing a woman to bear a child is an outrage. Even the conservative citizens of Kansas understand that. People have sex for pleasure, women cannot be condemned if there is a pregnancy. Every child begins with the sperm as well as the egg, yet men are nowhere to be found in these ridiculous laws. This really does change everything. The Republican Party is trying to forcibly inflict its religious views on everyone. This will not prevail and it could very well hasten the end of that cruel, criminal and delusional party. The sleeping tiger is now awake, be careful what you wish for.





Human beings have a splendid new example of what we can do when talent, resources and vision are united toward a worthy goal. The James Webb Space Telescope is a triumph for all humanity. Twenty six years in the making, this incredibly sensitive device will be able to see some of the origin of the universe. Projects like this and efforts to slow down global warming are the tasks that should animate governments now. And maybe, finally, can we find a better, more efficient way to desalinate water? When the glaciers are gone, we will have no choice but to drink the ocean.



                                 Over the Sea, Aug. 2022 watermedia on Yupo 26x20 inches


  Another new painting, this one inspired by a day on the coast that was perfect. Warm and clear as a bell. The towns were packed with visitors loving this rare occurrence. This far north, the Pacific Ocean doesn`t deliver many calm beautiful summer days. If it is hot inland, that usually sucks in a big cold fog bank onto the shore. I wanted to paint the joyful feeling.



                                               Rivershore watercolor on Yupo 26x20 inches


 And another though this was preceded by a study from a couple of years ago. The problem with those small experiments is they can satisfy the original impulse. Nothing more evolved or ambitious is necessary. This idea lingered because I found the monochromatic quality so interesting. Below is the brush I used for the grasses. I think it is called a dagger. I don`t remember buying it but I collect all sorts of brushes. They each do at least on thing really well. This one seemed magical it was so responsive.



 Because I was using Yupo, I mixed in some gum Arabic with the paint to make those pale washes and strokes stick instead of slide away. That is a real negative aspect to Yupo, it wants to flow with the gravity.



                                         Crossing the Stream watercolor collage 14x11 inches

More repurposed paintings turned into collage.


Nieces, nephews listen up; The second Sunday of August, every August, is National Gay Uncles Day! Yeah, no one told me either, but here we are. Now we know. Now the gratitude can commence. At last a little justice. Dear nieces and nephews, don`t hold back any longer.



                                                                Maja Lisa Englehardt

                                                                      Emily Mason

 These two painters have done what I have attempted. They have merged abstraction with landscape in a personal, unique way. This kind of work is exciting.





I can`t help but find this funny. I`m completely sympathetic with her plight but this cows affection would not be denied. I hope there was a nearby bathroom.





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Friday, September 3, 2021

Late Summer

                                          oil on paper oil panel 12x12 inches, 30.5x30.5 cm


 After over a year of troubled solitude, I got busy. I delivered 21 large watercolors on yupo to the White Bird Gallery in Cannon Beach OR. It opens in mid-Sept. and I will post all of the pieces here in my next blog post. This is my first exhibit of watermedia on the plastic paper from Japan called Yupo. I began using it in 2005 and it gradually became my favorite surface to paint on. It is such a brilliant white, light reflects through almost any paint layer. They have a kind of radiance that is unique. I`ve devoted much of my life to learning how to work with the slippery stuff. Paint is not absorbed like with true paper, it has to evaporate. This is where the big challenge happens. Even with a perfectly level painting table, the paint will move. Walk away to the bathroom and return to a different painting. It is so slick, I`ve developed lots of strategies to keep the paint stable. These include a constant use of a hairdryer, gum Arabic or acrylic medium added to the paint to make it more sticky, elaborate tilting of the painting board beneath the Yupo to direct a wash, applying watercolor in a dry stick form, and subtle blotting techniques to achieve the correct density. It`s a lesson in gravity every time.

So anyway, the show is a big bunch of them mostly unframed. They will be hung on the wall using clips. I had a few framed to show how they look properly presented and had one of them mounted on board and framed without glass. This was surprisingly affordable and looks great. I finished all of them with a matte varnish with UV protection. I`m hopeful a collector will understand the savings involved with rolling up a painting to take home in a tube, is substantial. Shipping work with glass can be done safely but the buyer pays for that extra caution. I`m grateful the gallery agreed to this unconventional manner of presenting the work. Framing everything would have a prohibitive cost. Here is one of them;


                                              Summer Cliffs watercolor on Yupo 26x20 inches


This one will be there too. It was used to promote a local festival;


                                            Coastal Nocturne watermedia on Yupo 26x20 inches


 I have used Yupo for so long in such focussed concentration, I think the company should acknowledge me somehow. Give it to me free maybe, although it isn`t too expensive. I have written them and sent photos of the work to no avail. A different corporate culture I suppose.



                                         Summer Pond watermedia on yupo collage 12x12 inches


 Those watercolors that don`t turn out well often have something nice in them somewhere. I can cut them up and reassemble them to my liking. In the one above, I was aiming for a high school biology experiment vibe.
Here are a couple more new paintings;



                                                         oil on canvas 20 inches diameter


Believe me, it was completely disorienting to paint a circle. Without a fixed point of reference, it was almost impossible to proceed. What is top or bottom? I imagine something true to life might have been easier. The palette here was inspired by the audacious colorist Morgan Russell.



                                             Overflow oil on canvas 30x24 inches, 76x61 cm


 I want these new abstract paintings to be honest in their reference to nature but not have a realistic quality. The way light animates the landscape is worth emulating but I don`t need the logic coming from representation.



                                                                       Linda and Todd


The newlyweds came to Oregon for their belated honeymoon! He is my closest buddy since 7th grade and she has a long time relationship with the Oregon coast. Thirty years ago on a business trip she stumbled upon the Inn at Otter Crest and has been coming out frequently from Nebraska ever since. We joined them there and had the best time. This resort was well built in the 1970`s and even with the dated architecture, it still felt intelligent and extremely comfortable. Not to mention gorgeous and surprisingly inexpensive. Because she knew the area so well, we ate at the most delicious places in Newport and Depoe Bay.



I saw this on a Portland subreddit. This is why I love this city. This is why the civil and friendly Portland will be evident again. There is a wild generosity here. I felt it and benefited from it immediately. I believe it comes from the land itself. Its outrageous fertility. This letter will brighten the mood of all;

Dear Portland, A letter from that teacher who asked you for rocks...

A little while ago I shared with you all that I was a teacher who was putting together a nine-month rock exhibit at my school. I teach at a program for kids who are working on behavior stuff and, to be honest, many of them aren't quite ready for field trips to quiet museums. I take that as a challenge-if the student can't go on the field trip, then the field trip must come to the student.

So, for much of the past year I have been taking my small but nice classroom rock collection and turning it into a nine month, changing exhibit so every month the kids at my school will see the magic that a simple rock can be. (LOL...simple as in-mined from the bowels of the earth, cleaned, cut, polished and shipped halfway around the world).

Portland and the world in general stepped up. My gofundme brought in almost $700 which was incredible but it was the Portlanders who dropped things off at my house that makes my jaw drop. A whole bucket of PUMICE and a second bucket of PETRIFIED WOOD. (floating rocks and petrified wood...enough for every student in the WHOLE SCHOOL to have a piece!). One person was moving into a smaller place and left half of her cherished rock collection. A teacher from Florida sent me a baggie of million year old shark's teeth. Enough for every kid in my grade level, but then someone else bought a bigger bag of shark's teeth so every kid in school could have one. There is a company that makes mini museums that sent me a bug in amber, and a trilobite AND a piece of a space capsule that has been on the moon. A local geological club is going to let me come pick stuff out of their storage. A man sent us a diamond. A lady sent us little bags of polished rocks, one for each student while another one sent me a five pound bag of them.

You all, there have been so many acts of kindness that if I made a full list you would cry. Like I am right now because this list is so incredible and I'm so touched that in these hard times, so many people have stepped up for my kids, and my whole school of kids. (I'm talking to you person who sent me toothbrushes for every kid at school). My administration is so excited we are now planning a science night where our whole community will get to see everything at once!

So, with all that kindness going on, I had to share with you the good news. VOYA has named me one of their Unsung Heroes (the award) but it comes with something AMAZING (the reward)!!! The award comes with $2000 towards the rock and mineral project!! I'm just so overwhelmed that VOYA chose my school and this project and my students (and me :0) to invest in.

For all those who donated rocks or threw some money my way, to VOYA for valuing my kids-thank you so much for my kids, but also for letting me go into a covid school year feeling inspired and valued. Thank you, thank you, thank. you!!!


                                                                           Mitch

 That guy there is my friend Mitch. Five years ago when my knee implants were both infected, he brought us food and kept me company. I couldn`t even get down my front steps. We were new friends but he didn`t wait for reciprocal gestures. He saw my need and met it. As I started to slowly heal we began painting together on location. With other friends joining in, every Friday morning was devoted to plein air painting. So when I was asked if I wanted to show my work in a Lutheran Church, I didn`t say hell no! I asked if I could show with a friend? Mitch is a diligent painter but has never shown his work to the public. I had large older paintings just sitting in my studio and I thought they might pair nicely with his smaller landscapes. It was scheduled for April 2020........When the church reopened this summer, they asked 'are you possibly still interested?' We said yes and the show went up yesterday. If the covid situation allows, there will be some sort of reception in late Sept. or Oct. I`ll announce it here if it will happen. Meanwhile you can go by during the day and check it out;

                                                             West Linn Lutheran Church
                                                   20390 Willamette Dr. West Linn OR 97068
                                                                        503 656 0110
                                                                         www.wllc.org
       We20390 Willamette Drive, West Linn, OR 97068 
503-656-0110 

 

                                                                     Nancy  Diamond


 My latest love is for Nancy Diamond. I haven`t been able to find out very much about her as her website is under construction. However, I found her on Instagram and she is wonderful. Like me, she loves to paint skies. Unlike me, she seems to do it with minimal angst. Often her paintings are complex but executed with a carefree quality that is so lovely. Maybe she is as long suffering as most painters but the work looks thoughtfully like magic. 



                                                                        Fjaðrárgljúfur 


 I belong in Iceland






Portland Open Studios - Oct. 9&10 and  16&17 - plan to visit!


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Monday, November 30, 2020

80,000,000! + new work

                            Rain in Arashiyama watermedia on Yupo 40x26 inches, 101.5x66 cm


                                               watermedia on paper 19x14 inches, 48x36 cm


                          Deeper Conversation watermedia on Bristol 13.5x11 inches, 34x28 cm

                                            watermedia on Yupo 40x26 inches, 101.5x66 cm



 After the 2016 election, a friend very upset at the outcome, asked me to sign a petition claiming there had been fraud. I told her I hadn`t read of any credible accounts of trouble and said no. Trump had won,  as sickening as that was. Democracy is full of pain. I`ve suffered plenty since the 1972 re-election of Richard Nixon. His opponent was a war hero and one of the kindest men in politics, George McGovern.  That the current president got 73,000,000 votes still has me reeling a month later. Thank GOD a majority understood this election was an emergency. I used to wonder how the Nazis were elected in Germany. Now I know. That the Republican Party which produced this cruel and ridiculous politician wasn`t wiped out along with him, is a an infinite source of dismay. If Democrats can`t win in a pandemic, with a severe economic recession and a lunatic 'leading' the country, who knows when they will? At least we cleaned out the top, thank you thank you for turning out in record numbers. Youngsters and People of Color especially. You literally saved our democracy. Gratitude as well to the local and state officials who oversaw the tabulations and with a courageous integrity, stood by their totals. Many have had their lives threatened by the president`s mob. We know now, definitively, they are many many followers. I believe politics are where our spiritual beliefs meet real life. 

Our fellow Americans are not enemies.

I read this essay on Covid-19 without knowing its author. It`s beautiful.





 This is from Reddit and it explains exactly what we as country need to do. Everyone should feel safe to speak. No one need agree.


 





 Over a year ago I bought multiple Daniel Smith watercolor sticks because I got a sample once and loved it. Now I had many! When I went to use them it was like dragging stones across glass. They only worked if they were wet so this required frequent soaking. Not conducive to quick decisions. When I complained about them to Ruth, she said "I prefer Caran d`Ache". Ugh. Over and over I forget to get advice [from a woman ideally] and pay the price. So, for my birthday, I bought the set above and they are terrific. I like them for getting color into places where I would lift a previous layer with a loaded damp brush. Drawing isn`t my thing really, I think better with a brush. But they may be a game changer outdoors.



Mathew Dowling included me in his exploration of creativity as a source of health. Mental Health. If you`ve read me over time you might have an opinion if it`s working. The book is a collection of many different visual artists and their strategies. Creative Sanity was a labor of love with insights for perseverance and joy.






 I`ve been looking at Cai Guo-Qiang. This contemporary artist is like no other, his medium is explosives. He makes poetic fireworks on an epic scale. He draws with gunpowder. He is a conceptual artist fully anchored in humanity. His body of work is enormous, one could explore it for days. If you have Netflix you`re in luck. They have the documentary "Sky Ladder; The Art of Cai Guo-Liang". Get comfortable and go directly to the 13 minute mark and watch his "Ninth Wave" presentation in the harbor of Shanghai. It is a gut punch of transcendent beauty.
Below is a photo from 'Elegy' from the Ninth Wave performance. The whole film is fascinating and made me so grateful minds like his exist. Even in communist China.
.



Lots more in his oeuvre. This amazed everyone;


                                                        The Art of War by Cai Guo-Qiang 

 Artists of this caliber sure reinforce my self image as a painter rather than Artist. Have brush will travel. Cai lives in a realm I can hardly conceive of.


                                 Lichen Light for Winter acrylic on paper 22x15 inches, 56x38 cm


 I started this after the 2016 election. I had seen this glowing branch over Fanno Creek on a walk that November day. Like the election, it was a disaster and it went on a pile of rejections. Coincidentally, while waiting for a big pool of watercolor to evaporate-dry on a large piece of Yupo, I looked through the stack and fished it out. What could I do to it? I could emphasize the cold and soggy.



 Please be careful. We are so close to the remedy. The first shipment of vaccine arrived in Chicago last night. The hospitals are full and the staffs are grossly overworked. Collapse is entirely possible.
Let`s continue to be quiet, patient, as we wait for our turn to be inoculated. We can live our lives isolated a little longer. Even with the comfort of Christmas to tempt us, hold firm. This will be the only one where we must hide from this virus. In honor of the 265,000 who no longer have that choice.










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Saturday, October 10, 2020

New Day Coming

                                          Rabat watercolor on Yupo 14x11 inches, 35.5x28 cm


 Even though I was very young, I remember the tension and anxiety of the Vietnam War well. Closing in on the draft age will make someone pay attention. Yet for all the division back then, this moment seems much worse. 213,000 dead as of today, the economy battered and the virus revealing exactly how mean our social order is. Essential workers, usually people of color, are exploited daily. The suddenly unemployed now lack wages and health insurance. The system is rotten, any honest person can see that. There is much to repair.




 An adult is on the way, the nightmare will end at last. The GOP is about to be decimated. They refused to remove the sick leader when they had a chance 10 months ago.

As I grieved Ruth Bader Ginsberg`s death I learned so much about her that inspired me.  As principled and certain as her convictions were,  she never demonized her opponents but instead tried in her most creative arguments, to persuade them. Everyone notices how polarized our country is right now but it doesn`t have to be like this. There is no coming civil war or succession of states. I have little patience with those that swear they will leave the country. That is the ultimate white privilege, just walk away. We are here together, bound by our history together as brutal as that may have been. If the liberal West Coast became its own country where does that leave our black citizens in Alabama? No, if the unthinkable should happen again, we will need each other more than ever. We just need to take some deep breaths and learn to listen again. Let respect be non-negotiable. 

All the while pressuring the powers that be for economic justice and opportunity. 


                                                               photo by Noah Berger


 When I last wrote a blog post, the fires in Oregon had just begun. I was in the evacuation zone told to be ready. The flames never came close thank god but my husband`s hometown of Mehama was destroyed. What everyone in Western Oregon had to endure was smoke of an unimaginable magnitude. The air was between 400-500 on the air quality index for nine days. Under 50 is considered healthy. My hundred year old house could not keep it out. It was like the air wanted to kill me. I did absolutely nothing to avoid taking a deep breath. My studio was off limits because my radon remediation system is based on bringing air in from the outside to displace the radon. The experience was so extreme it put the corona virus into a new, proper perspective. I is nothing compared to what is coming by way of a hotter climate. When a rainforest dries out, there is a whole lot of fuel that can combust quickly. Controlled burns, the way the natives used to do them, is the big conversation now. No one wants to go through that again, it was truly terrifying.



 Falls Creek, the jewel like tributary of the Umpqua River burned in the fires. I`ve only seen it twice, it isn`t nearby. The first time I entered it with John we had just had the worst fight. There was a parking lot so I pulled in and we began to walk in silence. The mossy geology there is so special; a small rainforest stream winds among enormous boulders that are draped in vegetation. The beauty is staggering and our discord was overwhelmed.

Here is a video by Elijah Finlay of the canyon before the fire.

Below are some of my paintings of the canyon;






















 Last week I finally got away, first time since the quarantine. To the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. It was austere colorful and bright. Truth is we went as much for the place we stayed, Painted Hills Vacation Rentals. This is such a fun collection of cottages perched above the funky town of Mitchell.  The Painted Hills are a half hour away.
Even did a painting;




                                                              Equitable Farm 1973

 Those that know me have heard me mention the 'farm'. I spent my 19th year living in that converted chicken coop above. I`m the middle one, the other two were friends from high school who had come by  on their way north to Vancouver. By the time I found the farm it had already been a real commune. Now it was a collection of young people who didn`t quite fit in. Willing to milk goats and weed the garden for a place to live. Everyone was female but me. It was the most educational time in my life. It was there I found my sister.




    watermedia on paper 19x14 inches, 48x36 cm


                                              watermedia on Yupo 14x11 inches, 35.5x28 cm

 Two new abstract paintings.
My practice and mental health have been all over the place. The social distancing especially is getting to me and I`m a recluse. I know many others with more tangible problems. 
Music has been a comfort but in listening to a piece repeatedly it becomes infused with sadness and I need something new again. Most of us will survive this awful time but we will always remember how defeated it felt. A better day will come.


                                                   The late Leonard Cohen buying Cheetos

Listen to his encouraging song Democracy, sung by the Lumineers.



                                                                  by Mark Rothko

 Rothko`s watercolors from the 40`s fascinate me with their loose reference to myth and ritual.










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