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.

work for sale in my studio

New Works + Wisdom!

                                                      Summer Creek oil on canvas 20x20


 One of hundreds of coastal creeks in Oregon.
The point of this painting was to suggest that sublime sensation of being cool in the shade while the sun filters through enlivening everything. I began with stains scraped across the canvas, then washes that flowed downward followed by carving through the wet paint and blotting for texture. The darkest values came last.

                                              Low Clouds over Yellowstone oil on canvas 12x12


 It was in Spring of 2012 that I visited Yellowstone National Park and it is still vivid in my memory. Especially the area around Mammoth Hot Springs.

 I`m taking this class on Saturday and I understand there are still a couple of openings. You can read about it here.


Listen to the master talk about his process in this video. Phillip Guston was a painter`s painter.

The soulful musician Leonard Cohen discusses the craft of writing lyrics in this inspirational little interview. I was a teenager when I first heard him. His moody and adult songs were thrilling in their erotic mystery and visual metaphor. Here`s one of my favorites, The Stranger Song, which was used to devastating effect in Robert Altman`s film McCabe and Mrs. Miller.

 It`s not just me. Andrew Marr explains the importance and value in drawing in this compelling little video.

                 William Baziotes, one of the most underrated American abstractionists


 Went to an art destruction party last weekend. I wish I had taken more work, it really was cathartic;

                                                       photo by Sarah Peroutka

work for sale in my studio

Portland Open Studios-Oct. 10,11,17 and 18
I`m at 5373 Lakeview Blvd.
Lake Oswego OR 97035

Dark Forest Creekbank + Re-do`s

                                                         oil on canvas 58x40"

I blew it up.
I liked the watercolor, it soon sold and I`ve wanted to see it again. So I made a big one. The scene is just a creekbank illuminated at just such a moment, deep in the July rainforest of the North Umpqua River. The air was hot and cool depending where in the canyon you stepped. With such dense growth, it was also very quiet. Our day had not begun well and we entered that forest dutifully because we were there. Within minutes our foul moods were dismantled by beauty. The creeks formed 'rooms' whenever the ground leveled and through that dim filtered light everything seemed to move, sort of flicker. I remember walking much slower than usual, literally stunned by the ethereal landscape.

Here are some paintings I`ve re-visited. They will be on view during the Portland Open Studio Tour, Oct. 11,12,18 and 19, 10 to 4pm. Come say hello.
5373 Lakeview Blvd.
Lake Oswego OR
97035

                                            Neahkanie Cliff acrylic on panel 24x18

                                       Late Autumn Tangle watermedia on Yupo 12x12"

                                            Rio en Medio 6 Study oil on panel 16x12"

Her work didn`t do much for me but I sure loved her! Listen to Agnes Martin tell it like it is. That woman walked her talk! She wanted to be alone. So she up and leaves NYC and her brilliant career behind and moves to the barren, art colony-free, windy west of New Mexico. Built her a house, then she lived in it.


work for sale in my studio

Oasis - California Desert Landscape

                                                           watermedia on Yupo 26x20

It is surprising how much can be accomplished when you`re snowed in! This is what I did yesterday. It has the look of a diorama in a Natural History Museum and I`m OK with that. Those atmospheric murals were some of my first inspirations. Diversity and complexity are what oasis are all about, lots of life going on. The place is Andreas Canyon just south of Palm Springs. I used to know it  like my backyard when I lived in the area in 1980.
The husband has been creative too, playing with his pictures in Photoshop.


available paintings in my studio

Oswego Creek Summer

It finally got hot and the water is hardly moving.
oil on canvas 24x24


available work

Palm Canyon - Vintage Tipton for Sale!

The winter of 1979-80, I spent in Thousand Palms California, a working class suburb of Palm Springs. Though it doesn`t seem very well known, the hiking in that area is outstanding. The palm canyons that are part of the  Agua Caliente Cahuilla Tribal Reservation are particularly beautiful. I painted this that winter as a Christmas gift to my parents.
My mother is now moving into a retirement home and it`s too big for her apartment. I offered to try to sell it since I didn`t want it back. The homes of all my family members overflow with my work. It`s time to set this one loose.
'Andreas Canyon' acrylic on canvas 42x48, framed* 50x56, $3000

*photo of frame on request

River Rock in Sun

Sunlight in a dark season, happy Christmas!
oil on Yupo 12"x9"

Cottonwoods Creek Clouds - studio view

Wyoming again, from my stay at Brush Creek Ranch.
John got a new I-phone 5 and took a panoramic picture of me painting. I`m working in oils there and the other lit area is for watercolor. Two separate spaces for each medium, my dream came true!
watermedia on paper 12"x9"


available work in my studio

Fanno Creek Wetlands

I`ve been walking Cook Park in Tigard which is mostly closed to cars  in the winter. The marshes look sensational though I got wet feet getting close enough to see them well. In summer, there are baseball and soccer games going on and it`s filled with people. This time of year, the park is empty and wild.
oil on panel 9"x12"

Stream and Sunlight

Arch Cape Creek in late summer.
Watermedia on paper 9"x12"


Available Work

Umpqua Understory

oil on canvas 12"x36"



Available Work

North Umpqua Study 4

I think this is the last Umpqua study, it`s time for oil painting. This was painted on a blue ground to emphasize the shade.
Acrylic on Yupo 8"x26"



Available Work

North Umpqua Study 3

Another from my wonderful experience near the Umpqua River last week.
watermedia on Yupo 12"x9"




Available Work

North Umpqua Study 2

Another study from my recent trip along Oregon`s most beautiful river. Without any forethought really, this series is painted almost entirely with acrylic. With many layers, using the hairdryer often. In some places the paint is fairly thick. My usual technique on paper is to begin with watercolor, mess up, then correct with acrylic, trying to maintain a sense of transparency.

In my explorations with Tumblr, I keep seeing the work of Felix Vallotton, a Swiss painter associated with the Nabis. I swear, those guys just keep on giving a hundred years later. I love how they use ordinary life, then infuse it with contrasting patterns, vivid color, and disproportion to give those moments and views an electric presence. Vallotton`s landscapes especially, are charming in the best sense of the word.

watermedia on Yupo 12"x9"