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

The Apex of Spring - more plein air - -Rothko

                                               The Apex of Spring 1 oil on canvas 20x16


 A couple of weeks ago I walked the completed Burnt Bridge Creek Trail in Vancouver WA. Much of it was open to the sky but on this overcast day it was cool. The new growth of the season was peaking, the grasses forming seed heads but nothing yet fading to yellow. This moment in the Northwest is truly extravagant, everything exudes health and vitality. Then it ends suddenly as summer advances and the rain stops until autumn.
I painted two views of the creek.

                                                The Apex of Spring 2 oil on canvas 20x16


 And the antidote for green is Red of course. I need it more than ever in summer.

                                                      watermedia on Yupo 12x9


In a 'first' for me, I did some plein air painting the other day in a friend`s boat on Lake Oswego. Although we were anchored somewhat, the boat drifted in a slow circle while we painted Phantom Bluff. The steep basalt cliff has an almost decorated look with colorful lichens, mosses and ferns cascading down it. Best of all was just feeling the water under the boat. Just a little motion which along with the sweet breeze made for an 'I can die now' sensation. The painting was shiny and wet and I thought 'Damn  Randy, you good!' Then I went home and saw it dry. What was I thinking? My bold adventure in color looked garish and cartoony;

                                           Phantom Bluff watercolor on Yupo 10x8


 It was still a lot of fun!
I did do a remarkable rescue however. When I got rained out painting with my friends beside Tryon Creek during the Paint Out, I figured my watercolor had been ruined. This is what it looked like when I pulled it from the plastic bag meant to protect it;

But because the experience was so recent and my impression of the dark creek still clear, I was able to find my way back in;

                                         Muddy Creek Study watercolor on Yupo 12x9


 When the great painter Mark Rothko committed suicide in 1970, I was 16. This was obviously a tragedy for the world but also a devastating personal blow. I was beginning to imagine about my future life as a painter and he mattered to me because of his persistence through ridicule and poverty. And he had become celebrated at last!
“The only thing I care about is the expression of man's basic emotions: tragedy, ecstasy, destiny”
His shimmering giant paintings had opened up the concept of abstraction for me. He was the guide who showed me exactly how less is more;

 Chronically depressed, acclaim and success could not sustain him.
Through Pinterest, I`ve run into some early watercolors he did as he was becoming influenced by the surrealist ideas about the unconscious;

 So when I saw these, I was initially shocked. The disrespect shown to this grave, tortured artist was an outrage.
But also hilarious!

This is good too;

 The extraordinary painter [and pal] Don Gray is having a show at the RiverSea Gallery in Astoria June 13 through July 7. Included are some truly poetic seascapes like this one on the invitation;

 Check out Astoria while you`re there. Our local public radio was touting it as a new hipster outpost. It couldn`t be more beautiful and it`s affordable! It`s like a tiny San Francisco!

work for sale in my studio

Trout Water + Lotus + Garden Party!

                                                    watermedia on paper 14x11"

I was going to dangle some roots into this water and show the river bank but it was active enough.

                                                    watermedia on paper 6x6"

                                                   watermedia on paper 12x9"

My first plein air experience this summer was with Ruth last Wednesday. We were scoping out Rare Plants Research, a nursery near her home. The owner, Burl Mostul, was seeking artists to paint on location for a special event, open to the public, later this month. To be part of the entertainment so to speak.
I had done something like this for an AIDS benefit and I enjoyed it.
So on a perfect summer day, we sat in the shade and painted the lotus and lilies in one of the ponds. Time slows down when painting on site and as often as I`m out and about in the forests, I`m rarely still. It was a sweet afternoon and we agreed to take part in the Garden Party. This nursery is remarkable for its unusual collections. There were potted 'trees'  from Madagascar lining a drive that were straight out of science fiction, Taro plants as black as night, variegated bananas, a Romanesque house and pergola, multiple greenhouses alive with odd specimens and lush grounds surrounding a vineyard. It`s a very unlikely, amazing operation in rural Oregon City! I had no idea.
Here is the invitation and link to purchase tickets, it`s going to be an interesting fun evening;

work for sale in my studio

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

November Wind

At the end of the session the last four nights, I thought this was finished. The next morning it looked too pale or like a birthday cake or not enough trees... I`m moving on and embracing this odd palette and composition.
In between storms recently, I`ve spent a lot of time in Tryon Creek Park. Before it rains, it gets windy and the last of the leaves are flying around and the air is electric!  I tried to paint that.
oil on panel 16"x20"


available work in my studio

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

Arch Cape Creek

Such a beautiful place on the coast! I hope I can give myself another 'residency' like this sometime again. I learned a valuable new technique with acrylics too; use them like oil paint instead of thick watercolors.
acrylic on panel 20"x16"



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