Travels, a Demo and a birthday

                                           Northwest Canyon watercolor on Yupo 26x20 inches

 This painting was once a long view of one of the Silver Creek Falls. It was acceptable but I didn`t want to look at it. Recently, I thought I would develop it further into something I could continue with as a collage. Except now I like it.

The day after the open studios I flew to NYC to see an old friend with some health challenges. I had bought my ticket thinking this can`t be delayed but before leaving we talked and I learned she was actually better than stable so I saw some different, also old friends, first. A solid week of nonstop talking ensued. I only took a duffle bag with the pants and shoes I was wearing. Being on a subway or train with a big suitcase is no fun. It was possible because it was still early autumn. The visits were so fun and so  satisfying it was as if we were all still young. My timing was perfect! I overthink everything but this time imagining the transportation, likely activities and selecting what to take as if I were backpacking was smart. I was stunned that I pulled it off.

 I always want to go to the botanical garden and it never disappoints. There was an art installation that involved over 400 black vulture sculptures integrated into the gardens and greenhouses. I never read a statement from the artist but I think I understood the 'warning'. They were amazing. I wasn`t visiting as a tourist  but when you fall into someones life in progress, you need to do something. So we had little excursions.

One was to the Metropolitan Museum of Art rooftop sculpture installation by Lauren Halsey. Inspired by the Egyptian Temple of Dendur a couple of floors below, the artist incorporated portraits of her family and friends in this new 'temple'. The video of the project is well worth watching.

 Another was a trip to the Museum of Modern Art where a massive wall of moving digital images derived from the permanent collection greeted visitors in the lobby. It was mesmerizing. Responding to justified criticism, the museum now has works by women and foreign artists I`ve never heard of, everywhere! My head was spinning which maybe was the point in this abrupt adjustment.

Once home, John and I delivered 36 paintings to the White Bird Gallery and returned a few days later for the opening of my show in conjunction with the annual Stormy Weather Arts Festival. I did demonstrations Sat. and Sun.

A few friends were about which greatly helped my confidence

                                Stormy Weather 1 and 2 watermedia on Yupo 20x13 inches

Last weekend, the months of painting, the open studio meetings and the travel had all concluded. The next day I turned 70.

I don`t give my own birthdays much thought. I`ve felt that wanting them somehow special was for the kids. This one was different not that I had expectations but internally, this had my attention. Obviously now facing the [hopefully] distant exit, how would I respond? What did I want to change? What could change? Curating experience was important, trying to only do things that are meaningful. At long last I have some economic peace I can work from and try to help. There is a strong sense of a threshold that I`m crossing, even if just mentally. What does it mean to be an undeniable elder? Until we actually are, it seems like a looming condition best not to dwell on. It`s easy to see the freedom and release from younger concerns yet how to manage the emotions that arise from the physical limitations and setbacks and the loss of loved ones? I don`t know but I`ll take it a day at a time. Finally the true value of time itself is clear. My parents did everything they could to show me attitude was everything, I know this to be true. With my mind more or less intact, I will define this for myself and figure it out. Just like everyone else.

                                                             photo by Cameron Nelson

 Of course it`s on me to do the research but is it too much to ask of the press or local government to serve up factual information about eclipses?? Before they happen? I`m still upset that i did not know that to have the profound experience from a total eclipse, it has to be total. Like 100%, not 99% like it was at my house in 2017. I could have seen a once in a lifetime event by driving to my in-laws 35 miles away. When I learned the truth about an hour before the event, it was too late, the roads south were jammed. 

OK, then a month ago all of the sudden there is another one happening for Oregon but it`s not the 'night in the daytime' type it`s the annular kind which has a ring of visible sun around the shadow of the moon. Not nearly as cool but if we want to see it, too bad, storm clouds are likely. You need special goggles anyway. What is not mentioned is that those goggles can penetrate through the clouds and that cameras can too. So another spectacle of nature eludes me. Even in my shadowy driveway the light had changed dramatically. I appreciated that. 

A friend of a friend took the photo above.

As I understand the situation.

Believe me, I have no delusions about who reads my blog. I am not trying to influence anyone, but I want my own thoughts visible. Many writers claim they don`t know what they think until they start writing. In a small way that`s also true for me.

In the killing and chaos in 'Palestine' in the last month there has been a lot of international concern about the deaths of Palestinian civilians. Rightly so. If ever a people have suffered, they certainly have. War has limited but particular objectives with many innocent casualties. This is always the reality.

Israel is a democracy, the Gaza strip is not. Hamas was not elected, they violently seized power from the Palestinian Authority, the guys in charge on the West Bank. Benjamin Netanyahu has been Prime Minister in Israel for a very long time. He is not a straight-shooter and his arrogance and dishonesty has weakened Israeli society. I don`t believe he thinks Palestinian self rule is possible or even desirable. Under his 'leadership' many illegal Israeli settlements have been built in the West Bank, It seems he believes Israel can take possession a little bit at a time. He has serious corruption charges against him that are pending. He has striven to stay in power and change the very nature of the judiciary to do so. He is distracted which is why the attack on Oct. 7 was so horrific. Israeli intelligence and technology was a massive failure that day. His political life is seemingly over, thank god. Much of the decay and deceit of the 'peace process' is directly on him and his right wing allies. In one tied election after another, he has been able to assemble a governing coalition by bringing in religious nut jobs into the government. I don`t think he can now ever win another election. He has done serious damage.

Hamas is a terrorist organization that has been in control of the Gaza strip. Funded by the ruthless Islamic fundamentalists ruling Iran. Being terrorists, Hamas launched a sneak attack on ordinary Israeli citizens. We all know what happened, the atrocities have been documented. Because they`re terrorists they located their headquarters undergroud under the largest hospital in Gaza City. The Palestinian people are their human shields. They have a vast network of tunnels that are only for Hamas to shelter in and launch raids on Israel. The needs of the Palestinians are the responsibility of the UN one of their leaders explained recently. Israel believes only the total destruction of these terrorists will protect their country. I would say good faith negotiations toward the two state solution is also in Israels interest.

As this affects the politics of my country, I want people to know who is who. Hostile statements and generalizations about Jews are completely unacceptable. Antisemitic beliefs are as repugnant as racism and must be condemned. One can care about the humanitarian crisis of the situation without hating Jews. Jews do not equal Israelis. The government of Israel is not the citizens of Israel even though elected. Hamas is not the Palestinian people, they are butchers who put the Palestinian people directly in harms way. Anti Islamic bigotry is equally wrong. Americans, including me, need a real education about Islam. It gets mingled with government in several countries to no ones benefit. Saudi Arabia is just as distasteful as Iran yet they are our 'allies'. I don`t understand the big picture. Fossil fuels are killing the planet yet we act as if those near eastern countries are indispensable.

                                                               Circle of Life by Moises Levy

 Paintings by Victor Higgins, an early modernist landscape painter in New Mexico. This guy is Beloved in NM and deservedly so. Using abstraction to strengthen his vision, he seems to get rather effortlessly the unique singularity of that landscape. New Mexico doesn`t look or feel like anywhere else. Arizona and Texas share long borders with it yet its cultures are distinctly different. There is a dreamy quality to it that is perceptible even when living there. Even with all the difficulty making a living there.

click HERE for work in my studio

Treading Water

                                        Untitled in Gray oil on Yupo 23x19 inches, 58.5x48 cm

                                Untitled in Yellow oil on canvas 15x30 inches, 38x76 cm

                                       Untitled-dusk oil on canvas 12x9 inches, 30.5x23 cm


  Hello again! Above are the best of what I`ve done in the 7 weeks or so since I posted. I thought by moving into oils my progress would be quicker. Oil paints are so much easier to handle than watermedia. But that ease might have played into a lot of indecision. Who knows?
 The pandemic seemed like a perfect time to paint abstractly. Develop a body of work, become comfortable in my process. I use the common advice I first heard of through Anne Lamott 'write the books you want to read'. Painting what I want to see is another matter it seems. I have such a strong interest and affinity for abstraction, I`ve thought with time a path would open up. A motif or kind of composition would present itself as a vehicle for what I want to do with color and texture. Prior to this current effort, I did them recreationally. A break from realism. This most unusual time has confounded many artists I know. My judgement seems off and my confidence elsewhere. But I`ll keep at it of course, this is the one part of my life I can control.

 165,000 now.
Obama sure got it right today; Trump is more interested in suppressing the vote than the virus. His attack on the postal service and bogus claims of voter fraud are the latest outrage. We`ve been voting by mail for 20 years in Oregon, we were the first state to do so. There have been no problems as any Republican Oregonian will tell you. As if dodging a serious illness weren`t hard enough, now we must protect the integrity of our elections. Ourselves. The president and his party are going down in a historic defeat and they know it. They are scared. Beware of insecure people, they are the most dangerous.

                                                             by David Shrigley

                                                       John by Lorrie McClanahan


 My virtual pal in Dallas, Lorrie, has spent her pandemic time quite productively honing her drawing skills on Procreate. She is part of a group of artists that have been doing a portrait a day using photos posted on Reddit for this purpose. She offered to draw my husband so I sent her a photo from when he was 40. I`ve always loved his contented expression in it and she nailed it.

                                                                   by Dorothy Hood

                                                                    by Dorothy Hood

                                                               by Dorothy Hood


 Another Texan, Dorothy Hood, just came to my attention 20 years after her death. She is in some important collections but never became known much outside of Houston. Her work is so dazzling, so deep with emotion, I swear I would have trekked through the desert to meet her.

                               Above the Cold Ocean watercolor on Yupo 20x26, 51x66 cm


 I painted this a couple of days ago while waiting for oil paint to dry. I enjoyed feeling competent. The composition originates from a photo I took on Cascade Head. As I worked, I was flooded with memories of camping trips on the northern Calif. and Oregon coasts as a kid. I will always be grateful for my parents doing this. Neither were outdoorsmen and getting four boys fed and safe in such rough situations couldn`t have been much fun. Gwen and Joe, may their names always be a blessing.



 Seen around town;

 From under the Highway 43 bridge, the only place grafiti would be tolerated longer than an hour in my community.       Tick Tock, your running outta time!   Noted!        I think they are by the same artist, do you?

 Hand painted calls for justice. Breonna`s killers are still free. Just ask yourself what would have happened had she been white? A trial would be scheduled by now. Black lives matter.

 What could go wrong?
The Cliff House actually survived the San Francisco Earthquake only to burn a few years later.

Click HERE for work in my studio for sale

prints from Fine Art America

Spring Rainforests

                                          Spring Light Bathes the Alders oil on canvas 30x24

                                                  Rainforest Equinox oil on canvas 20x16


 Coastal alders in a different season but new and on view during the Portland Open Studios the next two weekends. Maps are available at Muse Art Supply, New Seasons Market and I have some too.
I`m #8;
5373 Lakeview Blvd.
Lake Oswego OR 97035
ph.# 503 380 4731

 Yesterday I was laying down in the afternoon with my sick cat and we heard something in the driveway. We looked at each other and thought "What?". A very embarrassed woman and her family arrived a week early for the Open Studio. I told her I was honored to be her first stop. I was.

 That`s Jackson, the one with 'issues', the one with the Roman nose, demonic voice and kinky tail, the destroyer of shower curtains and throw rugs, the medicine for a previous broken heart, and my end of the day joy. He has cancer or kidney failure and won`t be here much longer. I took this the other day when doing a workout. He likes to lay beside me and get his stomach rubbed between exercises. Such short little lives.

 Listen to Tom Waits read a beautiful short poem by Charles Bukowski.


And here is a great little video from PBS Art Assignments on the Psychological Landscape, which also explains very clearly the 'figure/ground relationship'.  The featured artist, Robyn O`Neil is terrific.

                                         Wild Turkey by the marvelous Edith Dora Rey


 Though I still can`t find an obituary, it seems the wizard of watercolor Nicholas Simmons died last week. 47, how sad is that? Some tributes here on Wet Canvas.

                                                    my article in Artists on Art


work for sale in my studio

Escape Into Life profile

In Bocca al Lupo show [Nov,Dec]

Up from the Forest Floor

I`ve lived [and painted] in some modest places; an old motel, a refurbished chicken coop, an Airstream trailer, and no matter where I`ve been or the fun I had, it`s always great to return again. Yet, when I move on into a new place, I barely have any curiosity about the home I left behind. Even nice ones. This seems odd but I guess home is where we invest ourselves, wherever we are and whenever it is.
This is a watercolor from 1995 [ish]. It was inspired by the profound work of the Arizona artist Jim Waid. His early work especially, seemed to get right to the spiritual core of the landscape in the most  generous, glorious and vibrant manner possible.
watercolor on paper 12"x9"


available work in my studio

Northwest November 4

 There are many hours involved in this small painting. Getting the right mood was elusive. Twice I painted over the whole thing then scraped that off and went into the 'ghost' of what had been there before. Eventually, something sort of tremulous happened and I was satisfied.
 In between massive though typical fall storms, we`ve had a couple of dry days. What gifts they are!
The forests are muddy and wild with ferns and mosses. And still, some lingering bright maple leaves which are stunning against the blue fog and deep green firs.
oil on panel 8"x8"


available work

Northwest November Study 3

oil on cradled panel 12"x9"