The Alder Rainforest in Winter

I`m getting closer to what I had in mind. I could simplify this or try to make it even more complicated. Which means I should probably leave it alone.

Oneanta 2010

This is another new painting I`ve been working on while I figure out how to proceed on my two long pieces. Oneanta is a gorge within the Columbia Gorge, not far from Portland. It is a landscape as archetype, Carl Jung would have loved it. Especially since you have to climb over a massive logjam to enter, and then walk through cold water to reach the lovely waterfall at the end. Years ago, I started to take my eight year old twin nieces, Liz and Steph, back there and wisely changed my mind. Although the stream is shallow, they weren`t very tall.

Oswego April

Sometimes it`s good to step away from the frustration.
This came out in two sessions! That`s very rare. My memory of this place is still vivid nearly two months later. Everything had begun it`s seasonal growth, but nothing was far along. It was all delicate new greens in various textures. This reminds me of a Van Gogh drawing, to be immodest. His reed pen and ink drawings are so rich, and his affinity for springtime was deep.

Rainforest

This is the source of my torment. One of them, there are two. My patience snapped and I resorted to a technique I use when desperate; I make a thin wash of paint and splash it over the whole thing. A 'ghost' remains and can sometimes lead me back into the painting. Now, without all the annoying detail and too many colors.

Oswego Creek Study

Every painter knows the moment when the right color, value, or compositional tweak sets in motion a successful endgame. Like a jigsaw puzzle. It`s an exciting turn in the process. In the two large paintings I`m working on, this keeps happening, then I lose it.
I`ll take a break and paint something else, usually small.
Hopefully with new insights, I`ll enter the fray again. There is a real sense of a hunt; predator and prey. With adrenaline even! The high emotional stakes are, of course, what makes it fun, or at least compelling.

Estuary Morning

Both of my big paintings in process took a wrong turn! This is maddening when success is in view. As I regroup and figure out a new tact, I`ve worked on a couple of studies. This is one.

Johnson Creek Series #5

2003.
It`s been two months since I worked on anything ambitious. My new alder rainforest is looking promising now that I can concentrate again.