Rainforest Spring 2

In this post studio tour, pre-marriage daze, I am getting some painting done. When my focus isn`t on a series or theme, I`ll sometimes paint a previous composition again. Just for some structure, in the painting and in my life.
watermedia on Yupo 20x20


available work in the studio

Oregon Refuge 3

The bottom painting was my last demonstration painting for the Portland Open Studio Tour. So many demos have turned out well that I was beginning to think something supernatural was going on. This one too began on a promising note but then got bogged down in all that green grass. It was like quicksand in the movies, I was a goner! I gessoed over it after taking this photo, flipped the Yupo over and painted the top image on the other side. This is more of what I was after. Because the Willamette Valley is so wildly fertile it has a benevolent quality that`s palpable. The natives and settlers must have felt it too, they would never starve here. In early June, when I visited the Finley Wildlife Preserve  outside of Corvallis, everything was bursting with new growth and health, the air was clean, and the place was empty. We walked all over that refuge amazed to be in such a generous  beautiful landscape.
watermedia on Yupo 20x20


work in the studio

Falls Creek - North Umpqua Study

This is a recent piece based on my experience along this creek in 2012. In an easy walk from the parking area, one can see pristine old growth rainforest in a scene of violent geologic activity. The trail weaves between massive boulders that are the remains of a mountain that slid down in an earthquake. It is intimate and pure magic.
watermedia on Yupo 12x12


available work in the studio

Oaks in Ice Fog

My demonstration painting from Saturday`s Open Studio.
I`ve got to get out more or invite the world to my place more often. The last two weekends were just astonishing. It`s a wonderful thing when people come through the door already knowing my work! I heard the most interesting stories and met such sensitive individuals. There were sales and praise and my insecurities have gone dormant, at least for a while. If anyone missed the tour and would like to visit, I`m keeping the display up for the time being. Call or send me a note and we can arrange a time.
watermedia on Yupo 20x20


available work in my studio

Second Demonstration

This is a closer view of the wetlands painted without a reference. It`s interesting to me that I use my visual memory so much more as I age while the 'real' one is so predictably unreliable. Below is my hardworking intern, Cooper. Portland Open Studios and Portland Community College partnered to give young creative students an opportunity to be involved in the tour. The final weekend begins Saturday at 10. I`ll be demonstrating mixed watermedia on Yupo, the plastic paper from Japan, at noon on both days.

watermedia on Yupo 11x20

work in the studio

Open Studio Demo - Storm over Minto Brown

Well, it was wonderful experience for me! Many super nice people, some sales and a demonstration painting that succeeded in getting across my techniques. The subject was my beloved Minto  Brown Island Nature Preserve in Salem. And my studio has never been so orderly. Day #2 is tomorrow the 13th. http://www.portlandopenstudios.com/

watermedia on Yupo 15x20

available work on hand

Portland Open Studios!

The tour begins tomorrow Oct. 12. Lots of good work by sincere artists. Visit one or two, the studio can be a lonely place. We want to talk to you!
Above are older works that will be on view in my studio.

available work in the studio