Skies! - Water Woods and Stone

                                         Laramie to Lander 2 watermedia on paper 24x18

 I came out of my self imposed retirement from teaching to work with the Buffalo Grass group once again. They ask good questions, are very respectful and pay well. Instead of haranguing them about the importance of drawing again, I thought maybe a simple topic might be fun. As a landscape painter, I use the sky as a pivotal yet flexible element. It is usually the first thing I concentrate on because if it doesn`t set the right tone, there`s no use in proceeding. I like to think of the sky as the emotional architecture of a landscape. Everyone knows clouds come in an infinite variety and nearly every color known at some point appears in the sky. Often it seems like an after thought in many landscapes I see and it`s a lost opportunity. You can get away with putting all sorts things up there! I love how Ferdinand Hodler used clouds to frame and heighten the majesty of the Alps.

                                     The Lady of the Isenfluh 1902 - Ferdinand Hodler   

This guy is one of my favorite painters, well worth checking out. Thirty years ago I was a tourist in the Bay Area and wandered into the art museum at UC Berkeley and was bowled over by his huge symbolist paintings. Like this;

                                                       Ferdinand Hodler, Day (Truth)



 So that painting up at the top was a practice piece  I did the night before the class. It had been months since I had painted in watermedia and thought I should be prepared. My first demo was on Yupo:

                                                 North Slope watermedia on Yupo 26x20


The next was on Arches cold press 140lb;

                                                       Updraft watermedia on paper 24x18


 Speaking of Yupo, here is a tutorial on my Holy Grail of watercolor; mounting the Yupo on a cradled panel so there is no mat, frame or glass to come between the viewer and the art. Working on paper is such a joy but the whole traditional framing expense is just daunting. And what we usually pay for is glass that gives off an annoying glare! When oh when will museum glass become affordable?


Here is a little video featuring Richard Cartwright and his lyrical landscapes. They are like dreams;

                                           "Sailboat at Midnight" by Richard Cartwright


Look at Fabienne Verdier`s brush!

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Tualatin Riverbank - Last day of PDXOS 2015

                                                                 oil on canvas 30x24


 This is the demonstration painting I`ve worked on this week.
One more day to visit some artists on the Portland Open Studios Tour; Sunday Oct. 18 10am to 5pm

Randall David Tipton
5373 Lakeview Blvd
Lake Oswego OR 97035
#8
[close to I-5]
503-380-4731
randalldavidt@gmail.com

work for sale in my studio

Demo - PDXOS

                                              Wind Through the Trees oil on canvas 24x24


 This was the demo I was working on last weekend during the first part of the Portland Open Studios Tour. There`s a whole lot of color going on that I may have to tamp down. Below is a view of part of the studio. Note how tidy and clean, that won`t last long.

 Here is some other work on view this final weekend of the tour;

                                                Shallow Spring oil on prepared paper 24x18

                                                Brush Creek Ranch oil on canvas 40x54

                                                Feuchtwinterwald watermedia on paper 14.5x9

                                                        Poppies watercolor on Yupo 26x20

                                                 Late Summer Stream oil on canvas 36x36

                                             Tangerines and Tulips watermedia on paper 24x18

                                                       November Dusk oil on canvas 20x20

                                                               Riverlight 2 oil on canvas 20x20

                                        Downstream Tahquitz watermedia on Yupo 26x20


#8 - Randall David Tipton
5373 Lakeview Blvd
Lake Oswego OR 97035
[close to I-5]
503-380-4731

work for sale in my studio

Late Autumn Flooding + Portland Open Studios 2015

                                                    Late Autumn Flooding oil on panel 20x16


 The muddy gorgeous confluence of Fanno Creek and the Tualatin River. This and the paintings below, all from the last nine months, will be in my studio during the Portland Open Studios Tour; Oct.10,11 and Oct. 17,18 10am to 5pm

                                                      Within Bryant Woods oil on panel 12x12

                                       Winter Morning-Fanno Creek oil on Yupo 26x20

                                               Rainforest Morning watermedia on paper 14x11

                                                    Over the Sea 29 watercolor on paper 7x5

                                                  Tualatin Flood Study watermedia on Yupo 6x6

                                                       Magnolia 2015 oil on canvas 12x12

                                                      Hiver Marais 1 watercolor on Yupo 12x9

                                                      Hiver Marais 2 watermedia on Yupo 12x9

                                                           Blue Tree watercolor on Yupo 7x5

                                                           Summer Creek oil on canvas 20x20

                                                      Sky and Sea watercolor on paper 8.5x11

                                                  Oswego Creek Pool watermedia on Yupo 12x9

                                                 End of Winter Study watermedia on Yupo 8x8

                                                        Sauvie Island watermedia on paper 18x18


Randall David Tipton [#8]
5373 Lakeview blvd
Lake Oswego OR 97035
[close to I-5]
503-380-4731

work for sale in my studio

                                                                 goodbye little dude

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]

'Metolius Morning - PDXOS - 'Between the World and Me'

                                           Metolius Morning oil on canvas 30x48


 I fought for this. What could be so hard, a bunch of grass? Even with lots of reference photos, memory was the truest guide. That river and its lush vegetation are so pastoral and serene, color was the only vehicle that could convey it. Which colors and their intensity would work? It took lots of trial and error. Things were repositioned several times, accomplished by scraping, pouring and then going into the tacky surface with loaded brushes. The endgame began when I added the black shadows. The depth they suggested created the vitality I was after.


 The Portland Open Studio Tour is just  a week away! Take a look at the website and select some artists you`d like to visit. An app is now available to guide you! This year I will be demonstrating with oil paints around noon each day.
5373 Lakeview Blvd., Lake Oswego OR 97035

 A couple of weeks later, my solo show at In Bocca al Lupo Fine Art in Oregon City opens. Roxanne Colyer Clingman is a visionary gallerist committed to showing honest emotive work. I`m happy for the opportunity to show in her gallery and so pleased it will be in our state`s first city. I will be demonstrating in mixed watermedia Sat. Nov.14, 11 am at the gallery.

 Last weekend I took a class from Sarah Moon celled 'Beyond Etsy; Selling your Work Online'. I`ve been doing just that since the Great Recession began but I knew there was much more to learn. Social media have baffled me yet I keep hearing they are effective in reaching new audiences. Her explanation of Instagram`s potential was the real revelation. It can be used to document an artist`s process and inspiration. This can create a kind of intimacy with the artist that many enjoy. Selling paintings is quite possible from these relationships. I know when I discover a  painter new to me, I`m very curious about their motivations and technique.

                                   Gerald in the Orchard watermedia on paper 12x9 [1996]


 I want to know more. After so many killings of unarmed young black men by the police, my ignorance was unacceptable. What was going on? What did young black men think was going on? As a start, I listened to Ta'Nehisi Coate read his sobering memoir 'Between the World and Me'. It is in the form of a letter to his young son. Among the many sickening insights in the book, I now understand that law enforcement is viewed as menacing, not at all protective of African Americans. It`s always been this way. Slaves were forced into bondage for their labor, for what their bodies could do. Since the body was utilitarian, its life was not important. Beasts of burden, not quite human. This legacy remains. The dead body of Michael Brown lays on the pavement for four hours. Mr. Coates says that this status quo will endure until those that call themselves white, wake up. See that the American Dream never included black people, in fact originated by their exploitation.
 On Monday Ta' Nehisi Coates was awarded a McArthur 'genius' grant.


 Now listen to the incomparable Casandra Wilson sing a meandering lovely rendition of 'Time after Time'. There is an exquisite harmonica solo.              

 Tomorrow, Oct. 1, an essay I wrote will be published in the online magazine Artists on Art. It is entitled 'Content and the Tools of Modernism'. A ramble on the incredible opportunity representational artists have in applying the advances of a century of radical experimentation and insights. This segues into a description of some techniques I use as well as a bit of biography. I accepted their invitation to write it in expectation of getting out of my comfort zone. Sure worked! It`s an interesting magazine as there are no filters, just artists using their own uneasy words.

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