Over the Sea 21

This is one of two demonstration paintings I was able to get a good start on in the class I taught yesterday. It`s painted on Strathmore Aquarius paper which is a blend of cotton and synthetic fibers. To say it`s 'forgiving' is an understatement. It never buckled, color lifted easily, blending was effortless and the texture was subtle. I used bristle brushes almost exclusively and explained there was very little difference between my watercolor methods and my oil. I paint flat, work thin and transparency is important in both.

watermedia on paper 11"x15"



Available Work

The Flooded Field

After visiting an old New Mexico friend in Tacoma earlier in the week, we made a stop at the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. Remarkable things have been happening there. Dikes and dams have been removed and what once was pasture is being restored to salt marsh. There is a phenomenal 2 mile long boardwalk which wanders over the former fields all the way to the Puget Sound. This conversion from meadows to wetlands has a strangely appealing apocalyptic look. Birds are everywhere.

The Cloud Appreciation Society has featured some new work!

watermedia on translucent Yupo 19"x23"



Available Work

Winter Aspen

From 2002.
This is the largest painting I`ve done in the smallest space, a bedroom.
Aspens in snow are a visual cliche thanks to Bev Doolittle.
Yet having seen them in winter so often in New Mexico, I wanted to paint them anyway.

oil on canvas 60"x60"



Available Work

Sundown at the Base of the Mountain

This comes from my walk in the near-dark on a wet evening last Dec. on Mt. Talbert. It was too dark for useful photos so memory was my reference. I began with the mood to guide me. Then I was interrupted and when I returned to it a couple of days later I had lost my idea. So I did what I sometimes do when clueless, I put random swipes of paint down, squeegeed them around, wiped off some of it and carved through other areas with a spatula and found enough of interest to proceed. Then the original thoughts about the subject resurfaced and I tried to create a sense of the gloom and reflected illumination I remembered.

oil on canvas paper 12"x9"


Available Work

Estuary Island

watermedia on Yupo 26"x20"

Iron Mountain Shade

Miners once worked where I now walk. Before Lake Oswego was upscale, it was a steel town.

oil on canvas 24"x24"


Available Work

Runoff

A Daily painting.

watermedia on paper 6"x6"