Over the Sea 25 + Bog Forest Study

                                                          watermedia on Yupo 20x16

This was my demonstration painting I did at the Lincoln City Artists' Studio Association. The Sitka Center asks its residents to do some sort of community outreach. I contacted them and inquired about doing a demo with a casual class to follow. They were agreeable. As I`ve done many times elsewhere, I showed them a complicated mixed watermedia technique that allows for more versatility. Yupo was the 'paper' and I explained why one would go through so much trouble. Or why I do.

                                              watercolor and water soluble graphite 12x12

I`m working on a large oil painting of this boggy area close to the estuary. I did one of the same place in 2010. The depth, reflections,  textures and sense of vitality come together beautifully in this tiny spot.

Late Winter Alders

                                                           watercolor on Yupo 26x20

Usually, when I can`t tell if something is good or bad, it`s most often terrible. But there have been  many paintings I`ve destroyed that I wish I hadn`t. With some time, the problem with the piece can become obvious and it`s sometimes a simple thing to resolve it. This is one of those, I can`t tell yet but I don`t know what else to do.
The alder groves are just beginning to bud but all the limbs and branches are still visible and dense. My intention here was to create a busy 'ambiance' of this moment in the forest cycle, rather than something with a clear focal point.
One of the nicest things about a residency at Sitka is how welcoming they are to partners and spouses. John spent the weekend here and we had a lot of fun hiking in the rare winter sunshine and then in rain and cool fog. Here are some pictures from this morning.

'Narrative Landscape'

                                                            watermedia onYupo 12x42

In 2010 when I came to the Sitka Center, I wanted to develop the idea of a narrative landscape that wasn`t perceived as a whole but 'read' left to right. Like a Chinese scroll, though I think they unfurl in the opposite direction. The best ones looked like murals which was not what I intended. With limited time here and a real compelling landscape just beyond the studio, I decided to suspend the effort. Four years later I`m back, a more mature painter, and think this matter is best attempted through abstraction. The little 'Birth of Hawaii' series I began before ever visiting that state, opened up this new avenue. This piece is still in process but I`m happy to return to this place and to this idea. At least for this painting. It`s raining a deluge out there anyway so I`ll walk the magnificent landscape later.

Over the Valley

                                                             oil on paper 15x22 1995

 The cloud is New Mexican and the land is the Willamette Valley. I was new to Oregon in the nineties and feeling my way through this new landscape.
 For the month of March I`ll be painting at the Sitka Center on the coast. The last residency I had there I was so intent on making the time count, I didn`t cook and turned feral eating just peanuts and cereal. I`m going to try to slow down, look around Lincoln City, drive up the highway and check out wetlands and beaches I`ve never walked on.


available work

Starlight and Snow 3

                                                            watermedia on paper 20x16

Someone suggested I do a larger version.


available work in the studio

Starlight and Snow [again]

                                                         watercolor on paper 8x8

Absent soulful music, departed loved ones, and an open spigot of grief, another thing that`s real helpful when I`m blocked is to just repeat something. The point is to keep working. Try to be in the right place at the right time. I do so many studies trying ideas out, many of them could be done again if I need to tread water.


available work in the studio

Over the Sea 24

                                                           watercolor on paper 8x8

Tonight, after three earlier attempts I had to throw out,  I went back to basics and made another in this elegiac series. Two of my elders died this week and although my involvement with them was years ago, it`s sad. One was my 90 year old cousin Elizabeth who had the courage to be a free spirit when that wasn`t cool at all. The other was my former landlady, Olus Ramsey in New Mexico who lived to be 95. She gave me a beautiful place to paint at a rent I could afford just as I was starting out as a painter at 23. Joseph Campbell said when you follow your deepest desires, doors will open where there were only walls. She was one of those doors.
So I`ve been painting badly for a couple of weeks now. The well is dry. I don`t know why but it`s like something vital was simply shut off. I`m annoyed but not too concerned as I realize I have a month of total painting immersion coming up on the coast. Still I keep trying, that`s what I do but I`m not getting anywhere. Tonight, those departed ladies are in my thoughts as I`m ripping up wet paintings and I begin yet again. My brother Mike has given me a CD he wants me to hear. He kindly and patiently sees that I have beautiful music to listen to. I don`t even remember the name of the group but I put it on and immediately go to the first track he has noted as the best. That song isn`t half way along and I am standing over this painting, brush in hand, weeping. It doesn`t stop soon.
Music will find the sore places and clean them.