Wetlands Forest - Opening - generational hope

                                                       oil on canvas 20x16

 Another from the marshy area where Fanno Creek joins the Tualatin River.

 It was cute. At the opening of my show at the Museum 510 last night, people would tell me about the swamps in their lives. The need to connect is powerful!
 Such a fun evening! I`m still a newbie in my community so I had zero expectations. That is a condition for delight, the crowd was very sweet and appreciative.
We got there early and I took a few pictures;

                                               John and my sister in law Mary

Take a look at the work of Claudia Bos. From what I can tell from her website, these aren`t recent but they`re definitely worth seeing. She has a fresh, confident, poetic way with watercolor. Such as this one:

 Now a word to the wise. Never give large artworks to young people! Even if you are also young!
Near the end of my semester of art school I did this really large painting and then gave it to my brother Mike. I was 19 and he was 17. Bless him, what a responsibility I dumped on him! He has hauled that canvas from home to home for 42 years! It hangs above his bed occupying most of the wall. The painting was inspired by freezing rain. Here it is;

 Alone on a walk a while back, I stepped off the path and into the forest. I looked around and saw this in the distance;

 This cheered me. It`s a fort!
Generalizations about young people bother me. All the complaints about their electronic habits seem sort of hysterical. We all have powerful computers in our pockets and this is astounding. I have notifications turned on, I look at it in restaurants, I`ve abandoned the telephone  and I text like everyone else. I don`t worry about the new ways of communication that are evolving. Business, social negotiations, entertainment and intimacy happen online now. Let`s be tolerant.
But I almost never see children in the forest and this seems sad.
My generation was ushered out the door and told not to come back in until dinner. Today, parents seem too fearful to trust their kids to be unsupervised. Ever. I`m sure young imaginations just take a different turn but what concerns me is them becoming afraid of the outdoors, of being in nature. Because it`s unknown. This too is probably a needless worry. I hope so, I built many forts.

work for sale in my studio
demonstration in my studio Sat. March 14, 10 am. 5373 Lakeview Blvd. Lake Oswego OR 97035

December Forest 4 - 'Environments' - B&W

                                                       oil on canvas 20x16

 This is the latest in a series of the forests on Cook`s Butte where I often walk. Every time I try for the actual density of those woods but never seem to get it;

 Or the color either! Maybe I need to impose order on all that chaotic growth?
Numbers 1,2, and 3 are below, all are 20x16.

 Yesterday the paintings in my joint show with Tom Cramer, 'Environments', were delivered and hung. After bringing them in, I had 23 paintings leaning against the wall like a police line up;

The opening is Friday March 6 at 5 pm. We`ll have a gallery talk about the work Thurs. evening March 19 at 6:30 pm, and on Thurs. March 26, I`ll give a demonstration at the gallery at 11 am.
Museum 510, downtown Lake Oswego at the corner of 1st. and B ave. I hope some of you can see the show, I think it`s a good one.  Here`s a write up in the local newspaper.

 A couple of months ago I had some correspondence with the  Massachusetts painter, Ginny Zanger. She wanted to compare notes on our watermedia techniques on Yupo, that slippery plastic paper that bedevils many. When I saw her work I immediately felt she was on a similar mission. This is vain but much of her work sort of looks like mine. She`s interested in the incidental minutia in the landscape like I am. Here`s an example;

                                                             Ginny Zanger

 She has an interesting biography having grown up in South America and she`s done what many landscape artists including me would like to do, address environmental catastrophe in our work. The dilemma is about creating beauty out of tragedy and it paralyses many of us. She marched right through that and produced a stunning body of work based on the Gulf Oil Spill. Well done Ginny!

 When I was visiting my old friends in California a couple of weeks ago I saw this tiny watercolor I did in the early 90`s, a difficult time.

This was a study for 'Roses for St. Anthony' which I gave to my Dad, a devout Catholic.
 Ruth called me a colorist recently and if that`s true, it may be why I`ve retreated to black and white frequently over the years. Didn`t Monet say something about color obsessing and tormenting him every single day? I`ve noticed many times, if there doesn`t seem to be enough colors, I`ve used too many already. Sometimes none is best. Black and white paintings seem directly connected to the subconscious and are truly refreshing to paint. Here are some others;

 He`s always said it best;

work for sale in my studio
studio demonstration Sat. March 14, 10 am. 5373 Lakeview Blvd. Lake Oswego OR 97035

Fanno Creek Marsh and renewal

                                  Fanno Creek Marsh oil on cradled panel 20x20

  I`ve only seen a small section of Fanno Creek, it suddenly is visible then disappears into suburban neighborhoods. Still feeling like a newcomer to the westside, there are many things that remain a mystery. The part I do know in Tigard, is lovely. This time of year it is flooding its banks just before joining the Tualatin River. This marshy area isn`t real accessible but wonderful sights reward those willing to get their shoes muddy.
 Complete in one day because I was excited, inspired, and bolstered by my trip to California. This is such a tangible benefit to travel! Given a different perspective things make more sense, priorities become clearer, decisions are made, resolutions are committed to and if it was fun, we return to our 'real' lives enthused and refreshed. This is so predictable for me, I try to go somewhere else whenever possible.
 This is how I did an oil painting in one day; first of all, I paint thin and in layers. If I can get into the studio in the morning, using Winsor Newton Liquin, mineral spirits and Winsor Newton Alkyd White in my process, I can lay down an atmospheric color base. Alkyds are quick drying and compatible with standard oil paints and mediums. After a walk, when I return to the studio, my under painting is nearly dry. Now I add some shapes and a few marks that look good to encourage my resolve. They are usually temporary. When I finally have a big block of time in the evening, again it`s a tacky dry which is my favorite consistency to work with. Now come a bunch of little experiments with  most of them removed. Often it`s just a small stroke or a random color that unlocks the image and it soon unfurls into being. If I`m lucky, like with this one.
 Here`s what I use;

 Lots of house painter brushes for blending, many tools for removal such as Q-tips and scrapers and little bowls to mix liquid color for pouring.
 Here are some more Fanno Creek Wetlands;

                                                    oil on canvas 30x48

                                                    watercolor on Yupo 26x20

                                                           oil on paper 9x12

 The abstract expressionist/color field painter Barnett Newman once said sculpture was something you bumped into as you back up to look at a painting. It is ironic that he created the 20th century masterpiece, Broken Obelisk.

 Sculpture usually doesn`t draw me in unless it`s made by a genius like Calder or Martin Puryear.
Take a look at Puryear`s 'Greed`s Trophy';

 This is in MOMA, it`s huge and delicate and commands your attention as it flares out from the wall. He was a Peace Corp volunteer in Africa and learned traditional craft techniques that he uses in his poetic modernist work.

 I was looking for new checks the other day and found a stack of drawings some co-workers at Assaggio did of me. Waiters are a talented bunch of people who have to keep busy even in the down time. Only one was an artist. My temper, sexuality and dislike of heat are duly noted.

 I thought this little interview with the legendary Joan Mitchell was terrific!

 My beautiful husband [!] turns 50 on Monday!

 work for sale in my studio

Winter Oneanta - California - I-pad!

                                                         oil on Yupo 12x9

 From January.

 It`s interesting returning to my home state of California and seeing what it has become. Always the model for the rest of the country, technologies, ideas, and politics get tested here first.
 The air was so bad when I left in 1972, it hurt to breathe. Mountains just a few miles away were invisible unless the wind howled. Very bleak. Then they tried bold strategies involving auto emission standards to barbecuing regulations. It got cleaner!
Even with millions more living there now, it`s a much better, nicer place.
 This was a rare and perfect time to visit the central coast. It had rained. Once predictably annual in winter, it is now very special.  Enough had fallen for the landscape to become green;

                                                        Marcia Burtt`s ranch

 We saw some unusual landscapes;

                                                         Eucalyptus Forest

                                                             Lagoon

                                                          Coastal Marsh

 My friends were well and generous with their time and attention. California suits them and they deserve its pleasures. My plein air adventure with Marcia Burtt was fun though we did more talking than painting. This is defensible, she is quite interesting and artists are alone so much of the time. This oak tree is almost, but not quite complete;

                                                        Unfinished 21x20

 What really got me excited was the progress I made in understanding the painting app Art Rage for I-pad. I played with it on the plane and finally made some sense of it. Ever since seeing David Hockney`s efforts, I`ve been intrigued. If he can do it, so can I. There are probably newer and easier programs now but this is the one I have. Making the abstract 'painting' below had me transfixed from San Francisco to Portland. It`s just a doodle but I learned how to use some of the tools.

 The portability and convenience make this so appealing! I could sit comfortably in my lawn chair while everyone struggles to unfold their French easels in the proper sequence.

 In April, we`re going to spend a night here. I`ve always wanted to just stand in a houseboat. This is going to be fun!

 Wouldn`t you love to hear what he made that thing do?

work for sale in my studio

next studio demonstration is Sat. March 14, 10 am

Oxbow Slough-demo-SLO

                                                 Oxbow Slough 20x16 oil on canvas

 It was a good week for wetlands! It really hasn`t rained much but the Tualatin River is in flood stage and Minto Brown Island is a swamp. This isn`t good at all, it can only be snowmelt. The weather has been so mild and the freezing level so high, the snowpack is 15% of normal. There will not be anything wet by summer. And the party of climate change deniers won even more seats in Congress. What a world.
 I had business in Salem this week. The gallerist Mary Lou Zeek invited me to be part of her pop-up show 'Blink'!

 I first heard of this temporary exhibit idea as the Great Recession took hold. It`s clever, resourceful and such a good use of vacant property!
After delivering work, I had to go see the Minto Brown wetlands nearby;

The next day I walked through the fog along a bit of Fanno Creek. It was ethereal and gorgeous;

 This walk became the basis of my monthly demonstration painting this morning;

                                           Tigard Wetlands 12x18 watermedia on paper

 Tomorrow we`re off to San Luis Obispo to see my long time friend and glass artist, George Zarolinski and her husband Steve. They relocated after 40 years in Chimayo New Mexico. I need to see their new lives!
 While we`re in the area, I`ll finally meet my internet friend Marcia Burtt. She paints large, bold landscapes on location using quick drying acrylics. We`re going to paint together out in the hills! I was going to do my usual, crude watercolor plein air routine which is basically a lawn chair with the paper in my lap but thought differently after thinking about her offer. She had extra French easels, plenty of paints and brushes so I decided to act like a Roman in Rome. I`m going to paint vertically while standing up! Like she does!
 Here is a vibrant painting of hers I just found on Pinterest;