Urban Street Scenes and Show News

NW 23rd @ Johnson, 9x12" Oil

The past few times out painting provided some incredible weather, not to be missed for a region socked in with fog and overcast skies for 8 months of the year. I headed out twice this past week with the oils in tow and a new palette of colors that was recommended.  I've been tooling around with different palettes to see where my color voice is most inclined to settle.  I'd like most to try out a few other palette choices to see what each has to offer and it's temperament on the canvas.  This time around I used a limited transparent palette of Prussian Blue, Indian Yellow, Veridian (with a little Phalo Green on the side) Crimson and Titaniam White on a white canvas.  No underpainting here as with my vibrant under paintings in pastel.  So new, so different in method. All exciting.  Above, an area that was known to have a lot of thrift stores and resale shops is now a trendy area to spend the day shopping, eating and people watching.  The noon hour was the best for activity, I may want to return on later day this coming week.

SW 1st @ Hall,  10x8"  Oil

This one was painted in the downtown area of Beaverton, not too far from my home.  Not a lot of traffic on this street, but I liked the view, the street signage and RR crossing signs. I think I'll add some Cadmium Red Light (an opaque color) for those pops of red where the street lights, flowers and RR Crossing arms come into play.

OK, now for a little self-promotion:  Show news....

The Pacific Northwest Plein Air Show is coming down this Monday, Oct 1st at the Columbia Arts Center. If you are headed out there this weekend, take a moment to stop by to see this show. It is knockout!  As for the Hillsboro Plein Air event, the show opens this October 2nd from 6:00~8:00 pm. at the Glenn and Viola Walters Cultural Center.

HIllsboro Plein Air 2012 event recap

"The Venetian", 12x16" Oil

This past weekend I worked along with 40 or so artists in Hillsboro's non-juried plein air event. It was a much more relaxed event than the juried ones I've been in this past season, and so it's safe to say that we kept a more leisurely pace. Hosted by the Glenn and Viola Walters Cultural Arts Center, we had specific locations to paint. My first out of the gate was "The Venetian" (above) early in the morning. Then at noon, lunch was provided by Gamblin Oils with a demo on mediums, and then we went back out to paint some more. 

'Big Open Sky" 10x8" Oil

This one was painted at Jackson Bottom Wildlife Reserve in the baking hot sun with artists Anton Pavlenko, Yer Za Vue, and Thomas J. Kitts.  We stopped around 5:30 in the afternoon and then headed out to dinner.  With a little gas left in my bones, I headed back out to paint a nocturne with Za Vue and Quin Sweetman in the downtown area.  This is a street scene of part shoe store and part Thai restaurant. Again, as in my previous post, I worked this nocturne with no direct light working entirely by values. I am finding this to be an exciting way to work, with no regard to color...although, I do know where my paints are laid on my palette. Pulled it off the easel and walked it over to the light and BAM! Knock out intensities again! I called it good by 10:45 pm, then I hit my pillow by 11:30, wiped out from a long day in the sun.

 "Shoes 'N Thai'd" 10x8" Oil

Then the next morning the event conducted a 2-hour timed quick draw at the Walter's Center with Tableau Vivants dressed in Victorian period dress. I started one piece and half way through the session I became frustrated with my composition so I wiped it down and started again. This piece, "Victoria" was my one hour challenge, although I could add a few more marks to resolve it.

"Victoria" 8x6", Oil

The Hillsboro Plein Air was a well run event with helpful volunteers and support from the community. What I loved is that they made the artists feel special by providing us with goodies at check-in, canopies to protect us from the hot sun, a lunch provided by Gamblin, and awards.  All these things take organization and time to prepare.  So thank you Hillsboro Plein Air!

Celebrating 5 Years ~ 9/21/07

September 21st marks my fifth year of blogging! 

It's been a lot of fun for me to share my work and while I venture back to my earliest posts, I find my work and career in a much different light.  My dear reader, I hope you have found something here that keeps you coming back...be it my off kilter sense of humor or my work, I thank you for your support, kind comments, and online friendship.  Thanks, and let me raise a glass to 5 more blogging years to come.

And so now for the good stuff....

A few weekends ago I participated in the Pacific Northwest Plein Air 2012 event in Hood River so here are my works from the event.

"Hood River" 12x9" Oil

I'm betting there is a better title for this one out there somewhere. Help anyone? I entered this into the show and had to come up with titles with little thought to it's depth of meaning.  Both of these pieces were painted at one of the suggested locations on the Mills Estate. 

"Mills Grassland" 9x12"  Oil

Then up bright and early with 6 other artists for a "slap some paint down" session of Mount Hood as the sun rushed to open up the sky with color and aglow.  A beautiful sight with loads of laughter to accompany the view.  One of the artists shared an aqua color on my palette, hence the turquoise sky. 

'Mountain Glow" 6x8" Oil

"Click and Cluck" 9x12" Oil

This one piece was a fun one to paint as I listened to the orchestra of chicken clucks and sorted out the constant movement of the ladies.  I must comment here that this one piece has poor compositional bones and am only sharing it for posterity. A whole lotta cackling goin' on here.  

"At the Foot of the Slope" 9x12" Oil (uncropped)

This one place was somewhere on the way up to Mount Hood Meadows, a ski resort.  The meadow was dappled with gold and rust hues that sung the cusp of fall.  Unfortunately, I had to crop this piece to fit an 8x10" frame. 

After turning in all my framed work into the gallery, I was so relieved to be done with the "work" of the event that I took the liberty to paint for painting's sake. I went downtown for a nocturne session with my friend Karen and came across this window scene.  There was very low light and so I resorted to values as my guide.  When I brought the piece home and viewed it in the light, I was thrilled with the intensity of the color and it's loose, painterly brushwork.  I ended up framing it and swapping out with one already submitted piece for the show.

"She Wore Red" 10x8" Oil

The following Friday, the Juror Randall Sexton awarded my piece "Dahlia Repose" with the "Best Farm Scene" ribbon.  A nice way to end a fun event.

"Dahlia Repose" 12x12" Oil