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

Caught cheatin' again with oils!

"Dahlia Repose" 12x12" Oil

"Old Sellwood" 9x12" Oil

Painted in Craig Srebnik's Street Scenes' workshop

"Slope and Line" 6x8" Oil

"The Gates of ESCO" 12x9" Oil

It's official! I've fallen in love with oil painting all over again! I am wholeheartedly enjoying the challenge of learning as much as I can in what time I have available to devote to my art. My all time favorite is still soft pastel, so if you are wondering if I have abandoned them, the answer is no, I haven't.  There is currently a pastel commission on the easel and many more works to be created in pastel that rest impatiently in my mind. I am finding that working with each medium offers different methods and results, and that my pastel work has definitely influenced my work with oils. I believe this will be reciprocal as I move along in my painting journey.  As for now, I am going to post a few of my more recent pieces that I have created in oils.

Starting on Friday Aug 31st, I will be participating in the Pacific Northwest Plein Air 2012 event in Hood River.  Thirty five juried artists will be painting the region over the course of 4 days.  Non-stop painting in this great location is one of my favorite events of the year.  Come join us at the reception this Sept 7th at the Columbia Arts Center in Hood River at 5pm.  Hope to see you there....

So I'll see you next week at the same bat time, same bat channel for another round of artwork.