Winterglow, 9x12

"Winterglow" 9x12" Oil

Winter. Well I tell you, it is either cold outside or raining. Take your pick, Oregon has some crappy weather in the winter for plein air artists. However, if you can find your way outside while the rain stops or the sun shines, then by all means take that opportunity to paint. We recently had a dumping of fresh snow up at Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood and the snow reports have been nothing short of "perfect".  So my family and I went up for a snow day. They get to ski, and I get to paint, and it was my first time painting in the snow. 

Plein air setup with a sun-shield

The snow is beautiful in the sunlight, with glittering color and shifts of light, however that sunlight can really burn you up with all the reflective light.  I clipped on a car shield to my easel to protect my eyes from the glare and eye fatigue. I think next time I'll bring a black tarp too, to stand upon so that the brightness of the snow is not reflecting back up at me.

Overall, I had a great time painting in the snow and plan on more opportunities to do so again.

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