A thirst for first

"Reflections of the Past"  36x60"x1.5"  Available

Finally...winter is showing signs of exhaustion! While most of us have endured several chilly months inside our cocoons, a wariness begins to emerge, causing us to get up, shake off the cobwebs, and get out of our winter cave. Spring spurs a little urgency to evaluate where we will go next.  Some of us will be packing travel bags, and experiencing many "firsts", while some may stay settled into a comfortable, solid routine.  Oh, Spring!  What lies ahead?

Do you ever look at nature and wonder just how you are here in the present?  Does the outdoors bring forth new ideas? It surely does for me!  

One Spring I took a painting trip to California's Palm Desert that produced some of my favorite pieces (the inspiration for the piece above). The subtle colors of the old palm tree skirts were an unexpected sight. What amazed me while creating their likeness, was how I was present in an incredible moment of our earth's existence. The palm trees have been there for hundreds, if not thousands of years. drinking from the pools of percolating water that bubbles up from the infamous San Andreas Fault.  The thought came up that my paintings took an ensie-weensie second of their existence.

Time is precious. And while the palm trees continue to drink from the well, we continue to spin around so that we don't notice what is actually around us.  So here are a couple of ideas we can practice to slow down our busy lives and enrich our presence today...

Take a minute out for your "self" and just  b r e a t h e  deeply.
Listen to the sounds around you.  What do you really hear?
Go to the market and buy a fragrant bouquet to enjoy.
Get up early to view a sunrise.  How long has it been since you have done that?
Or touch the velvet of a rose flower...although they are out of season, you get the idea?
Use all of your senses to fill yourself up.  What will you do with your Spring?

Moving along...    
  

An Artist's Voice Is Not Heard

 An Artist's Voice Is Not Heard

Grandpa's Barn, Creswell, OR.  Demolished c..2010

 

I'm hoping all is well with you and are getting through your summer unaffected by all the bad news out there. It's been so difficult to find positive in our world, and as an artist, I feel a deep responsibility to bring some beauty into your life.  You see, it's more of a calling and I must do what I am destined to do.  So hand over the reins for a minute and hear me out, OK? 

So over the past ten months, give or take, I have been feeling something brewing in my artwork that was not apparent to me until last week.  As the paintbrush was burning up the easel, my work began to steer towards barns and rural life.  Simple subjects. Things that I could relate to on a deeper level.  And through discussion and feedback from my collectors and artist peers, there seems to be a common thread that is felt in my most recent work:  

Nostalgia  
Fond melancholy
Calm
Hope
Resolve

and all those feelings have been sensed in paint?

WOAH!  It is more apparent to me just how my deep feelings translate over to the canvas. So it isn't COVID or riots?  Well, I know those feelings of injustice and tragedy are pouring out in oil just the same. But now more than ever I realize the apparent visual communication I have been whipping up is coming out in ways I had never imagined.  It's a SENSE of calm I get when I paint.  My main catalyst?  The sale of my family's 100-year-old farm and a deep regret that I could not take the farm onto my own to cherish, nurture, and allow to blossom.  The change of hands had to happen at some time I suppose,  and so I express my feelings through creating with pigments. 

So please take a minute to visit both my "Landscapes" and "Plein Air" pages on my website.  Please let me know what you feel when you look at my barns. Is it nostalgia? Or perhaps you might sense a resolve in my work? For me, I believe that the artists' voice is not heard, but felt... and I feel hope.

Seeing through your hopes and dreams

"Delight of the Dreamer"  12x12" Pastel on sanded paper, $1,650
Available through The Mission Gallery

Enter into any room that is flooded with filtered light, and you might sense your mood shifting, and perhaps your eyes might even begin to moisten. For me, I am always in touch with my senses, especially my sight, and perception of how people relate to one another. It's almost funny to say this, but to me, I am on the observation deck of life.  A few years back, I came upon this scene inside the Swan House at the Atlanta Historical Museum after a thunderous Spring downpour. Upon entering into this one particular room at that very moment, I felt a compelling sense of elevation by the light that was wrapping around this young girl. It evoked feelings of hope fueled by anticipation, curiosity, and dreams. And now, now more than ever, this piece seems more poignant. One might question if she is isolated in an empty room along with an empty chair to sit, be still and think, or she is waiting for good news that will bring brighter days ahead?.  Whether we look at life through either a kaleidoscope lens or a magnifying glass, we still take light in.  So what do you see in this piece? I'd love to know!

Moving along...    

Staged Zest (study), 6x6

"Staged Zest, study" 6x6" Pastel on sanded paper

Lemons! Don't they remind you of Summer? In this little piece, I wanted the color to sing by using the complementary colors of yellow and purple. I used a fun mark-making technique called "broken color" where the underpainting or underlying colors are allowed to peek through, making the eye "mix" the colors in the mind. See the table-top...it has marks of yellow, pink and blue. And I just love that bright red on the lemon skin. Makes my mouth water.

Reds and Reeds (study), 6x6

"Reds & Reeds" (study), 6x6" pastel on sanded paper

Feeling a little happy from the recent news, the creative juices have been flowing! Stopped by two galleries today: Broderick Gallery and Portland Classic Gallery to see what's new and to get a boost. It's so awesome to view other's work, see the brushstrokes, colors, feelings.

I picked this one image up from my favorite Reference Image Library. Once started from my demos during Portland Open Studios, I've decided to finish it up. I'm so glad I did. There are so many ideas I'd like to put to paper! I'm thinking about making changes in my work, wanting to brighten up my palette and work on brushstroke quality more and more. I'm not sure if this one painting really does what I'm desiring but just the same, I'm so drawn to water themes and soft soothing scenes. It's hard to change a way or style of an artist's work, just like trying to change the color of your wool carpet. It's dyed into me.

Color Field, 27x27

"Color Field", 27x27" Pastel on sanded board

During this Christmas break of '08 I've had plenty of time to work on a few large pieces that I've been wanting to paint for some time now. The previous post, "Estuary at Dusk" is supposed to be finished, but I still feel that there is something amiss with it. I can feel it--and have set it aside for awhile and will return to it soon....so I guess that means it's really not finished at all!

This new one, is like one of the studies I previously posted back in October. "Color Field" is a scene from my Grandparents farm, looking South. This view reminds me of summer visits to the farm catching grasshoppers, swinging on the hammock, playing in the bales of hay, and setting time away to just think. Knowing me, I'll probably revisit this particular painting before getting it recorded and framed. Once I decide it's finished, it has a special place above my hearth in the family room!
The series of steps are posted below...


First I begin with some sort of color wash. Intense red-orange and some basic blocking-in of color will hopefully give this piece a warm July feeling. This time around I created my own sanded board by mixing Golden Acrylic Ground for Pastels with pure red and orange pigment by Createx. Painted on with a fat brush, and left to dry. The sanded ground has the color wash already established within the grit. Hopefully, this will give it an overall warm feeling.


Establishing shape and values.


Developing the clouds and row of trees.


Shaping the clouds with color, adding some touches of the distant field through the tree-line.


Quieting down now, adding the finishing touches. I guess I'm done!