Painter's Process

Fog on the Mountain 4

2009-12-18T17:15:00.000-08:00

Fog on the Mountain 3

2009-12-17T09:58:00.000-08:00

The Fog Burning Off

2009-12-12T16:38:00.000-08:00

November Dusk Study

2009-12-09T15:17:00.000-08:00

Steigerwald Study 3

2009-12-08T15:47:00.000-08:00

Someone famous said 'I can`t paint what I want, only what I would have wanted, had I thought of it first'. Yes, each painting takes on it`s own life no matter what is in the mind. When I was working in the Steigerwald National Wildlife Refuge last month, there was a place near the river that was pulsating gold. The wind was blowing and everything was moving. All of it yellow; grasses, trees and earth, with a morning blue mountain behind. It seemed ephemeral. Here I try to give form to feeling.

Fog on the Mountain 2

2009-12-06T10:04:00.000-08:00

Fog on the Mountain1

2009-12-04T11:19:00.000-08:00

One of a couple of larger pieces coming from my walk in the rain on Thanksgiving.

Steam and a Mill

2009-12-03T14:00:00.000-08:00

The industries on both banks of the Willamette River in Oregon City look bustling. Visually, they`re extremely complex with great gusts of steam obscuring, then clearing from the view. It`s noisy, damp and busy. And then barely beyond the factories upriver are the Falls. In winter, they are an arc of glorious tumultuous water. Just fascinating. I`d like to focus my work here someday.

Fog on the Mountain Study 2

2009-12-01T14:35:00.001-08:00

Fog on the Mountain Study

2009-11-30T13:23:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving morning we climbed Mt. Talbert in the rain. It only takes about an hour. The mountain was completely engulfed in a cloud. Very poetic and very wet.

Steigerwald Study 2

2009-11-27T16:27:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving-Rain in a Coastal Forest 2

2009-11-26T12:56:00.000-08:00

For those families once whole with the living, my friend Maureen Doallas has written a poem. Republished with her permission;

Thanks Given (Poem)

Thanks Given

We were nine.

We were eight.

We are seven.

We were together.

We are apart.

We were mother and father,

five daughters,

two sons:

Together. One.

Apart

In Virginia and Florida,

New York and Tennessee,

in Georgia

We were a family.

We are a family

come together

with spirit,

with ghost

Eyes looking down,

looking up,

looking out

To a hillside in Arlington,

to a headstone in Venice:

Two to make

seven into nine.

Lips pressing thank yous

on shadows of air

breathed in breathed out

paused

To save

for blessings

round tables

Together,

apart,

As one.

A Corner of the Park

2009-11-23T12:45:00.000-08:00

I have a larger Steigerwald canvas in process but it is not coming together. After giving up for the day, I got involved with this little painting.

Steigerwald Study 1

2009-11-20T16:53:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning, just before the storm blew in, I was all over Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge. Even got a run in, camera in hand. The sky was wild and the cottonwoods were being stripped of their yellow leaves by the wind.

The Meadow through the Trees

2009-11-15T23:19:00.000-08:00

Mossy Rocks 2

2009-11-12T18:34:00.001-08:00

November Leaves

2009-11-11T14:38:00.000-08:00

Suddenly and unexpectedly I`ve been accepted into the Daily Painters group/website! I applied long ago when I was focused on small work. With my house for sale and a move hopefully imminent, this is a good time to return to that practice. Though I use a squeegee often, it`s mark is usually not so noticeable. Here the look seemed to suggest the ephemeral nature of late autumn so I kept it. It`s an inane title I know. Sometimes that chore just baffles me.

Mossy Rock

2009-11-08T09:52:00.000-08:00

Sanctuary

2009-11-05T11:07:00.000-08:00

I`ve never had enough red. Even landscape painters that take liberties with perception, like me, can`t get enough.

Camas Meadow

2009-11-03T10:56:00.000-08:00

I can`t just stop painting even if I`m selling a house. That quickly became apparent. I managed to complete this last night. It`s of an odd meadow with stunted trees above Lacamas Creek.

Untitled Lily

2009-10-31T20:52:00.000-07:00

Another older flower study while I work on my house.

Wind through the Magnolia

2009-10-29T10:03:00.000-07:00

Everything has aligned, we`re putting our house on the market. God help me. We want trees and a place to walk and I need a bigger studio. I doubt I`ll be painting much for awhile, which of course, lights a fire. The ideas can wait for big canvases painted in the new studio.

Magnolia Open to the Sky

2009-10-26T22:47:00.000-07:00

Another closeup, 1997.

Lily

2009-10-24T16:07:00.000-07:00

After creating it and updating it dutifully for years, John has had it with my web page. So I hired help. In organizing images for the new site I found this. Every once in a while I like to paint something close up. This is from 2001.

Night Falls on the Winter Orchard

2009-10-19T15:32:00.001-07:00