Nisqually Marsh

"Nisqually Marsh," 8 x 10 In, Oil on Museum Board

I went out with the Plein Air Washington Group last week for our first paint-out of the spring. We went to the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge, a spot close to my home and my heart, as the Refuge has been restored to a certain extent, taking out the dam.  The area, which is the delta of the Nisqually River, is now inundated with the high tide.  The Nisqually River is one of the major rivers that comes off Mt. Rainier, from the Nisqually Glacier.

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White on White

"White on White", 14 x 11 In, Oil on Museum Board

I started this painting in the Alexander Zimin class a few weeks ago, but was not satisfied with it, so when I got home I "did it my way" as far as composition, taking the flowers off the edge of the panel. Its an interesting challenge to paint white on white, and that was one of the directions that Sasha seemed to be veering toward in his own work. In the class there was a white on white constraint simply in the arrangements of most of the still lifes that he carefully set up. So there was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide!

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Far Away

"Far Away", 14 x 11, Oil on Museum Board

I painted this model at the Plein Air Washington Group "Paint-In" last month. She is a very lovely young woman.

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Pot with Orange

I love to paint on a square canvas--there are so many possibilities for graphic design.

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Grand Canyon, End of Day

3/12/15 "Grand Canyon, End of Day", 6 x 6, Oil on Museum Board, Framed

There were two "6x6" shows over the holidays.  All the paintings I submitted for these shows were of the Grand Canyon. Some of the paintings came back, nicely framed, and this is one of them.

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Roses in Green Vase

"Roses in Green Vase", 20 x 20 In, Oil on Canvas

I've been painting smaller works on museum board for so long that I forget that I have canvas. So the other day I was looking for canvas to paint on and I found four paintings that I had totally forgotten about.  This is one of them.  I speak a lot about memory, because it often eludes me and I can no longer live with scattered mental organization.  I have to be actually organized.

Chinese Girl - NFS

"Chinese Girl", 24 x 18 In, Oil on Museum Board
This is an older painting done in 2009 and I think it must have been done from a photo from my trip to China, but I don't remember. It is interesting comparing the old with the new--I often use more paint now, but the brushwork that I like is apparent. I always think I will remember everything, but so many things are forgotten. I am sometimes just lucky there is an actual memory right there on the canvas.

Young Woman

"Young Woman", 14 x 11 In, Oil on Museum Board

For me the portrait is the most difficult in terms of the obsession of the mind that seeks perfection. The compulsion to get a likeness takes over and the process becomes one of fixing and re-fixing--not a happy place to be. In this portrait, I just quit after basically the first take and despite those thoughts trying to hammer me about this and that in the painting, I'm very happy to just leave it. My goal is to actually think differently about it--get out of that old moldy thought process. Make it as unfinished as it wants to be.