Woman in Black

"Woman in Black", 14 x 11 In, Oil on Museum Board
Fascinated by portraiture, I continue to try to re-think my process. In the end, they are all experiments and the question always is, when to simply go on to the next one. I've always found that at a certain point, everything in the painting is dependent on everything else and to change one small thing is often a major undertaking, even if that one small thing stands out as something that needs to be "fixed."

Woman In Black

Framed $1,050.00 USD Unframed $950.00 USD

White Dress

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

I recently read a blog from another artist who said that value is more important than color and something in me wants to take exception to that. But I also would not contend the opposite. Value and color are like the senses of seeing and hearing, both aspects of the bigger whole. With color there are warms and cools, not dependent on value. And it would be interesting to know if the brain registers color differently than value. And what about other aspects of painting, such as brushwork, which could be related to value (the "rule" says keep darks thin), but is really something different--a matter of physical intention and emotion. In fact, I've never been able to think of one aspect of painting as being more important than another aspect, but maybe I am missing something, and so I am open to your thoughts--readers of my blog!

Price

Framed $1,050.00 USD Unframed $950.00 USD

Meg

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

I am fascinated by the human face but continually question--how to make it a fascinating painting. Sometimes, as in this portrait, I use a bigger brush, #10 flat, to keep from being caught up in detail.

Framing

Framed $1,050.00 USD Unframed $950.00 USD

Cape Disappointment

"Cape Disappointment", 8 x 10 In, Oil on Museum Board

It is cold and wet outside and our environmental issue is on hold until January, so at last I have been painting every day in my studio. But I haven't gotten back in the habit of posting! And posting brings its own angst--when I haven't painted for awhile, in some ways I feel like I am at the beginning again. So all my paintings these days are practice and experiment--but I guess they always were, anyway.

Lopez Island Cliff - NFS

"Lopez Island Cliff", 8 x 10 In, Oil on Museum Board

After working on our neighborhood issue related to the proposed industrial geoduck operation in Zangle Cove for so many hours the last three months, I finally went through my photos on a rainy day in my studio, got out my paints and brushes and did what actually makes me feel good--paint! It was Alison Engle, a family member who lives on San Juan Island, who wondered if it was Watmough Bay. The San Juan's are magical islands in the northern part of Puget Sound and yes, our Plein Air Washington group was painting there maybe in 2012.

NFS

Mt. Hood Cooper Spur

"Mt. Hood Cooper Spur", 10 x 12 In, Oil on Museum Board
On the first day of the Pacific Northwest Painting Competition in Hood River, it was extremely windy on the Columbia River. So many painters headed up to the hills on the Cooper Spur Road toward Mt. Hood. Years ago I climbed Mt. Hood--I've probably mentioned that before. All the volcanoes of the Cascade Range hold a special place in my heart and my memory.

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Columbia Walls

"Columbia Walls", 8 x 10 In, Oil on Museum Board
This was painted at Mayer State Park along the Columbia Gorge. Sometimes there is nothing but color and so that is what the painting is about. There is a fine line between "painting the scene" and "painting the painting." I'm too old to focus on "painting the scene" and in fact it irritates me when I find myself doing it. There is some other thing that I want to do and it has to do with the paint itself or energy or not seeing quite straight.

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The Dalles

"The Dalles", 10 x 12 In, Oil on Museum Board

This was one of the spots I painted during the Pacific Northwest Plein Air Paintout last week. Along the river, between the The Dalles bridge and the dam, there is an area called Lone Pine, set aside for several of the local tribes for their fishing rights. They had several platform like fishing structures along the walls of the canyon just above the water and a younger man was checking them, though the old Grandfather who came told me there were not many salmon because of the low water level. Strangely, what interested me most visually was the dam itself, that long bright almost white building in the morning sun next to the turquoise of the water, with the pale hills behind.

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