.
8″ x 8″ oil on linen panel
This painting is actually OF Rentanaar Rd, which is just a little gravel path back to the dike and the marshy lakes and cow pastures in the interior of the island. In the winter this area is closed to everyone except bird hunters. There are black tail deer on the island. I don’t know if they’re hunted or not.
This view is from the top of the dike looking back toward the Wilamette River.
In my last post, I wrote about a plein air painting session on Sauvie Island. I started a second painting, while I was there and have been playing with it in the studio since then. I tried to push it in the direction I’ve taken other paintings, lately by indulging in a similar kind of mark making. I think I took it a bit too far, to the point where the scene was lost to the marks.
9″ x 12″ oil on linen panel
So, I decided to walk it back a bit and ended up with this:
I like the composition and seem to be convinced that there’s a painting in here, somewhere but have not found it yet. I decided to leave it alone for a while but, taking up some gouache I found myself at it again.
Sometimes I have an idea of what I think a painting should look like and I have to let go of it and allow it to be what it is.
My last post was of a few watercolor studies I did at Rentenaar Rd on Sauvie Island, here in Portland Or.
Sauvie has been a favorite plein air painting spot for generations of local painters and is a common meeting place for local plein air workshops. It’s so great to have this very quiet and beautiful spot so near the city.
I returned to the same place the next day and did a couple of oil studies. I parked my car under an osprey nest and was able to watch as the parents hunted and returned to feed their chick.
You can see the chick’s head peaking out of the nest in the picture above.
Here is one of the parents returning with a snack. They seemed to travel together and the other one circled my suspiciously as I took this shot.
I also saw a few bald eagles both days I was there.
Here’s one of the studies I did.
6″ x 8″ oil on panel
Spring has arrived and hunting season has ended on Sauvie Island, which means I can go into the wild life areas to paint again. Here are 3 watercolor studies I did on Sunday.
7″ x 10″ watercolor
7″ x 10″ Watercolor and ink
9″ x 12″ watercolor
.
8″ x 10″ oil on panel
.
Again this is Kelly Point Park. There is a bridge that goes across the river bank to a barge which is tied to the dolphins I’ve been fascinated with. The study above and the one before are two sections of this same small bridge.
.
18″ x 26″oil on linen
The second painting is larger than I’ve worked in quite a while. I’m still worrying it. – slowly.
I’ve found myself looking at the work of Ilya Repin and William Merrit Chase, as I work on this. They both commonly included figures in their landscapes. I think, for me, the dolphins fill that role.
.
6″ x 8″ oil on panel
This is the view from Kelley Point Park, looking across the Columbia River toward Washington. It was a cold foggy morning and there was a layer of mist rising off the river that I was trying to capture, with, I think, limited success.
.
I managed to get out to Sauvie Island once more before the rains started and joined Bev Kindley and Gretha Linwood for a few hours. The day started out very grey but cleared just as I got my first painting blocked in. I came home with 2 quick studies.
6″ x 8″ oil on panel
.
8″ x 10″ oil on panel
.
It’s been a long time since my last post and, in fact a long time since I touched a paint brush. I’m having my studio space expanded now and therefore have no where to paint for a few weeks but I hope to start back painting on a regular basis very soon.
In August I attended a week long workshop on Orcas Island with Jordan Wolfson and a small band of other painters. This workshop was different from others I’ve participated in. Although it was billed as a plein aire painting workshop and we did indeed paint plein aire, we didn’t focus just on capturing form and color as it appears in life. We did start out, as most workshops I’ve done, trying our best to paint what we saw but, as the week progressed, Jordan introduced exercises that encouraged us to be more interpretive of the landscape.
I didn’t really do anything close to a finished piece but several starts of an hour or two.
Most of the paintings are 8″ x 10″ and all are oil on linen panels. Click on them for a larger view.
.
.
On the third day of the workshop, we did an exercise in which we did a sort of wire frame of the scene.
.
Next we did a sort of combination of the first two days work by painting from observation but introducing lines and marks that searched out how the scene was constructed. I found myself thinking about painting, not just the objects in front of me but the air between me and them as well.
.
On the last day, Jordan encouraged us to be really expressive and experiment with any kind of mark making we could think of.
.
.
I’ve admired Jordan’s work for a long time and I was interested in working with him because of his ability to work across a spectrum of realistic to fairly abstract imagery without leaving representation completely. I’ve been trying to move myself in that direction and I enjoyed spending a week with Jordan and other serious painters who were also interested in exploring similar ideas.
This work is very different from what I’ve done in recent years and I enjoyed stepping beyond my comfort zone. I’m looking forward to getting my studio in order and seeing where this leads me.
For more pictures of the workshop and information about Jordan, check out Jordan Wolfson Workshops on Facebook.
.
I returned to Kelley Point Park last week for some Plein Air painting but could not get near the vantage point I drew from before because the River is running so high. In fact, there was hardly any beach area at all.
8″ x 10″ oil on panel
The painting above was done mostly plein air at the park. Even though it’s almost July, we’ve had very few sunny days here and this was no exception. This park is a bit depressing anyway and the lack of sun had me feeling pretty low, as I painted this.
9″ x 20″ oil on mounted linen
The second and third paintings were done from studies I’ve been working from, some done on site a couple of years ago.
9″ x 15″ oil on mounted linen
I still feel like I’m struggling to decide on a direction style-wise, torn between pushing the work farther toward or away from my observations.
.
.
10″ x 12″ oil on linen panel
This painting above is the same one from my last post, but taken a bit further.
6″ x 6″ oil on linen panel
These others are efforts to leave the reference behind a bit and lose myself in what it is I’m drawn to in the scene. They seem a bit self conscious to me, like I’m pushing them for no good reason. Like I’m faking it. Of course, I am faking it, at this point.
6″ x 5.5″ watercolor, ink and water soluble crayon on paper
.
5″ x 10″ oil on linen panel
10″ x 12″ oil on linen panel
I’ve always liked the sketches I did at this park back in 2009 and posted HERE and HERE and have intended to get back here to paint more.
According Wikipedia, the site of this park, at the confluence of the Wilamette River and Columbia Slough, was named for New Englander Hall Jackson Kelley, who tried, unsuccessfully, to establish a city at the site in 1834. The surrounding area is pretty industrial, with a Port of Portland Marine Terminal right next door.
.
11″ x 14″ oil on panel
In the comments section, the owner of Crack Press, Pete McCracken, left a nice message and let me know that he’s still in business at a new location. Check his comment, below, for a link to his site.
.
.
8" x 10" Oil on Panel
This tree stands alone in a parking lot in NW Portland and looks somewhat surreal in the artificial light from surrounding signs. The old Montgomery Ward building, now Montgomery Park, behind the tree is a NW Portland landmark.
This was painted on a masonite panel prepared with Gamblin Oil ground that I sanded lightly before beginning the painting. It’s a very slippery surface to paint on and the sanding only helped a little.
.
8″ x 14″ oil on panel
6″ x 10″ oil on canvas panel
Two new oil paintings. I’ve been posting more work on my sketching blog recently, you can see that work here.
These two paintings started out as sketches. The top one is from a favorite sketching area of mine, North Portland near the Widmer Brewery, looking toward the Union Pacific Rail yard.
The lower painting is the view from the new OHSU campus on the South Waterfront. At the time of the sketch, Cirque du Soleil was encamped along the river for their summer show. Downtown Portland is in the background. I was interested in this scene because the bright tents of the circus stood out from the mostly grey scene.
After a mostly beautiful October, the rains have returned here in Portland so I should have a lot more opportunity to paint clouds over the coming months.
I got a new scanner that is better able to scan slides than my old one, so I spent some time scanning slides of old paintings and added a new page of work I did in the late 1990s inspired by a trip to western Ireland. There is a link to the page on the right sidebar and you can get to it by clicking on the image below.
watercolor 7″ x 10″
My wife and daughters and I all remember this trip fondly and none of us have been willing to let many of these paintings go. Most of them are hanging in our house.
Last Saturday I went back to the same place we painted in the workshop I last wrote about. There is an abandoned farm there with a bald eagle’s aerie in a big oak tree at the edge of Sturgeon Lake.
8″ x 10″ oil on panel
It was so peaceful there. I only saw two other couples the whole day as well as a doe and her 2 fawns, a coyote the eagle and a couple of cotton tails.
8″ x 10″ oil on panel
I received a last minute invitation, from my friend Shawn Demerest, to attend a plein air painting workshop on Sauvie Island with Portland based painter, Stephen Hayes. I was only able to attend one day but it was well worth it.
Caldera by Stephen Hayes
16″ x 120″ oil on canvas panel – Elizabeth Leach Gallery
Since I’ve started painting again, I’ve focused on learning traditional painting techniques and the workshops I’ve attended have been about painting that way. Although Stephen has spent years painting plein air, he is a contemporary painter who doesn’t limit himself to traditional techniques. In fact, he uses the landscape before him more as a jumping off point rather than trying to capture the moment or scene. (Those are my impressions of his work, not Stephen’s words, btw).
Having originally started out as a non-traditional painter, it was freeing to see Stephen paint more experimentally. Stephen shared some interesting ways to rework areas of the painting. I especially liked how he talked about working a painting back and forth, losing it and bringing it back, pushing and pulling it toward and back from the brink of disaster.
One “rule” I hear over and over from traditional painters is to put a brush stroke down and leave it. That is a rule Stephen is not afraid to break.
I did a couple of studies, during the workshop, starting out my normal way but found it a lot more fun to play with them, not being afraid to damage them or destroy them.
8″ x 10″ oil on panel
6″ x 8″ oil on panel
Although these sketches may not look a lot different from paintings I’ve done in the past, they were a lot more fun to do.
6″ x 8″ oil on panel
I’m not really that much of a plein air painter but I did get out last weekend to one of the Lavender Farms that were hosting painters. I also ran into my old friend Elio Camacho, who happened to be teaching a workshop there. I enjoyed hearing what he’s been up to and hope to maybe catch up with him again and do a little more outdoor painting.
It’s been so rainy and cold here, in the Pacific NW, that the lavender was not quite open yet. I got 2 studies done before I had to head out.
5″ x 7″ oil on panel
7″ x 5″ oil on panel
North Central Oregon has a lot of these volcanic rock formations called Palisades. This one is in the Clarno Unit near the Painted Hills. I hope to get back over there soon to do some more painting, if for no other reason than just to see the sun. It’s been a gloomy, dreary, wet spring in the North West and I’d really like to see my shadow again.
.
14″ x 16″ oil on paper
Another dumpster. I don’t know why I’m drawn to them in general but in this case it was the bright red.
.
.
6″x8″ oil on panel
This is, again, a theme I’ve visited before in my sketchbook. This one reminds me a bit of master urban landscape painter, Stephen Magsig, author of one of my favorite painting blogs – Postcards From Detroit.
Stephen has started a beautiful new blog showing his more developed urban landscapes – Stephen Magsig Urban Landscape Paintings. There are some really inspiring paintings there.
.
.
10″ x 8″ oil on canvas
My how time slips away.
This is a redo of a painting I did last summer. Although the photo is not great, the painting is dark.
Hopefully more to come soon.
Centennial Mills from NW 13th and Raleigh
This is the closest I’ve gotten to painting recently. I’ve been doing a lot of drawing though, some of which can be seen on my other blog.
.
6″ x 6″ oil on board
I haven’t posted anything in a while but I have been painting. I’ve been experimenting with larger paintings but I haven’t produced anything I want to share, as yet. I seem to be trying to go in two directions at once. I need to pick one.
I’d planned on getting outside to paint more this year but summer is almost over and it’s just really hard to get outside when you work a full time job. Not to imply that I’m not extremely thankful to have a full time job. Weekends are precious and I’ve been busy with family and friends and I just haven’t had time to paint out.
This little study was an experiment on a new surface. It’s a board primed with Gamblin oil ground. The surface is hard and smooth, similar to panels I’ve made before by priming with acrylic gesso on masonite or plywood. I think it may be a little stickier though. I was thinking of taking another shot at this scene but, dumpsters? really? Am I getting too squalid in my choices of subject matter?
Here is an artist I’ve been enjoying looking at lately. Great clean clear color.
…. 
.
.
6″ x 8″ oil on primed paper
Another study of this storage tank. I don’t know where this is going but I really enjoy painting this thing.
.
.
10″ x 8″ oil on canvas
This is the other painting I did on Sunday. This is from the same spot I painted the Dome painting.
This is painted from the N side of the Wilamette River looking back toward the downtown business district. The large building in the distance is Portland’s closest thing to a sky scraper at 30 floors. It’s the US Bank building, locally known as “Big Pink” for it’s copper colored reflective surface.
.
6″ x 8″ oil on Raymar panel
I may be a little obsessed with this dome.
Sunday was a beautiful day and I found this great site with a panoramic view of Portland, from the “ugly ” side. This is an iteresting part of town. Although it’s filled with freeway overpasses and concrete plants and railroad yards, there has been a bit of gentrification and there are some good restaurants and music venues in the neighborhood.
I did a couple of plein air sketches, then had nice IPA and burger at the Widmer Brewpub down the block. A satisfying day.
.
.
11″ x 11″ oil on canvas
All three of the pieces I had in the Town and Country show have sold, which is nice. The gallery asked me to bring a couple more pieces down and I delivered them today. Since I hadn’t really been thinking about selling, I hadn’t signed any of the work I took to the gallery and since I hadn’t decided on how to present the work, when I took it to the framer, some of the work is now difficult to sign permanently in the frame. The gallery owner asked me to sign them on the back.
I have never gotten comfortable signing work on the image. I think it can be especially distracting with these really small works. Next time, I’ll have to plan better.
I recently did some scenic backdrop painting for a local theater company and I really enjoyed painting large. I’ve painted large in the past and there are several problems it brings that I’m not eager to deal with. One is storage, and another is the cost of framing.
The painting above is a bit larger than I’ve been painting but not much. I can deal with this.
Note that the figure on the sidewalk is knee deep in concrete or, perhaps is walking on his knees.
.
6″ x 8″ oil on panel
Sauvie Island is popular with bicyclists, fishermen, bird watchers, hunters and plein air painters. The easiest place to meet up is the Cracker Barrel convenience store, which is a short distance from the bridge that is the only way on and off the island. I did this little sketch of the fields across the street from the parking lot, last Saturday while waiting to meet the group I was painting with.
Portland plein air painter Celeste Bergin showed up to meet another group of painters, which she wrote about on her blog.
A couple of things are different in this painting from the others I did during this weekend. One, I didn’t use any alizarin crimson, two, I did this by myself while waiting for my painting companions to arrive. I find that I’m able to get into a sort of meditative state of mind while painting alone that seems more conducive to what I need to enjoy the process.
.
.
8″ x 10″ oil on canvas
Although the sun is shining today, it has been pretty stormy here lately. I’m looking forward to seeing the sun and getting outside to paint.
This scene is looking west across the Broadway Bridge to downtown Portland. The two prominent buildings are the US bank tower and the train station.
Sketchbook Meditations
