more painting outside – a little farther from home

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The hunting season is over on Sauvie Island, and I headed over to paint last weekend. Unfortunately, when I was half way there, I realized I had forgotten to pack any panels to paint on. This is the second time I’ve done this. I suppose age is catching up with me. Rather than turn back, I continued on knowing that I had my watercolor paintbox and sketchbooks along.

“Multnomah Channel” 7 x 10 watercolor

I went to a part of the island where I haven’t painted for several years and found a nice spot along the Multnomah Channel ( a narrow side channel of the Wilamette River, and started the piece above as several sailboats and fishing boats came and went. While I waited for the colors to dry on this one, I started the one below, of the same subject.

“Multnomah Channel sketch
5 x 8 watercolor and ink

I moved on down the road and did one more from a spot I painted a few years ago. It’s a view of the famous  volcano, Mt St Helens, across the cow patures.

Mt St Helens from Sauvie Island
gouache

I was hoping for some cows but they didn’t show up until later

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Painting outside

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“Deck Chair”
6″ x 8″ oil on panel

The weather has been especially wonderful in Oregon this spring. Although I’m tied to my home office during the work week, I’ve stolen enough time to do a few little studies outside. These two were painted from the deck of my office.

“Shrub”
6″ x 6″ oil on panel

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Beacon

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“Montgomery Park On a Wet Night”
37″ x 48″ oil on linen

This studio painting was painted from sketches I’ve done over recent years. Montgomery Park dominates the night sky with it’s neon sign. It is a landmark that can be seen from many view points around the North West neighborhoods of Portland.

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South Park Blocks

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“South Park Blocks” 18″ x 24″ oil on linen panel

This relatively new neighborhood sprung up seemingly overnight on the South West shore of the Wilamette River in Portland. The most prominent resident is the Oregon Health Sciences University Hospital. The main hospital is on a hill overlooking the river and the two campuses are connected by a tram (not pictured here).

I’ve done some sketching from the upper campus, looking down to this one. Here is one I did in 2010, when there were fewer buildings.

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New vs Old

The old building in the foreground seems to be one of the last in the quickly gentrifying Peal District of NW Portland.

Pearl District Nocturne
30″ x 30″ oil on linen

Feeling a pull to the dark side with this one.

Twelve Days in Kaua’i

I spent 12 days in Kauai with my family. It was great to get away and spend time together in beautiful Kaua’i. The cones of my eyes are now so used to bright sun and saturated colors that everything looks one color now that I’m home in the grey Pacific NW.

I slipped away to do a little bit of sketching but I really wasn’t prepared for the intensity of the sun when I wasn’t in the shade.

7″ x 10″ watercolor in sketchbook

This was done in Hanalei, near the north end of the island. It’s a surfer beach, I forget the name of this particular one.

7″ x 10″ watercolor

I never figured out the name of this mountain in Anahola on the east shore. I found a nice shady spot at the dead end of the road to do this one.

7″ x 10″ water color and ink

There was a large vacant spot, between resort condos, on the beach near Kapaa on the east shore. The beach was quiet and I was pretty much on my own here. If you didn’t look back to shore, it was easy to imagine being on a deserted island. This is the view in the opposite direction.

When I turned around toward the ocean, this is was the view:

Monkey Ward on a rainy night

Alex, if you’re reading, I tried to answer your email but my reply was returned. You may have mistyped your email address.

Montgomery Park in the rain – 6″ x 8″ watercolor and ink

This old Montgomery Ward store was converted, years ago, into Montgomery Park and is now used as office space and convention center. When it was built, in 1920, it was the largest building in Portland.

Twenty Third Ave Market

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‘Twenty Third Ave Market’ 9″ x 13″ – ink, watercolor and gouache

This neighborhood market, at the corner of NW 23rd and Thurman, is one of the last buildings, in this neighborhood, that has not been gentrified. It was kind of a seedy area, when I first moved to Portland, about 30 years ago. Most of the street is now lined with boutiques and restaurants and in my landscaping days, I worked on some of the properties here. There’s a great breakfast place across the street called Besaws, which is in a building that goes back to 1903. The market building looks to be of the same vintage.

one more mooring dolphin

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44″ x 33″ oil on linen

 

 

Shipyard At Sunset

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“Shipyard” 33″ x 44″ oil on linen

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This is a scene at the Vigor Industrial Shipyard on Swan Island in Portland. I’ve had fun experimenting with different ways of applying paint. I used a brayer, strings soaked in paint, spatula, various knives, a whisk broom, etc. I did not use brushes very much on this piece.

I’ve been painting larger pieces on linen tacked to my wall. I leave a 4″ border around it for attaching it to stretcher bars.  Once I get to this point, the border becomes distracting and I need to take it down and stretch it to really see what it looks like and to make sure the image fits the stretcher properly. I may change it after it’s stretched.

Twelve West Building

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“Twelve West Building” 33″ x 24″ oil on canvas

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I’ve had this one on the easel for quite a while but I think I’m done with it now. What caught my eye was the interlocking shapes of the upper part of the building with the shapes caused by reflections in the lower part. It was a lot of fun to paint and I’m kind of sorry I’m done with it.

green water scape

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10″ x 14″ watercolor, gouache, water soluble crayon

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Continuing with studies for a large oil painting. It’s raining hard outside and I’m very happy to have this to do in the studio.

Mixed Media

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“One Dolphin” 14″ x 10″ watercolor, gouache, ink and water soluble crayon

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I’ve been doing studies for some larger oil paintings. I always seem to work more freely with watercolor and I’d like to learn ways to incorporate some of that into the oils.

Mooring Dolphins with Green Sky

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“Mooring Dolphins with Green Sky” 7″ x 10″ watercolor

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Thanks to all who visited my studio

Thanks everyone who traveled out to the western frontier of the Portland Open Studios tour, over the last 2 weekends. Although I didn’t get as many visitors as I may have gotten, were I more centrally located, I got the sense that many folks who came by did so because they’d looked up my website and liked what they saw.

I also had the opportunity to meet some followers of my blog, which is always great.

A few paintings found good homes, including one of my favorite recent pieces:

‘Mooring Dolphins’ 24″ x 48″ oil on canvas

I’d have to say that the most popular work I had displayed was my sketchbooks. It’s always fun (and a little nerve wracking) to share them because they’re so personal. Here’s a panorama of the sketchbook table.

Thanks again to Portland Open Studios and all the art enthusiasts who visited.

Mt St Helens from Kelley Point Park

Mt St Helens from Kelley Point Park 36″ x 72″ oil on linen

I’ve been working on this painting for the last several months. I’m declaring it finished, even though I could probably go on tweaking it for another couple of months. It will be in the studio during the Portland Open Studios, over the next two weekends.

New bridge construction sketch

I visited the construction site of the new Portland Milwaukie bridge, which will be for light rail, cyclists and pedestrians.

9″ x 11″ watercolor with black and white ink

Here’s a link to details about the bridge  http://trimet.org/pm/construction/bridge.htm

They have very cool time lapse videos of the entire construction process at this link  http://trimet.org/pm/construction/bridgecams.htm#

Hoyt Arboretum

I went for a walk in Hoyt Arboretum today and took some time to do this sketch. I haven’t been doing much drawing lately.

8 1/2″ x 10 1/2″ watercolor and ink in sketchbook

Fremont Bridge studies

I’ve always been a seat of my pants kind of painter and enjoyed just starting in on a canvas without a plan and allowing the painting to become what ever it will. But, having struggled to complete two large paintings without a real plan, I’ve decided that it’s probably a good idea to do some studies before launching into a big project so that I know what I’m trying to accomplish. Maybe I’ll have a better idea of when I’m done, for one thing.

Here are a couple of studies I’m considering for a larger piece.

“Under the Fremont Bridge – sketch” 5″ x 7″ watercolor and ink

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“Under the Fremont Bridge – value study” 9″ x 12″ oil on panel

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Mooring Dolphins

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‘Mooring Dolphins’ 24″ x 48″ oil on canvas

This is the largest painting I’ve completed in quite a while. It’s a favorite subject of mine. I don’t know exactly why I’m so fascinated by these mooring dolphins but I love painting them. This is another view from Kelley Point Park, looking across the Columbia River toward Washington.

Although I enjoyed painting larger, I really struggled to finish this piece or rather to decide when it was finished. I’m still not completely sure I’m done with it. Finishing is always tricky and I often decide that my energy would be better spent moving on to the next piece and trusting that it will build on the last one.

Pacific NW Plein Air 2012

I love (/hate) plein air painting but consider myself a bit of a hack at it. I have lots of excuses and I wanted to use many of them over the last 5 days, as I tried to paint some good paintings in Hood River. This is the first time I’ve participated in a plein air competition and I really enjoyed painting with a group of extremely skilled plein air painters.

‘Nothing Runs Like A Deere’ 9″ x 12″ oil on linen panel

This is one of my entries, painted at the beautiful Sakura Ridge Farm and Lodge, above Hood River. Please don’t judge the place by this painting. The views of Mt Hood and the valley and the lodge were amazing.

Click   HERE   for more photos of the paint out at Sakura Ridge.

The opening reception is this coming Friday, Sept 7th at the Columbia Gallery of Art in Hood River from 4 til 9. If you’re in the area and want to see some extraordinary plein air paintings, please stop by. The show runs through the month of September.

Roos Schuring

Sometimes I come across painters who make me want to rush to the easel and paint. Dutch painter Roos Schuring has that effect on me. Her paintings are such fun to look at and say so much with seemingly so little. I get the impression that she produces her paintings in 3 masterful brush strokes.

Roos Schuring Landscape Spring #26 Changing Light

Roos’ blogsite is packed with information including several very informative video clips showing her tools and methods. She paints under some pretty uncomfortable circumstances and has valuable advice on how to survive cold, wet and wind.

Roos Schuring Seascape summer # 18 Lucky day white parasol

I’m saving up for a Schuring of my own.

Red Cadillac II

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18″ x 24″ oil on linen panel

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Another painting of this old Cadillac. This is the largest painting I’ve done in a long time. I’m working on another that is 24″ x 48″. I’m enjoying working larger. I like the gestures I need to make to paint this large but I’ve had some difficulty getting used to mixing enough paint for the 24 x 48.

 

Pacific NW Plein Air 2012

I’m very happy to be participating in the 8th annual Pacific Northwest Plein Air event in Hood River, Or, over Labor Day week.  Click HERE for more details.

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Red Cadillac

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“Red Cadillac” 9″ x 12″ oil on linen panel

I’m not sure exactly what year this is – late 60s early 70s Coupe Deville. This place needed some classin’ up and the Caddie fits the bill, don’t you think? It’s appropriately parked next to what I believe was once a gasoline pump.

Orcas Island Plein Air

This is one I never posted from last year’s plein air workshop on Orcas Island, with Jordan Wolfson.

8″ x 10″ oil on linen panel

I’m looking forward to spending another week painting with Jordan next week.

Track Hoe

We’ve lived in our house for almost 30 years. When we moved in it was a quiet semi-rural road. Our property and the two on either side of us are large lots and have not changed much, over the years but further up the road, new developments have been built which has made the surrounding area more suburban, the road busier and that semi-rural feel has faded.

The road we live on has become more hazardous to walk on, as traffic has increased. There are no sidewalks and very little in the way of shoulder. So, the new project installing sidewalks on one side of the road is welcome, however, it is another step in the suburbanization of the neighborhood. They removed all the trees along that side and the road will feel wider and harder.

I’ve always loved this comic by Robert Crumb. I think it expresses my feelings well.

On Saturday, I set up my easel in the front yard and sketched one of the construction vehicles parked along the road.

Track Hoe   11 1/2″ x 11″ oil on linen scrap

July Evening at Jamison Square

Gail Vines and Don Colley

I haven’t been out sketching in a while but I joined my friends, Master Draftsman, Don Colley and Gail Vines, one of the founders of Portland’s independent art supply store, Art Media, on a beautiful July evening at Portland’s Jamison Square for a couple of hours of sketching and dinner.

7″ x 10″ ink and watercolor

Kids and dogs were splashing in the tidal pool and everyone was enjoying a perfect evening. We wandered over to Oba for dinner where we attempted to solve what’s wrong with the art today and on the walk home Gail demonstrated her tap dancing abilities.

University of Portland Magazine

One of my paintings was published in the recent edition of the University of Portland magazine to illustrate a lovely essay about Kelley Point Park. Click on the image below to read the magazine online:

Plein Air Landscapes

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9″ x 12″ oil on linen panel

I spent several hours with these cattle last Saturday.  The last time I was here the entire field was flooded and there were a couple of guys in the middle of it with waders and fishing poles.

12″ x 9″ oil on linen

I forgot to look closely but I believe this is an Oregon Ash.