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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.
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8″ x 10″ oil on panel
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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.
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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.
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This is one of a few pieces I’ve been working on lately.
14″ x 11″ oil on linen panel
I’m trying to paint every day. Sometimes I get stuck on a painting so I pull out another small panel and do a study to keep the brush moving. This is a sketch of a small wooden figure by Portland artist Tom Cramer.
8″ x 6″ oil on panel
This figure is from the 1980′s. Tom’s work has evolved into really intricate painted relief carvings. You can see photos of some of his work on his website but you really have to see them in person to appreciate them fully. Tom and I were featured together on a Portland Cable access TV show, called “Where’s the Art? back around 1987. At the time, Tom was known for these figurines and also for the cars and especially the Vespa scooters he painted. One of the scooters was shown on the show.
After the show, Tom and I traded pieces and that’s how I acquired this little sculpture.
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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.
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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
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8″ x 10″ oil on panel
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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.
Participants are encouraged to register early due to limited availability. To register, check PNCA’s website.
Contacts:
Gabriel Campanario
Urban Sketchers
Executive Director
gabicampanario at gmail dot com
or 425.686.2398
Patrick Forster
Pacific Northwest College of Art
Director of Continuing Education
pforster at pnca edu
or 503.821.7864
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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8″ x 10″ oil on canvas
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I spent 2 cold damp days painting on Sauvie Island last weekend with Eric Jacobsen. I’ve been fussing with this since I got it home and I’m going to stop now. There are some fundamental problems with it, like the fact that I cut it in half with the stream. The point was just to get out and get some PA practice and I accomplished that.
This one was painted on day one from a covered wildlife viewing stand. It rained off and on all weekend.
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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.
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6″ x 8″ oil on canvas
Here’s another dreary scene along a highway in the NW industrial area of Portland. In the background is the old Montgomer Ward that is now Montgomer Park, an office and event facility.
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10″ x 8″ oil on canvas
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I was thinking a lot about using color or temperature changes to depict plane change rather than using white, in this painting.
I’ve added a few colors to my palette lately, partly out of boredom and partly because it seems wasteful to buy more paint before I used up what I have.
The bridge was painted with a color called perylene red. It’s described as a transparent, cool red with yellow undertones. I’m not sure how a red with yellow undertones can be considered cool but temperature is relative. I’ve also added cad orange for mixing greys. I’m using cobalt blue some, in addition to ultramarine and pthalo. Mixing the cobalt blue with perylene red made some interesting shadow colors for the bridge. I’ve added indian yellow to my normal cad lemon and cad yellow medium for a change as well.
My current palette is Tit white, Cad Lemon, Cad Yellow Med, Indian Yellow, Cad Orange, Cad Red Med, Aliz Crimson, Burnt Sienna, Cobalt Blue, Ult Blue, Pthalo Blue, Sap Green and Ivory Black. I’ve been switching back and forth from titanium white to flake white replacement. The flake has more body and makes the paint stickier. I’d say that I used primarily perylene red, ult, pthalo and cobalt blues, cad lemon, and titanium white on this one. Adding colors to my palette doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll use them but I’m lazy and once color runs out on the palette, I tend to grab another color that’s already out rather than squeeze fresh paint from the tube. Sometimes laziness pays off.
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The thing that drew me to this scene was the circular hole formed by the traffic ramps, and, of course the power lines. I like the patterns created in the sky by power lines.
I was also reminded of this painting by Laine Bennion on his blog Studies in Oil. I like how Laine simplifies a scene and, although I’m satisfied with this painting, I think it could stand more simplification.
I often think, as I finish a painting, that, for the next one, I’m just going to slam it out and not fuss with it at all. That’s how I started on this one, in fact, I taped a larger piece of canvas to a board and started into it. When I felt myself starting to bog down in the details, I started it again in another corner of the same piece of canvas. This is the result of the restart, but it’s still a lot more fussy than I wanted it to be. Of course the subject is kind of busy but all the more reason to simplify it further.
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Sketchbook Meditations
