I’ve been absent from blogging much for a few reasons. I had a couple of portrait commissions I was working on which are mostly complete but currently I’m on vacation on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Here I am honing my sketch journaling skills at Anini Beach between snorkeling sessions. Funny story about Anini Beach. Supposedly, it was originally named Wanini Beach but the ‘W’ fell of the sign and instead of fixing it, people just started calling it Anini Beach. I think that’s kind of a Kauai thing. It’s the most laid back and “hippified” of the islands.

Anyone who’s been to Kauai recently knows that, since a hurricane in the early 1990s caused the release of many of the island’s domestic poultry Kauai has become overrun with feral chickens. I was aware of it but didn’t really think about the impact it might have on my ability to sleep. It’s a myth that roosters crow only in the morning. They start whenever they feel like it, often from right outside my bedroom window.

It seem little weird to see chickens on the beach but believe me, they are everywhere.

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.

I’ve been spending more time drawing than painting lately. I’ve been re-inspired by one of the people who first turned me on to sketching, Russell Stutler. He has an amazingly wonderful site.  Something new there, since last time I visited, is his book on sketching. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in urban sketching.

I’ve been working on reducing my blood pressure without using drugs. For about a year, I was taking a drug to control my BP and it made me sick, coughing and tired all the time. When my Dr recommended I switch to another drug that would slow my heartbeat, I decided to see if making some changes in my life could eliminate the need to take BP drugs. I’ve increased my cardio exercise and tightened up my diet. The biggest change to my diet has been a drastic reduction of salt. My BP has gone from around 140/90 to around 115/65 in about 3 or 4 weeks. I don’t know if it’s related to the BP drop or perhaps the increased cardio, but my resting heart rate has also dropped several beats as well.

Thanks to the wonderful painter, Kathryn Law for the inspiration and information to do this.

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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.

Christine LaFuente

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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.