Sunday, March 30, 2008

River Song

The day waned into the afternoon, as the sun began to cast long slanting rays across the land. What a spectacular view, as the landscape took on a jewel-like quality. It shone like a thousand tiny diamonds, even the grasses seemed to vibrate. Painting on site wasn't an option, so my camera kept the image alive a while longer. Later during isolated studio time, it was ressurected on the clayboard surface. And through all that shimmering, the sounds of water, breeze, rustle of brush and bird calls awakened again the joy I felt at the time.
5x7 inches
Watercolor on black clayboard
SOLD

Warm Willow

This second painting in the black clayboard series, shows the beauty of autumn along the Yakima River in Benton City. Skeletal trees embrace the banks of the river, their fringe of cheat grasses and cattails add a decorative element.
5x7 inches
Watercolor on black clayboard
sold

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Majestic Cedar

This starts a small series, created by scratching into black clayboard and then applying light passages of watercolor tints. The inspiration was a photo of a towering pine tree that I saw while visiting Birch Bay up by Bellingham, Washington. The mighty tree was a strong presence during my stay there. 

5" x 7"
Watercolor on Clayboard
$210 (framed)

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Love and Truth


This image was revised from an earlier painting titled "Love in Three Movements". It is a triptych bolted together to form one painting. The center 12"x12" canvas sits slightly higher than the other two. So what is going on here? A month ago I contemplated doing illustrations for story books. This represents a more illustrative quality than others I have done. The fish represent the yin and yang in us all and demonstrates how love involves so much balance and reveals truth. It is truly what makes the world go around.

Conjoined Triptych - each canvas 12"x12"
Acrylic on Canvas
available for sale

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Fruits of Autumn

This was painted in the fall of last year. I now realize I hadn't posted it earlier. The still life was staged in the studio and the pears that had been there didn't make the final painting--they started to decay. So the small leaf on the far left was added instead. I call it my still life landscape. I had planned to add more sky and hillsides in the background, but decided to keep it simple.

6" x 24"
Oil on Cradled Gessobord
$432
*Note: this painting won the second place prize at the Wallowa Valley Festival of the Arts, Joseph OR, June 2008

Friday, March 7, 2008

Sam

I met Sam, a friendly black labrador, early last year. His owners commissioned me to paint his likeness as a way of honoring the love of a faithful friend. They lost him a few months after the painting was completed.

11" x 14"
Oil on board
Sold (commission)

Anticipation


This eager fellow of lab descent hungrily awaits the bone offered him. Started as a loose oil sketch on golden gessoed masonite, it quickly arrived into finished form. I plan to do another with full paint regalia. Steps are being taken towards my goal of many pet portraits. Perhaps a "dog a day"?

16" x 20"
Oil on masonite
$580 (framed)