Prairie Drive-In

This painting has found a new home! I painted this one and about four others after a trip to my home state of Montana two summers ago. They are some of my best paintings to date.

Woodland Stables

Here is my newest piece, entitled "Woodland Shack". I painted outdoors in the snow a number of times this past winter, and although nothing ever came of those pieces, they were very helpful to me as I painted this. The colors Mother Nature presents in winter rival those of the fall and summer.

Spring on the Clackamas

I've been hearing a lot lately from artists I respect, amongst them James Whistler, how value and line are of the utmost importance in a painting. Even more so than color, which is obvious in his most famous painting, "Whistler's Mother". Although I don't use black as liberally as he does, I took the wisdom to heart, and have been paying close attention to the values in my paintings. I think it paid off in the one above.

Willow tree

I love the accessibility of watercolors. Few other wet mediums allow for such quick setup and clean-up. That said, few other wet mediums are as confounding as watercolors! I enjoyed working on this one, but it is not at all what I had intended. I added the inking about halfway through, at a point where I was ready to throw it in the trash. Perhaps I should take a class from my friend, Bruce Hanford -- a brilliant watercolorist, and member of the Washington Society of Landscape Painters. Please check out his work if you get a chance.

Peaceful Thursday

Here is a painting I finished today. I'm enjoying painting rundown houses and shacks these days. I had this day to myself, with the wife and kids heading to the coast. Just a quiet house and my easel. Although I think it would drive me crazy if I had it this way all the time, today it was just what I needed.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

I've been neglecting my blog lately, sorry. Here is a painting I finished recently, entitled "The Red Bench". It's a great spot that I used to jog past when I worked in north Portland. This one hangs in the Ryan Gallery in Lincoln City. I was back in the studio today as a nice Father's day present, as I've been really busy with work and kid's sports lately. Looks like Monday and Tuesday I'll get some time in there as well.

Gallery Story

Here's a story about a quick gallery sale I made a few years back. My work had been accepted by the Ryan Gallery in Lincoln City, so I decided to take the family to the coast and drop my paintings off in person. Since the gallery is right on Highway 101, the first thing I did upon arriving in town was unload my work, then we had the rest of the weekend to play in the surf. On the second day, I realized I had forgotten to get a signature on a document. Upon arriving back at the gallery, I was informed that the above piece, the "Red Door" had sold. It hadn't even graced the gallery walls yet! Needless to say, this made our trip that much better.

Next time you're in Lincoln City, stop in and say "hi" to Victoria and Emily over there, they're truly great people to know!