Bananas

Here is my daily painting. 6 x 8 ..I used the last of my paints that were in my cigar box pochade.

I'm going to have to paint 4 paintings on Friday!

My one painting per day has come to a screeching halt (but, not for long!). I had to help a friend of mine today and then had to go straight downtown for a meeting. I'll make up for it...!

Take this personality test..!

I just took this test..and I think you should too...

Take The Personality Defect Test at HelloQuizzy

Hippie

You are the Hippie! Characterized by a strong sense of extroversion, irrationality, gentleness, humility, and a faint scent of marijuana, you no doubt frolic through fields preaching peace and free love!

To put it less negatively:

1. You are more INTUITIVE than rational.

2. You are more EXTROVERTED than introverted.

3. You are more GENTLE than brutal.

4. You are more HUMBLE than arrogant.

so....how did your test come out?

Sisters of the Eucharist Villa in Bridal Veil

Today I met Kathy Allegri, Carolyn Rondthaler and Carrie Holst in Bridal Veil at the Sisters of Eucharist Villa. Kathy Allegri arranged all this and it was a privilege to visit there. We got to see the inside of the beautiful Villa and go anywhere we wanted on the grounds. A person can't just go up there..you need a special invitation and we are lucky that Kathy did this for us.
We were treated to the entire story (of how the Sisters came to live there) by Mother Michael. She also told us about the positives associated with Montessori teaching...and why it is so important for Franciscan Nuns to live "in nature". It was a great outing.

Meet the Female Artists Reception, Kingstad Gallery next Tuesday

All the female artists who are exhibiting in the current "Icons" show at the Kingstad Gallery are going to be on hand to make presentations about their art on Tuesday, July 29. (The reception begins at 6 pm and the presentations will begin at 7 pm) Please come if you can! It will be a great opportunity to see where our Annual show will be and also to meet our Curator/Juror, Lora R Fisher....(I understand the men who are showing will have their own night during August). I hope I will see you at the Kingstad next Tuesday.

The Kingstad Gallery, 15450 SW Millikan Way, Beaverton, Oregon 97006

Conventional Landscape

I painted this from a previous study. I think my workshop teachers would not be thrilled by the composition...but I was satisfied with most of this effort!

"Personal" landscape

I went to Art Media today, it was the last day of their canvas sale. I bought some big canvases with our September Annual Show in mind. Our show is going to be at the Kingstad Gallery and the curator, Lora R Fisher, is welcoming large pieces. Not only that..the show can include what she is calling "landscape of the self". I started a landscape and then thought the words "landscape of the self"...so, who can blame me for what happened next? The face in the landscape looks a little worried...probably because I am having to think about the Annual show and what I've produced this summer for it. I am going to have to work every day from now until then.

Today I went to the WAAAM Museum in Hood River. It is one of the places that is on the Columbia Arts Gallery paint-out itinerary for the end of August. I got to see one of the only two operational Curtis Jennys in the world (Theirs is a real beauty, with a serial number of "#1")....There was also this beautiful maroon 1940 Ford. I believe my brother owned this same car during the 60's. His was black had a "leopard" patterned seat. He had many different cars at different times. The owner of the museum was so nice...he let me do an oil study of the car right there in the Museum.

apples II

I got to the table in time for the shadows tonight...but shadows are "fleeting" at 6:30 pm! I got the shadow down first. and then moments later it was gone. 8x8 oil on canvas panel.

afternoon apples

I enjoyed painting these apples at the dining room table in the late afternoon. I have been trying to figure out the best time to paint when the shadows are most interesting. When I started this there was a good long shadow, but it disappeared before I got it down. I think the best long shadows are around 6:45pm. 8x8 oil on canvas panel.

cups

6 x 8

Wedding...White House....Weekend

Recently one of my artist friends and I spent quite a long time in a Moroccan dress shop trying to find something decent for me to wear to a wedding. In the end there was a pile of Moroccan dresses, skirts and tops three feet high in the chair in the fitting room. What I learned was not everyone looks good in those things! I wound up attending the wedding in this outfit (a Nordstrom jacket with capris). I publicly apologize to my friend and the woman at the Moroccan place for wasting so much of their time! Everyone who knows me sees me 99% of the time in just "bad" clothes. This is to prove that under certain circumstances I CAN wear something that is not ugly and/or covered in paint. Take a long look...you won't see it again for awhile!

teapot and lid

I started this painting too late and didn't have the dramatic light like I had yesterday. I am trying not to labor over these things....but now that I have this uploaded I see I paid much better attention to the pot....than the lid.....A good painting often seems totally dependent on how present you are! Maybe when I got to the lid my mind was elsewhere? I'll have another chance to do better ......tomorrow.

Saturday's late afternoon coffee

8x8 oil on canvas panel.

Friday's painting

Even though this post reads Saturday, I painted this yesterday before I had to go off to a "day before the wedding" dinner....(generally referred to as a rehearsal dinner, except there were many more people there than are going to be in the wedding). It was kind of funny...me painting this instead of finding the right jewelry to wear, etc! Oh don't worry, I did manage to wear something nice. 

My oil painting friends will certainly recognize this brand of thinner.

I am committed

I got some 6 x 8 canvas panels and 6 x 6 wood panels at Art Media today. It was a busy day but I am committed to this one painting a day thing. I suppose this is a bit of a cheat..as simple as it is..but I couldn't land on my subject and my cat was bothering me, walking all over my things. Eventually something else got his attention he turned his back on me.... I wound up choosing him as my subject.

My Mudd shoes

I plan to begin painting a painting everyday..but I'm not sure if I want to put these daily paintings into a separate blog or not. Until I decide, I will just post them here. These are my canvas "Mudd" shoes. I'll purchase a batch of small canvas panels for my daily paintings. 

3 days, 3 small paintings

Jack's birthday

Today I invited Jack VanNess to Kennedy School for lunch to celebrate his birthday. Jack is a "charter" member of the Portland Plein Air Painters. I met him for the first time (in 2004) at Commonwealth Park. I enjoyed talking with Jack today about his growing up in Portland. He has had a lot of fascinating jobs. Once, many years ago, he sold magazines door-to-door. He said sales were disappointing! He stays very busy these days with his carpentry/home improvement business. He finds it a challenge to make time time to paint...(but I can tell you when he does.. the results are worth the wait). He is a student of the methods of Henry Hensche. He and other Hensche devotees can discuss painted blocks endlessly (given any opportunity to do so). Those of us who have never done the blocks view those who have as sort of a cult. It's a "good" cult, however. Happy Birthday, Jack...!

The Utrecht Event

This was my first year at the Utrecht Event "Plein Air in the Pearl". It was easy to park (Sunday... no fees) and I didn't have any trouble finding the spot because Kelly from Utrecht sent out clear instructions. It was fun to talk to the passers-by and to see what the other painters chose to paint. I did a small painting of a corner building. I meant to do a larger version of it, but there was a huge sign right in front of me, blocking some of my view. Not an ideal situation. I abandoned the idea of the larger painting, but I just may return and paint it again....from a better vantage point. The big surprise was that I won the drawing for a beautiful Utrecht umbrella. I will be using it a lot this summer!

My solitary airbrush piece

I found this ancient piece of mine today in my flat file. When I was a graphic designer I worked with illustrators. One of them taught a class in airbrush at Pacific Northwest College of Art. Actually, it is so long ago that they might have called in "the Museum Art School" back then. Cutting the meticulous masks for this was a tedious process. I think I love this piece, though. It reminds me how patient I used to be. Also, it makes me recall the wonderful illustrator who was the teacher of the class. His name was Dave Davis. He was young, but he was a Portland-Illustrating-Airbrushing-legend. He passed away the year following our class. I still have all my airbrush equipment, but I can't imagine doing this type of work again. I never did another airbrush after this one. Airbrush just wasn't for me....but I did give it a college effort. I think I'll keep this out of the drawer for awhile.. if for no other reason to remember the talented Dave Davis. He was here ....and then he wasn't.

My work will be displayed at the City Commissioner's office

I just got the word that Dan Saltzman, the Commissioner of Portland, will be hosting my work for the month of August in his office with a reception on First Thursday, August 7th from 5:00~7:00pm. I am so pleased that I was selected! The name of the exhibit is "All at Once", (describing direct paintings, completed in one sitting). As the time draws near I will send out a reminder to come downtown and take in our beautiful City Hall Building (a real treat in and of itself) and my work that will be displayed there throughout August. I really was tempted to write something here about fighting City Hall...but negotiations have been altogether friendly.

Please come..Worksound Gallery 820 SE Alder, Friday

I stopped over to see Cyrus Smith today and turn in my two paintings from the "Monday Painter's" Monday sessions. He was busy painting and the Gallery is looking great. I got a preview of some of the work that he had laid out on the floor. Cyrus will be figuring out how to get it all up onto the walls and there will be an opening on Friday from 6-?. I hope you will come...if you do, you will be able to have a cool drink, help the artists celebrate and take in some very fresh "direct" paintings in and of this visually rich neighborhood. I hope to see you there!

Today...

I got about eight hate emails from someone who does not like me. My distractor wrote to me several times today to tell me that she is a real artist while I am not..(seriously!) Well, she can't ruin my good mood. Today I also got an acceptance into what I consider a prestigious show. I am really happy about being accepted! It is hard to keep putting yourself "out there" with the very real possibility of being rejected every time. Some people are so fragile they can't do it at all. She is doing nothing with her art career and is angry with me about it! It is a big world! Art is for everyone, but she has advised me that my successes are not successes at all. This is coming from someone who has a totally invisible art career. Well, I assume she is going to be very big art news someday...(because she knows so much more about everything than I do). I don't understand what she is waiting for, however, she's been out of school for a hundred years.

The Gorge White House..reception for Cathleen Rehfeld

Yesterday afternoon I went to the Gorge White House for Cathleen Rehfeld's Artist Reception. We joked about how much I take photos that I completely forgot to get a good photo of her. I will have to find one in my archives! The Gorge White house is a favorite place for people interested in the wines & micro-brewed beers of the Columbia River Gorge. The owner, Camille, loves art and she hosts monthly shows in her historic home on this century old working farm (it is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places). Each year the Gorge White House is a destination for the Hood River Plein Air paint out competition.

I have been watching Cathleen's painting a day blog with interest! Seeing her painterly brushwork in person inspires me to jump back on that daily painting bandwagon myself. I did daily paintings last year and what I remember from the experience was just as Cathleen reported to me...that there is nothing better an artist can do for themselves than to paint regularly. Her show is up through July.

First Thursday, July 3, Broderick Gallery

"Floor to Ceiling"
The Broderick Gallery’s July show features the work of 36 local, regional, national and international artists in a show of more than 130 paintings, etchings, woodblock prints, photographics and sculptures. Works represent diverse styles from photo-realism to pure abstraction. The show opened with a First Thursday reception, July 3. It will run through August, 2, 2008. Gallery hours are 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
The show is inspired by London's Royal Academy of Art "floor to ceiling" salon style of hanging. I have two pieces in this show. Pictured: "Afternoon Bistro (with coffee & bagel") 9 x 12 oil on canvas panel.

Adamson, Crawfurd
Bergin, Celeste
Berman, Herbert
Broderick, George
Cummins, Gus RA
Falck, Robert
Foulger, Dave
Hanson, Pat
Johnson, Dan
Kim, Una
Labrada, Eduardo
Lee, Debbie
Mason, Martha
Merida
Neilson, Liz Gill
Paris, Linda
Pollock, Tracy
Pumariega, Ernesto
Robinson, Charlene
Robinson, Dave
Rodriguez, Susana
Rooney, RA, Mick
Rutherford, Bill
Rothan, Lynn
Sandgren, Erik
Santos
Schmertzler, Alan
Schuett-Hames, Robin
Smith, Roderick
Stallsworth, Gary
Stuart, Stephen
Sweetman, Quin
Terfloth, Chris
Trayle, Helen
Tuyet
Tiller, Don

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Artist's Choice...Untitled

I painted this over a landscape that I painted last year. I was pleased with how the green of the previous painting played a part in the new painting. I've put it into the "Artist's Choice" show at O'Connor's. I did have a title for it, but I elected to drop it. More often than not it seems best to let the viewer decide what the painting is about. 30x40 oil on stretched canvas.
"Artist's Choice"
Portland Plein Air/Studio Painter's
Summer Exhibit II
O'Connor's
7850 SW Capitol Hwy
Portland, OR
July 3-July 31, 2008

"Artist's Choice"

Ever since the "Jackie" portrait (when I painted over an old painting) I have wanted to paint over an old painting again. I certainly have no shortage of failed paintings that I can recycle. I like how the previous surface seems to make suggestions to me as I cover it up. The painting that I recently painted over (for this exhibit) was predominately green and green figures in a big way in the new painting too. I decided to throw some texture onto the surface (with some pumice gel). I figured I could just have a hay day. After all, I painted it for "Artist's Choice" Nine of us will have "our choice" up on a wall at O'Connor's beginning today, July 3 to the end of the month. I don't want to post the painting until it actually gets put up on the wall. I'll post the finished painting tomorrow.

June 30, Monday Painters

Three of us from the Portland Plein Air Painters met up with "the Monday Painters".....on Monday! First we saw the Worksound Gallery and then we walked to 12th and Ash and painted there. Cyrus Smith is behind this project and he told us that his objective is to encourage outdoor painting and "community". From our perspective he is succeeding! We enjoyed ourselves in front of the "Three Friends Coffeehouse" with Cyrus and the other outdoor artists. We look forward to putting a piece in the show and being there for the July 11 opening!
Here is a communication from the Monday Painters:
We will meet every Monday to paint the neighborhood surrounding Worksound Gallery, located at 820 SE Alder. All paintings will go on display at Worksound Gallery for the month of July, including an opening on July 11th.
If you are interested in being part of this show, just show up at 5:30 with painting supplies. All are welcome. No experience necessary.
Mondays, June 23rd-July 21st , Worksound Gallery, 820 SE Alder, 5:30pm, NO FEES
Thanks, Cyrus...for promoting regional art!