Portrait Session

This painting is from last Friday's 3 hour live model portrait session.

6x6 inches :: oil on linen

City Shadows - SOLD

I liked the way the shadow of the fire hydrant looked on the pavement.
6x6inches :: oil on canvas

Helen and Ted's Blueberries - SOLD

I went to Ted James Organic Blueberry Farm today, and got inspired by the abundance of farm life. Ted will have a blog up soon, so you can check out his farming philosophy and he is also a printmaker, so maybe he will talk about that too. I'll put a link on when he has it ready. And I took home some delicious berries. This painting was inspiring to me because I like the abstract silhouetted shape of the berries and leaves against a contrasting background.

6x6inches :: oil on canvas

Crossed Lines - SOLD

Just got back from a couple of days in Seattle, I was hoping to get some good cityscape reference photos while I was there, we will have to see what's on the camera.
I saw this house in my neighborhood, the house itself looked so much like a Tim Horn painting (the bright light on one side of the building) I just had to paint it.I also liked the way the telephone pole went off the canvas and the shapes that the crossed wires form.

6x6inches :: oil on canvas

Zen Boyfriend

At the Art Center today, we painted one of the actors in costume for a series of one act play/musicals Zen Boyfriend, My Butterfly and Junk. This was a 3 hour pose, with breaks for the model of course.

16 x 20 inches :: painted on linen

Looking East down the Columbia River Gorge - SOLD

Painting an epic scene like this one was really fun. This was painted from private property above the gorge, about 2000 feet elevation. You could probably spend the rest of your life just painting scenes from up there. The vegetation is kind of scrubby grasses, pines and patches of oak trees.
6x6 inches :: oil on canvas

Mike's Ice Cream - SOLD

Today I painted with the Columbia Gorge Area Plein Air Painters. We painted in Downtown Hood River, OR. Mike's Ice Cream is in a charming little green house, that is only big enough for the ice cream freezers and a line out the door most hot days.

6x6inches :: oil on canvas

Hydrangea - SOLD

Love these plants. They come in so many colors! This painting was a real discovery process, because Hydrangeas are one big flower made of lots of little flowers. Very fun to paint!
6x6 inches :: oil on panel

Stop Sign -SOLD

I liked the stop sign in this little cityscape. There there was the red car that had to be painted too. Painted in Portland, OR at Utrecht's Bastille Day Plein Air event in the North Park Blocks.

6x6inches :: oil on board

Squash Blossoms - SOLD

Another day painting in the garden. Squash blossoms are beautiful. There were lots of viney things going on to paint in the squash section. Trying to capture the character of the blossom was a challenge.
6x6 inches :: oil on panel

Hummingbird Love - SOLD

I met a group of painters at Good News Gardening in Hood River to paint this morning. Good News has rows and rows of blooming plants and flowers. This fiercely red flower (Raspberry Wine Bee Balm) caught my attention, so I got set up to paint. Hummingbirds love this flower, they were flitting all around. I was painting my little 6x6 painting, and a woman came up behind me and said she wanted to buy the painting!

View of the gardens from under a Birch tree.

Chocolate Cupcake - SOLD

The chocolate and lavender on the background work together well. This one is very fun, I never have painted anything quite like it. The shiny icing is really interesting and painting something chocolate, how does it get any better than that?

Opening at the Gorge White House

The opening at the Gorge White House was fun, saw some people I had not seen in awhile! A painter friend, Celeste Bergin and her husband Dave came from Portland to see what I have been painting lately. Celeste has her blog about painting and life - http://celestebergin.blogspot.com. Celeste and I did a Kenn Backhaus workshop at the same time, a couple of years ago, that's how I met Celeste. The Gorge White House is a very nice venue for paintings. Celeste's husband will have an opening there in October, showing his photography work of platinum prints.

The Gorge White House - SOLD

This is a beautifully restored old house, that is now a business, The Gorge White House. I will be having a show for the month of July there. It is in the middle of Hood River Valley, where there are many orchards and farms. The Gorge White House showcases regional wines and art. It is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.

Muted Palette - 2 Eggs - SOLD

I taught my oil painting class today, and one of the students brought eggs to paint, so I couldn't resist painting them too. The muted palette is a nice change from all the bright paintings I had been doing lately. The warm/cool/shadow/light issues are so subtle with eggs.

Mt. Hood - sold

This little landscape is for the show at The Gorge White House, that opens on July 4, in Hood River OR. I will also have larger paintings available. The orchard trees were an interesting challenge to paint. It's difficult to get trees dark enough to read as trees, but not too dark. This is more or less the view from The Gorge White House, minus the road.

3 Cherries - SOLD

Monday June 30, 2008
Ow. I was in pain the entire time I painted this little painting. I don't know if you are supposed to complain about physical ailments on a painting blog, but I did "something" to my back yesterday, and painting is killing me today. I kept asking myself, "why am I doing this?", but I kept painting and made these the fastest cherries I have ever painted, so my pain was part of the process of making this painting. So I guess it deserves to be part of the blog. This one is not for sale on the blog, because it is part of a show at a venue called The Gorge White House, in Hood River, on Hwy 35. It's a showcase of the finer things this area has to offer - they showcase individual wineries, and a different artist every month. This month happens to be the Cherry Festival month for the Hood River Valley.

Cherry Harvest - SOLD

I wanted to experiment with composition a little, by putting a "horizon line" up high in the painting.
6x6 inches :: oil on panel

Cherry Stems - SOLD

It's Cherry season here! Hood River is famous for it's cherry orchards, there are many orchards here that grow cherries, apples and pears. They are delicious. My husband saw this painting and asked, "why aren't the cherries in the bowl?". My response, "I don't know, they just aren't..."
I named this one Cherry Stems because they are going in all different directions. I should have named it Stems Awry.
6X6 inches :: oil on panel

Salt and Pepper - SOLD

One of the students in my painting class brought in these collectible Salt and Pepper shakers to paint, so I painted them too! Everyone in the class was challenged to paint them. The glass itself is a challenge, and then to get the pepper and salt inside with the light shining on it is an additional challenge, with the facets of the glass. Did I mention shadows too? They were fun to paint.
6x6 inches :: oil on panel

Gorge Oak - SOLD

I felt like a change from still life paintings today. This oak tree is on a cliff that overlooks the Columbia River Gorge between Oregon and Washington. The oaks aren't really red this time of year, or maybe any time of year, but I just felt like painting a tree sort of red and green against the blueish mountains of Gorge.
6x6 inches :: oil on panel

Two Nectarines - SOLD

Orange and Blue are great complimentary colors. Still using the crazy new turquoise color, in the foreground this time, but very subtly.

Red Rose

We have a giant rose bush in front of our house. It is the most prolific, giant rose bush I have ever seen. We don't know anything about growing roses, it just did all this on it's own. So I'm destined to paint roses from this prolific bush. I got my 6x6 boards back from place where I have my painting boards cut, and in addition to the 6in x 6in pieces that I ordered, I got the scrap end pieces that are 3in x 6in. I thought I would just paint on those too. Hence, the unusual format you see. The wood that I have them cut from is birch plywood. The word plywood doesn't really do this material justice, it is very nice on the edges, and it's 1/2in thick. The wood is made in very thin little layers, it's very nice looking, not rough at all. I should put up a photo of it from the side. The UPS guy came and I received some new experimental paint colors, that I had ordered and I just had to try out this turquoise blue color! I don't know why I ordered that crazy color but I just did.

2 3/8" x 6" :: oil on archival gessoed panel

The Apple and the Glass - SOLD

Sounds like a fairytale, the Apple and the Glass.

Hot Rod - SOLD

The Western Antique Automobile and Aviation Museum moved here a year ago, and I couldn't resist painting an old car from one of the car clubs that now spend time here. They are a fun challenge with lots of reflections.
6x6 inches :: oil on panel

Japanese Peonies - SOLD

Peony 1
The peonies were at the Saturday Farmer's Market in Hood River, OR. The guy selling them said the peonies had come from a community farm here. He said they have over 1000 peony bushes? I can't believe I heard that right. That's a lot of peonies. Anyway they are beautiful.
6x6 inches :: oil on panel

Peony 2

6x6 inches :: oil on panel

Painting Mediums - SOLD

What to paint? Just some things from my studio.

Nearly Touching - SOLD

I liked the colors and shapes of these cups.
6x6 inches :: oil on panel

National Scenic Area :: Gorge Sunset - SOLD

Well at least I got a little sunset painting done. Yesterday's model session was a "scraper". We live in a designated National Scenic Area. The benefits are many, one of them being, that you can go outside and find something great to paint all the time.

Jennifer

Friday Model Session - 3 hours - one long pose
I like painting on this linen. This linen comes with a clear gesso on it. It makes a nice neutral grayed tone for painting flesh. There were lots of breaks and a croissant trip during this Friday session. Jennifer has great hair that is fun to paint, it's sort of uncontrived, reddish brown, wavy. I hope to paint a larger painting (that includes hair) and put it on the "larger paintings blog" if it turns out well, sometime soon. We are planning another 3 hour model session for Monday.