Clear Lake Creek

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Here is another landscape painting for the "Shared Landscapes" exhibit at the Benton County Historical Society and Museum. The exhibit runs from May 15-June 27.

This painting is a larger version of a sketch done last summer at Clear Lake in Springfield, Oregon. I had found a secluded little trail alongside the creek running adjacent to the lake and set up my easel. It was a beautiful, peaceful day and I soon became so enrapt with the scene that I lost all sense of time and place. I was happily painting away when a voice behind me said, "Excuse me!" A man was standing three feet away on the trail, and wanted to get by. I nearly jumped out of my skin! Fortunately, he was a harmless hiker, but I realized how foolish I'd been. I was all by myself in a secluded area and had been completely unaware of my surroundings. Lesson learned! After that, I resolved never to go plein air painting without friends nearby. (The second lesson that day was to remember the bug repellent!)

Shades of Green

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I've been painting like crazy, getting ready for my first show at the Benton County Historical Society and Museum.  The show, "Shared Landscapes" runs from May 15-June 27. There will be a reception from 5:00-7:00 on Friday, May 15. I'll be exhibiting along with two very talented artists, Carolee Clark and Tom Allen, and to say I'm a bit nervous would be putting it mildly - frankly, I'm scared to death!

At any rate, I'm at the point where I can start framing my paintings. Here's my first frame - I'm pretty happy with how it came together...thank you, Patti McNutt, for the framing lesson. If I keep moving, I'll be ready by the 15th.

The Old Orchard

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This is one of the paths through the old filbert orchard at Dorris Ranch in Springfield. The path leads down to the Willamette river. It's a wonderful place for a quiet contemplative stroll.

I'm finishing up my landscapes for the exhibition at the Benton County Historical Society and Museum. The exhibition, "Shared Landscapes," will run from May 15 through June 27. My good friend, Patti McNutt, showed me how to make frames, so I'll spend the next week or two framing paintings.

Springtime Drive

I've been doing landscape paintings in preparation for an exhibit, "Shared Landscapes," at the Benton County Historical Society and Museum. The exhibit will run from May 15 through June 27.

This painting is from a photo taken in the afternoon during a drive through the Lorane Valley, not too far from Sweet Cheeks Winery. The air that day was particularly clean and fresh, and shadows falling on the road were a beautiful shade of lavender blue.

Saturday

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"Saturday" is another of my Tom Clark Gnomes. Can you see the penny nestled among the leaves and acorns? This particular gnome is enjoying a lazy Saturday afternoon. I know he must be a retired gnome (the beard is sort of a give-away), because he has the time to be lazy on Saturday. If he were a working gnome, he'd have laundry, cleaning, cooking, and errands to get done before Monday. Ahh, the good life!

Country Road II

I've done some more work on this painting - added clouds to the sky and darkened the trees and shadows somewhat. The original looked unfinished. I think the additional paint helps the painting a bit.

Little White House

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I often drive by this cozy little home on my way home from downtown. It's a typical Eugene house, probably built during the early 1950s.

Duo

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I like the way this painting turned out. The composition is pretty simple, but I like the thick impasto paint on the apples and the thin, grey background with hints of pastel blue, yellow, and red. It was pretty much accidental - I wish I could paint this way consistently and on purpose.

Looking East

This painting might look familiar. It's a painting I did a couple of weeks ago. I tried scumbling and glazing to see if I could unify the colors and create a bit of atmosphere. A glaze is a transparent wash over parts of the dried painting. It's used to deepen the color. Scumbling involves using opaque paint in an uneven layer. It creates a sort of film, and allows the first color shows through to some extent. The trees and the foreground were glazed with French Ultramarine Blue and Transparent Red Iron Oxide, and the mountains and sky were scumbled with Cad Orange, Cad Yellow Deep, and Titanium White.

Country Road

We traveled down this road during a Sunday drive on a warm day last summer. This area is near Coburg, Oregon.

The Crossroads

A landscape of the area near the Eugene Airport, interpreted from a photo. I'm longing to get outside to paint. Daffodils are starting to poke their heads out of the ground - a good sign that spring is nearly here.

Out Lorane Highway

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We often drive down Lorane Highway on our way to King Estate Winery. Usually, we aim the car in the direction of the winery and follow the familiar groove until we reach our destination. On each trip we vowed that someday we'd explore some of the roads that branch off the highway. This weekend, we finally did it. Instead of driving to the winery, we traveled down some of those rural roads. Finding this idyllic setting was our reward for veering off the beaten path.

The Grove

This painting was an exercise in speed. I'm trying to paint more quickly and more loosely because I tend to be quite slow and plodding. It seems to take me forever to finish a painting and that creates lots of frustration when attempting to paint outside.  Since it soon will be plein air painting weather, it seems like now is a very good time to start practicing.

Willamette Valley Summer

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It's been foggy and damp in the Pacific Northwest for the past month, so the warmth of late summer brings happy memories. This scene is an area near Corvallis, looking south.

Lilija

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This is Lilija, totally focused on making short work of a ball of yarn. I love that look of intense concentration on her little face - naughty cat!

This painting took a fair amount of my concentration as well. I've never painted shredded yarn before! I used the regular palette of Ivory Black, Transparent Iron Red Oxide, Yellow Ochre, and Titanium White. I also included a little Anthraquinone Red, Cad Red, and Cad Orange.

Mookie

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This is Mookie. He doesn't need words to convey his thoughts. Clearly, dinner is on his mind. I painted him beside an empty bowl, but in truth, his photo revealed both a bowl of food and fresh water as well...hmm, could Mookie be a bit of a con artist?

Mookie was fun to paint, but the perspective was a challenge. I had to keep reminding myself to paint what I see - not what I think I see. This painting was done using Ivory Black, Transparent Red Oxide, Yellow Ochre, Pthalo Blue, and Titanium White.

Boots

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Continuing on with Leslie Saeta's 30 day challenge. This is Boots, my great cat-nephew. He's a very elegant black and white tuxedo kitty.

Laptop

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I was knocked out of Leslie Saeta's 30-day challenge by a bout of the flu - nevertheless, I'm going to pick up where I left off and keep painting since it's all for fun and nobody cares.

This is "Laptop." Such a terrific name for a cat. I really like that this guy looks so relaxed, yet so alert. Only cats can do that!

Laptop was painted using the modified Zorn palette: Ivory Black, Transparent Iron Red Oxide, Yellow Ochre, and Titanium White.

Warren

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Another painting for the 30 day Leslie Saeta challenge. This little guy is Warren, a Boston Terrier puppy and the granddog of a Facebook friend. Warren's black and white coloring presented a paint-mixing challenge for me and I feel like I learned a lot. It was a good exercise in using my modified Zorn palette.

Hapi

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When I decided to participate in Leslie Saeta's 30 day challenge, I asked my Facebook friends to send me pictures of their dogs and cats. Folks were kind enough to send me photos of some darling pets that I'm eager to paint. This little guy is "Hapi." I fell in love with his cute little face and had a great time painting him. I tried a more muted palette this time - sort of a modified Zorn palette using Ivory Black, Transparent Iron Oxide Red, Yellow Ochre, and Titanium White. Terry Miura mentioned in his blog that he uses these colors as his core palette. I really have a difficult time controlling color and found this palette more to my liking. During the 30 day challenge I'll be practicing more with these colors.