Four O'Clock Wood Chopper

For sale Acrylic on cradled board box 14" x 11". $250



















With the threats of an ice storm, my husband took up the ax. Maybe I should have warned him that he would be sore, but instead I found symbols of our changes in life as we are growing older.

Slow Beginnings of the Cloud Series

"What use are all the paints, canvases, and brushes in the world if we don't allow ourselves to fantasize." author unknown

For sale. Acrylic on hard board cradled box, 8" x 10", $290

Abstracting from nature has always been a tug at my thinking and takes many trials. On this one I think i hit a jack pot.

Sky With Emotion

Today I brought out all of my nineteen small oil paintings that were put away for ten days. I am pleased with the changes that took place over the weeks during which I painted once a day. I am going to do more oil paintings when the weather is warmer. Next Spring they can dry in our unheated pump house. In the meantime, today, I am back to painting with acrylics outdoors in the 26 degree weather until my fingers feel cold. I'll finish two this afternoon. The painting I post here is an earlier one that I just glazed today. The thick blue mixed with white is not as vibrant as a thin glaze is over dried paint.

In the past I kept working on a painting over and over. I am changing my ways for small paintings.

Today I noticed the gray sky all over and found little changes in hue and luminosity. It is difficult to photograph these light paintings but will work on the photography so I can post them tomorrow.

The Wind and The Clouds

It is a challenge to do the clouds. I am looking forward to doing a series of clouds as seen from our place. The clouds will become more abstract as I express my feelings about selling country side property and then becoming a good neighbor.

The Beginning Of Winter

The sunsets behind our plumb tree and field. I am anticipating doing more paintings of the field we have given up. The papers are signed and the sale is in process. The old Pulver homestead is changing with the times.

Thanksgiving Thanks for a Beautiful Year in Oregon

"Heron" from the Poem Series

Inspiration from Sorley Maclean's "Heron"
"She Folded her wings close in to her sides and took stock of all around her."

Lens Eye Views

I like the camera as a tool for interpretation of the landscape. I like to paint what the camera can not reveal. I find my feelings flow also with small oil paintings. While I am painting though sometimes I get to looking mostly at my picture trying to fix a moments impression and then more views want to enter than the picture can hold. So then it is nice to get the camera out.

Leaning Towards the Abstract

Painting over yesterday's painting, a new beginning about interpreting rather than reproducing. I was feeling the breeze turn to gusts of wind as the storm approached. The bird house painting was from a particular place focusing on bird houses. The painting on top of the post was a general impression while being outside in the storm as the rain started blowing at me.

Will continue oil series in December?

The time has come to have quality family time with grandchildren for the Thanksgiving holiday. After Thanksgiving I'll decide if I should do more oil paintings. I have been enjoying painting very much the past few weeks. I have learned that I can develop a flow by making myself conclude paintings while the initial intention is still strongly felt. In contrast to painting one a day outdoors, working in the studio I attempt to make the paintings look as though they are done all at once. I am forcing them. The nice thing about oil is that it stays wet longer than acrylic facilitating working all over the surface keeping it a unit. I was happiest when I had two of each primary color, white and a few earth colors. I was painting smoothly until I ran out of most of my max watersoluble oil colors. Yesterday I squeezed on to my palette what remained. I only have some burnt sienna, burnt umber and white left in tubes. Should do for some winter landscape or deer. In addition to running out of paint, on Friday we will sign over to the new owner the lot. This will not be as final an ending as I thought:I may yet be able to paint there through December. Building will probably start in January. I have thought that this series might well include the drama of a house being built.

Bird Houses

To attract birds we have surrounded our place with bird houses. The fields about our place are great for the swallows to glide and swoop up insects. Our large patches of freshly turned dirt has many tasty insects. The blue birds see their meal from several high perches. While I was painting today I saw many more subjects like the four point buck following a reluctant doe. I put in and took out of my painting a squirrel. The squirrel came down from the climbing tree and stood just three feet away watching me while covering herself with a large fuzzy tail as though she thought she was hidden.

The Fence by the Climbing Tree

Years and years ago our lamb put her head through the fence to reach a tender leaf but she was trapped unable to get her haed out by herself. I notice the fence was never replaced and it is stretched out of shape. Soon the field will be sold. The fence will be pulled out to make way for a new home. So I continue to paint for a couple of more days. Some times for pure feeling without words and other days for memories. Everyday I see the field as though I never really noticed it before. How could I have missed such a wonderful inspiration? Well I did try to paint in the field with animals like sheep, cows, horses and once a goat. Only the animals wanted to get into the paint. But still there were many times like now when the field could have been my place to paint. I was busy with life and now I am so fortunate that I do have time to paint.

Feeling The Rain Drops

The rain showers contributed to the mood and even to making my painting. The wetness of the rain mixed with the water soluble oils. Paint was everywhere on my easel and on my gloves. The messiness of painting was exciting though. The rain damp landscape was rich with color. The thunder clouds were sweeping through the air. When the sun pierced through the clouds, the fields started to steam especially under the trees. I began to think about the lane that makes two right angle bends around the end of our field. These bends are the old path going past a barn long gone.

The Tree House of Olden Times

The family who lived here before us had a little boy who drives by every now and then to view his best childhood climbing tree. One blackened board still hangs in among the perfectly trimed branches. He says that at Christmas time they use to hang a star on the tree. Now in a few months a new family will build there home by this tree and the tree will again hear the laughter of children.

Underneith High Ground "TG", Our Pet Sheep Rests

Our back wall of the shop was a favorite place for our pet "TG." This morning before the storm I could not find a subject to paint at first. I walked around the field as though lost. I had to paint a quick one before the storm and I settled with the buildings because they are so angular that I could bite into the moody part of painting almost from the start. The black box, bat house never seemed more ominous. "TG" lay down here and could not get up about four years ago this month. One of her lambs is enjoying her golden years on my friend Rain's farm.

Yesterday's Lighting Remembered

After rain drops fell on my painting of the day, I picked up my stuff and returned to the patio covered area. Then I worked on the sentimental painting I spoke of yesterday. I feel good about it now. I am enjoying painting on 8" x 10" x 1" Ambersand Blocks. These are the blocks my mother and I painted on just before her passing away in 2003. At the end she only collaborated on a few of the blocks. I kept my favorites and pealed off the acrylic revealing a perfectly clean surface to begin again. I put aside the pealings for collage.

Sunshine Between Showers

Today I woke up in time to see a rainbow above my field but when I returned with a camera the rainbow was faint. After the shower I painted our plum tree with the fir trees in the background. Next year there will be a house between the plum tree and the fir trees. The impending sale causes my paintings to look exceedingly sentimental - an emotion I used to try to avoid. I am still working on yesterday's painting which is too pretty falling in the category of sentimental. Maybe I should go ahead with what I feel. This project after all is a sentimental exercise of enjoying my property while I still own it. After Thanksgiving maybe a house will rise on our field and I will not make any more discovery walks.

Dark Down Pour

From Under a Fir Tree

Under the fir tree my painting was out of the rain. The worst of the storm came in after I finished. I am really still excited about going out and painting in the morning. But the dampness is not good for my Andersen's easel. The metal bracket that holds the canvas has become floppy. The Andersen mechanism always did look a little weak. I am running out of Max cadmium yellow and orange. My blues are also low and I am mixing real oil colors with the water soluble ones. I like the richness of basic colors and will not order the mixed ones made by holbien called DUO. I am still debating about getting more MAX made by Grumbacker. I am not sure I will continue to do little oils like this 8" x 10".

The Field, the Creek and a Tree on a Rainy Day

The Rain and I Painted

Today it rained at near record amounts. I was still eager to go out and see what emotions could be stimulated by the mood of the day. I painted with Max, an oil paint so refined that it mixes with water. So I tried painting during a light shower. The rain made the thick oils run a little. Painting this way I needed to put down the idea and then react to the changes made by the soggy day. I feel that the pressure was on to express the feeling I had right away without getting bogged down by detail.

Our Back Field and Pump House

Our pump house has seldom been a subject in my painting since we lived here the past 22 years but now that we are selling our field, I am eager to enjoy our property by using it as a beginning for some works. As I work I become closer to the beauty in what was so common place to me. I am not reproducing the landscape. I am making interpretations. At first the paintings will be impressionistic. Future paintings will become more abstract and emotional.