Two boys playing at Frenchglen Hotel State Heritage Site, Oregon State Park

The Frenchglen Hotel offers dinners, breakfasts and lunches. From the dinning table window I painted this picture the snowy morning of April 4, 2012. The atmosphere of the hotel is very quaint. The birds, cotton tail rabbits, and deer are well fed too.

Heron Contemplating

"Heron Contemplates", 7" x 5" is watercolor and acrylic made permanent with UV protecting varnish. I used pencil and watercolors first and then acrylics. The watercolor is painted on absorbent ground on wood and then deeply cradled.

Siletz Canyon Gulls

"Cleaning Station Gull" is looking up for few scraps of salmon. It is acrylic paint on cradled wood, 5"x7".

Sun light on the sea gulls is dramatic aginst the shadowy canyon mixed with ocean air dampness. I love the atmosphere. "Siletz Canyon Gulls is acrylic and interference acrylic on cradled board 7" x 5".

Hunter's Moon and Crows

A pair of crows hung out around Coyote Rock at Kernville, Oregon. Getting up one morning I saw them just before daybreak flying with the full hunter's moon in the background. "Crows' Moon" is acrylic painted on cradled wood, 7" x 5".

Riparian Environment

It is raining and we have moved our motor coach to the water's edge. I have been looking more than painting. These are mostly ones that have new beginnings. Just below us is a cormorant diving for small fish. I have a start of the cormorant on the one on the left. I am pleased with the freshness and simplicity of the painting. so then loking at the others I want to make them as direct and fresh so I painted fresh strokes of movement in them risking failure. Sometimes I think it would be better if I had the materials to just start fresh new ideas.

Crows' Flight at Full Moon and Seagull Paintings

At dawn two crows flew towards the east and the full moon. Then the fog thickened. I used some iridescent Golden gold acrylic to make atmosphere. The brightness of the moon needed impact achieved by pushing the sky to a darker shade with iridescent mists. Also finished a seagull started at Coyote Rock on the Siletz. The seagull was looking up at the fisherman waiting for scraps of salmon fins. My husband and I are staying in a motor coach for a few weeks so he can fish and I can paint. I found a good place to photograph in the felt lined storage cabinet in our motor coach basement. These two paintings stand up on their own because they are 5 by 7 inches and an inch and 7/8th deep. My husband and I crafted these deep cradled boxes so I can paint watercolor or acrylics. All of these boxes will be varnished with matte UV protective medium.

Fish Habitat

The blue jays may have lost their nest of many seasons when the pine tree fell but the roots would make shelter for juvenile fish. Here I continued my 12" square block series of the fallen fir tree. The masonite block was sized with layers of gray tinted gesso. And after beginning to paint with watercolors I set the colors with gloss medium or painted spots with "Golden" canvas colored absorbent ground. The ground made the masonite board take paint as though it were paper. These mixed media applications satisfied my need to show the freshness of spring.

Gull and Clam

After a very stormy Wednesday on Thursday we were rewarded with one of the most beautiful days at Newport, Oregon. My husband dug clams while I watched the birds. There was a bald eagel and gulls also finding and opening clams. After returning home and helping prepare a chowder, I painted this acrylic painting 3 foot by 1 foot.

Watercolors from Lubbers Quarters, Bahamas

Here are the painting highlights of my stay at the big Sea Level Cottage. Watercolor painting with a small Cottman pallette helped me see and experience this paradise. There were lightning storms like I never experienced before. An imaginative vacationer at the Garden Cottage thought the tropical bushes and trees looked like bull elephants tromping right towards her. I think the thunder that continually rumbled on and on sounded like a heard of elephants breaking down the forest. When the storm passed on by I carried accordian style folded 6" x 24" papers right out into the water and painted behind some coral rocks that were removed to make a boat harbor. The coarl offered shelter from the wind and attracted small reef fish. To get a larger image please click on the pictures.

Expressionist Painting: "The Great Blue Heron"

Acrylic on stretched museum wrapped, no staples on the side, cotton canvas, painted around the sides, 36 x 12" x 1 3/8", no frame required, $250. Thank you for visiting my blog. Your comments are appreciated. If you wish to purchase please, e-mail me.

I finished this larger one as well as attempted a smaller one today. The smaller one does not have the feeling I want yet.

Landscape: "Purple Bird House"

Acrylic on cradled masonite board, 7" x 5" x 7/8", no frame required, $95. To purchase please e-mail me.

"Purple Bird House" is one of many bird houses my husband made and placed along our fence. We used to call it the purple cow because of a spot painted on one side. Now the spot is weathered and pealing and moss is growing on the roof.
These one a day paintings are teaching me lessons. I am more aware. I am enjoying every change in the weather as seen from our pasture. Every day we still own the pasture is a gift. It is still our pasture but may soon be sold. I am also more aware of my own work habits and am thinking I need time limits. If I have all day I paint all day with diminishing satisfaction. These quick paintings were intended to be warm ups for larger paintings. Next year, in a few days, I will finish working on my paintings for a group of four artists at the Benton County Museum in April. Plus prepare for a June exhibition at a convention center on the Oregon State University Campus. So my new challenge will be doing both small paintings at the same time as larger exhibition work.

"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."

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.

Flight of Two Swallows

This painting is for sale for $300 and looks different as the lighting changes because of the interference acrylic paints. It is on an 18" square cradled masonite board.
Birds, fish and fire are symbolic of freedom and life. Playfulness is a part of life too. The metalic and interference colors are playful and that is reason enough for me to forget my old attitude that kept me thinking that standard paints are enough for a good painter.