I make dragons to express spirit and essence of the unseeable

To see these and more dragons click on the linkhttp://widlerwenzeldragons.blogspot.com/

Early Spiritual Dragon Painting

" Primeval Sea", 1965, is an acrylic painting on canvas, 19.5" x 49.5" "Rain's collection. Rain is correct in labeling the painting a spiritual abstract. "Rain," who was the first to notice hidden dragons in my paintings, saw the dragon in this early painting.

Labels, however, make me uncomfortable and when people ask what kind of painter I am, I squirm in discomfort and I stammer a few confusing words wishing I would just disappear at that moment.

I have always considered this painting spiritual. I remember having coffee with Rain the morning before painting it as we often did. That morning we thought about how the universe began and if there was a God. Spiritual means to me that which we know exists beyond what can be measured scientifically.

I am in the process of identifying which works are spiritual. I think most of my work is spiritual because of the way I go about making them like they are a journey each one of them.

My Solo Art Opening in Keizer, Oregon

Granddaughter helped meet the few guests to my art opening. She took pictures and interviewed me taking notes. We all had a marvelous time. I also want to thank the members of The Keizer Art Association. They did a splendid job hanging my art. The bright paintings were at home in the well lit white walled gallery.

Dragons Boogie Woogie - solo exhibit

At the Keizer's Art Association Enid Joy Mount Gallery in February the "Boogie Woogie Modular" will have the first showing displayed on a table easel. The easel stabilizes the modular frame for easy use. Numerous combinations can be made by rearranging the blocks.

"Can You Find the Dragon?" exhibit at Sam's Station

"Gallery Dragon" watercolor mixed with acrylic medium on deep cradled box, 7" x 5"

Diane Widler Wenzel will be exhibiting her painting show, "Can You Find the Dragon?" at Sam's Station January 12 - 30th. The paintings can be seen during business hours at Sam's Station, 1210 NW 29th, Corvallis Oregon.

Diane's Dragons are happy often playful Asian dragons symbolizing good fortune and life's beginnings in water.

Diane just last year gave her self permission to paint dragons which led her to seeing them more frequently in the geometric shapes in nature. In addition she is amazed to discover the dragon's twisting serpentine "S" and angular jaws hidden in many of her earlier landscape paintings. The dragons were made subconsciously from childhood memories of family heirlooms collected by generations of Widler merchants living in Asia.

Preparing"Hidden Drangons", a January exhibit

Here are some of the paintings that I am preparing to hang at Sam's Station. I am grouping them by placing stacked small paintings between large ones.

December 26th I received an unexpected call from the gallery representative for Sam's Station. I will not be able to hang the exhibit on January 2 because the owners of the restaurant are closing down for the first 9 or ten days of January to go on vacation. So now I will have more time to organize this exhibit. I was not at all upset because next time I say I will do a January exhibit, I'll have it done before Thanksgiving. It took me quite awhile to select work and give titles. "Then and Now Self-Portrait" has several dragons hidden in it and I have titled it "Self-Portrait/Dragons Reflecting 1962"
I had fun with some of my other titles like:
Dragon Eyes are Blue Birds
The Ocean:My Cup Dragon
Peace Rose Thorny Horn Dragon
Dragon's Hidden Coral Garden
Tooth and Spike Kissing?
Sparkey the Dragon Pup
Fir Bough Dragon Whispers to Dragon Cloud
Misty Dragons Meander Between Mountains
Time to bake cookies for tomorrow's afternoon opening at Pegasus Art Gallery in Corvallis, Oregon

#2 New Year's Dragon

"#2 New Year's Dragon" is one of three dragons painted last Saturday. Tomorrow Saturday, December 15, 1-3 P. M. I will be doing another demonstration at Pegasus Art Gallery, 341 SW Second Street, Corvallis, Oregon. Artists and collectors welcome!

New Year's Dragon

'New Year's Dragon' is acrylic on museum board16" x 12" . I was demonstrating at the Pegasus Art Gallery opening last Saturday. There will be two more Saturday openings before Christmas. Saturday December 15, I will be demonstrating the watercolor and acrylic on absorbent ground board. I am also demonstrating my journey into a painting where I move the paint around.

Yesterday's frustration : today's multiple accomplishments

"Grandma Riding Sea Dragon", acrylic on museum wrapped canvas, 40" x 30" is for sale $400. For while there was a second dragon in the far lower right. As I mentioned earlier the woman talked back to me. Finally she became engaged in riding her dragon.

"Dragon's Shadow" is acrylic on museum wrapped canvas, 36" x 24" x 1 1/2", for sale, $400. "Dragon's Shadow" was at first non-objective. After many starts I became worked up with emotion. I worked towards express myself with energetic spirit. The title came after it was finished when I thought the dark looked like the distorted open jaws of the dragon.

Should these Dragon paintings be made to relate?

Working in a small enclosed area I thought my dragon paintings would just effortlessly flow into a visual harmony. But to my amazement I must force them to have a thread that connects. Sometimes I think I must wreck an already done painting to stretch it beyond where I have been.

Although I have not been showing many finished paintings, I am working hard at it.

"Ignighter the Carousal Dragon"

Yesterday at the Albany Carousal Wood Carving Workshop a half dozen Albany, Oregon artists, who get together to paint once a month, had our most exciting meeting. After a tour of the workshop and Denzel Carousal Museum led by Gwen Marchese, I chose to sketch the dragon now laying on his side in the process of getting his first coat of paint. Here is my beginning on za painting with new dragon energy. This is just what I needed because I was not entirely happy with some of my other dragons. As I work on Ignighter my other dragon paintings are getting a lift.

Granny Riding Sea Dragon

( acrylic on stretched museum wrap canvas 40" x 30") for sale $400

Before granny had a wet suit and she was just misty energy, my husband said the painting was too indefinite and he couldn't tell it was a granny riding a dragon. He had no idea I was painting ocean. So I thought he must be right. And I made the dragon more solid. But granny started talking back looking at me in the eye over her glasses as if she wondered what the heck she was doing on a dragon. I turned her head more in the direction she was going. The reins were loose and held as if she thought the whole pose was silly. Her legs were crossed because she needed to go to a toilet.

So in the wee hours of the morning I was awake wondering about how I could change Granny's attitude. I could appease her so she would look like a thrill seeking granny full of zest for adventure that was a fleeting vision in the misty stage of the painting. I decided to uncross her legs and put her firmly on the serpent's neck. I'll paint over her sagging flesh and give her a becoming wet suit.

Our Flight to Save a Blanket of Memories

Acrylic painting on stretched canvas 18" square
"My Dragon Defiance and I" is the second page of my second Granny Diane Book "When I get to be Older". I sat a grandson in my lap as the story developed and my grandchildren take the lead. The first page was published Nov. 5. In the new book I picture myself telling my stories to family and friends gathered around the flickering light of a camp fire.

Our Flight on a Dragon Named Defiance

to Save my Memory Blanket

Lord Loss sends me a mighty challenge.

Lord Loss steals and turns into dust my most precious treasures, treasurers that keep my memories alive - not just any memories. They are secrets of living that my parents taught me.

My father's Siberian horse blanket is one of my treasurers. Father and I sat on the blanket on the bank of a river when I was a baby. When I was eleven my parents and I huddled under it inside our home made camper tent at Yosemite. Mother sewed canvas tarps to drape over our 1934 Chevy Coup to make a tent.

Now that I get to be older, Lord Loss is making father's blanket fall apart. The story of the blanket has never been told and will be lost unless Lord Loss releases the blanket from becoming dust.

I can not defeat Loss alone. I must get the help of my grandchildren. But first I must have a dragon. Lord Loss can only be defeated I believe with a splat of paint from my most mighty paint brush. Plus a grandchild and I must be riding between the humps of a camel dragon. I'll paint a dream of a dragon I'll call Defiance. On his back I'll place my father's Siberian Horse blanket. Holding my biggest brush up high, Defiance, my youngest grandson and I will ride off to the Valley of Never Dry to bring Lord Loss to his knees. Will this plan work?

Lord Loss begged us not to slap him with paint that would never dry. He said, "There is only one way to preserve the blanket. All your grandchildren must draw or paint the blanket and together all of you must solve the riddle. What is the meaning of the four bear claws, one in each corner, and the trees in the center?

Well what do you say? Shall we paint pictures of a horse wearing the blanket? Maybe that will help solve the riddle. If the blanket is then restored we will let Lord Loss go.

( to be continued with the art of my grandchildren and readers if you know anything about Asian weaving and symbolism, please help us out)

Resolving loss from aging

THE REST OF THE STORY
Getting to be older is frightening. It means loss. Loss of personal belongings that remind one of the past. Loss of old mementos is inevitable as I down size my worldly possessions. This week my allergic husband wants me to get rid of my father's Siberian horse blanket. It is of unknown fiber - possibly anything from reindeer, dog, camel, goat, or yak or a combination of all plus a little grass that got spun into the yarn by some herdsman tending his flock. The blanket still smells faintly of the Asian high plateaus. How can I get rid of a precious family heirloom? Even if I manage to keep it, it will not hold together for long. Its warp of rotten cotton is breaking apart. I want to see it every day because it is memories of my father.

The blanket was rugged masculine beauty. Father brought it out of Asia (our families adopted home for generations). When he arrived here to study at the University of California, Berkeley in 1929, father came as a true olden times Asian traveler with this blanket and the clothes he was wearing.

What was once a tragedy is now an opportunity to write a creative story and paint a fantasy.

The Battle of the Blue and Yellow Dragons

"The Battle of the Blue and Yellow Dragons" illustrates a myth. When the earth is sleeping and people are weary of the draught, people hope to see a yellow cloud dragon in battle with a blue sky dragon. The fighting dragons make thunder and lightening which brings the rainy season.

A Day in Our Motor Coach at the Oregon Coast

My prize of the day is "Breaker Foam Dragon" - a break through for me. I have been painting over and over "Sea Foam Dragons" not getting the feeling I want of playful happiness. "Breaker Foam Dragon" is mixed media with interference and regular acrylic paints on a 12 ' square cradled board.

At 7:00 A M my husband served me oatmeal with raisins. He then busily prepared to go fishing while I have hardly finished breakfast tea. Our windows were steamed and dripping wet. I couldn't wipe them enough times, so I turned off the heat and opened the windows to a beautiful sunny day. I took a few photographs of the oil slick on the marina. Did chores.
9:15 AM I left to do grocery shopping in Lincoln City, Price and Pride Grocery Store.
10:45 AM, I was back at the motor coach . As I was setting up my paints I waved at my husband as he trolled by. I moved the crab pots on and around the table to make room to paint outdoors. I just started painting and it was noon.
12:00 my husband came back for lunch. We had Hebrew Kosher low fat hot dogs and honey crisp apples.
1:00 We walked Gleneden Beach. A sick seal was on the beach yesterday according to another beach walker. We saw the remains of a seal pup. Mostly the beach was bare except for course sand with small grey pebbles.
2:45 my husband made pop corn and we broke out the lawn chairs for the first time since we came in mid September. We soaked up the 72 degree weather.
3:00 I set up my painting again on the outdoor table and had the best most successful painting session. My memory was fresh from our beach walk and the little drawing I did on my wood block when we first walked onto the beach.
4:00 I started dinner. Roma tomatoes on local lettuce from the Barking Dog Organic Produce Farm. A slice of bread with toasted cheese and big shrimp.
5:30 Finished up my blog
This evening I will enjoy the mild weather outdoors and at 8:00 PM my husband and I will watch Dancing With the Stars.
My day is the best day in awhile. It has been so wet and gray. The fishing was poor and most of the other Rvs have drove away leaving the resort very quiet and peaceful.

A Blizzard Rain

"Reflections Before Blizzard Rain" is a watercolor and acrylic medium painting on a deeply cradled board 12" square. This memory of the morning was painted over an attempt to make a "Blizzard Rainstorm on the River." Without color hue and contrast from dark to light I did not have paint to make enough texture. But I have a clear idea for a painting to do of the blizzard rain. The rain was not like a down pour. The wind blew it as snow is blown.



A blizzard rain pockmarked the river like many toes sprinting to the finish.
There wasn't much color change - only great textures on the move.
Sitting at my RV window overlooking one blast after another racing with the tidal flow, I observe the water receding. At slack tide the quick fishing fishermen pulled up their anchors and returned to the marina. Seeing my husband coming, in seconds I screwed on the caps to my few watercolor tubes, screwed on the lid to my matte medium acrylic and stored all my painting stuff in the basement.
Tomorrow perhaps the painting will be dry enough to photograph.

The past two weeks I have been painting for an outdoor art festival sale this coming Saturday and Sunday in Lincoln City, Oregon. I feel these paintings are more about making something I suppose will sell and less about living my life. So today I made one about the rain that drenched my husband while I was happy to be back in the RV having enjoyed the boat ride earlier in the day.

It is tomorrow. Before day break my husband returned to the river and made his way between other boats each with a light bulb and a green and red light to indicate their direction of travel. Bait fish jump at the water's edge catching the lights splashing and flashing. Maybe yesterday there were a hundred fisherman and three Chinook were caught. Will the Salmon run begin today after the rain or is it just a poor year?

The Oregon Hatchery Research Center asks artists to give their time to instruct others on seeing the nature of fisheries through the artist's perception. I will be teaching River Trip, Watercolor Journaling, one of the workshops, November 3, at the Fall Creek Hatchery on highway 34 between Philomath and Waldport. The workshop is free but preregistration is required.

Rainy Season Dragons at Battle

"Rainy Season Dragons at Battle" 24" x 18" is inspired by reading Donald A. Mackenzie's, CHINA AND JAPAN MYTHS AND LEGENDS. After a draught the Blue Dragon fights the Yellow Dragon and Lightening, thunder, and rain is on the way. The breeze was blowing at me today as I painted under the cool walnut tree. The odor of the oil paints did not bother me. My husband thought the yellow dragon needed to be as bold as the green but I am happy.

Conclusion of Riparian Dragons

I have learned how the absorbent ground works with watercolor sealing it with matte UV protective varnish. These illustrations are not suited in my mind as being architectural structuring an arch around one of our interior doorways. I would prefer non-objective paintings for our house walls.

Seventh Day of Riparian Series Started Tight

At the beginning of the day I felt tight, I was not happy with the results of my series. And I felt that was good. I was ready to go beyond what I had done but needed to get primed to do so. There was a painting I did in 1997 that had never worked to my satisfaction and it was so thick with paint I thought I would toss it but first I would play. I made a fun pseudo child like painting. The spirit of this dragon I wanted in my other paintings and I needed to feel this child in me. Then I boldly made some changes in the "Siletz Riparian Bronze Dragons" mimicking the 8th century BC Luristan pole ornament.

My playful dragon is the Oregon Coast Sea monster conjured up by parents who want their children to play safely on the beach and not venture out swimming in the cold Pacific Ocean where the monster hides.