More Dragons

One dragon I have always thought of as being a sharing dragon but it holds the water jar up high just behind its head. The eyes are wide and looking down like it is mischievously exposing a secret. The other dragon holding a wind blown scarf in its mouth is pouring drops of rain from the water jar. The nose twiches. The left eye is almost winking. Now that these two dragons are spoken for, can I do a dragon that is truly giving from the heart?
Two Dragons, 48" x 30" each and Two Blue Birds "1" x 16" acrylic on canvas, for sale $300

Self-Portrait Projecting 20 Years into the future

This notebook sketch is not for sale.
Rain of the rainydaythought blog has posted an intriguing self-portrait of herself as she thinks she will be at age 80. I was moved to see what kinds of insight I would have as I painted my own future visage. I see myself as being not a beauty but simply determined. The physical changes are not as important as the spirit.

River Tree Fantasy

This painting has undergone many transformations and as of February 2008 it is not finished.

"Fantasy Dragon Tree" is a work in progress done with acrylics on location. Canvas is 24" x 36"
Near Chinook Bend on the Siletz River, Oregon there is a tree that refuses to give into gravity although it fell almost all the way into the river. The trunk suggests to me a proud animal.

The Clothesline Sale is another Alternative Gallery

Alternative galleries have spoiled the public giving out free and cheaply priced art. This is the opinion of the majority of artists in Corvallis, Oregon. I have a slightly different take on what causes the low number of sales and low prices the artists fetch for their paintings here. The problem is the small art center. Art Centric spotlights exhibits brought in from other locations at the expense of the growing number of local talents. The small side shows in the center's gift shop and staff office are presented as products for sale. In July in our topsy turby community Pegasus Art Gallery and Frame Shop featured the creative works of the Oregon State University retired Art Department Head and his family of three generations. The exhibit is not featured as a selling exhibit and reaches out to the community of numerous other families with several generations making art. The out reach is unpresedented here because the University Professors do not show with just anyone here. This show could never have been in our small art center. It is proof that there is more to art than just selling products. The Clothesline Sale will probably again have all the sales that should be going to support our Pegasus Art Gallery / real functioning community art center.

August is Marketing Month?

This acrylic painting is for sale. $700Only a little marketing will happen because I am expecting to do more painting near Lincoln City. This painting is Phoenix Tree (the estuary of the Siletz river near Lincoln City) acrylic 24" x 36"
Saturday August 8 my husband and I will be showing paintings at the Corvallis Art Guild Clothes Line Sale on the Courthouse Lawn. We will be in the Corvallis Art Guild tent in the middle of the lawn area.

Painting at Ona Beach, Oregon

Both of these paintings have undergone great change. especially the tree. This tree has become the base for painting my own family tree portraits sitting on the branches. This very personal painting was exhibited june 2007 at the Benton County Museum group show, "Seven Years Later"

Outdoors I enjoyed mixing a water and dilute mat medium with pan wtercolors working transparency over transparency. "View Approaching Foot Bridge to Beach", "Tree Standing on the Bank of Beaver Creek" 18" x 18" ( Update: The tree painting became the base for a painting of my family tree and an illustration in the book, "When I Get to be Older")

Grandma's Dance

This painting is not for sale as it is so personal. I have given a reproduction of it to a lady that showed interest. I make reproductions by request but do not market them.
People ask how long it takes me to paint a picture. This painting has taken me years to complete. I hope it is complete and these are all my grandchildren. I hope to keep the memory of their early years and how easily they could be entertained. I used to think that having two children would replace us and not add to the population explosion. That does not seem to be the case because we live longer and population can be increased by having the generations too close together. The green line stretching between me and my grandchildren represents transferring the joy of living.

Garden Sculpture

Our eight feet tall lilies create a little secret outdoor room at our front door. I really enjoy the visual effect but not the strong scent. The smell irritates my allergies. We are going to dig out a third of these lilies and plant new varieties. I want to select plants that suggest the whimsy of water and life.

Cardwell Hill Vineyard Thank You

Today I painted a thank you card for a favor done by Don and Nancy of Cardwell Vineyard. In this folded format I could tell the story of their vineyard - their Chateau home, Mary's Peak, and their winery.

Owyhee Flight

This painting is sold.

The First Day and a Half of our White Water Trip

This is not for sale.
June 11th we had some sunshine on the Owyhee and 80 degree weather before the wind blew. The morning of June 12th we went for a walk towards the sandstone caves. We could not agree on the geologic history of the area. Was it all volcanic or was it a mixture of uplift from prehistoric seas? In the afternoon as we continued down river, we saw dramatic weather changes.

Folded Watercolor Paper is my Journal

This is not for sale.


On the Owyhee River there are many hot springs which are much appreciated when the weather is less than fair.

Painting Journal of a White Water Drift Trip

We just got back from a five day white water rafting trip camping five nights on the river down the Owyhee Canyon. We were 13 adventurers in seven rubber boats and an inflatable kayak. Though we were expecting fair weather, nature had other plans and we did encounter difficulties like in the times of Homer. There was some unpredicted stormy weather. We had no contact with the outside world and did not know there was a tornado and hail in Burns, the closest town.
Tuesday June 13th I saw some very threatening clouds like the clouds in twisters. I did not see a funnel cloud. I saw the rain coming so I went to the boat and pulled out and put on my rain gear. I was the first to put it on and on top of my cheap rain coat I put on my life jacket with a red whistle. Then I returned to the other rafters who were finishing there lunch as the first big drops of rain fell. And we all laughed at me, I was prepared for everything. Then they started putting on their rain gear too. That night we saw lightening and heard thunder close by. In my coffeee cup, I found an inch of rain that fell in an hour. Our 20 years old tent with pin size holes everywhere leaked so much we could have been in a stream bed. The floor had as much as 3/4 inch of water. We sopped it up over and over again with a towel and a polar fleece hat. We held the saturated towel and hat outside the tent door and ringed them out by hand. We could not keep our things dry. We just couldn't save anything at all so I rolled up the drier sleeping bag and put it in our dry bag. Then we tried to arrange our bed so we could sleep best we could when the rain stopped. Since all was wet I put on all my rain gear and was about to go to sleep when we heard this loud crack like a lightening strike followed by the sound of rocks slidding towards us. Then there was another crack and more rocks sliding. I curled up in a ball holding my head with my arms. I wondered if we were in the path of these rocks or anyone in our camp had been hit. I was frightened and shaking. After it was quiet for awhile, Don and I got up and went outside wondering if the rocks fell right next to our tent. Our trip leader came over and we tried to look about the canyon with our flash lights but could not see anything new. He went on to the other camp sites to see his children and the rest of the group. His children ages 17 and 22 had been up and saw the sparks created each time the falling rocks hit the rock wall of the cliff across the river from us. His children were calm saying it was only another rock fall. The next morning we all talked about it. Actually it is safer outside than driving a car and there is just a very smalll chance that a rock will fall where you are according to Dr. Robert Cooley, psychologist. That was not the end of our troubles. At the take out one of the cars had two flat tires. Somehow we managed to put a spare on one and use some tire fix spray in the other. We had a 30 mile drive over a primitive road forging streams six times until we reached the highway. The people were great and I enjoyed the trip despite the difficulties.

Terrifying Reverberating Cracking, Sliding and Banging of Small Bolders

This 20" x 16"acrylic painting on cradled masonite hard board is for sale. $700
Camping in a Owyhee River Canyon 2:00 AM, June 14 the splitting away of even small rocks from the canyon cliff made me shake with fear because it sounded as though the rocks were huge and headed for me. I did not know when the land slide would stop. Surely this was big enough to change the course of the river. Later I heard some of my camping companions say they saw the sparks as the rocks hit the cliff wall. They had seen and heard falling rocks before. This is a painting of visualizing from hearing the noise.

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.

Aerial Tumblers

For sale $700
Little mists turned to showers. Swallows flew close to the flowing water but never crashing. Up and down then they veered away from us as we floated down the South Santiam. I drew them in pencil and was eager to paint them the next day. But you know I think next time I am going to go back to working directly on location because I like the directness. To keep the spontanaity I had to fight for it : I checked the flutter of their wings with the swallows flying in our back yard.

Great grandfather David Widler of Constantinople, Jaffa, Singapore and Shanghai

This painting is not for sale
The painting is about everybody who has immigrants in their ancestry. I have been commenting on what goes through me as I paint. Comments in this blog go back to December when a most unexpected notice was given it. My posting was picked up by Google and listed next to other references to my great grand father. Then a long lost cousin's son saw it and called me. I found a whole branch of my family. And I learned that they have developed the family dreams portrayed in the painting like singing, watercolor painting, writing books. But not in Israel at the old home place. In Tel Aviv a high rise apartment building is being built next to where the family lived. Recently there was an accident and the arm of the crane broke, fell and demolished the old house. Israel like everywhere is stretched to the limit as our populations increase and increase. New events make me want to add more people and the laborers to the painting.

I remember Mama

sold
This is a continuation in reaction to our earlier collaboration. I get into a happy joyous and intuitive mind space with my mother though she is not physically here. She has been dead for about two and a half years. During the last few years of her life we painted small paintings some taking only 5 minutes or less as she was so advanced in dementia that she needed assistance in every life function task. She had such a wonderful spirit that she could express joy and emotions and complex thoughts even when so limited. She could still be my leader as her recollection of artistic acheivements would surface as we worked together and communicated and bonded. Girl on Blue Horse, 20" x 16"

Borrowing not Plagiarizing

This painting has taken on new meaning in 2008 when I started seeing hidden dragons in my picutes. It is one of the paintifngs in my february 2008 exhibit, "Dragons Boogie Woogie" at the Keizer art Association's Enid Joy Mount gallery in Keizer, Oregon.
Giving some thought to my entry way to the dinning room and the grouping of paintings around this portal, I want it to make my heart feel closer to nature. And I want more, an invitation for me to look and keep on looking. I have tried some dark forest compositions with wood peckers but just now I want something lighter more of an abstraction as Matisse did. I love the blue birds nesting in our yard and the way they flutter as they fly. I borrow from Matisse and his blue nude series. I could keep playing and changing my configuration of paintings everytime I come back from a painting adventure and pass through this doorway.

Golden Acorns from My Grandchildren

This painting is not for sale.
When two of my grand daughters painted on this picture with me, one wanted to take acorns home with her. "Me too" I thought. A reason that I love to paint is so I can take a treasure from nature home with me. We keep cherished memories.(Click on the picture for a larger image)