practice instead of paying

Another one I did at Jackson Bottom Wetlands. I tried to stay in the shade because it got hot that day. Good exercise. 

This is another one I did in the morning at Jackson Bottom Wetlands in pastels.

Went out to Jackson Bottom wetlands early this morning and it was pretty much empty so I hiked aobut 2 miles and  sat in a field and did this little pastel.

Well I got them framed and now at Reed College for the Johnson Creek Watershed art show. It should be there about a month. Everyone seemd to like them so that was nice. Positive feedback.

Yeah! I got in the Johnson Creek Watershed show at Reeed College!  I love water. I got 2 pieces in and they will be there for about a month I think. I was looking at Johnson Creek and it looks like a good place to go do some studies. Hmmmmmm. Opening tomorrow nite. Artzy Happenings all over this area. What a bunch of artistic people we have here.

This was fun. I brought a little canvas notepad and scribbled in that instead af ruining a perfectly good canvas. I suppose this is my thumbnail. Now that I went thru a few kinks I think I will try and go back there with a perfectly good canvas and try the same scene. Hopefully I beat the dog people there. Gotta get up early .

As usual I started working on thi little study in the morning and then it gets hotter and I bail and go home and finish it. Well I could go back another morning and finish there .  By then I'm ready for another one. I suppose if I find one I really like I will spend more than a day on it. I've been thinking of doing some oil sketches also for fun. I watched a Jackson Pollack movie and he just took a big ole peice of canvas and poured a bunch of paint on it. I thought , huh.  wouldn't it be fun to take a rol of canvas and lay it out in the field and then splash a bunch of paint on it for a landscape but then I thought, how would I get it home. I'm sure if I left it there over night the cows would leave cow patties on it.Well there's acrylics. No I don't like those.A truck on those dirt roads would be intrusive I guess. Okay. One would have to do a smaller study and work from that when you go it to your studio. No worries. I don't have that much paint anyway.

I went trudging around Sauvie Island while everyone else is doing city scapes. It was morning when I started but then it started to get a little warm. I pulled out my palette knife and oils and opened a can of worms. There are so many artists that have an illustrative handle on their oils and are doing so well. Meanwhile there's me that's still laboring where to put the holes in the trees. I don't think I want to pick up the usual tricks of some plein air artists. I would rather do something horrible of my own. This could take awhile . Hopefully God will have mercy on me and give me some insight as to how he did it all but oh well it is fun. You know . I have one of those Gorilla boxes your suppose to use but I much rather prefer my rickety old wooden easel. Is there hope for me I wonder.Well I do like this little spot while the weather is decent I might try and take my pastels there and try them.

Again with the water and trees!  This is from a place near the Gilbert River. 24 by 36 . Done in pastels and on Wallis paper. Summer seems to be moving along fast and fall is approaching. I hope if I keep working that I will continually improve and change.

I keep wandering over to Sauvie Island. I'm a hopeless tree lover. This is a pastel I started there in the morning and then it got hot and I left to work on it at home. I have so much to learn . I wish I could work all day sometimes.

Well strange the blue pops out like that . Oh well. Did most of this in plein air but got hot so I finished at home. Back to the drawing board. :-)

Went out again this morning. I worked until I was getting a little too hot.I sat under a tree which helps. I can't handle as much heat as a lot of people because I get dizzy so I can only work for a few hours in the morning. Sometimes in the evening it cools down enough to do some stuff then as well. But it is good and I like it.

I went out I think it was Saturday morning with a few people and did most of this in a field. It got pretty hot towards noon so I went home and finished it. Mostly I enjoyed working with the colors and textures. These days of hot weather a person has to get up pretty early to get some work done and then maybe go back in the evening or wait until the next morning. But I like it.

This was the piece I entered in the "Art on Broadway" call for artists. They had an opening tonight.

I went out to SAuvie Island Steelmans Lake area and started a picture and it still needs work but it was getting too hot for me so I will go back there. There were some other good scenes there . Michael Fisher was there and it was cool to see him do a thumbnail and then proceed with his piece. I think sometimes I think I see something in my head but when actually put on paper it doesn't look the same.

Sauvie Island "Africa"

Okay. A better photograph. :[.     

Sauvie Island Africa

I photographed this crooked and maybe i should photo it again. It is 24 by 36 pastel. I really like trees.

Summer trees on the island

I photographed this in with shade so there are some darker spots and my cat stepped on it.But..... I did this sitting under a tree at Sauvie Island late in the summer afternoon light. It's cooler then and i don't have to endure the heat beating down on me. It's a small 9 by 12 inch on Kitty wallis. It was very much fun . I tend to like trees. I know now it's popular at this point in time to do buildings and streets of Portland but I really like being out with the trees. thx for looking. :-)

plein air at Sauvie

I had fun sketching this at sauvie island late in the day. I kept it loose and didn't worry about getting all the details. I like the shapes and the colors in this and am looking forward to go back and do another. I also want to thank Mark Norseth for his endless encouragement. :-)

blocking in late in the day

Today was hot and so I went later to start a painting. I blocked in the shapes and hope I get back tomorrow to work on it some more and make adjustments. Even tho it's a place most people are board with taking a different medium to the place makes it new to me. I learn a little more all the time.

upstream in summer

I worked on a 14 by 24  pastel because I was thinking landscapes are pretty long ideas. I suppose one could make a really long one since land goes on and on. Wait.  Maybe it's 36 inches long. anyway I would like to make a lot more pieces. 

oregon food bank garden

I wanted to help with the Oregon Food bank when I could so i decided to try to pull weeds and lay some compost one day. I brought my son and we both enjoyed it. Depending on my schedule I would like to keep doing this. I think a person can not only help people who need food a person can learn about plants as well and carry this knowledge home and use it in your own garden.

by the still waters.

This is a water way in Scappoose Oregon. They have a lot of them since they plant paper trees and have grasses for cows and horses. I don't know how I'm going to frame the thing. I think you can only enter shows if you have the money to frame your art work. The luxury life. ha ha.

marshy lands

I worked on this but it's not quit finished. I just enjoy working on some bigger pastels. Although I think they are a little harder to frame and I never hear about all the shows everyone else hears about anyway. I don't know how they do it.