Made it to 100!

This one has an oil wash under-painting and is on Wallis paper that has been toned with yellow ochre.

This is straight pastel on Wallis paper, also toned.

This one has lots of oil wash that wasn't completely dry when I applied some pastel to it. The pastel soaked into the oil paint. I love it!

Here are all 103 on my studio wall. It's great to look at and I'll be sorry when I have to take them down.

Most of the pieces were done at the beginning of my work day. Sometimes one a day, sometimes 2 or 3. They are small, about 10 x10 and are all on paper. Many of them are mixed media and have some kind of under-painting either watercolor or oil wash. I loved using Terry Ludwig pastels because to me, they have a little bit of a grainy texture that was great over the oil wash.It was my time of day to play, to get warmed up to stretch. Most of them were completed relatively quickly, 15 to 30 minutes and were intended to be studies, although I think that some are finished pieces that stand fine by themselves. A friend and fellow artist, (Trisha), told me that I'd made a quilt and she is right! The pieces together are stronger than the individuals.

Now have to figure out what is next for me.
This has been a great project. In so many ways, it's been positive. I'm sure I'll be weaving the lessons learned into my work for a very long time. I'm writing on an article about the series for pastel journal. It will come out in the September issue, so I hope you'll take a look.

I've posted more of these on my website .

Up to #26!

I've been working fairly steadily on my variation series. I'm amazed by how much there is to paint; how endless the possibilities are. It makes me happy to know that you can never run out. There's just too much to paint, even in the context a really limited idea such as I've been working on. My wall is starting to fill. I moved all the pieces to a different area of the studio to photograph them and realized that I missed them. I imagine they may be hard to let go of in the end.

100 Variations

I've begun a new series of work that I've wanted to explore for quite some time. I'm calling it 100 Variations. I love the idea of doing the same composition repetitively in an effort to focus on particular aspects of painting. The composition of every piece will be essentially the same, leaving me free to explore all the color and light variations. I think this will be both liberating and very informative. I've already videotaped myself painting a couple of these and it's amazing to see what is revealed already in this process. These are relatively small pieces that I can complete pretty quickly, so the ideas is to be free to fully explore in depth, color, texture, light , atmosphere and mood without having to come up with a new idea for a composition every time. Just simplifying!

I plan on auctioning these off, so if you are interested you can look for them in my ebay store. They won't be available at any of my galleries or festivals. You'll have to wait for your piece a while because I want to see all of them together and have a studio opening to showcase them. I think that will be cool! I'm currently on #5. I hope you'll keep watching for these. I'm working on my editing skills to the the videos a little shorter:) Check out the first video on Youtube: Variation #2.

Riversea Gallery, Astoria Oregon

Mike and I had an opening at the Riversea Gallery in Astoria, Oregon earlier this month. Riversea is a wonderful gallery that we are excited to be a part of. We both are showing a variety media and sizes at this show. I held onto some very quiet and different pieces especially for this show. I hope they are well received, because I really enjoyed doing them.








Astoria is a great getaway from the Portland area and is especially wonderful in September, so we're happy to visit for our opening. We always stay at the Elliot hotel and have dinner at the always surprising Columbia Cafe. If you happen by Astoria during the month, pop in and see our collection of work or treat yourself to an overnight stay as we did.

Art in the High Desert

Back to blogging at last. I lost my first blog in cyberspace. I guess!! So now I hope that I'm back on track and can get into a rhythm of posting periodically!

Mike and I did a show in Bend, Oregon in August, Art in the High Desert. It was a beautiful show in many ways. The folks who inspired and organized it are Carla & Dave Fox. They are long time artist friends, jewelry and glass, so it was an easy choice when they asked if we would apply to their new show. As expected it was wonderfully organized, very artist friendly. A lot of attention to detail was put into the running of this show and as artists, Mike and I really appreciated that.