The Bellevue show is long hours (12 hour days) but when you are in the company of funny, friendly artists it is a lot of fun.    On the way up and down we broke up our trip and stayed at a wonderful b&b in Eugene, Oregon called  The Augusta House.  If you are looking for a luxury inn in that area, I cannot recommend this place enough.     It is truly a cut above and as frequent travellers we tend to be picky.

I’m back in the studio working on commissions from the show as well as preparing for the Sausalito Art Festival coming up over Labor Day weekend.   I have some paintings that were nearly finished prior to Bellevue and will be posting those soon.

Its back to the studio for me.   Until next time…..

Bellevue Booth Display

Pink Rhododendran

Its North Coast Open Studio Tour time.   Artists from all over Humboldt County open their studios during this annual event held the first few weekends of June.    My studio will be open the first weekend, June 5 &6 from 11 am to 5pm.  If you are in the area and would like to see newly released original pastels, as well as oils, prints and  the ability to purchase work straight from the studio wall please come by.   Refreshments served.   For further information visit    North Coast Open Studios .

Hope to see you here!

When I was a kid one of my favorite artists was Andrew Wyeth.   I had a book on his art and I remember studying it and admiring  the beautiful starkness of mood he was able to create with his gorgeous watercolors and egg tempera paintings, two media that I myself delved into “back in the day.”   Later it was Edward Hopper who I meditated on with abandon.   My dear friend from art school, Terry Jane and I flew to San Francisco from L.A. to see his retrospective at SF’s MOMA in 1981.   We still laugh because we had to carry our luggage through the museum.   Apparently we would have done anything to see a once in a lifetime event like that.   Hopper’s landscapes propelled the painter within me.    The common thread between the two is the sense of stillness, of solitude these artists so beautifully achieve in their depictions of scenes from their  surroundings and their travels.

In the series of work I have been developing over the past several years involving rural architecture, I feel a sense of going back to my roots as a painter to the initial inspirations that guided what my painting has always been about at its core.  Though my earliest work was decidedly more suburban in subject matter – as was my actual surroundings,  the thread of my early obsession with painting masters Wyeth and Hopper was always there.

In my work, and with pastel specifically there is a tendency for it to create a dreamlike atmospheric feeling in the finished work.    Since I continue to play with the premise of a heightened sense of reality or a dreamlike version of same, it continues to be my favorite medium of choice.   My latest completed pastel landscape painting in the rural architecture series is “Green Roofs.”  I was very attracted to this composition for its sense of disquieting calm amidst a blaze of color, pattern and light.

And the journey continues…..

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I also have been completing new pastels including the piece above which is from the Winter Wildflower series.   That subtle winter light drew me in once more….this painting had to be done but now I’m drawn to the light of early summer that is just now peeking out on the North Coast of California.  

I also was forced to update my whole computer system which is still a work in progress insofar as transferring files and data over to my new system goes.   I’m determined to figure this all out as much as I can on my own.   Even my pragmatism has a right brain slant so my technological skills are no different.   I will say though, that this new IMAC system is pretty much how I expected computers to work 12 years ago….but they didn’t.   At least this system has prompts!  

Lastly, Bruce and I had a wonderful weekend in the Bay Area that included completing an installation for new collectors S & D.   Thank you so much for acquiring 10 original pastels for your beautiful home!   I think we were all delirious by the time we left (it was after all over 100 degrees that day) but the entire collection is looking incredible!

I’ll post more new images soon!

Now its back to the studio to work on new work.   I have new pastels in progress and plan on returning to oils next week.   I’ll have new images to post soon.   

"Winter Wildflowers" 23x31

Artists have been drawn to images of water, with its aesthetic and evocative qualities since the early cave man drawings.  There is a soothing quality to water…and evidenced based studies have shown that images of water create a calming, restful environment in healthcare settings.     

I was drawn to this composition  because of the strong blue  sky  reflection in this closed in waterway near my home in Eureka.   The winter brush and spent wildflowers had an amazing depth of color to play with.   This is one of the paintings that will be featured in my upcoming show at Art Brokers in Sausalito.   I will post additional images from the show in upcoming days.

I’ve wondered why I rarely paint seascapes since I’ve lived on the Pacific coast for the past 7 years.   I think I should make that be one of my challenges…