More Painting Oddments

I seem to have collected a number of paintings that don't hang together. In fact, they aren't hanging at all -- they are stacked around the walls of the studio, waiting to be dry enough to handle more paint and/or be declared good enough to put away. (The other alternative is that they find their way onto the pile of boards and canvases to be whited out and recycled, but we aren't there yet).

Gresham Pioneer Cemetery, Pleine Aire, Oil on Board, 12 x 16.

On a sunny Sunday, we went back to Gresham Main Park (located off Main Street) where Johnson Creek and the Springwater Corridor are part of the scene. Along one edge of Johnson Creek, just beyond the Park, is the Pioneer Cemetery. I painted this while basking in the spring warmth under an evergreen. On the other side of the Creek, I could hear the thwack of baseballs and the yells of fams in the Park across the way.  I was trying to play with some ideas about light and paint as well to get the scene blocked in. So this painting is sitting against a near wall in the studio, waiting for further work.

Trestle at Powell Butte, pleine aire, oil on board, 12 x 16"

This trestle bridge over Johnson Creek is next to a farm (which is out of the frame on the left) harboring loud peacocks, roosters, hens, and other noisy animals. Three deer meandered through the field just to the right of the painting, disappeared, and then reappeared about 10 feet behind my easel. I don't know who was more surprised, the deer or myself.

The Springwater Corridor trail uses the old railroad line, although the bridge itself had been damaged by floods and so is currently closed. Bicyclists and hikers take a detour down a narrow country road, across a roaring main connector, and back to the seemingly rural trail.

The painting is almost finished, and once again, I was charmed by the evidence of human activity (the flowering quince was in a slightly boggy meadow) against highly urban and amazingly rural forest and farmland. Powell Butte is worth revisiting.

Beggar's Tick (the painting). Oil on canvas, 30 x 40"

We have  shown lots of photos of Beggar's Tick, so it's time to show a painted version. This painting has gone through visions and revisions (which a moment will revise.) It is not yet finished. At this point I'm not sure it will be finished. But since I have to finish it before I can put it away, I may get tired of stumbling over it and work on it just so I can shelve it. Such are the ways I can fool myself into doing more than I want to. --June

Comments

[Artist Anika]

You are a wonderful artist. I particularly like the Beggars Tick. Beautifully done and the colors are great.