Wildflower Meadow - SOLD

Wildflower Meadow

acrylic on canvas

24"x18"

SOLD

This was a really fun painting to do. I didn't do any detailed brushwork and really thickened the paint up with some acrylic gels.

My acrylic brand of choice (Winsor & Newton) has apparently been discontinued by my closest art supply store, and the other nearby stores don't sell it. I think I might have to start ordering paint in bulk anyway, since I go through a ton of it for these impasto paintings. I use almost an entire container of acrylic gel medium for each piece.

Flowers...are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson, from "Gifts"

Dawn - SOLD

Dawn

28"x22"

acrylic on canvas

SOLD

Please pardon the light reflections in this picture...a better photo is forthcoming.

I've never been a morning person, but I've always wished I was - it's such a peaceful, beautiful time of day. I guess I just don't have Thoreau's same determination prior to sunrise, and I can't quite make myself enjoy an early morning as much as he did: "Every morning was a cheerful invitation to make my life of equal simplicity, and I may say innocence, with Nature herself. I have been as sincere a worshipper of Aurora [Dawn] as the Greeks. I got up early and bathed in the pond; that was a religious exercise, and one of the best things which I did. They say that characters were engraven on the bathing tub of King Tching-thang to this effect: 'Renew thyself completely each day; do it again, and again, and forever again.' I can understand that. Morning brings back the heroic ages."

For me, morning tends to mostly inspire a severe desperation for caffeine.

"And now Aurora was

leaving the saffron bed of Tithonus,

beginning to shower upon earth

the light of another day."

-Virgil, from Book IV of the Aeneid

Take Me Home

Take Me Home

24"x30"

acrylic on canvas

Available for purchase at Revolution Gallery, Issaquah, WA

This painting depicts a field after harvest. I used a brush to soften up the grass around the road but left the clouds looking chunky.

I find that particular music puts me in the painting zone, so when I was feeling uninspired after beginning this piece, I put on an old standby that helped to urge me forward...Phil Collins, for some odd reason, inspires painting in me. I have no idea why. That should help explain where this painting's title comes from, anyway.

A SONG of the grass and fields!A song of the soil, and the good green grass!A song no more of the city streets;A song of the soil of the fields.A song with the smell of sun-dried hay, where the nimble pitchers handle the pitch-fork;A song tasting of new wheat, and of fresh-husk'd maize.-Walt Whitman, from "A Carol of Harvest"

Frozen Field

Frozen Field

18"x24"

acrylic on canvas

$170 + $28 shipping (contact)

I hope that everyone has been having a great holiday season. I can't believe it's 2010 already...has anybody officially declared what we will call this decade? (i.e., the 10s? The 20-10s?)

David and I went shopping for Christmas records a few weeks ago, and although I was sad to find no fun 45s, we did come across a Bing Crosby LP, as well as a pretty amazing nugget: John Denver's Rocky Mountain Christmas, featuring a particularly curious track entitled "Please, Daddy (Don't Get Drunk This Christmas)." It doesn't quite fit in with "Silver Bells," and I'm not quite sure what inspired John to add this track to a list of otherwise soothing Christmas/wintry melodies. It's one of those songs that has strikingly depressing lyrics paired with an upbeat melody.

Announced by all the trumpets of the sky,
Arrives the snow, and, driving o'er the fields,
Seems nowhere to alight: the whited air
Hides hill and woods, the river, and the heaven,
And veils the farmhouse at the garden's end.
The sled and traveller stopped, the courier's feet
Delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sit
Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed
In a tumultuous privacy of storm.
Come see the north wind's masonry.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson, from "The Snow-Storm"

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Proctor Art Gallery!

I'm super excited to be joining the amazing group of artists who are represented at the Proctor Art Gallery in Tacoma, WA! This is my first experience with a gallery, and I'm thrilled to have been given this opportunity.

The Proctor Art Gallery is a really warm, inviting, and comfortable space - it's not one of those stark white, cold galleries. The artists at the PAG are all incredibly talented and kind people, and their work covers the full spectrum of art media - glass artwork, jewelry, pottery, paintings of all kinds, etc. I'm truly honored to be joining them!

I'll be hanging my paintings in the gallery on January 5 - it's a great way to start the new year. If you're in the area, I hope you can stop by and visit! :)

Here's an article from January 2009 about the opening of the gallery: Tacoma News Tribune

Proctor Art Gallery

3811 N. 26th St.

Tacoma, WA

(253) 759-4238 98407

[web site]

Into the White - SOLD

Into the White
18"x24"

acrylic on canvas

SOLD

My computer is alive again!

For this buffalo painting, I combined my paint with a molding paste instead of acrylic gel - the molding paste has a bit of a fluffier texture to it, which I thought would lend itself well to this snowy scene. I used a toothbrush and palette knives to flick snowflakes onto the canvas (at least half of the paint flicked backwards onto me). It's a rather stark painting, but I like the image of a lone bison trudging through a blizzard. I've often felt like I've been in this same situation...simply putting one foot in front of the other on a journey into the white void, where no outcome seems certain...but still, we persevere.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting--

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.

-Mary Oliver, from "Wild Geese"

Show in Tacoma, WA

I'm excited to be hanging my art at the Northern Pacific Coffee Company in Tacoma, WA starting on November 30! The NPCC is a great venue with wine, beer, super tasty food, open-mic nights, regular live music, books, etc...sort of a one-stop-shop for the art-inclined crowd. David and Dan in Blackbird Pie have played a number of shows there.

Northern Pacific Coffee Company

401 Garfield St. S.
Tacoma, WA 98444

(253) 537-8338

myspace

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In other news, my computer has been on the fritz lately, making updates sporadic (particularly on my web site). Hopefully the situation will be rectified soon...I wonder if my iTunes music collection may have finally taken a toll on my computer's 8-year-old hard drive (nothing drives me crazier than planned obsolescence!)