Crazy Weather!

The weather in the pacific northwest can be crazy in April! It can be nice and sunny one minute and then suddenly the skies are dark and stormy. This is how it was one day when I was driving out in north Clark County. The clouds were gloriously striking! I don't know why but I really love looking at thunderheads. They are fun to paint also! I used mostly wet into wet watercolor and dabbed some areas with a tissue to get some harder edges in spots. I added white gouache to the darker blues while they were still wet to form some softer clouds. I also saw a flock of geese flying at the time so added them to the painting as well. The fun part of being an artist is the freedom to create the scene you want. I have no shortage of inspiration here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest! Happy painting!

The preview reception for the first Clark County Open Studios was a GREAT success! Thank you to everyone who came and viewed the art works of 50 fabulous artists! We had a great turnout Friday night and a steady stream of visitors Sunday. Next weekend, November 9th and 10th we will have the actual studio tour. If you didn't get a chance to pick up a guide yet, go to www.ccopenstudios.org to pick one up. Also each artist on the tour will have some guides on hand. To give you a preview of the beauty in north Clark County this time of year I have painted this recent watercolor. I was driving to the Cedar Creek Grist Mill last week and the fog was just lifting and the sun came out and everything just glowed! I didn't have my camera with me but I painted this scene when I got back to my studio. Hope you all can make it up to north Clark county this weekend and visit some fabulous studios!  

Harvest Moon

"Art has many avenues; love is carried through many vessels. Your oceans are your colors, your ship is your brush and your treasures are in your heart." - Moncy Barbour

One night last fall I saw this beautiful moon coming up amid the woods on our property. The moon was huge and glowing and the light it cast was beautifully amplified by misty clouds surrounding it. Here is the watercolor painting I did later of this scene. When I look at the painting I can still hear the tree frogs singing in the background and the occasional hoot of an owl. A beautiful scene indeed.  SOLD

Moon Glow

I painted this about a month ago. It has a surreal look to it and is quite different from some of my other works. I focused on using cool, winter colors and love the feel of a cold winters night. After seeing some pictures of the recent lunar eclipse I'm thinking of doing a landscape with a moon during an eclipse. Now that would be exciting!

This painting is on display at Avalon Art Gallery in Battle Ground and looks even better in person. Next month I will feature another winter scene on this blog and I am curretly working on several new paintings for spring (which is always a great way to spend the rainy, dreary days of the Northwest!) SOLD

Here's another painting done this summer with the "Plein Air" painting group. These nasturtiums were growing in the gardens at McMenimans Edgefield in Troutdale, Oregon. There were lots of interesting things to sketch, paint or take pictures of there. I enjoyed the quirky buildings and the many gardens and views on the property. This is just a small part of it, but I thought they were so beautiful!

It's just a short (2 hours?) drive to the coast from here and Cannon Beach in Oregon is one of our favorite places. Since I have been learning the art of "plein air" painting, I couldn't resist doing a painting right there on the beach. I love the freshness and the way it captures a warm sunny day at the beach! I'm really enjoying this plein air painting!

SOLD

more plein air paintings

I went back to the Columbia River gorge with my artist friends to paint Wakheena Falls. The falls itself is very long (240 feet) and beautiful. I chose to focus on the pool of water and rocks at the bottom of the falls for this painting. To add to the fun, I painted it on Yupo paper!

plein air paintings

I went on a painting trip with a group of artists to Bridal Veil Falls in the Columbia Gorge yesterday. The scenery was beautiful and our group of artists created such gorgeous paintings and/or sketches of the area. I did two quick, small paintings there and just loved painting outdoors on site! It is so different from working with photos, I so enjoyed it! We didn't make it to the falls so I want to go back and paint that too! SOLD

I did this quick painting of lilacs after a tour of the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens in Woodland, WA. There were so many wonderful varieties, some in colors I had never seen in lilacs before. I kept the image simple, relying mainly on the lighting, colors and textures to convey the feeling of seeing the lilacs on a bright, spring day. My scanner wasn't big enough to scan the whole painting so part of it was cut off!

Lilacs, 10x11 watercolor on Arches paper  SOLD