It was a hot September day in Hillsboro, when I gathered with other artists for the Plein Air Quick Draw at Rood Bridge Park. The young man and woman seemed relaxed in the sunshine, and whether or not he was actually playing his guitar, there was music in the air.
"Summer Song", oil, 11" x 14", painted alla prima, back from the exhibit at Walters Cultural Arts Center.
Halloween is over, Thanksgiving approaching, the moldy carved pumpkins are gone but not all the small pumpkins, squash from the garden and visits to Sauvie Island Farm, and fall colors. It has been too cold to go out except for quick trips to gather fallen branches, so I must paint inside. In the summer, flowers wilt and fruit gets eaten before I get around to painting them, so now is the perfect time to paint a still life. This Still Life with Squash and Apples (and a pear and pomegranate, basket with dried flowers) is 11" x 14".
On the way home through the mountains near Sisters last summer, we stopped to walk through an area of forest where the pine trees were completely bare. They looked like bleached driftwood standing among
bright grasses and other distant living trees on a sunny day. We learned that bark beetles had eaten the bark, which kills the trees as they stand and also makes them more vulnerable to fire. But the trees seemed beautiful to me, like deciduous trees in winter. At first I painted the scene in all grays, thinking it a suitable subject for the Gamblin Paints Torrit gray competition. But all in gray, it just looked dreary. It needed the addition of color to contrast with the pale gray trees. "Forest Bones" is 11" x 14"
Kat Sowa's Studio 30 at Cathedral Park started up again on October 31, and it was a treat for me! Perhaps being influenced by Halloween, the portrait of Bronwyn, or Bronnie, came out "witchy". In the last half hour, I dashed off a second 11 x 14 painting that included more of her body, costume, and elegant hands. The cat appeared later.
