Feb 28, 2013

Trees in Progress



I didn't have enough time to keep up with all my art projects so I quit my job and moved to Corvallis. Here are Treescapes 7 and 8. Above from a sketch I made somewhere in the Arboretum...not sure where. Below is a painting I did plein air in Chip Ross Park. They both need a lot of work still. It is interesting to me how much different I paint when I am working form life. I actually like the more whimsical style better but I know I learn important things when I paint outside.


Feb 27, 2013

Lovejoy News: Getting Acquainted with the Northern Flicker







As a kid I thought of Flickers as the other woodpecker, I loved its pots and stripes as much as the red crest of old Pileated. It was a special treat when we saw one in the yard, pecking at the maple so I thought they were rare. As an adult living in Portland I knew Flickers as the flashy bird couple that frequented the parking lots around my building  but I never saw them pecking on trees and forgot they were woodpeckers
One day I saw an orange Flicker in the arboretum and was so curious
I had to look it up in Cornell’s Ornithology Lab on-line.

There I learned that Flickers prefer to hunt for bugs on the ground and are really very common. My two notions of the Flicker finally fused into one coherent reality and the orange Flicker must have been a female basking in the sun.


Feb 19, 2013

Lovejoy News for February 16th




The french pumpkin sliced smoothly open as the sun lit the tiny kitchen.
The deep orange flesh smelled pungently of sunshine, grassy fields and baseball. I could not bring myself to grab a spoon and scoop the seeds for the longest time. It was so orange, so fresh! It had worked so hard spinning light and soil into sustenance!
Eventually clouds creeped over the sky and the squash went in the oven while the camellias along 25th street were already dropping petals on the sidewalk.

Feb 12, 2013

Lovejoy News for February 12th in NW Portland








At five-something this morning somebody chirps diligently outside. I pull the blinds to get acquainted but she startles and leaves. I do not regret seeing the rosy sky behind the black trees before the light gets pale and yellow.
The wind rearranges the the shadows of the shingle oak on the windows molding and a spider builds a web on the other side of the glass. A tea cup rests on the sill in the stately cloak of gravity.

Feb 5, 2013

Lovejoy News for January 20th



The clouds return and the morning is finally light. There are no people on Lovejoy at 7:30 am Sunday but a robin hops across the sidewalk and into the bushes and a few crows fly north along 20th.

On Multnomah Boulevard the cafe is filled with the chatter of humans. One infant squeals and croaks like a tropical bird.

In the afternoon 405 North is lost in the silvery spray of the days rain and the grey overpasses look built to hold up only the heavy clouds so we may slip under the winter while waiting for spring.