This is a series of 8x8" panels for Portland's Big 500. I've done these in acrylic. I'm anxious to recreate these characters in large format - maybe 4x6'. I feel the need to do something large. I think restricting myself to this really small format showed me how much I really like to physically dance with the surface - a little tough with an 8" panel.
Past, Present or Future?
What's the difference between memories and ideas? Both are totally imaginary. One is a series of impressions about an event that we think has happened before. The other is a series of impressions of something that we think has not happened yet. The further into the past or ruture you try to see, the fuzzier the thought becomes.
"Mask of Memory" is a mixed media sculpture that evolved from a series of sketches. I created a form of a face, then created three different masks from that form. With some additional modifications, I assembled the three together and painted with a variety of pigments and polymer finishes to get an iridescent effect.
Exploring Personal Mythology Through Sketches and Sculpture
There is a process for creating 3-dimensionl art. I don't always follow it. Or, more accurately, the process changes with each piece, depending on how the idea evolves. "Birdman" is a working title because I do not yet know what the final form of this work will be. I have several ideas, but I'm keeping my options open.
These images document the evolution of the project so far. It is an ongoing exploration of the symbols from my personal mythology. What exists in the mind’s eye will be realized in the physical world.
The Persistence of Rivers
Rivers and river canyons have been a recurring theme through my 40 years of painting and sculpture. It started while driving the Kancamagus Highway along the Swift River in New Hampshire. One sketch led to another.
The twisting, converging tributaries recur throughout nature: tree structures, root systems, arteries, appendages and antlers.
River sketch 1977
Canyon Layers, ceramic 1984
Fragile Surface, reductive 5-color block print 1985
River sketch, 1975
Rivers are a primal configuration symbolizing connectivity and confluence. To explore a river is to follow each tributary to its source, then find your way back to the main river channel.
I’ve never followed a duplicate tributary. Each is unique. The exploration, like jazz, is a journey to the origin of the passage and then to abstraction before returning to the central theme. At the source, you understand another perspective, a new insight of the passage.
River canyons carve passages through time. It is such and fundamental theme from which to tell a story – once upon a time....
Canyon in Three Parts, plaster 1986
Canyon in Three parts (detail)
Man Turning into Sky
See a video of the finished sculpture.
This piece is still in progress. It started a few weeks ago as a quick graphite and watercolor sketch. I know instantly it would have to become three dimensional. I've been exploring sculpture for several months. This in not new territory. In the early 1980s I did a number of dioramas and free-standing sculptures. I always found it far more engaging to work with images in real space.
After the first sketch came a series of variations in graphite. Once I committed to creating the sculpture, I also decided to take my time and enjoy the process. The sculpture was build from left to right. The base rock was cut from layers of plywood. Next was a brass rod structure to provide a rigid armature for the body. The skeletal structure was added as a construction of wire and rigid cardboard to establish proportions. That was bent and twisted countless times as the two dimensional sketch began to find its spacial form.
The head, chest, pelvis, arm, wing, and legs each move on a different axis. As the body was formed from corrugated cardboard, the final pose took shape. At this point, I was still building left to right. The leg positions were still being changed every time I looked at it. The sculpture did not stand up until the legs were in place. The balance was finally established
Once the legs were finalized, I had to solve the cloud problem. I did not know what material I would use or how I would make it stable enough to last. Experiments with assorted fabrics and media resulted in a cloud-like look that is very rigid.
Creating the surface and attaching the clouds are the final steps. As this reaches completion, I now have a model for additional watercolors.
This piece and its component stages will all be on display for the Portland Open Studios Tour on October 10, 11, 18 and 18.
Visit my studio during those days to see this and other characters in development.
Portland Open Studios Tour 2015
Stepping into a Void - Mixed media
I have been included in the Portland Open Studios Tour 2015 - my second year on the tour. This year, I'll be displaying my newest venture into sculpture. After months of painting characters who are all part of the narrative that is in my head, I decided to create some of these characters in three dimension.
Please visit my studio October 10,11,17 or 18 to see what's been going on.
Guidebooks available!
Email me to reserve a copy of the 2015 Tour Guide - $15 for a complete list of all 106 artists. Also available at New Seasons Markets.
The Echo of Time
This short video is an animated series of images from a storyboard currently in progress. When complete, it will include 50 to 75 paintings. In my imagination, there is a storyline that connects the characters and situations. Your results may vary. Here, the story is edited into a linear path. On the wall in my studio, alternate paths can be easily discovered.
Water changes everything
It’s ironic that we refer to scenic paintings as landscapes. While the land may be our focus, it is water that defines the land. Rivers, glaciers and tides are the sculptors that shape rocks and carve canyons. Water respects no boundaries or geographic borders. It belongs to no one, but nourishes everyone. Water is the essence of life, the agent of change and the most valuable element of the garden in which we live.
My paintings focus on water – its presence and its power. I hike and paint the wilderness areas of the Pacific Northwest looking for vistas and atmospheric conditions most people will never see. Painting on location is the best way to capture the light, weather and energy. Some of my paintings are finished on location. Others are taken back to my studio where I may study them for days or weeks before finishing. Location paintings also serve as references for larger, more formal watercolors.
My larger goal is to paint all the major tributaries within the Columbia River system. This 260,000 square mile region, roughly the size of France, drains portions of 7 states including the western slopes of Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. The variety of terrain and vegetation within the region spans alpine to coastal regions, cutting through high deserts and deep canyons along the river’s path.
Water flows through the landscape, through my imagination and through my paintings. Preservation of water quality and the pristine environments of our wilderness areas are a critical step in sustaining life. Each of my paintings is an individual step toward that goal.
Intersections, Collisions, Coincidences, Fate, etc.
When I lived in San Anselmo, California, in the late 70s, I became good friends with Rick Wheeler, a fellow painter. We showed together at a suspicious gallery appropriately named, "The Guilty Bystander." That's another story. At some point, we designed a set together for a modern dance performance. We also had a show at the "Blue Sky Gallery" in Ashland, Oregon in 1981. During the few years in California, we had many interesting conversations about art, physics, travel. I lost the connection with him after he helped me move to Oregon in 1981.
Yesterday, I thought about the Blue Sky Gallery. Following whatever instinct kicks in when the latte hits the brain, I searched for and located Rick. And, coincidentally, we have already arranged to meet up again when I'm in Arizona in a few weeks. This road trip was already planned a month or two ago will include Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon. I am very much looking forward to sharing perspectives again with a painter whose vision was always so unique.
I first started painting watercolor on my last trip through the Four Corners - 1980. I am posting a few of these as I look at them again myself. And I'm wondering how time and space has altered my vision and my ability to render it. Or better yet, how to speak through the visual language of pigments, water and paper to express the heartbeat of the earth.
The Art of Dreaming
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Echoes from a Dream --
Dreaming is a great source for impossible ideas. An interesting thing happens when you permit an obvious impossibility to exist in your active imagination without judgement. Instead of dismissing it for being illogical, let it linger. The longer you permit this to exist, the more you begin to understand it. And, sometimes, you realize it's not impossible after all. It's just not what you expect or accept as reality.
I've been exploring a series of ideas - illogical, impossible, unreal, other worldly, not ordinary ideas. The project began as a storyboard. I wanted to create a series of watercolors all centered around a central narrative. It began months ago with the understanding that this could take months or years to complete. So far, I've painted a half dozen character studies. I carry on conversations with these characters. I try to understand who they are. Where they've come from. What they need. What archetype they represent. Who they want to become. Then I try to paint them into a scene for the storyboard.
I'm in no hurry. It's an interesting journey that has brought me to a higher awareness and appreciation of my dreams. The characters appear nightly to audition for a part in my grand plot.
At some point, hopefully before the Open Studios Tour next month, I will take a few characters and scenes I've created and assemble them into a short animation. Experiments to date have altered my perception of how this story is going to unfold.
It's a journey. I don't know where it will end. But, I'm enjoying the impossibilities. I don't always understand what I'm painting. I have an idea. The paint and paper each seem to have their own ideas. The characters have ideas. Somewhere along the way is a negotiated outcome. Sometimes, it's controlled my me. Sometimes, I simply follow and respond. And a few hours later, the painting seems to have finished itself with me acting as a witness more than a creator.