Adding Levity appears in a Painting

Adding Levity (Hawthorne)

Last year I had a print titled ‘Adding Levity’. The same levity mark appeared in this painting toward the end, so I ran with it, and laughed realizing that those heavy red counterweights ‘add levity’. Levity can mean frivolity, but it can also mean adding buoyancy – and the latter is what I am thinking.

This view of the Hawthorne caught my eye and on an early, rainy morning I visited with an umbrella and camera. I began the painting maybe 2 weeks ago, scrambled to get ready for Portland Open Studios, worked on it a bit over the first Open Studios weekend, then dove back in yesterday. Realizing how important it is to have a studio – and how much I miss it when I’m not there (like today).

Found that I greatly enjoyed working with oils on this one – and working them until the paint was thick enough to write into.