Portrait, Rebellion, and Colonial Heights beginning

Self Portrait

Bjork Rebellion

SE 7th Galloshes (in progress)

Stop Sign, earliest state

I decided to paint a self portrait to mark my birthday. I’ve been a steady studio painter lately, so painting from life was a good break. I’ve always enjoyed finding unexpected colors and defining contours in different ways. Plus, I have a great striped shirt and new bright blond hair. Next, Bjork Rebellion is based on a road trip photo, painted with memories of my children rebelling to my Bjork selection – and my desire to have a rebellion of my own. And, really, with all the damn politics & general feeling of everything going crazy – I suppose it could be read in many ways. I didn’t plan for the tracks to be red. But, after it was far along I intuitively wanted to paint red on it. I began with red splotches (think shot gun blasts) – but I painted over those a few days later. Then I swooped some red on the road – liked it – and later painted nice straight tracks. I’m especially happy with the sky – hard to see in the image, but the yellow really glows.

Last is the beginning of two new SE Portland painting. I was pleasantly surprised how happy I was to be painting a Portland street again, one with poles, cars, headlights, and soon powerlines. This is from a photo I took during absolutely pouring rain. There is a second I have also begun – on the same 18″x 30″ size, Stop Sign. This is an example of the way I sketch out the paintings directly on the panel with thin paint. This is a a street a block from my house – and the light is just gorgeous in the photo (think evening light, much in shadow while the rest glows with the light of a low, orangey sun).

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