Ethereal 6

Oil on board, 6" x 6"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
Email don@dailyartwest.com for purchase

Lazy Summer

Oil on board, 6" x 6"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
SOLD


Do you ever look at animals (other than the human kind, I mean) and wish you could live your life as much "in the moment" as they appear? This young gelding is not worrying about what trials tomorrow may bring, or brooding over past regrets. He could not be more at ease, contentedly grazing on a warm summer day.

Ethereal 5

Oil on board, 6" x 6"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
Email don@dailyartwest.com for purchase


I've taken to studying clouds lately, and it has taken me back...back to youthful hours spent lying on the grasses of endless summer, watching with wordless fascination as majestic thunderheads materialized out of the clear blue and rose languidly upward. Those vast, billowy columns were the very stuff of dreams.

Ethereal 4

Oil on board, 5" x 7"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
Email don@dailyartwest.com for purchase

Coffee Pot and Peppers

Oil on board, 6" x 6"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
SOLD


I have leftover fruits and veggies that were used as still-life objects for the workshop. They'll never get eaten in time, so thought I'd better get to painting them. We've had this beautiful old enameled coffee pot for many years.

Sunlit Stream

Watercolor on archival rag paper, 14" x 10"
$550 plus $8 shipping in U.S.
Email don@dailyartwest.com for purchase


This painting was done as a demo in the watercolor workshop I taught over the weekend. I think the workshop went well--hope everyone felt they got something from it. They were a good group, hard-working but fun-loving too. I meant to get pictures but was just too busy.

Ethereal 3

Oil on board, 6" x 6"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
SOLD

A wonderful day of sun and shadow, with backlit clouds in a slow dance across the sky.

This will likely be the last post for a few days, as I begin a three-day watercolor workshop tomorrow.

Ethereal 2

Oil on board, 5" x 7"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
SOLD


The changeable weather this August has ranged from sweltering hot to cool and rainy, filling the skies with billowing clouds.

Ethereal 1

Oil on board, 6" x 6"

$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.

Email don@dailyartwest.com for purchase

Cup O' Cherries

Oil on board, 6" x 6"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
SOLD


We went to the Cove Cherry Festival Saturday--small town fun in a park-like setting. There were booths full of handcrafted arts, homemade baked goods and tickets for quilt raffles and barbecues. Local musicians fingered guitars on the open-mic stage while kids clambered onto the miniature train for a spin around the grounds.

Our chief goal was to get some fresh cherries, and we bought these large deep-purple beauties fresh from the local orchards. It doesn't get any better than that.

Watercolor Workshop

Shore of Stones

Watercolor on archival rag paper, 19 1/2" x 15"
Private collection


For anyone who might be interested, I'll be teaching a watercolor workshop in La Grande, Oregon next week, August 21-23. It begins on Friday evening. I'm sorry for the short notice, summer has just slipped away from me.

If you're interested in attending, call Bob Jensen at 541-963-5351, or email him at artsea@verizon.net for information and registration.

Bowl O' Melon

Oil on board, 7 3/4" x 7 3/4"
$200 plus $8 shipping in U.S.
SOLD


A bit larger painting today. I've got watermelon juice on the front of my shirt.

Cherries in a Blue Bowl

Oil on board, 6" x 6"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
SOLD

There's something so satisfying about painting reflective objects. You have to "pay your dues" by doing all the groundwork, laying in all the undertones, colors and values; like building a foundation for a house. Then at the very last you bang in the crisp highlights and, with a little luck, it sings.

Life is just...

Oil on board, 6" x 6"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
SOLD


OOPS! I obviously wasn't thinking when, after posting pictures of us teetering high up on scaffold while installing the mural, I titled the next post "Fell Off." Several on my email list wrote to tell me how alarmed they were to see that title in their inbox. Sorry for the scare, but thanks for your concern.

Come to think of it, maybe the title wasn't so inadvertent after all. Could that lone cherry on the table be a subconscious reflection of my fear of falling? Could the painting be a way of facing my fears? Could I be over-analyzing things again?

Fell Off

Oil on board, 6" x 6"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
SOLD

Installing the Mural

The mural is on the Convention Center wall, much to my relief! Click these photos to enlarge.

The first (and most difficult) step was to attach a grid structure of 1 x 4 strips to the concrete wall. It involved drilling a lot of holes into hard cement. The structure had to be very square and precise, so the panels would fit accurately. Here we are putting the first panel in place:


Photo: Dan Mitzimberg

Jim would balance the panels on the railing of the Genie Lift and carefully raise them up. We padded the railing with towels to protect the edges of the panels:


Photo: Dan Mitzimberg

When the panels were in place I attached them with screws to the supporting framework:


Photo: Dan Mitzimberg

The mural was "framed" with painted 1 x 2 strips, and the screw heads touched up with paint, to complete the job. I couldn't have done it without Dan (left) and Jim, faithful employees of the Center. Thanks, fellows!







Spring Pastures

Oil on board, approx. 8 x 16 feet
Pendleton Convention Center, Pendleton OR.

Head of the Lake

Oil on board, 6" x 6"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
SOLD


The Wallowa River begins as snowmelt in the rugged Eagle Cap Wilderness of northeast Oregon. The icy stream feeds the deep, pristine waters of Wallowa Lake, carved out by a glacier eons ago.

Upslope

Oil on board, 7" x 5"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
Email don@dailyartwest.com for purchase


The mural is installed (whew!) I'll post some photos of it on the blog soon.

After the Storm

Watercolor on archival rag paper, 5" x 7"

$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.

SOLD


As the rain showers moved away, the clearing skies put on a beautiful show of sunlight and shadow.

Rain Clouds

Watercolor on archival rag paper, 5" x 7"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
Email don@dailyartwest.com for purchase


This started as an exercise in wishful thinking.

It was yet another rapidly warming cloudless morning when I completed this painting today, heat waves already rippling off the sidewalk below the studio. But by afternoon dark clouds had rolled in, scattering jagged lightning and sudden, drenching showers across the valley.

I guess I didn't realize the power of wishful thinking.

The Galvanized Blues

Watercolor on archival rag paper, 5" x 7"

$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.

Email don@dailyartwest.com for purchase


The support framework for the mural is up on the wall. I'll return later this week to complete securing it and install the mural panels. I'll try to get some photos of the process to post here.

Temperatures here remain hot--high nineties to triple digits. The air conditioning went out on my truck, so our trip to Portland to visit family over the weekend was more than a little on the sweltering side. I did score a great high-velocity fan for the studio, though. It really moves the air, but it's noisy...when that thing is revved up it feels like you're on a World War II bombing run!