Padlock and Blow Dryer

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


One of my personal favorites from the "Odd Couple" series.

In case you need to dry your locks.

Spring Runoff

Oil on board, 6" x 6"
Unframed: $125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
In handmade frame: $180 plus $12 shipping in U.S.
Email don@dailyartwest.com for purchase

Ok, I admit it, getting ready for my "Heaven and Earth" show has kept me from doing the dailies lately, so I'm re-posting an earlier work today.

Posting daily paintings is a little like publishing a newspaper. You read the paper the day it comes out, then likely toss it in a box on top of the old news of the day before. Daily painting posts suffer a similar fate--a short time in the limelight before being relegated to the archives (I think they call it "the morgue" in the news trade.) Most folks are no more likely to comb through a blog's archives than they are to dig down in that box of papers for reading material.

But art isn't just the day's news, right? So once in awhile I think its good to give a painting a fresh chance to shine. I sat beside a purling little stream in 2008 to paint this. When I look at it again, the day comes back in sharp focus; it was early spring with a bit of a chill in the air, even with the sun shining. The water had that beautiful milky blue-green color you only get from melting snow. This work was featured that May in a nice review in Charlie Parker's Lines and Colors blog.

I'm offering this piece float-mounted in one of the custom frames I make, or unframed, if you prefer.

Click the above image to view the postcard for my exhibit at Whitman College, in Walla Walla, Washington. If you're in the region, I hope you'll come to the reception and say hello. If you're not in the area, just jump in your Lear Jet and come anyway.

The dailies have taken a back seat lately to my show preparations. I have to deliver the work next Tuesday...it's almost panic time!

Heaven and Earth #1, #2, #3, #4

Charcoal on paper, each approx. 48" x 31," framed

$1600 apiece, or $6200 for set of four, plus shipping

Email don@dailyartwest.com for purchase

I've been madly painting as well as preparing and framing pieces for my upcoming show at Whitman College. I'll post the invite to it in the next few days.

This series of charcoal drawings were float-mounted and framed under plexiglas with a very thin-line frosted metal frame, 1 1/2" deep. They look just as I had hoped, with the framing being very subtle and minimal. This is just a studio snapshot, so apologies for the reflections. You can see better images of the drawings on my original post of January 6th.

Here's a video I made that includes some of the original source material that was the inspiration for the Heaven and Earth series. The soundtrack is from "Coalescence," by Jim Cole and Spectral voices--amazing harmonic vocalizations recorded inside an empty water tower.

Square Log

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


This old log shed is the only building left standing at an early homestead out Starkey way. I'm not sure what it was originally used for. With that wide door maybe it was a blacksmith shop, or a garage for a buggy. Any ideas?

Travelogue

Oil on canvas, 79" x 79"
Price on request, email don@dailyartwest.com


Travelogue (April 14th post) has undergone yet another transformation. I'm still not sure I'm finished with it or, more aptly, whether it's finished with me. I started back into it with the idea of lightening it up some. Instead, the painting seemed to insist on growing even darker and more turbulent. Still, though it's not what I expected, there's a kind of energy that I think I like. This kind of open-ended process is a journey in which I'm always more a passenger than a driver.

Computer screens are such levelers. This painting looks like it could be one of my little six inch square dailies, instead of well over six feet. Click the image to get at least a slightly better idea of scale.

Barnyard

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

Wooden Gate

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


Late afternoon sun brings out the rich colors of spring.

On the May 13th post I mentioned Arts East's search for an executive director. I was told the web server went down for a couple of days just after information about the job opening was posted. It's back up now, so if you're interested in applying for the position, details are at http://www.artseast.org/.

Untitled (work in progress)

Oil on board, 23" x 23"


Work continues on new pieces in the stone series, as well as preparing completed works for display. This painting may or may not end up incorporated with other panels. There will be a large show of the series at Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA, opening in early June. I'll keep you updated.

Bone 1

Oil on board, 4 1/4" x 10"
$135 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
Email don@dailyartwest.com for purchase


Took a walk with Winslow the other day and came across the well-weathered bones of a cow--a not uncommon discovery in this cattle ranching country. It may seem morbid to some but I find incredible beauty in their forms.

Afternoon in Spring

Oil on board, 5" x 7"

$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.

Email don@dailyartwest.com for purchase

It was a gorgeous spring day today. This is a view across the farm fields toward Mt. Harris, named after the early pioneer Harris family who settled under the mountain in the 1860's. I'm related to them, somehow, on my mother's side. You didn't know I was such an eastern Oregon blueblood, did you?

Speaking of eastern Oregon: I'm on the board of Arts East, our regional arts council, and we're searching for a new executive director. If you or anyone you know might be interested, you can find details at http://www.artseast.org/.

Overflow

Oil on board, 6" x 6"
SOLD

Another painting from the same region near the creek. Suddenly the green is everywhere. I love how spring always manages to sneak up and surprise us, even when we're anxiously awaiting it.

Marshy Meadow

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

Every spring, overflow water collects in the lowlands near Catherine Creek.

A Night of Snow in the Mountains

Oil on canvas, approx. 32" x 72"
Private Collection


Stepping back into my personal art history again, here's another painting in the broken vessel series. This one directly followed "Lapis Lazuli" (May 1 post,) so would have been painted around 1987. I was growing increasingly interested in repeated forms, which I thought of as stand-ins for different states of being, or as markers of passing time.

To place these vessel paintings in better context, I really should go still further back, to this painting:




Things That Are Blue

Oil on canvas, approx. 30" x 44"
Private Collection


In 1984, feeling dissatisfied with lack of progress in my work, I painted this still life. It was begun as a deliberate attempt to do something a bit out of my comfort zone. Having never really painted artificially staged setups before, I thought it might help me get out of my rut. Draping a sheet over a shelf, I plopped these objects down. It felt important they not be arranged "artistically." I vowed that for four months I would do nothing but paint still lifes, no matter how boring it got.

I worked on this piece for several weeks that summer. Every day got more interesting. The white cloth fascinated me, its wrinkled void felt somehow mystical. The "dumb" alignment of these simple articles conveyed an inexplicable power. This was the only painting done that year that held my attention.

Work after work followed, each one growing less literally realistic as the still lifes helped to unfold my creative imagination. Objects left the tabletop and moved into new (for me) kinds of invented space. What I thought might be a boring four months stretched into years, then decades of excited discovery. Even the stone series I'm working on today carries the imprint of these early paintings.

Spare Wire

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

More fencing with personality--these posts have been braced to keep them from falling over. The extra loop of barbed wire was probably tossed over the post to keep a horse or cow from getting tangled in it.

The show reception was well attended and several paintings sold, so I'm very pleased. Old friends I hadn't seen in years dropped by, and it was fun to re-connect.

Framing (Arggh!) and a Show

When will I ever learn? Hours and hours have been spent framing paintings for an upcoming show. I undertake framing because, well...I'm cheap! I always underestimate the time it takes. These frames are made from scratch, starting from 1 x 2 lumber. Simple frames, right? Shouldn't take long, right? Wrong!

On the plus side, I really like their clean, contemporary look, with the images "floated" on background panels. The top one is a stretched canvas, floated with a recessed space around the edge, painted black. In the lower image, the canvas panel is attached to the background board with velcro strips. The painting is picking up a lot of glare in the photo, but the frame shows pretty well.

Now, the show: I'll be exhibiting some recent realist paintings at Banner Bank, in La Grande, Oregon. The show's only going to be up for a couple of days. The reception is this Tuesday, May 4th, 4:30 to 7:30 PM. If you're in the area, please come. I'll be there. (That may not be enough of a draw--did I mention they're also serving wine and cheese?)

Lapis Lazuli

Oil on canvas, each panel approx. 40" x 40"

Collection Eastern Oregon University

Click image to enlarge

Here's another piece, dating from about 1986 or '87, that explored my obsession with the broken pot. If I remember correctly, I had a dream--or at least a vision--of this vessel growing up from the earth in the fields behind our home at night. I was also obsessed with a particular shade of blue that seemed to emanate from the snowfields under moonlight.