Painting on the Metolius River last Saturday with the Forest Service and then with our plein air group at
Paulina Creek last Monday. Now I have four wet paintings! I only photographed the last two and they have some work to do before I can call them finished. Those big boulders along the creek are a real challenge.
Gordon and I also brought our paintings into the new gallery, Red Chair Gallery, that is opening First Friday, August 6 on the corner of Bond and Oregon in downtown Bend. It is a cooperative gallery and will offer paintings, pottery, glass, fiber and jewelry. We will be working twice a month. That means we will be even more busy. It's time to get more organized!
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I spent several hours slowly developing this painting. This is different for me because I like to paint quickly. So far I think it's coming along.
I started a new painting this afternoon. Gordon and I hiked to Steelhead Falls on the Crooked River a couple of weeks ago. I've never painted a waterfall before so this is a real challenge. This oil painting will be 16x20 inches and I'm using one of my photos of the site. I've just laid in a very thin "solvent wash" to get the main shapes and values. Tomorrow I'll start with thicker paint. Today was the easy part!
Last Monday our plein air group went painting at Gray Butte, north and east of Bend. It was a gorgeous morning and the wildflowers were outstanding. You can see my "grubby" painting outfit. This was my first time painting without Rachel.
I chose to paint very loosely when on location and did a little touch up work in the studio. I'm pleased with the two paintings. The top painting is 11x14 and the bottom one is 9x12.
It's been two weeks since my last blog - two very busy weeks! First of all just over a week after we returned home from Colorado we had to euthanize our dog, Rachel. She had kidney failure, put up a good fight, but it finally caught up with her. We were so thankful that she didn't really fail until a couple of days after we picked her up from the kennel. She was my painting partner and I really miss her.
We had a great time in Colorado visiting family - even did some plein air painting in Steamboat Springs. The photo on the right is our 14 year old grandson and me painting while the rest of the family hiked. This was his second oil painting. His very first ever was painted the day before at Fish Creek.