Trees, Oregon Coast

Here's a good example of the direction I want to move in my oil painting. I like the expressive lines, pattern and simplification in this drawing. For some reason oil painting still has a "precious" stigma for me and it causes me to try too hard, to be cautious or careful. I think I just need to do a lot of painting.

7 x 9 inches, color pencil on paper.

Lovejoy Window

I've always liked windows and doorways, the portal between the interior and the outside worlds. And I like drawing with pencil. And I like plants. This drawing has all 3 elements! Wow.

8 x 7 inches, pencil on paper.

Pavement, Morning

I like shadows.

5.5 x 6 inches, oil on paper.

1500 SE Hawthorne Blvd.

This was my view looking west towards downtown Portland in 2005. My apartment had the feel of a hamster cage, but it did offer an elevated panorama of the surrounding trees, rooftops, and sky. This study was done in color pencil on a fall evening.

7 x 6 inches, color pencil on archival matboard.

New! Improved!

Now with EVEN MORE.

Tomorrow's my birthday. To mark the occasion I'm going to give this blog a good hard shake. From now on I will post much more frequently, and with much less seriousness. I'm giving myself permission to put up anything I want, whether it's old, new, abstract, cartoonish, or just strange.

I will continue to post the larger landscapes I'm currently working on as I finish them, but in between, there will be other stuff.

Here are a couple fellow travellers on my light-rail commute to work. One guy is just staring out the window, probably wishing he was going anywhere but where he's going.

The other thoughtfully brought his tiny boombox along so we could all enjoy his music.