Earthen Energy, Ninebark and Red-winged Blackbirds

Earthen Energy - 12" X 12"

Here is another of the paintings that is in my current show at Trails End Gallery. This one developed on a solid chunk of plywood and has the drips on the edges in tact. Normally, I create pieces that are waxed only to the sides for safety reasons (so a chip on the edge won't tear up into the picture) but on this one, the painting was such that it demanded to have the most primitive and powerful feel I could give it and so the wax is built up over the edges as well. This would be a painting that could be hung without a frame or placed in a float frame so edges ,protected by the frame also show as an integral part of the piece. I like this one too - very visceral! Available for sale!

This week at home has been filled with discovering the native plants that I have now blooming in my shrub border. A favorite and very vigorous plant is the Western Ninebark. I planted it in my wild border and it looks quite at home with Red-Twigged Dogwoods, Rhododendrons, Maple trees, Escallonia and ferns. 7-Dee's in Seaside carries a really nice selection of native plants and I have found that in my windy, sometimes salty misty, rather extreme environment on the coast, I sometimes have to resort to the natives to find the plants that are adapted enough to withstand and thrive in the elements. Here is a picture of the Western Ninebark in bloom - tidy white little puffballs at the tips of the branchlets. Another telltale sign is a striped, deep carmel and tan bark seen best in winter that adds a lot of interest to an otherwise stark landscape during that time of year.

Western Ninebark

Also, for those of you with deer problem, I believe the Western Ninebark is somewhat unattractive to deer and in any case is vigorous and fast growing so is a great plant to consider adding if you have the space - allow at least 6-10' spread. I do have mine more tightly packed as I want a very dense look. Mary comes to help me weed every week now during the summer and I enjoy all the shrubbery up close and personal through her eyes.

Red-winged Blackbird

And another great thing has happened out bay side! After I got my pots finished and set on my deck I knew it was time to set out my spring (yes spring really, not summer) feeders for the hummingbirds, and the thistle feeders for the goldfinches to tide them both over until the flowers and seeds they like to feed on become abundant.

As soon as I set them out we were just flocked by those birds getting sustenance. Since this early time is also their nesting time and summer appears to be very late, I like to think my early feeding station helps provide them with what they need to stay strong themselves and also get their nests and fledglings off to a good start.

On our site by Willipa Bay, I tend to taper down my feeding towards the end of summer so the birds won't be tempted to delay their fall migrations and also to keep bears from getting interested in our garden for goodies. This year, I had some left over suet balls from previous seasons in my freezer. They not only contain suet but also mixed seeds including black sunflower seeds, millet as well as peanut butter. I decided to use them up early and see what other birds might be interested and tho it took a few days for the red-winged Blackbirds from the Willipa Bay fringe area to find it, we now have several to many of these birds hitting on the suet balls. It is such a joy to see these birds up close and to hear their song nearby.

Today as I weeded my nearby Dahlia and Gladiola bed and Strawberry patch, it was a joy to see these birds along with the many many barn swallows zipping around. It's hard to feel like you need extra music when there are so many creatures singing around you. I haven't actually seeded up my garden beds this summer. The weather has been so cold and wet and punk here on the coast that I felt there wouldn't be enough heat to get a crop of anything here. However I did decide I'd plant some crops this year in my new service area raised bed which is in a protected location on the south side against the house. If anything actually thrives it will be there. I already have some raspberries growing there and I did put in 3 cherry tomato plants but I will seed out corn, summer and winter squash, bush beans, carrots and another crop of spinach and lettuce.

And then back to painting after a brief rest. I have an entry to paint to submit next week, for the International Encaustic Show this year in San Antonia Texas in September and I promised myself I would paint some smaller pieces and submit these to a local gallery for sale and I have a 6" X 6" to paint for the local heritage museum for a fundraiser. All good! Happy painting!

A Favorite

Cut To The Core - 24" X 20"

Here is another one of my newest paintings with my signature carving style which is for sale at the Trails End Gallery. This one is interestingly based on the substrate beneath it. I found some panels that work very well for me and which have a birch luan top finely sanded as the substrate.

In this particular case I colored the grain as I found it and then in the darker band I reversed myself and carved out the grain as if it were traveling through and outer bark. This is a simple piece and lovely in that simplicity. It shows the wax very well and it's inherent organic lines are very pleasing and asymetrical.

It's story is the story of all trees and their bands of growth year by year, slow and steady, and unless cut likely to live for many hundreds of years. Witnesses to the natural and human history of their surrounding landscape. Timeless, for all intent during our lives, slow and endless.

I took a trip this week up to Bremerton to visit the new grave site of my mother-in-law. It was nice to envision her reunited with her husband and a dear man. We had to ready her house for sale. There were septics to get pumped and carpets to clean and furnaces to certify and the last remaining bits and bobs to go through.

We revisited many of the places we remembered them in, shopping, dining, walking through their yard. Ernie was a great old time orchardist and planted and grafted many varieties of apples, pears and even some peaches in fruit trees in his yard. He grew the finest eating grapes - green Interlaken and concord grapes on 4 vines in his yard and they bear so much fruit that many families felt his generosity during the ripening season when he gave away most of the produce. And he grew roses, a yellow Texas rose and a lovely hybrid fragrant peach rose in bloom. Pictures to follow next blog.

It's interesting that some of the little things that Dorothy and Ernie had gathered in their life together and that they cherished were what was left behind by the estate auction people and the women's shelter people, the children and the nieces. Their wind chimes from their porch and the geranium plants that Dorothy had lovingly put in her garage each fall were just waiting for her hand to reset them outside to bloom for this season. I've got them now and hope they will respond for me.

I had a wonderful though whirlwind visit with a painting friend in Bothell and her husband. We had a great lunch and much quick essential talk and laughter over recent happenings, the upcoming shows, our next painting adventures. I had visited them during the winter but hadn't had the opportunity to see their charming, charming place during the summer when all the fine japanese maples had leafed out and the deep purple evergreen rhododendrons (thank you Jan for your comment last entry about how rhododendrons were also such a characteristic NW plant!) were in bloom along with their special deep red flowered Kalmia and so many other interesting and choice foliage plants collected over the years. Theirs is a mature garden with that settled in and melded together feel with large wonderful sword ferns in that early lime green coloration and recently unfurled state. The northwest garden  in the summer after a rain is the lushest, most beautiful, and many shades of green that can be imagined. When you see it under these circumstances you wouldn't want to live anywhere else. Plus she dishes a fabulous pineapple upside down cake and tea. Thank you again for taking time for us.

Catch Up

The Pines - 20 X 24 - SOLD

So this happens to be the second painting I sold at Trails End Gallery during my June Featured Artist opening. If you'll look back several entries you will see the picture of the pines I took upon which this painting is based. It turned out to be an inspired choice. As the collectors who chose it mention - it has an Asian appeal and the bold colors on top of the receded grid make it an interesting, more realistic painting for me.

I have been busy trying to catch up and put my house and the people and animals that reside with me back into a semblance of normality. This has meant 3 trips to the vet in a haze of anxiety over one of our dogs - Delilah, a samoyed who we have had the great pleasure of looking after over these last 12 years. She developed Addison's disease (the inability to produce and balance salts and sugars in her body and adrenaline to respond to stress and sudden activity) when she was 3 years old and it has meant a monthly shot and a daily dose of prednisone. When she had her first crisis, it took 5 nerve wracking days whereupon she didn't eat or drink, to diagnose and about 30 minutes to bring her out of it. This time - being the first time since the first time - we recognized the symptoms within a few hours, got her to the vet and she is now back in balance. Scary though!

Delilah

Next we did a whirlwind clean up job on the house so a further deep clean will be in the works. The dishes still seem to pile up amazingly fast.

Most of all my garden has been calling to me and specifically it is the time of year to get some annual flowers potted up for the deck. I'll take some pictures of the finished pots. It has rained so much in the last week that hardly any watering has needed to be done.

This year I waited till June 1st to get anything other than bulbs in the ground or in the pot. The summers start later here and don't really build up any heat till late August. If I plant in April everything except lettuce and spinach stays so wet that they rot or the seeds never get started at all. Even then I've got to go out and give the said salad makings a good regular drench of liquid fertilizer high on the nitrogen to get them producing leaves.

Having said this you'll think that coastal Washington is a bad place to garden but not so. We get bumper crops of blueberries and cranberries and bulbs like Dahlia's and gladiolus and Crocosmia and Calla Lillies in fact many perennials, just thrive and are in fact signature plants for here in the summer. It's just that nearly every place is a microclimate and you have to find what will grow well in your particular location, with your particular wind, sun/shade, salt spray, clay or sand etc. Inevitably some great things can be found to grow.

I've been experimenting with natives such as ninebark, douglas spirea, wild honeysuckle, indian plum and wild currants and find they make a beautiful shrub border that fits in so well with everything else around and are tough enough to really stand the occassionally extreme climate of the coast.

Well more gardening and back in the studio tomorrow! Have fun yourselves!

Wonderful Opening

Rocking & Rolling - 12" X 12" - SOLD

We had a wonderful opening for my month long Featured Artist show at Trails End Gallery in Gearhart, Oregon, yesterday - June 2nd.

It was a terrifically nice surprise to walk in at 2pm to set up my demo and find that this piece had already sold. This was probably my favorite piece as well, both at the time I was making it and when I was finished and looking at all the art work hung up.

It has my signature carving, bold coloring in an earth tone palette, some interesting new ideas for expanding the carving and an opportunity for bringing in a realistic shape with primitive motif's which for me enhances the story line of the painting.

I ended up with 19 pieces in the show and a "not for sale" grid of 4 small 8" X 8" (my sketchbook) blocks. We had a real nice turn out and I sold another painting during the show which I'll show next entry.

It was interesting doing the demo too, during the reception. Though I missed talking to all of the people coming in to see the art, I was able to talk more in depth to people who had questions about encaustic itself and how it felt and what tools I used and etc. I brought with me a catalog from my last group show with International Encaustic Artists in Troutdale, Oregon in 2011 called Encaustic Masters, and in that catalog where everyone who juried in had 1 piece included, you were able to see the breadth and depth of what modern encaustic painters are doing these days. This was a wonderful way to show people what can be done with this great medium.

This show will remain up through June 24th I believe and the gallery itself is open Wednesdays thru Sundays 11-5pm and you are all welcome to go and browse. Many of the artists in the Trails End Art Association only show in the summer months so right now there is a ton of great art up on the walls - from beginners to long time favorite artists, in watercolor, pastel, oil, acrylic, printing and more. Artists have tried to keep the prices approachable so you will find some excellent buys of original art. Enjoy!