Category: Eastern Oregon

  • Dateline: Mitchell Oregon, Day 9, Sept 14, 2011

    Off we went this morning, behind fast striding Scott Ritner, employee of the John Day Fossil Beds and a person who knows his territory. Scott offered to find me a painting place that was better than any I’d yet tried; he succeeded. It was heavenly. He guided Jer and I about 1/3 mile up a…

  • Dateline: Mitchell, Oregon, Sept 13, Day 8, starting the panorama

    After fussing and circling, we returned to the Painted Hills today. I decided to do a series of panels, a version of a panorama. The decision felt good. I am not happy with the large painting of Picture Gorge — too garish — but I don’t want to work on it until I can see…

  • Dateline: Mitchell, OR, Day 7, Waterman and Antone

    No painting  today. I’ve been “working” on my android tablet, trying to get a worthy vignette sketch on it. It’s a clumsy tool and of course, I can’t find the essential menu items. But what I really did today was  travel a bunch of back roads, gazing at the scenery and being checked out by…

  • Dateline: Mitchell, Oregon, Day 6, Sept 11, 2011

    Today Jer went to Paulina, Post, and Prineville, where he got milk and cereal and gas. I stayed at Hollyhock Cottage and worked on the three partly finished paintings. Here are the paintings, in the order of today’s workings: JOU, Basalt Formations at Picture Gorge, Sept 2011, 30 x 40″, oil on canvas JOU, The…

  • Dateline: Mitchell, Oregon, Day 5, Sept 10, 2011

    We zoomed out to Picture Gorge extra early today, hoping to catch the shadows and avoid the heat. We were carrying the large canvases in the carrier Neighbor Jim made for me; the carrier protects the car from oil paint, and me from sorrowful looks by Jer, who loves his 1994 Honda and can’t bear…

  • Dateline: Mitchell, OR, Picturing Picture Gorge, Sept 9, Day 4

    After I posted yesterday’s journal, I decided to work more on the paintings I had started earlier in the day. During the morning session, in addition to working further on the long narrow 12 x 24″ piece, I had hurriedly used up the paints on my palette  as Jer hiked up the trail toward me.…

  • Dateline: Mitchell, Oregon. Canoodling Conundrums on Day 3, Sept 8

    It was cloudy at 8 AM when we started off to the Painted Hills, an earlier day than yesterday. I was ready to finish off an already composed painting. The early start and muted sun turned out to be advantageous for capturing the color of the Hills. And the skies, full of clouds and Moran-like…

  • Dateline: Mitchell Oregon, Sept. 7, Day 2

    The Painted Hills, 10 miles from Mitchell, Oregon, are basically unpaintable — or perhaps they have painted themselves so well, it’s foolish to emulate. I did produce a series trying to show the power that they embody (shown in this post on paintings from the John Day Fossil Beds), but I had to lean out…

  • The John Day Fossil Beds, Further Explorations

    In 2006, I spent a month at the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. At the time I was a long-time textile artist but a newbie painter.  My intent was to do studies in oils and watercolor and then transform these into textile art when I returned home. It was an exciting adventure, providing an…