“April Blooming” 24″ x 48″ oil and metal leaf on canvas – $2,800
My inspiration for my paintings has always come from nature and fortunately, Oregon has provided an abundance of beauty with its mountains, coast, forests and plants. In my professional career, I have painted all of them in acrylics, watercolors and oils.
Recently, I met a couple who own three of my paintings from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s and got re-acquainted with two beachscapes and a seascape. I know what inspired those paintings because our family vacationed every year in Pacific City during those decades.
I haven’t painted a seascape for many years, and at the moment, have no desire to do so, because the use of metal leaf in my paintings has led me in another direction – trees and flowers against a background of silver and gold. In each painting, I try something a little different in exploring the many possibilities the metal leaf provides.
My current subject of pink dogwood trees was suggested by a lady who saw some during a stormy day and was excited by the contrast of the beautiful blossoms against the gray sky. Since then, I have photographed several of the trees, both white and pink and have immersed myself in trying to portray them in a setting of wind and rain as a background for the lovely trees.
The painting above is my first painting of dogwoods and I added both sunshine and rain to illustrate April’s changeable weather when the trees are in bloom. It is currently exhibited at the Elsinore Gallery in Salem as my June addition to the three-month show.
