Finding the way...

A friend of mine sweeps into town every couple of months.  She’s flirting with Portland, thinking of a move, not ready to make the commitment. She doesn’t really drive here.

I’ve lived in the city for most of a decade, getting to know my way around the quadrants as long as it doesn’t involve I-5. I’ve become an expert at creative avoidance navigation and back ways. 

Both freeway challenged, we were on an adventure to see the amazing play, The Outgoing Tide at the Coho. Point A was Wilsonville, Point B ~ 23rd and Raleigh. For the first time, I drove north on I-5, to 405 and the theatre.  

We had great directions and as we traveled farther into the heart of the city, the signage was more frequent and the markers we’d been given hadn’t appeared yet.  Attempting reassurance, my friend declared:

“They always write way more than you need on a freeway. You don’t need the part for everyone else, you only need the part that tells you where you’re going.”

Words to live by. 

When life is flashing past, sometimes it’s difficult to travel our own path with so many other  trails intersecting while we move at breakneck speeds. Easy to get lost, or intimidated, or sidetracked by something shiny blinking in the distance. In the end, we find our path by tuning in to personal discernment and reading the directions intended for us. Only for us. On our very distinctive route through life. The road only we can follow. 

Just ignore all the signs that aren’t meant to get you where you’re going.

Easy Peasy. 

The Emergency Sketchbook...

I keep an emergency sketchbook in the car in case I get stuck someplace and have art withdrawals. It’s been some crazy places, has as much mileage as the odometer and recently accompanied me to a presentation by Johnny Shaw. Screenwriter and author,

Mr. Shaw shared the secret to success:

“Finish Stuff.”

Finishing something, anything … even the dishes or the last ten reps… is an important springboard to confidence. Too many of us are tempted to give up when we “hit the wall” and as a runner does, if we push through, we find satisfaction in completion and the impulse to continue toward our goals. 

One of the benefits of sketchbooks is the first quick emotional response to the subject that provides information for later studio “finishing.” Here’s a super fast sketch of a stained glass window in the Old Church. When I come to the window again, I’ll have this information to build on for a (possibly) more complete sketch. 

Taos Pueblo Chapel...

Still experimenting with watermedia and gouache in particular. Painting from photographs when I’m stuck inside is a good exercise. I can slow down and concentrate on the capabilites of the medium. 

Near Santa Fe...

Still getting reacquainted with water media. Gouache and watercolor pencil painted from a photo taken during a trip to Santa Fe. Something small to do in the gallery without making a big mess and often pieces remain “unfinished.”

In Alaska, historical is a log fort from the Russian occupation or a Native American village site.

I was stunned when I first came “outside” by the “ancient” architecture of Seattle, then the magnificence of European construction blew me away.

As I render these beautiful buildings, I ponder on the question of elegance reaching toward heaven and how many poor and ill could have been helped by the same monies and time spent to construct religious edifaces all over the world. Yet, something in every culture and denomination drives us to make incredible sacrifices to erect sacred structures.

Vista House view...

 

Sketching for a couple of hours in the Columbia Gorge, and more experiments with water media. The view is from Vista House toward Beacon Rock and across the river to the farms. The drawings start out fairly serene. As the construction noise grows and tourist interruptions become more frequent, the tension shows in the rendering. Sunburned, tired and happy. Great day.