Lake Crescent, Again

Here are two images showing a bit of the process for this piece, beginning with the finished product. This first photo is not the best one possible as I was too cold and lazy to take it outside to photograph, the best place to take photos of artwork (it's about 40 degrees out there and I've become a weather wimp since I moved North. The second photo shows step one: scary in its wildness. This was an amazing day at Crescent Lake, wild clouds and the light changing by the minute. This first under-painting is so intense I was afraid I would not be able to pull it off. The difference between the two pictures is several weeks, layers of paint, and lots of contemplation.

This is another work from Lake Crescent, which is one of my primary sources of material. One of my favorite places, a place of great power and mysticism, wild spookiness, great depths. The painting has not yet told me what it's name is, once I have it, along with a better final picture, I'll post both.


Happy painting!
Dawn

The studio has been one hopping place so far this year. I've had a good show at Port Townsend Gallery this month, "Industrial Arts" which comes down February 29th. Please stop by if you haven't had a chance to see the work, 715 Water Street, Port Townsend Washington.

In other studio news, "The Last Horizon" won the purchase award at the CVG Show in Bremerton Washington. This is one of the region's best shows, and I was honored to be in such good company as well as to win this award. The purchase award means that the Kitsap County Arts Council bought my work to hang in a public space, as yet to be announced.

My next big gig begins the same week: "Power of Place" opens March 3rd at Max Grover's Gallery. I'm very excited to see my work exhibited there as Max has a great space for viewing art. This body of work deals with my ongoing studies and explorations of the power of place. It's diverse in media and subject matter, but it all comes back to this core. All places are powerful, but they have different character whether it's a deep dark forest, an ocean, a train yard, or a boat yard. Some are intrinsically powerful, some gain their power from the number of people who use the place for whatever reason. My pieces of interstate traffic, for example, are about a truth and power that comes from their function, and the fact that so many people rely on this system. Light reflecting off of a stream of cars is very similar to the light reflecting off of a raging river; these things share a similar power. We are influenced in subtle ways by our immediate environment, whether or not we are actively paying attention to it.

Come and talk with Dawn and Max at a reception during Gallery Walk on Saturday, March 3rd, from 5:30 – 8:00 pm.

Max Grover Gallery is located at 630 Water Street, Port Townsend in the back of Sideshow Variety. For more gallery information, phone 360-385-5051 or visit maxgrover.com

Landscapes, Human Spaces

When we think of landscape, I think our minds automatically jump to images of the romantic era--great sweeping vistas, ideal views, the simple calm beauties of the pastoral, the great impressive fervor of the romantic sublime. But the translation of landscape has changed as much as our relationship to place has changed. We are no longer removed, no longer remote from these places. We know so much more about the nuances of our immediate environment. Landscape is where we live: it is where we work, pay rent, and commute. It is our community, both natural and human-made. These things have been on my mind lately, which brought about this series of the industrial landscape in my town. They are fascinating both emotionally and visually. I particularly love the boat yard at night or in the early dawn--there's so much that happens down there, from people lifting boats out of the water, welding, varnishing, rebuilding vessels of all types. It's a fascinating place.


This is not the entire series, and you can see more of it next month at the Port Townsend Gallery where I will be a featured artist along with fiber artist Ginny King. Come and talk to us about our work next Gallery Walk on Saturday, February 4th, from 5:30 – 8:00 pm. Port Townsend Gallery is located at 715 Water Street www.portownsendgallery.com

Cheers!
Dawn

"The Last Horizon"

Here's another piece in my recent series, where I'm exploring thinner layers of color over an underpainting of sepia tones. It's giving my work a looser, more gestural look as well as building up layers of light.

As with "Odyssey", I began this piece with burnt sienna mixed with a glaze, then wiped out the highlights to begin feeling the composition. Subsequent layers deepen the dark tones and add highlights to the light areas.

This is from a trip to the Oregon coast earlier this month. It was one of those amazingly beautiful days, and a rare one in the Pacific Northwest where the beach was warm, sunny, and there was no wind.

The title comes from our constant push to the west as North Americans; we were always looking to the west and striving for the hope that it represented. The horizon is a place of desire and hope; no matter what is going on in our lives, there's something different right over that horizon, if we can only get there. We long for it, we strive for it, but can never achieve it. The horizon remains a distant wish. It's the joy and myth of travel, the idea of adventure and, most of all, arcadia.

Wishing you beautiful autumn days filled with light.

Dawn

Odyssey

This piece marks a solid change for me, in the fact that is is made up of many transparent layers and gestural brushstrokes instead of the thicker, more solid layers I generally use. It brings the excitement of my experimental drawings into my oil paintings, something I've been working towards for years.

"Odyssey" used techniques from my watercolor and drawing background, resulting in a fresh approach. I usually begin my oils on black gesso and draw the light out of this surface. This piece started on a white canvas, followed by a glazed out transparent Italian Burnt Sienna, into which I wiped out lighter sections with a paper towel. Next I added highlights, still with glazed out layers, then followed by pushing the darker tones, also with the glazing.

I'm very pleased with the liveliness and freshness of this piece overall, and the joy of working in a style I have not used in years.

"The Odyssey is a 90’ yawl designed by Olin Stephens for Mrs. Barklie Henry, a Vanderbilt granddaughter. Built in New York in 1938, the Odyssey quickly proved herself as a winning member of the racing community of Long Island Sound. The family enjoyed cruises to Cuba to visit Ernest Hemingway, and also to the Galapagos Islands. The US Navy commandeered the boat for the duration of World War II, where she served our country in radar, sonar testing, and echo sounding studies. After the war, she continued to serve the Navy as a research vessel out of Woods Hole, later in San Diego, and finally in the recreation program. The Odyssey found a new home with the Pacific Harbors Council of the Boy Scouts of America in 1978, and now serves as a sail training vessel with the Sea Scouts of Tacoma." Sea Scout Odyssey

Yakima River, completed

So here's the finished piece. I'm pleased with the overall emotion and composition. Even though there was a lot of back and forth in my mind on this piece, the overall resolution works for me. It reflects the spirit and emotion I felt when I stood on that bridge over the river at a point in time last July, with a storm moving in from the west. A sense of still energy; moments of quiet heaviness before the rain began to fall.

Yakima River

Here are a few images documenting the progress of this painting. It's still a work in progress, but I'm pretty close to resolution I think. The mood is almost there: a storm moving in over this mighty river, an image from last July.

It could be the Colorado, or the Snake, or the Green River. There's just something about a river, particularly when you live in the West. It's a blood vein, a refuge, a lifeline.

I'll post the final outcome on this sucker. It's 36"x60", oil on canvas.

Dawn