Monday, November 25, 2013

OPEN STUDIO INVITATION

YOU ARE INVITED:


OPEN STUDIO AND ART SALE
Saturday, December 7, 10-4
Original oil paintings of Oregon and Hawaii, filled with light and color

4155 Calaroga Dr
West Linn, OR  97068
503-699-0817
www.karenlewisstudio.com

also available will be cards, 
lesson and art gift certificates, and small gift items.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

BEACH BUNGALOW WITH BANANAS

Beach Bungalow With Bananas, 9 x 12 oil
I love apple bananas.  Eating apple bananas is one of my favorite things about Hawaii.  I'm going to paint a series of bungalows with banana trees and imagine living in them.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

BEACH WINDOWS

Beach Windows I, 9 x 12 oil
I just love looking at the sea through the curves and branches of these bushes.  The variety and repetition of shapes keeps me interested for hours.
Beach Windows II, 9 x 12 oil
Some trees have more challenging lives, and adapt their shapes to them.
Beach Windows III, 9 x 12 oil
Some really hang out on the edge.

Monday, November 11, 2013

SUNRISE

Sunrise Rose Blanket, 6 x 8 oil
Every morning the cloud pattern is different.  For today's painting "en plein car" I am sitting in the front seat of the van, peeking out at my glimpse of river.  The sun hasn't yet made it over the heavy fog to the east, but the river is full of light.  Sitting up front leaves me crowded with paint supplies, and I have to hold the panel in my hands.  Not exactly the most comfortable way to paint, but it is far too cold outside for me to be standing still.  Okay, Stapleton Kearns would not be proud.  He likes to paint out in winter wearing big thick boots.  I prefer summer and barefoot, but that's months away now.  And these sunrises are unique moments, each one a jewel across the string of winter mornings.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

CHARTIERS VALLEY FALL

Chartiers Valley Fall, 9 x 12 oil
September 2013
Clouds have moved in over southwestern Pennsylvania, where I am visiting my mother.  And though there are still bits of blue peeking through the lowering veil, rain is on its way.  A bit of blue sky appears, and I paint it in.  Then the clouds darken, and I finish just before the rain begins.

Saturday, November 9, 2013

LETCHWORTH STATE PARK

Upper Letchworth Falls, 9 x 12 oil
September
On our way from Cleveland to Pittsburgh, my husband and I are visiting Rochester, NY.  Yeah, I know, it's about 5 hours' drive out of the way.  We had planned to visit Niagara Falls while we were there, but I didn't know that the best views were from Canada, so we don't have our passports.  So we are sight-seeing south of Rochester when we find this lovely state park with three good-sized waterfalls in it.  And hey, who needs the biggest waterfall?

I am enchanted with the shale rock formations, which are so different from the ubiquitous basalt of the Northwest.  How to show the fracture patterns, yet keep the painting simple?  Downriver from here, there are shelves in the shale that look like they were cut with a ruler.  How does something like that happen?  Pattern and randomness are having a tug of war.

Friday, November 8, 2013

HILLSIDE SUNRISE

Hillside Sunrise, 6 x 8 oil

Oct, 2013
West Linn is full of trees.  This is most noticeable when you are driving around to parks, searching for a viewpoint for painting the sunrise.  Fall is a great time for sunrise painting because I don't have to get up ridiculously early.  Just need to find a morning when it isn't raining.  Hmm.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

WILLAMETTE FALLS FESTIVAL

Oregon City Falls Fall, 12 x 16 oil  SOLD
It's October, so you know that when I say I am standing on the Oregon City Bridge in the sunshine at 10 AM, you know that the sun isn't very warm.  Fortunately, the breeze down the river is light, and I have a good warm coat on under my painting smock.

This is an interesting festival--lots to do, but you have to run around a lot to do it.  There are some booths on the West Linn side of the bridge, with food, and community groups explaining the history of the area and such.  There are tours of the paper mill, but you had to be early to sign up.  People are crossing the bridge with baby carriages, bicycles, and in such large groups that I am glad to be tucked away under the arch.  Below me on the river is a fishing drama, and someone has landed a fine large ?sturgeon?

Yes, I know it is called Willamette Falls.  The unsold painting will be on view at Oregon City Hall, Dec 3-April 1.

Oregon City Falls in Full Flow, 6 x 8 oil

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

DAWN AT THE VINEYARD, Pacific Northwest Plein Air Competition, Day 5

Vinyard Dawn, 9 x 12 oil
The sun slanting through the leaves makes the grapevines glow.  I am surrounded by beautiful views.  Just to my right, across the Columbia Gorge, is Mt. Hood.  The winery has enchanting nooks, with gazebos and hammocks and swings.  How would it be to live with such a view.  Would it become ordinary with everyday use?  Or would you wake up each day and say, Wow!

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

SUNSET, Pacific Northwest Plein Air Competition, Day 4

Sunset and West Hills, 9 x 12 oil
Up here at Panorama Point there is so much to see that it's hard to decide what to paint.  I would need a 360 degree canvas ten feet tall to capture what is going on.  The sun is coming and going between cloud layers, so at the moment, the most drama is directly to the West.  Ah, sun, you can hide, but we can still find you!

Monday, November 4, 2013

MT HOOD AT SUNRISE, Pacific Northwest Plein Air Competition, Day 4

Golden Mt. Hood Dawn, 12 x 24 oil
We get up before dawn and drive up toward the mountain.  The sky lightens more and more as we approach a fully ripened wheatfield, crowned with a closeup view.  I paint the mountain quickly, sketching in the snowfields as they emerge from shadow.  While I am wondering what I am going to do with this huge expanse of field across the bottom of the painting, the sun tops the ridge, sending fingers of light across the field. They expand, glow hot for perhaps fifteen minutes, and then the lovely light is gone.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

COLUMBIA GORGE, Pacific Northwest Plein Air Competition, Day 3

Grassy Cliffs, 12 x 16 Oil
Today's suggested location is a winery, but the place is dusty, and they are setting up for an event, so Sally and I adjourn to Chamberlain Lake Rest Area, where there is a shadowed view of the gorge cliffs.  It is windy, but I manage to duck behind a tree and avoid the worst of it.  If you want to paint out in the Gorge, you have to be willing to brave a bit of wind.

After we get back to our house, I find that I have misplaced my camera battery.  I search everywhere, including moving everything in the chaotic car.  I even drive back the next day to look on the grass where I was sitting.  Nothing.  So I buy a new battery.  Go to put it in my camera case, and there, tucked in the bottom of the pocket, is the missing battery.  I swear it wasn't there before.

Saturday, November 2, 2013

SUNRISE, Pacific Northwest Plein Air Competition, Day 3

Sunrise Over the Orchard, 6 x 8 oil on panel

It is cold in the morning as I pull my supplies from the van.  The clouds from the night before have disappeared, and the sky is filled with glowing atmosphere.  I love the glow on the tops of the pear trees as sunlight pours into the valley.

Friday, November 1, 2013

EAST FORK HOOD RIVER, Pacific Northwest Plein Air Competition, Day 2

Fresh From the Glacier, 9 x 12 oil
August 31, Afternoon.  The East Fork of the Hood River shoots a little bending arm past the farm.  From this spot on the riverbank you can't tell that this is only a bit of the swiftly running river.  It is silty turquoise and energetic as it tumbles over rounded boulders.  Here by the stream, in the shade, there is respite from the heat that has burned the grasses dry.  Sun and water have a delicate balance in this country where pears grow fat in irrigated fields.