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.

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

THE FIRST DAY OF RAIN

Oregon City Falls
8 x 6

October 12.  After two and a half months of dry weather it is raining for real.  The very air is green as plants open their pores to breathe in the moisture.  The rhododendrons in my back yard have lifted their leaves, scooping them into cupped palms to catch the water.  Breathe.  The waiting is over.

October 19.  I catch myself whining about the rain.

FOOTBRIDGE

Footbridge
12 x 9
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On the way up to Mirror Lake, near Mt. Hood, there's a footbridge over a little creek.  It reminds me of hiking days when our kids were small.  Their dad would run ahead and hide under the bridge.  When we got there, he'd say, in a troll voice, "Who's that walking over my bridge?"  Kids would scramble, there'd be a chase, all great fun.  This little footbridge, of course, harbors no trolls.  Just a magical light dancing across the clear creek water.

FALLS AND SUNGLOW

Falls and Sunglow
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March 2012,

This waterfall is one of the closest to the road in Silver Falls State Park.  That's not the only reason I chose to hike there with my watercolors, but it's a beautiful falls, and a short, pleasant walk.  Years later, I paint this oil painting based on my plein-air sketch.  I can still remember sitting in the cool shade to the right of the creek.  A great place to escape the summer heat.  Can't you just imagine swimming in the pool below the falls?

DROP IN THE SHADOW, Multnomah Falls

Drop in the Shadow, 12 x 24
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Multnomah Falls must be the most painted and photographed waterfall on the West coast. (Unofficial tourist statistic, created on the spot for your entertainment.)  Most of the time, I have painted up near the "official" viewpoint, looking up into the scattered spray.  This time, I am painting from the grassy median between freeway roaring East and freeway roaring West (buffered by the central parking lot.)  Despite the noise, it is a lovely spot, and I am standing in full sun, painting barefoot (highly recommended).  From here, you get the full impact of the upper falls, un-foreshortened, as I am looking across at it, not up at it.
This painting has a magical response to light.  When you shine a strong light on it, the colors brighten into their original incarnations, out in the sun, looking at this cool, shadowed falls.
(Small confession: blog entry delayed by 2 summers.)