"Winter, Sanpoil Valley", 30x40, oil, SOLD

 The cold and snow continues in the the mountains of eastern washington.  Painting en pleinair is a challenge but one perseveres hoping for the warm spring days to come.  The birds are anxious and have delayed nest building and the bees are hunkered down hoping for trees to bloom and provide badly needed pollen to sustain themselves and grow their brood to replace all the workers that didn't make it to spring.  C'mon girls hang in there!

 Raven and Coot, 6"x14", acrylic 

Raven and Coot

Tsimshian

Myths and Legends of Alaska, Katherine Berry Judson

A LONG time ago, Raven wanted all the birds to look well, so he painted them.  Raven painted Coot last.  Then Coot began to paint Raven, who wanted many bright colors.  So Coot painted Raven with bright colors with one hand, but in the other hand he hid charcoal.  When Raven looked away, Coot quickly blackened all the bright colors with charcoal.  Then Raven was angry and he chased Coot.  But Coot ran too quickly, so Raven threw white mud at him, white mud which spattered over Coot.  Therefore Coot had white spots on his head and back.  But Coot flew away and left Raven all black.

Peace Angels, digital drawing

 The anxiety and fear of the day

 weighs on my happiness like a cloud hiding the sun on a cold winter day.  

I kick a mosaic of autumn leaves and angels fly from my feet bringing a smile.

Betty's Brook #5, 30x40, oil

 

Betty's Brook #4, 36x36, oil

 

Quotable Me

 "The artist paints from a vision within and sees himself in the world around him."

3rd in a Series; Betty's Brook, 24x24, oil

I guess I'm into a series, Betty's Brook. There's an enormous artesian spring on the Westfork Ranch.  It never freezes in the winter no matter how cold.  It is deep in the alder, aspen and cottonwoods and runs into the Sanpoil.  The trails that run through it are made by range cows, moose and deer. It is a bird paradise with many waterfowl and marsh birds nesting in the spring, returning in the fall on their way to southern climes. It is a classic wetland the sort salmon used to call home.  

The process is one of distilling the impressions of the place into a technique that is the language of expression.  The artist paints from a vision within and sees himself in the world around him.

                                                              Betty's Brook 3, 24x24, oil, SOLD

 

 Five years later... sheesh, I guess a record of my time has lapsed or filled by other platforms.  I have been ruminating on the issue of recording one's life.  It used to be we saved photos in an album for future reference by descendents and such that has been replaced by a virtual album and yet here is my online self from 5 years ago.  Had a left the planet would it still go on?  Even if it had would anyone care to look at it.  Relatives, friends and descendants could, atleast until the platform was obsolete.  One of my tasks for this winter is to digitize an analogue album of ancesters an aunt left me so the grandkids have an idea of their roots.  I'm digitizing photos and lineages while at the same time I will make prints of old photos of ancestors to document in material / analogue form something concrete for posterity.  What a conundrum the virtual realm presents.  

What does that say for the business of making paintings?  Talk about analogue! Practically retrogressive.

Do we really own our own thoughts anymore?

 

"Streets of Oaxaca"

I just got back from and amazing adventure to Oaxaca, MX.  A city of 400,000 people in a state of over 2 million people where the average wage is less than $10 a day.  Where the price of gas is $4 a gallon and the price of tortillas (corn is 50% of the Mexican diet) has gone up over 700% from 1994 and the start of NAFTA when the U.S. started dumping our subsidized surplus of corn on 3rd world countries such as Mexico. 

Many of the rural farmers have quit the land they won during the Mexican Revolution and have had to find their way to the U.S. where the money they earn from doing the jobs that we don't like to do,  home to their families. 

 When we visited the small mountain village of San Bartolo it was apparent that only the women, children and old men were left to keep things going.  Although I came home with many wonderful things to contemplate such as the wonderful fine art and native crafts, my eyes were open to the issue of illegal immigration in the U.S. and the challenges we face to resolve the situation. 

It is apparent we helped create this situation and we should fix it. There is not a simple answer.  Water is scarce in Mexico the people are poor but resourceful. 

Monsanto has engineered a corn that will do well in this situation but does not reproduce so the farmer has to buy corn every year from Mansanto with what little money he has left after supporting his or her family on little of nothing.  We created this situation, perhaps with good intentions but it has grown into and intolerable issue of xenophobia and hate on both sides of the border.  The least we can do is reach across the border and get a first had experience of the challenges of our neighbors and try to understand the situation we have put them in.

 

Please forgive Grampa Google any errors in his translation but I figure making an effort to learn Spanish, even if it is third hand, is little enough to try to establish friendly understanding of our neighbors to the south.

 

Me acabo de volver de e increíble aventura a Oaxaca, MX. Una ciudad de 400.000 personas en un estado de más de 2 millones de personas donde el salario promedio es de menos de $ 10 por día. Cuando el precio del gas es de $ 4 por galón y el precio de las tortillas (de maíz es 50% de la dieta mexicana) ha subido más de un 700% entre 1994 y el inicio del NAFTA, cuando los U.S. empezamos vertido nuestros excedentes subvencionados del maíz en 3rd mundo países como México.

Muchos de los campesinos han dejado de la tierra que ganaron durante la Revolución mexicana y han tenido que encontrar su camino a los U.S. donde el dinero que gana de hacer los trabajos que no nos gusta hacer, a sus familias.

 Cuando visitamos el pequeño pueblo de montaña de San Bartolo era evidente que sólo las mujeres, niños y ancianos fueron dejados para mantener las cosas en marcha. Aunque llegué a casa con muchas cosas maravillosas para contemplar, como la bella arte maravilloso y artesanías nativas, mis ojos estaban abiertos a la cuestión de la inmigración ilegal en los U.S. y los desafíos que enfrentamos para resolver la situación.

Es evidente que ayudamos a crear esta situación y debemos arreglarlo. No hay una respuesta simple. El agua es escasa en México la gente es pobre pero ingenioso.

Monsanto ha diseñado un maíz que va a hacer bien en esta situación, pero no reproduce lo que el agricultor tiene que comprar el maíz cada año de Mansanto con el poco dinero que le queda después de apoyar a su familia en poco de la nada. Hemos creado esta situación, tal vez con buenas intenciones pero ha crecido hasta convertirse en intolerable y emisión de la xenofobia y el odio a ambos lados de la frontera. Lo menos que podemos hacer es llegar a través de la frontera y obtener una primera tenido experiencia de los retos de nuestros vecinos y tratar de entender la situación que les hemos puesto en.

 

Enjoy my little story. / Disfrute de mi pequeña historia.