Tempel, 24x36x2, oil on canvas, plein air

The results after scraping a large amount of gravel off the canvas when the painting was blown face down in the dirt. Sometimes problems become solutions.

Fishing the Sanpoil, 6x24, oil on MDF, plein air

Rosy Rattelsnake, 6x24, oil on MDF, plein air

Coyote Mt, 8x24, oil, Plein air

Plein Air Ranch Retreat II

Whew! The 2nd annual Plein Air Ranch Retreat (a.k.a. Plein Air Boot Camp) was a great success!
What a work out.  I don't know if it was the scenery the food or the cosmic chemistry of the group but folks showed up, painted and painted and painted!
The weather was a PERFECT window between cloudy weather.  Bears, deer, Sand Hill Cranes, Golden Eagles, Bald Eagles, trout and even a friendly rattlesnake made an appearance, not to mention the occasional tipped over easel by a friendly horse.



Thanks to; (left to right)

Nickolai Kraneis, Berlin, Germany

Karen Watland, painter, Cle Elum, WA

June Schull, painter, Cle Elum, WA

Rod Gould, painter, Greenwood, BC

Betty Buckley, camp cook

Tim Haines, painter, Spokane, WA

Lynn Haines, organizer Spokane, Wa
Mike Kowalski, instructor (sort of), Port Townsend, WA
not in the picture;
Rebecca Stauffer, pastel painter, Arcata, CA

Diana (Windy) Sanford, pastel painter, Wenatchee, WA

Neil Sanford, camp biologist

Judy Jensen, painter, Republic, WA

Molly Robinson, painter, Republic, WA

Hobo Stensgar, portrait model, Westfork, WA

AND...drum roll please..............

Betty S. Buckley, camp cook EXTRODINARE!!!

Without whom the whole event wouldn't have been nearly as comfortable, tasty and fun. Thankyou bunches Sweetie!

OMG! mouth watering meals to fuel the fires of plein air impressarios!

To see more pics; Plein Air Boot Camp Pics

Scotchman Peaks Plein Air Benefit, Hope, ID

Fourth year for the Scotchman Peak's Plein Air benefit and fund raiser.  10 or so artists showed up to paint the landscape in the area.
I love the Hope Marketplace.  Kally Thurman, art mavin extrodinaire is the area catalyst for art in the community which has numerous artists, authors and musicians.  The fishing ain't bad either.
Neil Wimborley and pals put on a great show, providing food, advertising and maps to participants.  Kally is the hostess and puts up many of the artists at her mansion of art on Lake Pend Oriel.

This year I hung out at the Cafe and painted the "Car Cabins" out back of the Market/Cafe/Gallery.  The "Car Cabins", were built in 1928 when the 2 hr trip from Spokane to the wilderness of Lake Pend Oriel was a two day trip and people came up to catch Kokanee and huge Dolly Vardin.  Today the Kokanee and Dolly's are scarce and a bounty is put on predator fish to try to resurrect the fishery.

The cabins are now the residence of visiting artists and authors.  As you can see, Kally has a penchant for the spectacular.  I don't think there is are any more extravagantly painted buildings outside of Mexico.  Luv it!

7th Annual PNW Plein Air Paintout and Show

For those that don't know, "plein air paintouts", are occasions when a number of artists descend on a community and paint the town or area for that matter.  The Pacific Northwest Plein Air Show is such an occasion.  40 artists from near and far away as Alaska have come to the beautiful and diverse landscape of the Columbia River Gorge.  We all painted mountains, rivers, towns and as in Aaron Johnson's case from Moscow, Idaho, dead fish lying on the beach at Stevenson.  Hmmmm....no telling what you will see from the creativity and talent of paintbrush impressarios.
Show time is this Friday in Hood River at the Columbia Art Center.  Love to see you there.

Black bird Bus

Westfork Days

Oats in the boot. Maybe two weeks to go before it's in the milk

Training Wheels

At the moment we are in between putting up grass hay and oat hay. We put 1100 bales of grass hay in the barn, the best year we have ever had, about a ton an acre.
While we are waiting for the oats to come on I'm working with the Percherons. We have two Percherons that don't know much. This guy, Mountain Man (we didn't name him) doesn't know anything and is 15 years old.
Starting an older horse to be a productive work horse is far more challenging than if he were a youngster. Not only is he big and can cause lots of trouble but everything is abnormal for him.
Basically I'm trying to 'de0-sensitize' him to strange things like harness and going with another horse so I have fabricated 'training wheels' i.e. an old pickup truck with a steel bar in the box that I can tie the horses to. They have to go when the truck goes and stop when the truck stops (sort of). There are a few tricks, none of which are hard and fast as anything can rattle an inexperienced horse.
The near horse on the right hand side of the picture is Lucky and about as solid as the Ford Truck he is tied to. The off horse is the white horse and knows nothing. He's the guy we are trying to start. As you can see I am standing on a tire that they are skidding along. This saves a lot of walking and gives the 'green' horse an idea of how to pull a load. I built up to this point working the Percheron single and getting him used to his tugs around his legs until I felt he was ready for a double tree. This went fine until we rolled across some rocks which upset him and we ended up in a knot. Poor Lucky puts up with alot. I got them untangled and went back to the basics.
Not sure how far I can get with him but we'll keep after it. I hope he's ready for fall field work. He's a nice guy, just doesn't know anything.