Oregon

Portland... the Brooklyn neighborhood to be specific... flower gardens spilling over the curbs, brightly painted homes, studios and vintage vehicles still in daily use; this is the setting for this bright and casually comfortable flower garden. There are thousands of pictures here, but time limited me to only one on this trip... besides there was relaxing to do and a truly inspiring visit to the Portland Japanese Garden, as well as sketching and rose ogling.

The fire-engine red tire swing planted with petunias caught my eye, but when I saw the back garden I realized the tire swing would not fit into my small pastel painting. Regretfully I resigned it to the huge Not Painted but Really Good file in my mind. The homeowner-gardener here used her grey-green house as the perfect backdrop to a garden of many colors... just what I like! I did not meet her, but a neighbor agreed with me about the beauty of this home garden.

My husband, Michael Poster,  who accompanied me on this trip to the Northwest, really enjoyed walking with his camera while I painted. For a self-professed travel hater, he sure seemed to be having a very good time in Portland. We stayed at the Best Western Pony Soldier...spotless, friendly, top notch, sparkling pool, great beds... and ate at Pono Farm's Soul Kitchen on Sandy Blvd. NE... which was outstanding!

Five days in Portland is never enough... but it did give me time to drive across the border and capture my Washington State Painting... coming soon.

photo Michael Poster

photo Michael Poster

Nebraska

I arrived in Falls City on a sleepy,  steamy Sunday afternoon.  I ate some ice cream and drove around the streets looking for something to make a picture of. A hundred or so years ago this little house was someone's prairie dream home. I loved the light and the two peaked gables...and even the satellite dish.

Between 1979 and 2000 I did 630 commissioned house portraits. Now I rarely choose to do a house (never on commission) but when I do, I still wonder and imagine the lives of the people who have lived in those houses, planted those lilacs and apple trees, raised their kids and come home after work.

I pack pre-cut sheets of sanded pastel papers when I travel by airplane. I am limited to a 9 x 12 format, which is really stretching my comfort zone. I usually work 11 x 14,  or larger,  in the field. My 9 x 12 Guerilla Box is self-contained and is carried on the plane as I do not like to have my finished pastels out of sight. I guess most of us travelers have arrived without our checked luggage. Clean clothes I can do without...not my art supplies. I put the tripod necessary to support the Guerilla Box in my checked bag, knowing that I can use the rental car trunk lid or picnic table if that goes missing. I pack a lightweight linen cover up smock and then by removing that, dusting off and scrubbing my hands I am ready for an art museum (not a white tablecloth restaurant).

South Dakota

The glacial moraine prairie geology of north eastern South Dakota was formed 20 thousand years ago, by the last North American glacier moving in fits and starts through the region. I set my easel up on the roadside and wasted no time trying to get this glacially formed lake down on paper; a piece of hand-tinted and mounted Wallis. As I raced the setting sun for this picture I enjoyed chatting with a bicycling local banker and his wife and daughter on one of the finer evenings of a lifetime. Then it was back to the Buffalo Wallow Bar and Cafe in Sisseton, SD.

North Dakota

Driving 300 miles is nothing to me, but for my companion (husband) I knew I'd be stretching his patience if I tried to cram too many high mileage days together. Therefore I chose to explore the Sheyenne National Grasslands in south eastern North Dakota. It was a perfect day for plein air painting...not much wind nor many bugs...70's and sunshine...fall foliage in trees and grasses. It doesn't get any better than that! This is a place I want to get back to, if only to give my husband a longer time to explore afoot with camera, while I paint more scenes. This is another 9 x 12 and it is on piece of mounted Wallis paper.

West Virginia

YES! All 7 of the hoped-for states were painted in my whirlwind trip through the south. I was mostly blessed with good weather; dodging wind and tornados and a mighty brisk Sunday morning in a windswept Ohio field. Details will follow; I'll post each painting, but it may take more than 7 days.

On my second day out I painted this pretty scene & twin span bridge over the New River at Hawk's Nest. There were only three ways in to this vantage point; cable car, boat and 7 miles of rocky, steep, partially washed out, one-lane mountain "road". Guess which one I chose...duh. I managed to steer the Prius clear of any damage and happily did not have to back up to let fishermen in huge pick-ups pass. West Virginia sure is a beautiful state...plenty of rocks and mountains and hollers...infinitely paint-able places and their fishermen are gentlemen. Next time I'll know about the cable car so I can avoid the white knuckles. What's a road trip without at least one time...and I had several...when I asked myself, "What was I thinking?"

A lonely mute swan was cruising the quiet waters while I painted.