Salt Spring Island Fog, B.C. Canada (2008), 16H x 22W inches graphite, colored pencils on paper. Framed size 29H x 35W x 3D inches. Accepted in Las Lagunas Art Gallery online Landscapes or Seascapes exhibition, March 3rd – 31st, 2022.

Magic Hour 02, the Gitxsan Totem, Thunderbird Park, Royal BC Museum, Victoria BC, Canada, 24H x 18W inches soft pastels on paper. Framed size 33H x 27W”.

I first painted ‘Magic Hour‘ in acrylics on canvas, started July 17th, 2008, with additional blog posts on July 24th, Aug 3rd, 6th, and 15th, 2008. The painting is 60H x 40W x 3D inches ($1,100).
Symbols/crests: The bird at the crown is a giant woodpecker (wee-get-welku). Legend reads that a female ancestor kept a pet woodpecker, feeding it so much it grew to be a giant monster that ate everything made of wood until it was killed. It sits atop 5 human figures who stand on the head of the Mountain Eagle (Skim-sim), who kidnapped and mated with a woman then devoured their offspring. The eleven small figures are humans fishing through holes in the ice. Under them and not pictured in the painting is Will-a-daugh, also known as “Person With a Large Nose”, holding her child who was conceived from a wood grub.

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Early evening shadows while driving through Montana Foothills, valleys and grasslands, where the Great Plains meet the Rocky Mountains. 18H x 24W inches soft pastels on paper.

Framed size 27H x 33W”.

The Grandfather Tree, 18H x 24W inches soft pastels on paper. Estimated to be 1800 years old, this Redwood is 265 ‘ tall with a 24 ft. diameter, located along the Avenue of the Giants, Hwy 101 CA. Framed size 27H x 33W”.

Healthy Squirrel caught mid-chomp! Seen in January, Coppell, TX – 18H x 24W inches soft pastels on paper. Framed size 27H x 33W”.

Flood Zone, Rood Bridge Park, Hillsboro OR, 18H x 24W inches soft pastels on paper. Framed size 27H x 33W” It’s always a careful decision to place my signature in a place that doesn’t impose on the artwork. Here it’s on the tree trunk near the bottom, hardly visible in this photo.

Prairie Storm, July in Cochrane, Alberta, 18H x 24W inches soft pastels on paper. Framed size 27H x 33W”.

Cape Meares Cliff, Oregon Coast, 18H x 24W inches soft pastels on paper, framed size 27H x 33W”.

 
Paint Arson, 11H x 11W x 3D inches acrylics on canvas (2009), wrapped sides painted, frame unnecessary. Set on shelf or hang on wall. This and Cumulonimbus: Montana Sunset (2020) are in J. Mane Gallery’s ‘Elements of Nature’ online juried exhibition, showing through January 2022.

I don’t always have clear intentions behind my work, other than to make it interesting of course, because I wonder if too much explanation muddies a fresh impression of it. However, the writing connected to “Paint Arson” is worth the read. Fire is a destructive force, and positive associations with it are not immediate. For example, the pinecones of Sequoia, the largest trees on Earth, only open under the extreme conditions presented by fire. Read on…

Petrified Forest, Crystal Forest Trail, AZ – 18H x 24W inches soft pastels on 90 lb. cold pressed watercolor paper. Framed size 27H x 33W”, white wood frame, crackle finish.

In addition to Kananaskis Valley (mentioned earlier in Grey Cube Gallery Forests and Meadows), this piece won a merit award in Contemporary Art Room’s exhibition, “Trees and Fields”, showing online through December, 2021.