Confluence 30" x 30"
Acrylic on canvas Painted on location in Wenatchee WA
(below) First Dusting of Snow
20" x 20" Acrylic on canvas
I spent my childhood living on the slope of a valley
overlooking the Columbia River. We could see the river from our house… every
sunset reflected in its expanse.
My favorite playground was
a dry, steep, sage covered slope punctuated with an outcropping of lava rock.
It was a perfect viewpoint for the valley, the river and the mountains
beyond.
Autumns from that vantage were abuzz with the sound of
chainsaws: smelling of leaf smoke and burning apple wood, and stirring with the
activity of the harvest. The river wound bright blue through the golden leaves
of fruit trees.
Winters were shadowy ultramarine and crisp white drapery
over the rolling hillsides. Shivering cold, the river was a steel band that
seemed to hold the world in place.
Spring blazed with
wildflowers that raced up the sides of slopes, blue, white and yarrow yellow...
the air perfumed with apple blossoms. As the soft green grasses ripened into
gold of early summer, I would imagine the slopes were the tawny sides of a giant
sleeping lion, with the river its bright string toy.
But summer was a wonder! Because my
father was an avid water skier meant every spare minute was spent on
the Columbia….our speeding boat slicing through the blue. My father, graceful
and athletic as a dancer, balanced on one ski, leaning back, holding the line
with one hand…waving and smiling….sliced through the wake with a little jump….my
mother, sister and I getting soaked with spray. The smell was rich, like frogs
and fish and mud and boats and power.
In those years, the Columbia was
ever present … a silver thread that stitched
its way through the center of my young life.
In Many ways, these early memories are imbedded in my love of
painting in the open air. Spending time in nature, observant and very still was
a way of life for me as a young child, and continues to be so as a painter.
Although I do much studio painting, I rediscover my self when I am painting
outdoors surrounded by and breathing in the landscapes of my life.
