Two years ago, I created a studio on the Oregon coast and have been living/painting here half time.  This is not just the coast but it’s a rain forest of sitka spruce and red alders.  And not just a rain forest, but we are on Cascade Head which is a UN Biosphere Reserve.  One of only 5 in the US. In other words, it’s a very special, and protected, landscape. 

 

This landscape consists of the large headland on the ocean, a 100 + year old forest, and the Salmon River with its estuary.  This has all become more than my subject matter, it has become my muse. 

 

What a sea change this has been for me.  For most of my painting career I have traveled a ton, and that travel was my muse. I made series after series on a number of great places I have visited and loved.   I have come to think of this past work as being done with the eyes of tourist.  By that I mean no disparagement.  Having the eyes of a tourist is a wonderful state of mind, all is new, all is exciting. The paintings I made of these places while back in the studio were done as a way to extend my visit emotionally to these amazing places.  

 

But now, I am painting and drawing the place where I live, as so many landscape painters have done over the whole history of landscape painting.   It feels great to have my subject matter all around and  just outside the door. Is this how it feels to be a sheep? “Ah, I was born in a salad bowl, my dinner is always just under my nose!”

 

What’s so great about being here?  Yes, it is beautiful, but there is more, and I always struggle to describe the subtle connections between myself and a great landscape.  Fortunately I don’t have to, all I have to say has been put into the paintings.  All the work currently on the website are paintings and drawings from here on Cascade Head.