November show

I also have quite a few paintings up in November at the the Hillsboro Arts center.

Family Beach Run

Launchpad Gallery is having a group show with the theme of `Family' in October. It should be as spirited, inclusive, and fun as all there open call group shows are. Launchpad is one of the places that makes the Portland art scene unique and welcoming. The above painting is my most recent family themed painting. It as a family running on the beach with a wave about to caress them and stuff happening in the background. About a year I go I did a similar painting, but with birds:

Ben, Pink and the Sentimental Sturgeon

I finished this yesterday afternoon after attending a Second Friday opening at Launchpad gallery Friday night. Ben Pink, Launchpad's owner, put together a great evening, so I decided to dedicate this 16"x20" ink and watercolor on paper painting to him. I have been working on illustrations for the Dao De Jing, so I decided to put in one quote from Laozi's text in this painting. The quote is translated and explained at http://daodejingillustrated.blogspot.com/ . I was trying very hard to make every line I comitted to paper have some grace and power. As dependent as my paintings are on narrative content, it is really the brushstroke, in abstraction, that holds potential. For me, the line is the closest thing you will get to the human touch from a painting. Each brushstroke is me trying to express something that is hopefully worth expressing.