Road to the Wind

Road to the Wind - 48 x 60

This is the third painting in my series: Power of the Wind. It has special meaning, in addition to the expression of a massive wind turbine towered over by clouds and sky. The winding road came from my imagination, and as I worked on it I realized that winding roads are part of everyone's life. Mine has taken some surprising turns recently, leading me down a different path than I could have imagined. Life is funny that way. Have you ever heard the song, "A Long and Winding Road?" I think it was by the Beatles.


People who know me may recognize certain elements of this painting. Michael, the cloud?

In this painting the wind turbine is standing tall, like a sentinal of sky and earth, embraced by the gently waving rows of crops. When I painted the fields, I subconsciously remembered the yellow, waving fields of wheat I saw every time I visited my daughter at college in eastern Washington.


The paintings in this series are being done on the largest canvases I have ever worked on (5 feet tall by 4 feet wide). I wanted to work large to symbolize the massive nature of my subjects--behemoth wind turbines! Since I can't stretch canvases that big, Allan gets them for me from an artist in Portland.

Here are some photos showing the development of this painting.

Here you can see the underpainting.

Painting journal showing all the color tests I made before deciding which colors to use.

References for the painting: some photos I took myself, a sketch, a magazine about wind energy, and a little model of a wind turbine.

Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis at the RAKE Gallery, opening night, December 6, 2007.

My first Portland show was held at the RAKE Gallery during the month of December, 2007. Opening night was held on the first Thursday in December. I shared the show with another talented oil painter, Marcus Gannuscio. The gallery felt that our figure works complimented each other.

Note: this photo is a little fuzzy, due to having been taken through glass from a dimly lit sidewalk.

I wasn't sure what to expect as far as attendees, but a good crowd showed up in spite of the typically rainy and cold December weather. I was happily surprised by the arrival of some old friends, including one of Allan's closest college friends, several of my family members, and of course my art friends.

The theme of my show was Metamorphosis, as you can see by the lettering on the wall and windows in several photos. I think that all-in-all, it was a succesful show and good experience, and I am looking forward to a great relationship with the RAKE gallery in 2008.

The show ended December 29, but the gallery has moved five of my paintings to the Voleur Restaurant in Portland, where they will hang during the month of January. Voleur is located on the corner of SW Ash and First in downtown Portland.

Here are some views of the people who attended the opening night.