Vicki Shuck and I have embarked on a very interesting project. We are going around the state interviewing long term ranchers and farmers and orchardists for a project we call “Reflections on a Way of Life.”
I t is our goal to portray , through our paintings, the country as it is, today…in this time of transition. The intent is not to romanticize the rural west, nor is it warn about the changes taking place--- but rather to just capture what is now so that others can appreciate these areas as they are now. They are not portraits per se, but images of people caught in a moment of time. I will be sketching, painting and photographing the farms, ranches, etc. and using these photos/sketches to create larger studio paintings of working ranches , farms and orchards and the surrounding land. This sketch/pochade of an old barn on the Edwards farm in Hood River especially appealed to me. It echos a different time. I am particularly enchanted by this farm as it has many, many old and some abandoned buildings...more to come! (Our first show will be at the Columbia Art Center in Hood River in 2011.) Next we go to Diamond, Oregon!
We are committed to at least 40 paintings for this show...thus the title "One down, 19 to go."