Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Grandson's first Christmas . . .


We got to enjoy Keaton's first Christmas. Amazing how much he had changed since Halloween . . .

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Why I paint


Where Mountain Meets Sky: Muir Snowfield
pastel 12" x 18" on Fabriano Roma

This is one of my very favorite pastels, done from a photo one of the first trips to Mt. Rainier after I bought my first digital camera. I had also just recently discovered Fabriano Roma, a beautiful handmade paper with a slight laid finish and great tooth . . . a paper much like that used by Michelangelo. Muir Snowfield is a trudge of a hike, the first leg of any climb that follows the Camp Muir/Ingraham Glacier route to the summit. The Moon Rocks are to the lower right . . . a place where at the end of June 1995 I almost got blown off the mountain after my summit attempt.

The snowfield is vast, and later in the summer, treacherous. Every hundred feet of elevation gain was chore. But it also a place of stark, barren beauty. Ants, spiders, and even lady bugs crawled along with us up there. The immense summit stares down on long snaking lines of climbers hosted by Rainier Mountaineering, as well as those few of us in smaller groups, as if to dare us to continue. For many it is an oft repeated day hike . . . for me it was a feat never before attempted . . .

It was the sky, and below the serpentine spine of the ridge that falls below Camp Muir, that made this the scene that captured the spirit of climbing Rainier. Below is a colored pencil self-portrait, done from a photo taken by my guide, Steve Teufert, of Olympic Mountaineering, at the point where he and I turned around to decend . . . at Disappointment Cleaver:


My First Descent
21" x 17" colored pencil



Tuesday, July 14, 2009

He is growing faster than we can visit . . .

The kid is growing, cooing and laughing now . . . we must go to see him soon!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Outdoors again . . .


My latest plein air painting . . . pastel, about 6"x9" on Wallis mounted on museum board.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Away from the easel . . .

Stepping away from colorfully dusted fingertips and the world of creating art, on April 13, 2009 my first grandchild was born into our lives.  Welcome Keaton Lukas McKinley!  



It may be possible that an occasional baby portrait will be seen among the landscapes from here on out . . . 





Sunday, April 5, 2009

Back to the easel . . .

This year the state is considering closing some of our state parks as the budget has been terribly impacted by the economy. Flaming Geyser is one of them. This is where we have wonderful access to the Green River . . . and where this image was inspired.
Shady Green
pastel 7" x 11" on Multimedia artboard