Otter, 36x36, oil, sold
Decisions, 48x48, oil
Hidden, 48x48 oil
(Look closely for an owl, a trout and tracks from a passing preditor)
Pallisade of Dryads, 40x 30, oil
Woodland, 40x30, oil, sold
Autumn Gold, 48x48, oil, sold
Swims With Salmon
Gift to the Elders, 36x36, oil, sold
Rocket Fish, 40x30, oil, sold
Raven Releases the Salmon, 40x30, oil
Plein Air
Pleinair painting is like capturing light in a bottle except here we are capturing it on canvas. One has a few hours at most to get the job done before the light or weather changes. It is an intense communion with a subject that absorbs all ones senses. It is a challenge that reveals the artist's skill and technique. Doing so builds a visual vocabulary that can be drawn upon later in the studi
Capturing Life Through Sleeping Salmon Studio's Lens
Meet the artist
Artist Statement
70 years I've been on this planet and most of that time I've spent a concerted effort to understand the world around me either painting or chasing fish. What I have discovered, I put in my fine art paintings . My motto, "Every good fishing hole is a good painting, if I don't catch a fish I'll catch a painting." The problem is, over my life time I've watch the rivers AND the ocean waters warm up and the fish dissapear. I hope that my paintings might move others to be aware of the need to care and do something positive for those creatures that can't speak for themselves. We can only hope that our children and their children can enjoy the paradise we enjoyed when we were stewards of the planet. Let's hope we get it right.
Inspiration
I've had a few passions in my life, fine art paintings and fishing are paramount. I live for the tug at the end of the line and the satisfaction of an idea captured on canvas. I would have never guessed that I would live to see the disappearance of so much wildlife that I grew up with. We are at the precipice of extinction for many species including ourselves. We must turn things around or perish. On our ranch we work with the Colville Tribes in NE Washington, to re-introduce chinook, sockeye, kokanee, redband trout and brook trout in the watershed of the once greatest salmon fishery on the planet, the Columbia River. Up untill the 1900's, 100 lb Chinook returned to the immense watershed of British Columbia and Washington State until Grand Coulee Dam blocked their passage.
Influences
My Grandmother was a country school teacher in the Highwoods of Montana where an education was as much about hunting and fishing as it was about learning your P's and Q's. As a painter herself, she encouraged me to paint and draw. Later I went on to college but that shoe never fit. I continued to find others that worked with me to develop my skills. Such artists as William F, Reese, Ned Mueller, Leonid Gervitz and Simon Kogan let me look over their shoulder. I've had original fine art for sale to keep the wolf from the door for better than 50 years and can say I have some faithful patrons that support my habit.