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Posts Tagged ‘Portland’

Beginnings

Posted in Art, tagged , , , , , , , on November 1, 2022| 2 Comments »

I call this oil painting “Beginnings”.

It went through several iterations and is part of a project that I am working on.

Beginnings, in oils on canvas, 22” x 28”

There is a feeling of satisfaction and a type of introspection going on in my head when doing a creative study such as this as I freely put up the colors and textures where I want them, adding them with a joyous sort of freedom.

This is the first abstract I have tried that I sense is complete. It is a complete thought, an idea that I envisioned using a brush and some paints.

I don’t want to touch it.

No mini maneuvering would improve it for me. It is a new beginning, unexplained and free.

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Trees I Have Met

Posted in Poetry, tagged , on October 23, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Swaying beauties, oft dismissed
columns emptily treaded around.
Look up and see their capes, the 
soft shade embracing color shape design
food shelter comfort.
Shouldn’t we take better care of them?

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Don’t Drive, Ride a Bike!

Posted in Family/Friends, Simple Living, tagged on August 2, 2016| 2 Comments »

We have no car on the mainland any more.
Life just got simpler
and we feel a whole lot better from the exercise.

Now that we live in a condo in a big city like Portland, the question keeps coming up.

Do we need to drive?  When we think about it, probably not.

We consider biking instead, or walking, depending on the distance we need to go.

We own bikes and are getting in the habit of using them for every day travel to nearby places.
Bikes are easy to use in a city like Portland, Oregon.

Portland and many other urban settings like New York City are planning to keep bikes as a major source of public transport. Entire lanes and off-road areas are dedicated for bikers, making it easier to avoid competition between bikes and cars and reducing potential, unnecessary, collisions.

We learn bike rules, however.  We are expected to know how to signal when changing lanes, where to position our bikes when we turn left or right at crossroads.  We stop at red lights and at stop signs.  We stop for pedestrians.

Roads here are designed and marked to clarify space between people who need to open their car doors and bikers who ride by on the road.  I still keep my eye on parked cars, just to be sure no one is about to open their door and get out.

Portland has entire bridges dedicated to pedestrians, bikers and rails.  Here is one we take almost every day, the Tililikum Bridge.  Walking, or riding the bike across this bridge is such a thrill and a bit of a challenge on the way up to the top.

Lines and signs clearly lay out where pedestrians and bikers are supposed to be, reducing the usual dance between them.

The views from the top of the bridge are spectacular as well and reward us for our work.  We often stop to admire the view and take a breather from the upward part of the bridge.  Although, going down on the other side gives us plenty of respite, as well.

The view
Top of the bridge

Not interested in owning a bike?  Then why not rent one?  Numerous cities are now experimenting with bike rentals and part of their public transport systems.

Here in Portland, they now have a program called Biketown that offers bike rentals on a daily, or annual basis.  I joined it recently and use it for getting around town and shopping, or going to appointments.  The bikes are ever so colorful and fun to ride.

But, remember, it is BYOH, or bring your own helmet.

Shopping at a nearby nursery.

Don’t want to bike somewhere?  Are you thinking that it is too far to go on a bike?  Don’t want to?  How about rent-a-car?

We figured out costs of renting or using short-term car rentals like Zipcar and there is no way we could make the costs of rentals for shopping and getting around town equal to the cost of owning one’s own car in the city, paying for parking.

In our case, we have Zipcar right around the corner. Other companies also offer short-term rentals. I’ll bet some people walk as far just to get to their garage as we do to get to a car rental.

In any case, life is but an adventure, and biking is certainly a lot of fun, and it is also a very practical way to get around town.

Try it!  You may get addicted to all that fresh air.

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Beyond Painting Kitchens and Bedrooms: On to Oil Painting

Posted in Art, tagged on November 13, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Just this month I became a student of oil painting, something I always wanted to do, but never took up owing to other obligations.  

Until now, my painting experience centered on kitchens and bedrooms. This time, I took on painting for fun.

The Oregon Society of Artists (OSA) provides classes and workshops and also runs a gallery.  Its main office is right here in Portland and opportunities for learning and experiencing art abound.

My current teacher is Michael Orwick, a strikingly good artist. Michael teaches a weekly session at OSA where we have learned so many valuable things about palette, form, value, structure.  He makes us brave and encourages us to freely redo things, and to not get frozen early into a painting from which we cannot free ourselves up to try new things.  

Michael Orwick also emphasizes to us that art is fun. Just this last week he  engaged in a painting duel with another colleague leading to lots of laughter and entertainment.  It also resulted in two very beautiful paintings.

A few months ago, through the Oregon Society of Artists,  I also attended a  one day workshop of Marcus Gannuscio where we worked to learn how to paint the human head and face more quickly and accurately, using oils.  We worked to complete a painted portrait sketch from a model in one session.   I found the lessons learned from this class useful even when sketching non-human forms such as trees or houses because what he focused on in the class, was perspective.

I like it that these very outstanding artists see the need to encourage the rest of us to play along with them.  Just like sports, there is room both for professionals and amateurs.

Now that I have started to learn about oils, here are my first observations.

First, oil painting is very forgiving.  This versatile activity allows one to quickly shift the perspective, change the light, subtly move a shape or alter a color  all affecting the painting in a matter of seconds.  Nothing is permanent.  All colors and shapes are malleable. We don’t even have to wait for the oils to dry before we move on, or change them around. The fact that oils are so forgiving brings space and opportunity to the canvas.


Second, planning ahead improves the outcome.  Setting the structure of the painting and thinking ahead on what perspective and viewpoint one wants to project, deeply affects the results.  I have discovered that oil painting, like writing and for that matter even research, is greatly enhanced by planning ahead and envisioning a structure ahead of time.

Third, oil painting frees the mind and encourages meditation.  Oil painting opens up the mind and frees it for time to think, for meditation, speculation and wonderment about the world we see around us.

Fourth, oil painting is ceremonial.  Like a Japanese tea ceremony, oil painting has a tradition. The way in which we bring out the brushes, set up the canvas, put up the easel, prepare the palette, sketch the plan, lay out the structure, choose the values and colors, is all very ceremonial. There are strong traditions attached to each event and they vary by artist. There is even a tradition in the act of painting itself by looking closely at something, then squinting to look at it again, walking away and coming back to take another look, all leading to new observations, unfolding right in front of you.

Oil painting is both the art and science of ceremonial observation, put to the test with a brush and some oil paints.

I am so glad I finally remembered to take up oil painting.

Below are some of my first experiences with brush and paint, each one providing me with a new perspective on what I see.  No doubt, as I continue to learn, the style and color and depth of new paintings will emerge.  There is no longer such a thing as a finished work.  All works are unfinished, subject to change, open to a revisit.  

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Winter Rose Garden

Posted in Gardening, tagged on November 12, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Yes, it is winter in Portland, but the flowers are still beautiful.  

We walk for seven blocks through the city and suddenly we are on the edge of Washington Park, a 40 acre park we walk through to get to the Rose Garden.  

Today we hiked up the 220 steps to the top of a big hill on the way to the gardens.  The walk through the woods is so peaceful.  
It is hard to believe we just crossed Burnside Street in heavy traffic to get here.

We march up and across to the gardens, where things go from wild and natural to beautifully formal.  



The city looms in the distance.  
We take a few minutes to look at some of the flowers up close, then head on home.  It is roughly a one mile trek, and worth every minute.  

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Our Concentric Circles Discovery Program

Posted in Family/Friends, Simple Living, tagged on November 10, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Since we arrived in Portland we have been working on a Concentric Circles Discovery Program.  We start from our home with the closest possible restaurants, parks, stores, and places to visit and then slowly work our way outwards, in a circular fashion.
Less than a mile from our place we have discovered the Rose Gardens which are absolutely beautiful.  We walk there almost every day.  It is uphill all the way  and offers us the possibility, if we wish, to take a short cut that includes marching up 220 steps to the top of a hill before reaching the rose gardens.  If we are not in the mood for taking all those steps, there is a road we take instead that zigs and zags its way more humanely to the top.
We have also visited the Japanese Gardens which are 350 feet farther than the Rose Gardens.  They, too, are absolutely beautiful.  However, there is a fee for visiting the Japanese Gardens, while on the other hand, the Rose Gardens are freely entered.
This week, we discovered Pittock Mansion which is  about 2.1 miles walking distance, from our place.  We drove up there on Saturday, and this was the view (see below).  One sees downtown Portland, Oregon and Mt. Hood  in the background looking so powerful and beautiful.

 Today we visited Pittock Mansion again, but this time we walked through town and then zig-zagged up to the top,  a very good aerobic work out.

On the way down, to reward ourselves for the walk up, we stopped at Basta’s for happy hour where we had the best pizza and lasagna to go with a glass of wine and a glass of beer.

This is really too much fun.

At this rate of speed, we will be busy walking in concentric circles to interesting sites for years to come.  

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