Fall Workshop Announcement:

 

Registration is now open for a Studio Landscape Painting Workshop this November  (2015) at Sequoia Gallery in Hillsboro, Oregon. 

I will be teaching an in-door 2-day class, sharing what I know via demo and lecture regarding painting the landscape in oil from photo reference, while exploring and developing your own style... Class size is limited to ten -- hope you can make it!

Please visit the link and scroll down to Event #134 for more details:

http://sequoiagallerystudios.org/classes/

Ready for My Close-Up, Mr. DeMille...

Country Barn (9x12) o/l

Just finished participating in the "Where in the World Is" live, online plein air event! For 3 days each artist painted one painting a day and video recorded their work, posting the videos on the WITWI web site -- you can view the videos and paintings here:

 http://www.whereintheworldispleinair.com/2015-artist/eric-bowman/

Jubilee 53 Ford Tractor (8x10) o/l

It was rather distracting and a bit of a hassle to video record myself (especially when I just bought a smartphone the week before specifically for this event)...no one told me the the phone is actually smarter than you are, and I still have yet to figure out how to use it correctly.

Under the Hydrangea (12x16) o/c SOLD

 At least the weather was nice each day, and I felt like I did some decent work, despite my awkward on-camera appearances... (Spielberg himself couldn't have made me look good). All-in-all it was a fun experience, and I hope it will be successful at the gallery... Oh, and did I mention the gallery hosting this event, the Illume Gallery has invited me on board as their newest artist? Not bad for a Hollywood has-been that never was!

Where??

Super Moon (6x8) o/p

Tomorrow (Wednesday) June 10th thru Friday the 12th I am participating in the "Where In The World Is" three-day live plein air video event! Each day 3 videos will be posted of me painting (one at the beginning,  one half-way through and one of the finished painting) then posted on the gallery's web site for viewing and purchasing. Over 100 artists are participating in this event, some as far away as Australia!
 

 http://www.whereintheworldispleinair.com/ 

Please tune in via the link above starting tomorrow and see where in the world I am painting!

Day Dream Believer

The Fairy Dress (16x12) oil

We have a large backyard on a slopping hill where our daughter often plays, and every so often I'll catch a glimpse of her through our window entertaining herself, unaware of my presence.  Of course playing alone can be boring at times, but it can also yield important life benefits; the old adage, "Necessity is the mother of invention" was never more true than when a young child is left to her own devices and must reinvent her world through imagination... 

I watched as she danced and pranced around the yard in her fairy dress imagining only who-knows-what in that special place where grownups can never go. I can remember having to entertain myself on lonely summer afternoons too when friends were not available, but I never knew just how important those moments of creativity were, or how they would enrich the rest of my life.

With a painter for a father and a musician for a mother there's no telling how far our creative girl will go, but beginning at the boundless universe of imagination is for sure the very best place to start...never stop dreaming my sweet little fairy!

Girl Crazy.

 Summer Time is Near (12x12) oil

I've been sketching my daughter lately, and wondering why I've waited so long to do so. Of course when she was a little younger, she had neither the interest nor the discipline to hold a pose for me, but we could have been collaborating sooner that now had I been paying attention.... Remember John Lennon singing, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans"? Well, that's a truism for sure! 
 

The Asian Parasol (12x12) oil

I am very observant when it comes to our daughter and how fast she is growing and changing, but my notion to paint her was somehow subliminally shelved until just the other day....sure glad I woke up in time! I have 2 more of these in progress on easels right now with more ideas to come; I just have to negotiate compensation with my entrepreneurial mini-model (and of course my wife's opinion on which ones are not for sale)...

Batter up...

 Mixing (12x12)

I've been doing some small baker/chef paintings lately...haven't settled on titles for them yet, but they are heading to the Howard/Mandville Anniversary Show opening May 16th in Kirkland, WA.

 Chopping (12x12) SOLD

The gentleman above is a student at the Oregon Culinary Institute, and the girl is from the Gluten-Free Gem Bakery, both located in Portland, Oregon.

Many thanks to these folk for allowing me the privilege of photographing them as they worked. I hope to do more of these culinary pieces -- lots of fun and of course something everyone can relate to!

Palm Springs show!

Ancient River Light (8x10)

Excited to be a part of "Portland Paints the Desert: A Plein Air Exhibition" opening at Brian Marki Fine Art in Palm Springs, March 13 thru April 8, 2015. I will have 4 pieces in the show that were painted on a recent trip to the California desert...

 Hot Potato Rock (10x12) o/l

 This January I had the opportunity to go painting with my friend, Saim Caglayan (pronounced, "Shallion") in the Anza Borrego desert. This desert in Southern California is the largest national park in the United States full of colourful mountain vistas, winding slot canyons and sun-bleached dunes. While I was fortunate to stay at a friends vacation home in Borrego Springs, the small local town there, Saim and another artist from Laguna, Terry Thornsly camped in Glorietta Canyon (the area pictured in the painting above). 

 Indian Head Sunrise (10x12) o/c

Although a little chilly at night, the weather was consistent in the low-to-mid 70's with clear sunshine every day -- a welcomed retreat from the cold grey northwest winter!

 Smoke Tree in Ella Wash (10x12) o/l

 I have always had an affinity for the desert ever since I was very young when my grand parents kept a trailer in Palm Springs where we used to go in the 1960's and early 70's. There's a mystery about Borrego, especially when the population is scarce (unlike Palm Springs) and if you love the sunshine and open spaces, it's the perfect place to escape during winter months. Hiking, exploring and just enjoying the sun on my face was a treat in between paintings...

 Above Rose Canyon (10x12) o/l

 Back in Orange County (near Laguna Beach) where I stayed with my brother and his family, I was blessed with good weather after rains just the week before; I painted in and around O'Neil Park in the foothills of Saddleback Mountain and on the cliffs in Laguna Beach where I met with local 418 Gallery owner, Vaness Rothe. She invited me to show there with her small group of west coast artists and Russian painters, and I left behind several unframed studies for sale as well as a framed piece for the current "Winter Collection" show she is curating...

 

 Split Rock, Laguna (8x10) o/c

 Laguna Beach is also a special place I have an affinity for -- our family visited there often thru the years, starting in the early 1960's where my mother's best friend who passed recently had settled to raise her family. For several years I lived right next door in Dana Point, renting studio space in North Laguna when I was a graphic artist in the 1980's. Although it has changed and grown over the years, Laguna Beach still has the beautiful charm and atmosphere that hosted artists such as Edgar Payne and William Wendt a hundred years ago...

  Shady Mountain Trail (8x10) o/c

 At the end of my stay, I was able to spend time with my artist friend, Tim Solliday and see his new studio in the tower of an historic church in downtown Pasadena where we also caught the LA Art Show...Tim is big in the western art scene and was instrumental in opening my eyes to outdoor painting in the late 1990's.  

All in all it was a very productive and encouraging trip,  and now I am back in my northwest studio, energized and happy to be with my loving family and back at the easel!