What the Day Brings. . .: "An Uncommon Beauty--Paintings of Life and Land East of the Cascades"

Focusing on the Hood River Valley, the Klamath Basin and the Harney County area, award-winning artist Janice Druian and I are creating an exhibit of paintings portraying people who live and work there and the land that shapes their lives. The following paintings are those I have made so far for a show to be exhibited in April 2012. You can see Janice's evocative paintings of the very different landscapes, by visiting www.druianstudios.com, clicking on "Artwork" then "A Sense of Place".

My goal with this work is to honestly paint life as it is and to be true to the lives of the people who have agreed to let me paint them. I am continually amazed and gratified at the generosity of the people I have talked to for this project and their desire to let their stories and concerns be known by others. Whether the people are working in agriculture of some sort or not, their lives are directly affected by it. And with that, also directly affected is the very existence of the community. Growing up on a farm near Merrill, a small town in southern Oregon, and then living in more "urban" areas during my adult life, I have grown to appreciate how small towns and rural areas embody the meaning of "community". I believe that the health of these areas is integral to the overall health of our state, our nation and our world. It is in that spirit that I celebrate these people, the work they do and the way their lives are woven in with each other's and the land in which they live.