Sometimes it Takes a Great Sky

Sometimes it Takes a Great Sky

​"Sometimes it Takes a Great Sky" - acrylic on cradled wood panel, 30 x 40 x 1.5.  Ready to hang.  Available here and at Artfinder.


Sometimes it takes
a great sky
to find that

first, bright
and indescribable
wedge of freedom
in your own heart.

Sometimes with
the bones of the black
sticks left when the fire
has gone out

someone has written
something new
in the ashes of your life.

You are not leaving.
Even as the light fades quickly now,
you are arriving.” 
― David Whyte

The gorge follows me into the studio, grabs my hands and begs them to paint her.  There are great skies there over the Columbia River...big skies, dramatic skies.  Skies that reach deeply into the water and pull me down to its reflective depths.  

We recently followed the light up Beacon Rock as the sun was setting - even as the light fades quickly now, you are arriving.  In that fading light, which raced down the cliff walls nearly faster than we could race up the rock, in that softly illuminated sky, my senses reeled for a moment - overwhelmed by the grandeur of that place, that day, my life, the bright...wedge of freedom in my own heart.  Whyte's words reached into my depths just as the light penetrated the river.  Oh.

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About the art:  inspired by a photograph I took in the gorge, this piece was loosely drawn with chunky charcoal, then blended into a monochromatic compositional map by adding water and titanium white.  Using only the colors from an exquisite fantasy painting created by my partner (a color palette shift and a challenge for me) and using a rubber wedge, squeegee, large paintbrush and a spray bottle, the requisite 80 million layers were added.  Linework created using stabilo woody pencils (my favorites).  The bulk of this piece was created during Portland Open Studios, with finishing layers after several days of pondering and sneaking up on the piece to see what worked and what did not.