I started this painting a month ago at a plein air class. I’ve added to it several times but fell like it is done now. It is a relaxer…view to ease your eyes.

This month’s Painting Challenge is a typical August still life…a picnic with watermelon.

I love how the high desert grasses looks when everything is blooming, especially the sage.

This big rock sits by itself near the trail. I think it is a chunk of basalt.

This abstracted highway scene shows Black Butte beyond the forest trees. I was unable to stop and take a reference photo, so I’m working from memory. I think the trees are pine but I have stylized them quite a bit.

$64 © Pam Van Londen 2010, Sage 2, 8×8 oil on claybord

August brings blossoms to the Central Oregon high desert. Sage and other small flowers are lighting up the cinder floor. I see Oregon sunshine and some small white flowers that I am unable to identify.

Our weekend trip to Central Oregon was an adventure. The terrain looks much like Arizona and New Mexico with red, gold, and white-painted hills.

This painting was done with a butter knife because I forgot my brushes! I have many more planned (with and without a knife), so stay tuned.

$64 © Pam Van Londen 2010, Columbia Gorge Ponytail Falls , 8×8 oil on claybord

Ponytail Falls is my favorite of all the falls I’ve been to in the Gorge…the ability to walk behind, wade the pool, look over the Horestail falls from the top, and cool off from the climb make me want to keep coming back.

The Beacon Rock image was painted plein air from Rooster Rock State Park. My son took a time-lapse movie of me painting, which I will link to when ready.

$64 © Pam Van Londen 2010, Cape Kiwanda 8, 8×8 oil on claybord

Cape Kiwanda was spectacular again this weekend…even Saturday’s fog was pretty. We are a bit sun burnt and tired from surfing and hiking the dune, but happy to have been there.

These paintings were done plein air in oil, on the deck by the park’s dory boat entrance.

I enjoyed another evening of painting outdoors last night. We settled into some property south of Corvallis where we could view the sun setting over Mary’s Peak.

The wheat fields provided a gold texture against the misty blue backdrop of hills and mountains.

Join the group on Thursday for just $15. Contact Mark Allison.

I’m hanging some work at the Albany Heartspring Wellness Center but they needed another piece for an exam room.

This image is based on a smaller daily painting done earlier this year. We’ll see how it looks on their deep orange wall.