The Etta James song is the perfect title for this post. For a variety of reasons, it has taken months to complete this painting, Lower Spokane. This was originally sketched in Spokane, WA in May of last year, when the torrential runoff from the winter snow melt had the Lower Spokane river raging through town. It was a dreary, overcast day: the water, sky, and surrounding hills all seeming to blend together into a monotone of gray.
Needless to say, I had to do something about that, and the colors and patterns started to unfold. The more I painted, the more I added (and subtracted, with the "washing out" technique), until I finally reached a point where I was happy with the overall surface and energy, hoping to capture the raging water culminating in the billowing foam and spray in the foreground.
I've had a lifelong love of Japanese prints, how perspective is raised, and subsequently "flattened": one of the hallmarks of modern two-dimensional art. There is ample evidence of that influence in this painting. Now, it is time to move on to the next one.
