"Nature's Call"

Soft Pastel

26 x 17

Going through photos taken at Trapper's Creek of Kokanee going upstream to spawn, I was struck again by the patterns of color and shadow. The stream is crystal clear and the fish hang in relief over a pebbly bottom. That autumn day was magical at Odell Lake....the campground was closed for the season, but there were people quietly observing, not the fish, but the eagles in the trees waiting to pounce on the fish. For me, it was all about the fish. At first you don't realize that there are fish everywhere and then you see them. It's amazing and so pretty. And very quiet. These landlocked salmon don't die after spawning, but will return to the lake to repeat the cycle.

This is the kind of painting that paints itself. I just start and it flows. The deeper you look the more color and nuance you find. I would like to do this super large in acrylic. Oh, that would be fun.

"Diversity"

15 x 11 image

Soft Pastel

When I first started painting fish underwater I went and took photos of them at the High Desert Museum near my home. The shallow streams and a pond brought the fish into close view. Recently I rediscovered the delight of seeing the fish and being able to take photos of their movements and observe their behavior. The brook trout are beautifully colored and smaller than the rainbow trout. The colors of the rainbows and young steelhead are more muted but they look like velvet in the water. I love the way they seem suspended in the crystal clear water. The pebbles of the streambed are like little gems.

Trout Catch & Release

"Sweet Release"

soft pastel

20 x 13

30x 23 Framed

$850

I've been wanting to paint this for quite some time. It's referenced from a photo by Tim Pask (with his permission) showing a rainbow trout the moment it is released. There's so much energy in the photo and the colors of the fish are bright turquoise, blue and purple. The water is amazing. I hope I've captured that drama. All along I wanted to paint this very large and so am working on a big acrylic canvas at the same time. It seemed like it would be fun to do one in each medium. I also love the natural abstraction of only seeing the fish's tail...

Summer on the Lower Deschutes River

Summer on the Deschutes

18 x 24 unframed Soft Pastel

The photo I worked from for this painting was taken last summer by my nephew David James Higdon on a fishing trip to the lower Deschutes river with my husband Tim and son Jackson. I asked him to take some photos showing the warm reflections of the surrounding canyon walls in the water. Tim informed me that the poplars on the right are not indigenous, but were planted near a homestead. There is nothing like the canyons of the Deschutes on a warm summer day...and this brings back that feeling.