Art, Figure Painting, oil painting, Painting, Study

Head

Bill Sharp

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11" x 14" oil on linen
11″ x 14″ oil on linen

I try to do a self portrait every year around my birthday (My birthday is in March and you can look back through the archives to see other entries in the series). The project started around an assignment I was given in college to do a self portrait as I was then (20-ish years old) and then another predicting how I thought I’d look at age 60. I turned 60 this year so it’s sort of the completion of the project but I’ve been having a hard time producing the painting.

This painting was not intended to be the official yearly selfie but I offer it now until I get serious about completing the project.

The actual intention of this painting was to paint it over again pushing it as far as I could before I got bored with it. I repainted over the same canvas over the course of 6 days and this is where it ended up. Below are photos of the canvas at the end of each session

self-5-4-13  … self-5-4-13-2 …  self-5-4-13-3 …  self-5-4-13-4 … self-5-4-13-5 …  Click on each thumbnail for a larger view

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Art, Exhibits, Figure Painting, Landscape, Painting, Plein Air, Portland, Urban Landscape

Under shelter at Union Station

Bill Sharp

I went with a friend to paint at the Portland Train station – Union Station. It was supposed to rain so I proposed we meet there and paint from under the cover of the overpass across the street from the station. It worked out pretty well. It rained hard and I only got a little wet (from a drain in the overpass) This is the resulting painting.

"Outside Union Station" 9" x 12" oil on linen panel
“Outside Union Station”
9″ x 12″ oil on linen panel

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Art, gouache, Landscape, Painting, Plein Air, Portland, Sauvie Island, watercolor

more painting outside – a little farther from home

Bill Sharp

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The hunting season is over on Sauvie Island, and I headed over to paint last weekend. Unfortunately, when I was half way there, I realized I had forgotten to pack any panels to paint on. This is the second time I’ve done this. I suppose age is catching up with me. Rather than turn back, I continued on knowing that I had my watercolor paintbox and sketchbooks along.

"Multnomah Channel" 7 x 10 watercolor
“Multnomah Channel” 7 x 10 watercolor

I went to a part of the island where I haven’t painted for several years and found a nice spot along the Multnomah Channel ( a narrow side channel of the Wilamette River, and started the piece above as several sailboats and fishing boats came and went. While I waited for the colors to dry on this one, I started the one below, of the same subject.

"Multnomah Channel sketch 5 x 8 watercolor and ink
“Multnomah Channel sketch
5 x 8 watercolor and ink

I moved on down the road and did one more from a spot I painted a few years ago. It’s a view of the famous  volcano, Mt St Helens, across the cow patures.

Mt St Helens from Sauvie Island gouache
Mt St Helens from Sauvie Island
gouache

I was hoping for some cows but they didn’t show up until later

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Art, Landscape, oil painting, Painting, Plein Air, Portland

Painting outside

Bill Sharp

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Deck-Chair-4-2013-2
“Deck Chair”
6″ x 8″ oil on panel

The weather has been especially wonderful in Oregon this spring. Although I’m tied to my home office during the work week, I’ve stolen enough time to do a few little studies outside. These two were painted from the deck of my office.

"Shrub" 6" x 6" oil on panel
“Shrub”
6″ x 6″ oil on panel

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Art, Landscape, oil painting, Painting, Portland, Urban Landscape

South Park Blocks

Bill Sharp

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"South Park Blocks" 18" x 24" oil on linen panel
“South Park Blocks” 18″ x 24″ oil on linen panel

This relatively new neighborhood sprung up seemingly overnight on the South West shore of the Wilamette River in Portland. The most prominent resident is the Oregon Health Sciences University Hospital. The main hospital is on a hill overlooking the river and the two campuses are connected by a tram (not pictured here).

I’ve done some sketching from the upper campus, looking down to this one. Here is one I did in 2010, when there were fewer buildings.

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Art, Landscape, Painting, Plein Air, watercolor

Twelve Days in Kaua’i

Bill Sharp

I spent 12 days in Kauai with my family. It was great to get away and spend time together in beautiful Kaua’i. The cones of my eyes are now so used to bright sun and saturated colors that everything looks one color now that I’m home in the grey Pacific NW.

I slipped away to do a little bit of sketching but I really wasn’t prepared for the intensity of the sun when I wasn’t in the shade.

7" x 10" watercolor in sketchbook
7″ x 10″ watercolor in sketchbook

This was done in Hanalei, near the north end of the island. It’s a surfer beach, I forget the name of this particular one.

7" x 10" watercolor
7″ x 10″ watercolor

I never figured out the name of this mountain in Anahola on the east shore. I found a nice shady spot at the dead end of the road to do this one.

7" x 10" water color and ink
7″ x 10″ water color and ink

There was a large vacant spot, between resort condos, on the beach near Kapaa on the east shore. The beach was quiet and I was pretty much on my own here. If you didn’t look back to shore, it was easy to imagine being on a deserted island. This is the view in the opposite direction.

When I turned around toward the ocean, this is was the view:

Deserted beach in Kapaa

Art, Landscape, Painting, Study, Urban Landscape, watercolor

Monkey Ward on a rainy night

Bill Sharp

Alex, if you’re reading, I tried to answer your email but my reply was returned. You may have mistyped your email address.

Montgomery Park in the rain - 6" x 8" watercolor and ink
Montgomery Park in the rain – 6″ x 8″ watercolor and ink

This old Montgomery Ward store was converted, years ago, into Montgomery Park and is now used as office space and convention center. When it was built, in 1920, it was the largest building in Portland.

Art, oil painting, Painting, Portland, Urban Landscape

Barge

Bill Sharp

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"Betsy Arntz Barge Under Construction" 30" x 40" oil on linen
“Betsy Arntz Barge Under Construction” 30″ x 40″ oil on linen

This is a painting of a barge while being built at the Vigor Industries Shipyard on Swan Island, Portland, OR. I believe the barge is a double hulled oil barge in service in the Seattle area.

I could hang out here and draw for years, if they’d let me. Unfortunately the only times I’ve been there were during the Industry and Art shows, which were held in one of their hangars the last two years.

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Art, Exhibits, oil painting, Painters, Painting, Portland, Urban Landscape

OIL, WATER and INK opening reception tonight

Bill Sharp

REMINDER. The opening reception for

OIL, WATER and INK: Artistic Interpretations of the Built Environment

with paintings by Shawn Demarest, prints by Beth Kerschen and paintings and sketchbooks by me is tonight,

Feb 7th from 5:30 til 8:30

at

AIA Center for Architecture. 403 NW 11th Ave Portland. (NW 11th and Flanders).

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'Red Dumpster in NW PDX' 10" x 12" oil on linen panel
‘Red Dumpster in NW PDX’ 10″ x 12″ oil on linen panel

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Art, gouache, Landscape, Painting, Portland, Sketching, Urban Landscape, watercolor

Twenty Third Ave Market

Bill Sharp

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‘Twenty Third Ave Market’ 9″ x 13″ – ink, watercolor and gouache

This neighborhood market, at the corner of NW 23rd and Thurman, is one of the last buildings, in this neighborhood, that has not been gentrified. It was kind of a seedy area, when I first moved to Portland, about 30 years ago. Most of the street is now lined with boutiques and restaurants and in my landscaping days, I worked on some of the properties here. There’s a great breakfast place across the street called Besaws, which is in a building that goes back to 1903. The market building looks to be of the same vintage.

Art, oil painting, Painting

I’ll be showing some paintings and sketches in February

Bill Sharp

Oil-Ink-Water-announcementI’m happy to announce that I’ll be exhibiting work as part of a three person show at the AIA Center for Architecture next month. The show opens on Feb 7 with a First Thursday reception from 5PM – 9PM and continues through March 5th.

I’ll be showing with fellow Portland artists, Shawn Demarest and Beth Kerschen.

I’m particularly happy that I’ll be able to show my sketchbooks as well as paintings. I hope you’ll come by and see the show.

Art, Landscape, oil painting, Painting, Portland, Urban Landscape

Shipyard At Sunset

Bill Sharp

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"Shipyard" 33" x 44" oil on linen
“Shipyard” 33″ x 44″ oil on linen

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This is a scene at the Vigor Industrial Shipyard on Swan Island in Portland. I’ve had fun experimenting with different ways of applying paint. I used a brayer, strings soaked in paint, spatula, various knives, a whisk broom, etc. I did not use brushes very much on this piece.

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I’ve been painting larger pieces on linen tacked to my wall. I leave a 4″ border around it for attaching it to stretcher bars.  Once I get to this point, the border becomes distracting and I need to take it down and stretch it to really see what it looks like and to make sure the image fits the stretcher properly. I may change it after it’s stretched.

Art, Landscape, oil painting, Painting, Portland, Urban Landscape

Twelve West Building

Bill Sharp

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twelve-west-bldg---9
“Twelve West Building” 33″ x 24″ oil on canvas

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I’ve had this one on the easel for quite a while but I think I’m done with it now. What caught my eye was the interlocking shapes of the upper part of the building with the shapes caused by reflections in the lower part. It was a lot of fun to paint and I’m kind of sorry I’m done with it.

Art, gouache, Landscape, Painting, Portland, Study, Urban Landscape, watercolor

Mixed Media

Bill Sharp

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“One Dolphin” 14″ x 10″ watercolor, gouache, ink and water soluble crayon

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I’ve been doing studies for some larger oil paintings. I always seem to work more freely with watercolor and I’d like to learn ways to incorporate some of that into the oils.

Art, oil painting, Painting, Portland, Urban Landscape

Under the Fremont Bridge

Bill Sharp

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‘Under the Bridge’ 18″ x 24″ oil on linen panel

This is a view of the under side of the Fremont Bridge, looking across the Wilamette River from the west bank to the east. This is a studio painting although I’ve painted this same view plein air and posted some studies, for this painting, a couple of weeks ago.

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Art, Landscape, Life, oil painting, Painters, Painting, Portland, Portland Open Studios

Thanks to all who visited my studio

Bill Sharp

Thanks everyone who traveled out to the western frontier of the Portland Open Studios tour, over the last 2 weekends. Although I didn’t get as many visitors as I may have gotten, were I more centrally located, I got the sense that many folks who came by did so because they’d looked up my website and liked what they saw.

I also had the opportunity to meet some followers of my blog, which is always great.

A few paintings found good homes, including one of my favorite recent pieces:

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‘Mooring Dolphins’ 24″ x 48″ oil on canvas

I’d have to say that the most popular work I had displayed was my sketchbooks. It’s always fun (and a little nerve wracking) to share them because they’re so personal. Here’s a panorama of the sketchbook table.

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Thanks again to Portland Open Studios and all the art enthusiasts who visited.

Art, Exhibits, Interior, oil painting, Painting, Portland, Portland Open Studios, Still Life, Studio pictures

Studio corner

Bill Sharp

This past weekend was the first weekend of the 2012 Portland Open Studios tour. I worked on this study of the studio corner while a slow but steady stream of folks perused my recent oil paintings and sketchbooks.

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‘Studio Corner” 9″ x 12″ oil on linen

Thanks everyone who came by or checked my website. I’m looking forward to the second weekend of the tour.

Art, Landscape, oil painting, Painting, Portland, Portland Open Studios, Urban Landscape

Mt St Helens from Kelley Point Park

Bill Sharp
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Mt St Helens from Kelley Point Park 36″ x 72″ oil on linen

I’ve been working on this painting for the last several months. I’m declaring it finished, even though I could probably go on tweaking it for another couple of months. It will be in the studio during the Portland Open Studios, over the next two weekends.

Art, Exhibits, Portland, Portland Open Studios

2012 Portland Open Studios

Bill Sharp

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My studio will be open on October 13, 14 and 20, 21 from 10AM to 5PM, as part of the 2012 Portland Open Studios . Full color guides with map to artist’s studios ($15) or maps alone ($5) are availble at the link above or at New Seasons Markets all over town.

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I’ll have work displayed and in progress in the studio. I hope you’ll stop by and see what I’m up to.

Art, gouache, Landscape, Painting, Portland, Sketching, Urban Landscape, watercolor

New bridge construction sketch

Bill Sharp

I visited the construction site of the new Portland Milwaukie bridge, which will be for light rail, cyclists and pedestrians.

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9″ x 11″ watercolor with black and white ink

Here’s a link to details about the bridge  http://trimet.org/pm/construction/bridge.htm

They have very cool time lapse videos of the entire construction process at this link  http://trimet.org/pm/construction/bridgecams.htm#

Art, Landscape, oil painting, Painting, Portland, Sketching, Urban Landscape, watercolor

Fremont Bridge studies

Bill Sharp

I’ve always been a seat of my pants kind of painter and enjoyed just starting in on a canvas without a plan and allowing the painting to become what ever it will. But, having struggled to complete two large paintings without a real plan, I’ve decided that it’s probably a good idea to do some studies before launching into a big project so that I know what I’m trying to accomplish. Maybe I’ll have a better idea of when I’m done, for one thing.

Here are a couple of studies I’m considering for a larger piece.

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“Under the Fremont Bridge – sketch” 5″ x 7″ watercolor and ink

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“Under the Fremont Bridge – value study” 9″ x 12″ oil on panel

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