Pernoctalian

For the past ten years certain locations in Portland, and certain structural and natural elements in the landscape, have held my attention. During this summer I returned to several of those locations, including industrial Southeast, the unfinished ground of the south waterfront, and those corners, out in back of the new shops and restaurants, where North Portland still kisses the interstate.

In those places, massive concrete curves, streetlights and wires, rivers and their bridges, fennel and blackberry plants- elements that, though not exclusive to Portland, are emblematic of the Portland cityscape – combine with the shifts in hue and texture that mark the Northwestern night sky’s transition from summer to fall.

A third of the paintings were started on location: the rest were painted from the summer’s sketches and photographs in my Pittsburgh studio. Each morning, surrounded by  images of bridges and viaducts and power lines, I watched ODOT cameras refresh the still-dark sky over I-5, and painted as the season changed in two cities, three time zones apart.