Portlandia

SOLD

11” x 14”

Acrylic, sumi inks, and gouache on clayboard

Portlandia was painted from some reference photos I took during a trip to Portland, OR and the surrounding rural farm towns last summer. This particular scene is from Hillsboro where some dear family friends run a blueberry farm. I love how trees are often used (or perhaps just allowed to remain) to delineate property lines between farms, as was the case in this scene. Landscapes in these farming areas are often very sparing for long stretches as foliage is cleared and controlled for agriculture, but between plots is where things get interesting. I couldn’t help but think of one of my favorite shows (Portlandia) when thinking about this painting which was all about highlighting the interesting parts of the landscape in a sea of relative homogeneity.