"The wonderful thing about Nature is that Nature is natural. The naturalness of Nature inspires in us our own naturalness."

--Sogyal Rinpoche

Going to the Mountains is going to another time. That's why we go. We went to the Mountains, Kirk Weller and I.

My photos were taken with a 1972 Minolta SR-T101.

From the campsite, end of day. Looking East.

First thing next morning, looking NNW.

Kirk's image, within ten minutes of mine (taken with a Nikkon DSLR). His deeper saturation of the morning light (returning light) just barely moves toward distortion, which begins to shift the meaning from "out there" to "in here."

A monotype from this summer, based on similar experience.

Just as the cinematography for a dream sequence in a movie is usually distorted to signify an interior experience, away from the light and shadow shared by the others in the story, any abstraction of an image is felt from an interior place like daydream.

Another monotype from earlier this summer.

These two paintings will be shown at Augen Gallery in portland in October 2009 as part of their exhibit of artists in the gallery who teach at Pacific Northwest College of Art, this year celebrating 100 years as an art school.

Map of Where You Go June-Sept 09

On any map, the focal points are where you are and where you want to get to.

Breakfast out for many friends and families. Most of the plates cleared, Saraah, age 7? 8?, asked me my name. She wrote my name and hers on her paper and handed it to me. "Thank you! What a nice drawing!" "It’s not a drawing, it’s a map!" she admonished. "Oh! A map of where?" Indignant now: "Of where you go!"

Instantly enlightened, I questioned no more.

Pavilion in Summer Mountains June-Aug 09

Ink play. We’ve all done that, way back to the Tang dynasty, and my hero, Sôtatsu (one of many heroes) did crazy things with it. What you make of it tells the tale. Oh, and then there are the Gothic brocades which seem to cover every centimeter of creation: the people, the floor, the space. Mind everywhere. Attention to detail; God's mind everywhere. We went to the Summer Mountains, bright and hot and strong and all of life and all of her mosquitoes welcomed us. We could build a little place on the lake, go there, sing and paint.