Alaskan Raven Studio

Art in Alaska. Story of an Alaskan artist.

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Going backwards to go forward

April 20, 2015 by alaskanraven

Climbing up the riverbank reveals the remnants of cabins. Each one whispers a different story. Carefully placed logs sink into tundra.

Where should I paint?

A winding path takes me to each home and deepens my understanding. Empty homes. Cherished memories were dust on the windowsills. A mischievous wind carried hints of laughter and joy. But inside the cabins are only cobwebs and dust. It must have been hard to leave this beautiful place when airplanes replaced riverboats in the 1940’s.

We only traveled seven miles down the Koyukuk River but our boat took us back a hundred years. Gordon Bettles chose this site in 1896 to establish his trading post during the gold rush. It was as far as the old riverboats could navigate.

One of the buildings catch my attention. My friend reminisced, “We used to come here on snow machines in the winter and danced all night”. The General Store appeared to bow in acknowledgment. The dance floor had been removed but the old weathered walls held onto memories of festive days.

Her story made my choice of subject matter easy. I firmly plant my easel in front of the General Store and spill all the contents of my bag onto the ground. Paint tubes, palette, brushes, water, clips, mosquito repellant, sunblock. I went right to work. Old bottles peek at me from the windows. I study the weathered sheet metal and signage. Fireweed dance in the breeze along with the golden birch leaves. A perfect day to soak up local color and paint wildly on a sunny September day in Old Bettles.

Spending the day here made me feel close to the people who had lived in Old Bettles. I don’t know them by name but I feel a kinship from spending time behind an easel in the shadow of their homes on the Koyukuk River. I share that connection with you.

Filed Under: Painting Journal, Uncategorized Tagged With: Alaska, Bettles, cabins, Interior Alaska, Koyukuk River, Landscape, painting, plein air, watercolor

Near & Far

December 7, 2014 by alaskanraven

Near & Far is the title of my show hanging in Well Street Art Co. It is a collection of thirty paintings that represent my work over the past year.

The opening reception, Friday evening, December 5 was a fun celebration. Many paintings were purchased. They will be going to their new homes soon. I am very grateful to my patrons for their support. I am honored that my work brings them joy.

Near and Far are words with meanings that flow and change. Places that are near to the heart may be far from reach. Seasons change making the familiar unfamiliar. Brushstrokes of color bring a far away experience back to the present and make it alive. Distant memories are brought close again with reflections of light color and texture. Relive the moment.

Here are photos of a few of the paintings in the show while it was being hung. Take a “walk” through the gallery with me.

Gallery1

Entering the gallery

Gallery2

Gallery3

Gallery4

Gallery5

Gallery6

I put together a program to share my feelings about each of the paintings. If you drop by the gallery, be sure and pick up a copy.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: abstract, acrylic, Alaska, art, artist, artwork, bear, crane, Creamers Field, d'Orsay, Dalton Highway, falcon, falconry, fall, glacier, gyrfalcon, gyrkin, Inside Passage, Juneau, Ketchikan, Landscape, Mendenhall Glacier, Moose, oil, opening reception, painter, paintings, Paris, plein air, Pont Neuf, Raven, Southeast, summer, swans, watercolor, Well Street Art Co., winter

Beaver Dam

May 23, 2014 by alaskanraven

I drove thirty nine miles out of town this week and did an oil ‘sketch’ of a pond and beaver dam. Painting is a great excuse to sit quietly and enjoy the landscape while surrounded by bird songs and watching ducks float by. The light kept changing as the sun hid or came out from behind the clouds. I was intrigued by this beaver construction but didn’t get to see the architect that day.

oil painting, landscape, beaver, Chena River

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Alaska, beaver, Chena River, Landscape, oil, painting, pond

Last of the Ice

May 6, 2014 by alaskanraven

I finished one of my paintings from the North Fork of the Chena in the studio last week. I needed to adjust the colors and brushstrokes a little bit since it’s hard to see when I’m painting on location.
The blue water and deep shadows contrasting with the bright white ice attracted me to the subject. I wanted to paint the ‘last of the ice’. It melted as I painted so I had to move fast. The muted orangeish-red tones of the willow and alder contrasted nicely with the dark spruce.

Chena North Fork

Painting Plein Air
April 23, 2014
Spent the day at the North Fork of the Chena watching ice flow by while painting. 39.4 Chena Hot Springs Road. Warm sunshine and huge mosquitoes. The first mosquitoes are very slow so it wasn’t too bothersome. It was a perfectly beautiful day.

NorthForkApril2

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Chena River, ice, Landscape, oil, painting, painting on location, plein air

Floppy

April 9, 2014 by alaskanraven

Floppy was a moose with an attitude. With good reason. One ear lay limp on the side of her head. Permanently damaged, presumably from wolves. The scars on her face were evidence of the battles she had survived.

She almost always had a calf by her side. Every year, a new calf.
I had to include a calf in my painting of Floppy. But only a shadow. A few brushstrokes in the woods because the painting is not about calves.

Every appearance of this flop-eared moose made us smile. It was heartening to know she survived another winter. Winters aren’t easy for moose in Alaska and we know that she endured many. Her greying hair was an emblem of her remarkable strength.

Floppy wasn’t afraid of anyone or anything anymore. If she was in the road, it was better to wait until she felt like moving. She was known to charge cars, trucks, dogs, people… anything that aggravated her. She had been through it all and didn’t have time for any foolishness. I saw the look in her eye, and I could see her story. I waited for her to move into the woods before I tried to drive any further.

We looked forward to her visits and watched her amble through in her own sweet time. Her antagonistic nature seemed acceptable and even a little bit charming because of what she had been through. Isn’t that interesting? It makes me wonder if we wouldn’t be more patient with each other if we wore our wounds on the outside like Floppy did.

Floppy doesn’t come around anymore but I like to think about her. She gives me courage. She faced life straight on and didn’t let fear hamper her.

oil painting by Raven ©, USA
oil painting by Raven ©, USA

STEPS IN BUILDING THE PAINTING
Beginning the painting

Adding background

Adding fall color and making sure the whole composition points to the subject, her ear.

More information about this painting here.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Alaska, animal, calf, Landscape, Moose, oil, Oil painting, paint, Salcha, wolves

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Raven Ramblings

Shipment arrives

“Sterling, look at that!” “Look at what, Felix?” “That huge box. From Canada.” “Looks like the artist received another shipment of Kroma paint. Watch, she’ll spend the rest of the day arranging it in her studio. All those tubes of paint go in some sort of order.” “Paint? What is that?” “Paint is color. She […]

Edges are important

“Sterling, What is the artist doing now?” “What do you mean, Felix?” “She spends lots of time brushing paint on the sides of her painting. The edges. You know what I mean?” “She makes changes on it when she changes the front of the painting. The sides appear to be important to her.” “But why?” […]

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contact me with questions or comments

Alaskan Raven Studio
PO Box 80231
Fairbanks, Alaska 99708
USA
alaskanblackbird@yahoo.com

 

Represented by:
Well Street Art Co.
1302 Well Street
Fairbanks, Alaska
907 452-6169

Stephan Fine Arts
939 West 5th Ave.
Anchorage, Alaska 99501
USA
(907) 274-5009
http://www.stephanfinearts.com/

more about Raven

I ventured to Alaska before there was an oil pipeline and fell in love with the gnarly spruce trees, intense weather and mountains I could touch. Very different from the landscape in St. Louis. I was looking for different. The spruce trees: those scraggy, wizened, lanky conifers danced onto the first page of my sketch […]

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