Studies, Railroad Cars + Storms
Study for Railroad Cars. Graphite on paper. 2013. For more than a decade I worked in environmental policy and politics. I haven't mixed that work into my paintings. No reason, it's just that I've painted the landscapes that I love and that's not the direction I've gone. However, that's changing. This summer the Whatcom Museum is hosting an exhibit called Nature in the Balance: Artists Interpreting Climate Change. I'll be submitting one painting and I've given it a lot of thought. For a landscape painter the changes we see - including strange and epic storms - are worth thinking about and capturing. Peabody Coal and SSA Marine want to build North America's largest coal export terminal in my county, at an aquatic reserve. They intend to turn a high bluff above the Pacific - beautiful land that is a burial site for the Lummi Nation - into an 80-acre coal dump site. I oppose the project for many reasons but it's been on my mind. A lot.