ARTIST STATEMENT

I was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest and have been a compulsive artist for all of my life.  I currently paint for my own comfort, joy, sanity and compassion.  I paint to reach out.  I paint as meditation.  I paint because I can’t not paint.  I paint sometimes now with my grandchildren, a blessing I cannot describe to you in words.

I enjoy painting still life, often set up on the sill of my studio window.  I call this series of paintings my windowsill meditations.  I also have a longstanding love of painting en plein air landscapes.  It's thrilling to be outdoors, racing the light to tell my story of a single day.  Our beautiful bridge city constantly inspires me.  Photos and small oil studies painted on location become fodder for studio oil paintings.  I paint and paint and paint during the long and short and rainy days.  My small garden is a constant amazement and inspiration.

My husband is a sports fishing guide.  Our hours together on the mighty Columbia River, the breathtakingly beautiful Willamette and our magnificent Oregon coastline have led me to create many fish and seafood paintings.  My love for the fisherman has led me to love and respect for the fish.  A wonderful patron in the restaurant industry has encouraged this direction.  McCormick and Schmick own many dozens of my original oil paintings in their corporate collection, displayed in their restaurants across the country.

I work in oils on a rigid support such as wood or aluminum.  My work is narrative.  My paintings are both meditations and celebrations.  I think of them as conversations, stories listened to, changed and shared.  One of the very great joys in my life has been this sharing of my work with others, to have this quiet visual conversation over time and the distance between us.

I’m proud to say my Northwest Images on cards, prints, ornaments, calendars and journals have been represented in over one hundred galleries, museum stores and gift shops; both here in the Northwest and across the entire country.

Please visit my website to see more of my work.

Email Lin