Words

Landscape As Presence

During the summer of 2005, I made a series of long road trips throughout the Pacific Northwest (Palouse region in Eastern Washington, Rogue River area in Oregon, Northern Idaho, the Columbia Gorge and then the high desert plains of Eastern Oregon). On one of my return visits from the Palouse region, I drove down highway 97 and then took the “blue highway” 206, so noted by the blue color of remote rural two-lane highways as seen in the old paper Rand McNally Road Atlas. I was immediately entranced by both the rolling hills of wheat and sagebrush as well as the contrasting deep canyons that became ominously shadowed in the late afternoon light. After three more roads trips to this same area, I sold my house in Sacramento, packed up my things and moved with my dog and two cats to the tiny town of Condon, Oregon in October 2005 to specifically paint this beautiful and enigmatic landscape.

I would spend hours driving over the long empty roads to explore the surrounding area, getting out of the car when I was particularly intrigued by a certain vista. I would do pencil and oil sketches on site. I would also take lots of photos that I would print out and tape together back in my studio to try and document the vastness of the landscape. I learned the area was a unique high desert basin that was created by ancient lava flows and further formed by massive floods. It is a landscape of great presence and quietness, qualities which I try to capture in every piece I make. In particular, the colors and shadows in the late afternoon golden hour marvelously accentuated the undulating forms of the earth.

My oil painting process utilizes traditional oil glazing. I start by creating a deliberate stipple texture on a wooden board with titanium white oil paint. After letting this layer thoroughly dry, I lightly sand it down to eliminate extreme “peaks”. The texture that remains mimics the quality of the ground. Over this textured surface, I then paint a grisaille (grey scale) of the landscape image I will be painting, utilizing my smaller earlier studies and photos as reference. Once the grisaille is completed, I then start the slow process of applying many layers of oil glaze colors utilizing an alkyd medium.  I slowly work up the many layers of glaze over many months. This slow and meditative approach enables me to better savor the wonderful subtleties of the landscape.  Like pieces of different colors of stained glass stacked on top of each other, the many layers of translucent oil glazes create a luminous image of form and color.  I frequently revisit certain specific landscape points again and again. I often end up painting these places repeatedly, at different times of the day or different times of the year, trying to capture the strong emotional memory of when I first encountered these special places. I have since relocated to Portland, but I still make regular road trips out to Eastern Oregon as I cannot seem to let go of this hauntingly lonely landscape.

-Catherine J. Lee, 2024