From painting and working with yarn to sculpting and weaving wild grass to make baskets. I grew up in the Mojave Desert where the Sierra Nevada’s were my playground. In my teens we moved to the high deserts of Utah where I had the Flaming Gorge and Green River in my back yard. But the Northwest kept calling me from the first time I visited when I was young. I day dreamed all my life to be a painte
r of beautiful scenery. The kind of scenery you see on puzzles. I wasn’t able to pursue my dream until after my son graduated from high school and my mom decided to live in a care facility after breaking her hip. The time was mine so I dug out my paints, blew the dust off and dug in. I started with the images that had been dancing in my head. My son was so funny when I showed him my first piece. He cocked his head and had a funny grin on his face. I said “I kept telling you I could help you with your art projects all these years..you didn’t believe me did you? He just grinned and shook his head. I was asked a few weeks ago, "Why the name Bearpaw?" Great question and I would love to share my story. Many years ago on the desert before I was even a thought I my parents mind they had a small ranch. The story is my mom had drawn up many ideas for their brand for the live stock and they had decided on the one I use. Growing up it was on everything my parents made from leather to ceramics to paintings. I had asked my dad if I could use it for my paintings. Of course he said yes. But before I was into galleries he had passed and shortly after so did my mother. So they never really got to see the results of a brand they had made many years ago. I was lucky enough to be able to purchase the brand to carry on the Bayer name. That is the story of "Bearpaw Studio and Fine Arts" and how it came to be named and branded. I really enjoy doing my foggy days series. I have just have fallen in love with the technique and using dirty water just amazes me. I also like hiding images in the trees. I think the reason I like the fog so much is from when I was little watching black and white T.V. The mystery of the fog rolling around and hearing the horse and carriage before they appeared out of the fog intrigued me. When I lived in Utah we were going up highway 40 heading north out of Vernal to the Flaming Gorge when we topped out at McKey Draw and there before me was the most beautiful scene. There was pine trees with quaken aspen dotting the landscape before me with fog raising out of the trees and dancing along on the ground and floating so gently up into the sky. I was asking everyone in the bronco for a camera...but none was to be found. I lost my opportunity. It was so breathtakingly beautiful and serene. But I was not able to capture the moment. Many years passed and I had moved to Texas and finally got the chance to move to Washington state in Kelso. And can you believe I get to see the fog gracefully dance and raise into the sky almost daily. It seems that no matter how thick the fog is when it clears there is always animals busy getting along with their day. That is probably why I put the other hidden images in the fog. It seems weather doesn't really effect our forest friends.
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Showing at:
Gorge Art Gallery & Gifts, 360 Wa Pa Street, Cascade Locks, Oregon 97014
Art Gallery 505 Toledo, Washington
Teague's Interiors, 1267 Commerce Avenue, Longview, WA 98632
Member of ARTrails Studio Tours 2013/2014 and 2017 of Southwest Washington
Member of Downtown Longview Partnership
Member of Longview Outdoor Gallery
Member of Arts of the Mountain
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Art Competitions~
Artist's Magazine's Artistic Excellence Competition June 2013
Artist's Magazine's Annual Art Competition May 2013
Society of Washington Call to Artist May 2013
The Broadway Gallery Recycled Art March 2013
The Broadway Gallery Wearable Art September 2013
Donations~
2013 Art In The Garden Silent Auction for St. John
Medical Foundation for Breast Cancer Center
