I had a small piece of board left over so I painted this little 6″x3″ painting. Inspired by the horrible wildfires of the Western United States and Canada.
It is so sad to see and smell the smoke this summer, seems to be worst every year. I read that the fire season in Idaho has grown by more than 70 days in the last 20 years. If there is a silver lining it can look very beautiful at least twice a day.
I had this deep cradled board in my studio for years and never used it. I found it recently when I was trying, once again, to clean the studio. It was really fun to work on such a vertical piece! The dimensions are 12″x24″.
I don’t think I have ever painted rainbows before. Such a blatantly beautiful visual to behold it always felt like too much. But here are a couple I painted this week! I will resist the urge to use this as a gateway to unicorns, probably.
This is a painting I recently finished but didn’t take to the Pendleton Art Center for my show. In retrospect I should have but decisions aren’t always right!
I have a list in my mind of summer images I want to paint. Campfires are very high on that list so I am painting a little series. These are both 8″x10″.
As I paint these the Sky is filled with smoke from so many forest fires in the west. I definitely prefer my fires contained.
Here is a collection of some of the paintings I have done this summer. They are all on display at my solo show in Pendleton, Oregon at the Art Center!
It just occurred to me that I left out one of my favorites when I was taking this group photo so I will include it separately!
One of the last paintings I finished for the show at the Pendleton Center for the Arts. It is a 20″x16″ acrylic/open acrylic painting.
I mailed these small paintings off to a semi-local gallery in Idaho called “Little Pink House Gallery”. The cloud painting is 10″x8″ and the water painting is 10″x10″
I just had my show opening in Pendleton, Oregon. It is an honor to have my paintings displayed in such a beautiful historic building! A really great art community is flourishing here, the Pendleton Center for the Arts is at the heart.
Pendleton is famous for the big rodeo in September and of course the great Pendleton wool clothing and blankets. We took a number of tours in town and found it has some really intriguing history with an underground that is pretty fascinating. So if you you find yourself in that part of the country it is well worth a visit. Plenty of great restaurants, brewpubs and a wonderful new distillery! If you can make it before the end of August you can also see my show at the beautiful Art Center!
My solo show in Pendleton, Oregon is opening tomorrow at the Pendleton Center for the Arts. 
Besides all the varnishing, framing and packing I also spend some time trying to capture high resolution images of my newest work before sending them away. These are two 14″x11″ paintings that will be part of the exhibit!
brian sostrom 