Mainstreet Gallery

On the move, again! It's Done! After a month of remodeling our new space, we have officially opened the new gallery and studio in the Flagship Landing here in Port Townsend. This will be my permanent studio and gallery for a while. Stop by and check us out!



We are located at 1015 Water street in the Flagship Landing. This door is the entrance to the gallery as you walk into the mini mall. very accessible and inviting.

It is a bright, clean, happy space to display art. We installed some great lighting and the paintings look great! This is the view as you walk through the door and enter the gallery .



It is a smaller space than I am used to but there is ample room to step back and enjoy each painting.

This space will be my new studio where I can work on some of the commissions that I recently acquired. it will be a nice place to paint, I even have a sink!





It is exciting to have room to display my larger works. The Madrona piece is 6 foot tall and 8 feet wide! 





I can even display some of my connected pieces. Each panel of this series is 24"x48"



The eyes of the beholder

Last Spring I had cataract surgery on both eyes. Because the actual surgery only takes about ten minutes and is "relatively" painless, I decided not to have the anesthesia during the left eye procedure so that I could remember the experience. As I lay there during the process trying to squelch my panic I focused on the almost painful bright light and the image I was seeing/experiencing. I thought, wow, this would make a great abstract painting so I began to make mental notes of exact colors and tried to find shapes in all the brightness. As soon as I was wheeled to the recovery room I found a scrap of paper and scratched a few notes before the memory began to turn fuzzy. When I got back to my studio I chose an 18"x18" stretched canvas, dug out my notes and proceeded  in my attempt to capture the shapes and colors from my experience. On my next trip to the doctor who performed the surgery I carted my painting along with me. He was amazed that I followed through with such a bizarre undertaking and was so enamored with the work that he purchased it that very day! They convinced me to try the right eye with a small amount of the anesthesia and I felt certain that I could make another painting to compare to the left eye. Well, guess what? Whatever the drug is that they use works even in small doses, I couldn't remember ----!

"Cataract" 18x18 acrylic  on canvas

This is the finished painting. I am happy with the result and it does bring back the experience. I am disappointed that I was not able to recall enough detail from the right eye surgery because I was really looking forward to comparing the two paintings.



Plant-a-thon commission

A little over a month ago I had a surprise visit to my downtown studio by Jude Rubin from the Northwest Watershed Institute.  She asked if I would be interested in creating a painting for the annual Plant-A-Thon where the image would be used on "tree cards" to be sold by students to raise money for their schools.   I quickly accepted the commission even though the deadline for completion was fast approaching.  The next day Jude took me hiking through the Tarboo Watershed where I was able to get a feel for the landscape and explore the salmon runs.  I went back to my studio and sketched out some ideas.  I decided to do the painting on a 30"x42" panel which would scale down perfectly to the 5x7 card size. After hours of editing ideas and drawings I settled on a final theme and sketched a full size drawing (shown below) which I submitted for their approval. 

 

 

 

It took me over three weeks to complete the painting and get it photographed and ready to be sent to the printer. We made the deadline and the cards are selling fast. Here are some excerpts from an article that   appeared in the November 27th issue of The Leader.

 

         

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 Local artist Don Tiller has created an acrylic painting especially for the ninth annual Plant-A-Thon.

The image is featured on the Plant-A-Thon “tree cards,” which are sold by students to raise a grand total of $300,000 for their schools.

For each of the 3,000 trees to be planted by local students during the Plant-A-Thon in February, students sell a tree card for $10; the card entitles the buyer to “plant a tree in honor of someone special.”

Best known for his bright rural landscapes and his playful rendering of patterns of human land use, Tiller often works from his childhood memories of South Dakota farmland. But when he accepted the commission for the Plant-A-Thon card, he hiked through the Tarboo Watershed for firsthand inspiration.

Titled “Thriving Watershed,” Tiller’s painting reflects his fascination with the interdependency of salmon and forests.

“The colors in the tree in the foreground represent the energy and nutrients from the salmon that trees take up after salmon spawn and decompose,” he said.

Tarboo–Dabob Bay is included in the image, as well as a barn on Dabob Road, a historic legacy of the Daniel Yarr farm that operated there during the early 1900s.

“I tried to include the many elements that the Plant-A-Thon program brings together: the salmon, the trees, the history of farming and of course, the kids out there planting,” Tiller said. The tree planters in the painting are modeled after a photo of youth crew leaders Heather and Daphne Hamilton and Hannah Spitzbart.

“Thriving Watershed” is now on display at Tiller’s studio on Water Street in Port Townsend, above the Public House restaurant.

Tree cards are available at participating schools: Port Townsend’s OCEAN Program, Chimacum Pi Program, Swan School, Jefferson Community School, and the PTHS Students for Sustainability Club. They are also available at Farm’s Reach Cafe, the Chimacum Corner Farmstand, and at the Chimacum Crafts Fair on Dec. 14-15, the final Port Townsend Farmers Market on Dec. 21, and at the Food Co-op from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Dec. 23.

 

Here is a link to the actual article:

Leader Plant-a-thon article.

 

 Also, here is the link to the card site where you can purchase cards online:

Ocean honorary tree cards

 

 

 

"Thriving Watershed" 30"x42"

Newest Painting

Quite often I am asked to do a commission and this one I just finished for clients of the Childhood's End Gallery  in Olympia. They gave me a couple of  ideas after looking through my  coffee table book and it quickly started to take shape.  I used my layering and glazing technique extensively throughout the painting and some areas have over 20 applications of glaze.  From inception to finish it took just under a month to complete and I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge.

"Hillside Orchard" 20"x 54"  fluid acrylic on 12 .oz gallery wrapped canvas

Over the years,  I have listened to many different opinions from fellow artists about doing commissions.  Some make their living by them while others have only horror stories to tell.  Personally, I enjoy doing them and think that to stretch my imagination and capabilities is always good.  So far I have only good stories to tell.  Any thoughts?