2018 Deschutes River Conservancy RiverFeast Signature Art

“Magic on the Upper Deschutes” is a 60 x 30 Acrylic on cradled birch board by Susan Luckey Higdon    

 

My May 2018 show at Tumalo Art Co. features the signature art for Deschutes River Conservancy’s 2018 RiverFeast event, “Magic on the Upper Deschutes”, along with other new works of the Deschutes River. The original acrylic painting is 60” x 30”, and I am donating 25% of the proceeds from its sale to the Deschutes River Conservancy. The show will open May 4, from 4-8pm and be up all month.

I have had the honor of creating the signature art for RiverFeast for 11 years and finds the Deschutes river an endless source of imagery that I am drawn to paint. Over the years I have painted many landscapes of iconic Central Oregon scenes, particularly water. I’m drawn to unusual and dramatic composition and my new works often focus in on the patterns and colors of larger scenes.

The scene that inspired “Magic on the Upper Deschutes” is an area where the upper Deschutes River plays hide and seek along Century Drive in the high Cascade Mountains, as it begins its long journey from its headwaters to the Columbia River. I’ve painted the area where the Deschutes River flows out of Little Lava Lake extensively, including the Kokanee that spawn just downstream. I find this area to be a spot of incredible calm and peace. “Deep Calls to Deep” is also a new painting in my May show at Tumalo Art Co. and is from an area just in from where the Deschutes River starts. In the autumn, when the grasses have turned amber, it is so quiet and contemplative. Fallen, twisted roots of huge pine trees add tremendous detail and texture to the river banks.

Also newly painted for the show is “Roaring River”. This large (48 x 24) painting is of the area just up from Tumalo State Park, where the Deschutes River flows through a canyon. The winter waters are crystal blue and raging.

I am a working member of Tumalo Art Co., an artist-run gallery in the heart of the Old Mill District in Bend, Oregon, open seven days a week. My work can always be seen in this jewel of a gallery.

 

Published by

Susan Luckey Higdon

Susan Luckey Higdon makes fine art in Central Oregon that reflects the natural beauty all around her. She paints landscapes, native fish in their underwater habitats and bird life. Painting large whenever possible her work is semi-abstracted using composition, loosely impressionistic and colorful.