The Horse Radish — Carlton, OR

I not only walk the long staircase down and next building over for fantastic Willamete Valley Pinot, I visit the wonderful smiling faces and warm inviting personalities serving Sarah & me with our vino and gourmet delectable dishes. They also tout a great variety of wonderful cheeses to pair with our wine selection. Live music entertains each Friday and Saturday evenings featuring jazz, folk and soulful instrumentalists & vocalists from the Portland area. Come visit Sabra, Davin, Pat, Karen and Gwen at The Horse Radish.

Not only is there wonderful wine, great art from local artists, including myself, are featured throughout the facility to purchase. It's a treat for your palatable, auditory and visual senses.

Giclée — revealing the mystery

Wondering what is a giclée? Or how you pronounce it? I have, since hearing about them four years ago at a local art walk in North Park, San Diego. Giclée, pronounced zhee-clay, is the process of making fine art prints from a high resolution digital source using an inkjet printer. The term has been used since 1990 and now denotes any fine art print created with the high-quality inkjet process using fade-resistant archival inks. The printers utilize the CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and blacK) color process. The four color process allows for increased resolution quality & color gamut and allows for smoother gradient transitions, which means high quality prints closer to the originals.

The difference between lithographs and giclées is the process in making the prints. Lithographs are prints that utilizes plates to transfer inked images onto the printing surface. Lithographs offer the advantage with high-volume print jobs because the plates retain its high quality and effectiveness throughout the print jobs. This equates to creating runs of prints at large volumes. Giclées offer the opportunity to print at an as-need basis. Both processes produce high quality images.

My art prints use the giclée process produced by the wonderful artists at Hidden Treasures Art Gallery in McMinnville, Oregon. At Hidden Treasures, they use Ultra Chrome K3 inks using the Epson 3800 or the Epson 9600. Epson's K3 inks is their latest in pigment technology offering high density pigments "for an extremely wide color gamut", as stated by Epson. The K3 inks and a UV spray guarantees 250 years of fade resistance under normal lighting conditions. The proof is in the print quality. Hidden Treasures prints on various materials, such as mat, gloss, semi-gloss, semi-mat, watercolor and canvas. Sandi Colvin uses her artistic photographic eye and experience to create the digital images for your experiential pleasure. I have enjoyed working with Sandi and Jennifer to present you high quality giclées of my masterpieces. Sandi and Jennifer at Hidden Treasures Art Gallery will happily support any printing and framing needs you may have.

Painting — pursuing my life's passion

Last year this time, I was preparing for my last thirty days as a software developer. Leaving behind the corporate world of project requirements, meetings and deadlines. Gone will be the cubicle walls equipped with an ergonomic chair & keyboard, the latest technologically advanced laptop, flat panel monitors and speakers. No more green tea breaks and no more conversations revolving around the questions: "What's new in my life?", "What's the latest project that keeps me busy?" nor "What direction the company is heading?" Late nights in front of the monitor, illuminating only my face and my fingers tapping the keyboard, were eclipsing into the void like the absent workstations and the starry night sky peering into the windows of the empty office. Yes, the era of Lester the Software Developer was ending and Lester the Artist awaited fulfillment.

"Why?" you may ask. I answer, "Its about pursuing my passion for the arts." It's about love — love for the creative process and the life I desire to live. As an artist, I am enthralled by the emptiness of a canvas providing mysteries to explore. I am enraptured by each brush stroke that unveils the majestic colors bringing forth life. I enjoy discovering and rediscovering myself with each finished masterpiece. Expressions of life, experiences lived or shared, contribute to the evolution — bright with colors and textured strokes. Excitement reigns as I view the finished art with humble eyes. "Amazing" doesn't quite convey the feeling as I stand in front of the canvas & easel brushing with pigment after pigment vibrant colors of life.

In retrospect, artistry is evident with every occupation selected. This era of my life I'm choosing different tools to create my masterpieces. In previous years, my art form was relegated to keystrokes and an eye for binary details. Now, I prefer brush strokes and an eye for the sublime life details. Perspective has an interesting approach on life and I'm exuberantly happy to be living my life as an artist — painting moving expressions of life.