Siler Galleries

Larkin

admin — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 01:17:10 +0000

One evening a few weeks ago, she came into the gallery. Long flaming red hair, chartreuse scarf, bright red lipstick on full lips that were constantly smiling, and hazel brown eyes. Her name, “Larkin”, was so appropriate, individual, dramatic. This is what evokes the passion in me as an artist…the challenge of capturing her personality, her flare, on canvas. But the painting had to be really different from anything I’ve done before. I decided to use two canvases, side by side, 30″ tall by 4′ long, giving me a total of 8′ to show her dramatic red hair…and more of that hair than I had even first imagined. It came together quickly, naturally, and so satisfyingly. Hope you like it Larkin. It’s YOU.

Twelve Flowers

admin — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 01:23:57 +0000

One day, when walking in the park across from my gallery, I spotted a gorgeous dark-haired girl with a red flower in her hair, kinda Hawaiian style. The flower added a special touch of natural beauty and I remembered thinking…”How inspiring, something as simple as a flower in her hair sets her apart from every other beautiful girl I’ve seen this week!” I MUST paint her! So I walked up, introduced myself, and told her how inspiring she was. Her name, she said, was Rosey and she had the personality to match. She was such a joy, so positive, so happy, so warm, so…”rosey”. She agreed to pose for a few sketches and I was fulfilled. After sketching her, then painting her, I couldn’t stop. I wanted to keep that “rosey” feeling going, so I painted another, then another, and another, until I had an even dozen, enough for a calendar. Each was wearing a different color; each had a different face and hairstyle; but all had that same wonderful red flower in their hair. The first painting was named “Rosey” of course. For the rest, I asked eleven of my female friends to choose their favorite and I named each one after them. Two deserve special mention. Ava inspired me with her wonderfully curly hair. Emma is still in the belly of my daughter, Morgan, but I’ll meet baby Emma sometime in late January. I sure hope she likes her painting (when she’s old enough to recognize her name on it). Now, as December comes, I WILL do a calendar of my “Twelve Flowers”. Thank you, Rosey, thank you, thank you, thank you, for starting it all. Please, always wear a flower in your hair to inspire every man in your life.

Medusa for First Thursday

admin — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 21:08:20 +0000

This First Thursday of September, I will unveil “Medusa”, my first in a series of paintings with Medusa as my primary focus. Medusa, as you probably already know, is said to be the most beautiful of all Goddesses…so beautiful that men turn to stone when they gaze too long on her face and body. However, in this series I will also include Pegasus, the winged horse. I just discovered that Pegasus was created from the blood of Medusa when she was killed. Fortunately, being a goddess, Medusa comes back to life later…as all good Gods do in mythology. Pegasus and Medusa will be together again…Pegasus, with snakes in his mane mingling with Medusa’s, as she rides him into the heavens. Lucky horse.

Siler Wine Label

admin — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 20:40:10 +0000

Lucky, lucky me. Lujon Winery has asked me to design a series of wine labels for them. The first one will come out this year…using my favorite painting of my daughter, called “Morgan’s Balloon Ride”. I hope the label helps to sell more of Lujon’s great wines. And thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, Lujon, for giving me this opportunity to use my images for something more than just hanging on a wall. I’d like to find other places to put it…notebooks, towels, t-shirts, porta-potties (well, maybe not that yet). But, while most people like my art, I have heard that a few images look like *$#%! to them, so maybe those could go on the porta-potties.

Yolo Lounge

admin — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 22:07:55 +0000

Yolo Lounge is about to have their “official” grand opening. They have taken a beatup old space on SW 4th Street (between Washington and Stark) and turned it into a very swank nightclub/dinner house. I can’t wait to taste the asian fusion fare. I first met the owners when they came into my gallery asking about putting one of my paintings at the club. Little did I know then that they would feature my art in the most strategic of places, the entry area. What a treat to see my five-foot by six-foot painting of “Eve” facing me the moment I walked in the door. She SHINES there! THIS is the way she is meant to be displayed…so THANK YOU, Yolo, for allowing me to be a small part of what will be a very exciting addition to Portland. Have a wonderful grand opening!

Sketching On Vacation

admin — Mon, 23 May 2011 03:53:37 +0000

Lucky for us, a client offered to rent us their beautiful home on the big island of Hawaii for the month of May. Sandi and I have now been here for three weeks. sunning ourselves at the beach every day while, most of the time, it rained back in Portland. Thank you Linda and Bill.
Today, Sunday, the 22nd. the clouds blew in early and the entire day has been overcast…giving me the chance to write about this experience. Since I couldn’t bring paint and canvas with me, and didn’t want to mess up some one else’s gorgeous home anyway, I brought a few artist’s sketch books, charcoal pencils and pens, and waited to be inspired. Surrounded by flowers of every color, a turquoise ocean and blue sky, I waited for inspiration. But it didn’t come. I watched a thousand birds of every color, the kids in their bright-colored suits, splashing water…water that flashed, prism-like shards of color in my face. I checked out the beach blankets and variety of foods laid out for today’s Hawaiian lunch, yellow pineapples, bright green limes, pink-orange papaya, and a pink umbrella holding a bright red cherry in every Mai Tai. Still nothing inspired me. Was this my artist’s equivalent of “writer’s block”? My sketch pad was as blank as my brain.
Then I realized that I was looking at the COLORS, trying to translate THEM to my sketch pad….but I was holding a black pen. How could I possibly be inspired, when I couldn’t translate those wonderful colors to my paper! I needed to “re-focus” if I was to revive my spirit.
So I turned to Sandi, wearing her black bathing suit against her white skin and white sands. It was all in black and white! I asked her to lay back, stay still, and let me study her curves, her shadows the shapes of her fingers and toes….and breasts. Within minutes I was inspired again….overflowing with ideas, sketching fast and furious. I filled the sketch pad in a week, now on a second. My pencils are too short to hold, my pens out of ink. I need to find an art supply store quick.
Sitting on a old tree limb hanging out over the water, and looking back at the beach while everyone else is looking out to the sea, I’m seeing everything in a different way…without color. Its not only okay, its refreshing! I am happily sketching colorlessly on vacation.

You Know It When You See It

admin — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 00:38:52 +0000

Painting is rewarding, but can also be frustrating. As a particular painting begins to take shape, I see opportunities to create a certain “look” or a certain “emotion”…and then I lose it just as quickly. Sometimes the brush just isn’t up to the task of channeling what’s in my brain onto the canvas. It loses so much as the image goes from a thought (that mysterious electrical pulse) to a muscle movement of my hand holding the brush, to the scraping of the paint-laden bristles against the canvas. There’s so much in this process that I can’t control!
But then there is that magical moment when it all goes right. The image, in all it’s translations and manifestations, makes the journey from my brain to the canvas flawlessly. I don’t know how or why it works sometimes…and not others, but I know it when I see it! When it happens I can feel my eyes open wide, almost in disbelief, to soak it all in. Then I’m squinting to make sure I scan every important detail…and the wrinkles form at the outside edges of my eyelids as my face starts smiling with sheer joy of what I see. My heart beats faster and my temperature goes up. My body knows what my eyes have seen and responds.
This happens once in a great while, but when it does, it’s overwhelming pleasure that makes me glad I am an artist. I paint every day hoping for that feeling…and I just had it with “Bella’s Cello”. I couldn’t wait to share this with you…and wish that you have this joy in your own life today, Easter Sunday.

Happy Birthday Buzz!

admin — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 00:57:20 +0000

April 2, 2011 The artist, Buzz Siler, turned 65. Thank you to all the friends and family and Pearl District neighbors all who made it out.
Here is a peak of the great time we shared celebrating Buzz…

[Thank you Josh Leake for this awesome video. Who knew a mortgage broker could be so creative? ]

If we missed you last Saturday, please join us this Thursday, April 7, for First Thursday and continued celebrations. And don’t forget to ask Buzz about his ONE DAY ONLY Giclee Print Special (happening tomorrow!)

First Thursdays and Late Fridays

admin — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 02:49:03 +0000

Every major city in the USA and abroad has one day per month that is “special” for the art industry. For Portland it is the “First Thursday” of every month. Art enthusiasts are encouraged to go out that evening to visit the local art galleries. Its usually crowded here and, occasionally, someone even looks at a painting. Doesn’t matter. I love “First Thursday”. But that’s not why I’m writing this.

What I love even more than “First Thursday” is one of our own Siler traditions, “Late Friday”. Sandi and I have met many super people here in the Pearl District of Portland, but have had so little time to sit and talk…like old friends SHOULD do. So we decided to treat our gallery like our “living room” for one night a week…Friday nights. And it has made all the difference in the world for us. We feel like part of the neighborhood now that we have come to know you via our “Late Friday” get-togethers.

I suspect, and hope, that many of the people walking by our gallery wish they knew US better too. So don’t be shy. If you see a group sitting around with us drinking wine, laughing, crying, whatever…don’t think for a second that this is a private party. And its not a prayer meeting, therapy session, AA, Avon, Mary Kay, or any of those. It’s just us having fun with our neighbors. Everyone generally enjoys it but, if it isn’t happening for you on that particular Friday…leave and try it another Friday. We understand.

We welcome everyone to come by…if only for some temporary companionship…old friends, new friends, strangers looking for a friend. Our wish is to know all of the people in our neighborhood on a first name basis, and know them as “friends”. Don’t knock, don’t call ahead, just drop by…for a minute or several hours.

Don’t Paint Before Dinner

admin — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 05:03:18 +0000

Some dear friends, Daniel and Adria, came over Wednesday night for dinner…and to let me re-stretch and touch-up “Femme Rouge”, a painting my wife, Sandi, and I had given them as a wedding present a couple years ago. (By the way, Daniel and Adria both agreed that I could share this story with you). Daniel told me that the butt on my “Femme Rouge” looked exactly like Adria’s rear end. Adria confirmed it…I won’t say how…but it truly was an “uncanny” match. So I renamed my painting “Adria” to honor her and her attractive fanny. Later that night, after touching-up their painting, and since we were already in my studio, I started a new painting to satisfy their curiosity about “how” I paint.
I sketched a few lines and started painting-in the pink background color. But, moments later, Sandi said, “Dinner’s ready”. I reluctantly laid down the brush (a very difficult task that consumed about 20 minutes) and we came to dinner. After several bottles of wine, great stories from everyone, and loving goodbyes, I returned to the studio. Too late….the paint was dry and I would have to start over from scratch.
I’ll be painting AFTER dinner from now on…NOT before. Sandi doesn’t mind me coming to bed late (maybe 33 years of marriage has something to do with that), but coming to dinner late is definitely a deal killer.
Now, above all, I need to make sure Sandi knows that I appreciate her and her many sacrifices (cooking being only one of them) to facilitate my extraordinary life as an artist. This blog declares that to everyone.Thank you, Sandi. I love you all the love in the world! (and I am so sorry for the overcooked meat).