Eileen Belanger:  Oils, pastels, printmaking


I AM A FORTUNATE PERSON.  I have a talent and the support of friends and family so that I can exercise it and watch it grow.  It's a very satisfying life.  I live in the country.  I have a wonderful studio overlooking a small forest, subject of many of my paintings.

I first painted as a teenager - a small seascape in oils.  I walked several miles down the beach to an isolated jetty and just painted what I saw.  I painted again in art school (1967-69) but I ended up taking a job in an advertising agency when I ran out of student loans.  I forgot about painting for the next 25 years until my son had his tonsils out in 1993.  To alleviate his boredom I bought him a little oil painting set.  He got bored with that in about 20 minutes and wanted a video game instead.  I couldn't let the painting set go to waste so I started fiddling around with it and I have been painting ever since.

A good friend of mine had to move to New Mexico and I wanted to paint a picture of Oregon for her to take to the desert, just to remind her what the color green looked like.  I drove up a logging road and painted Mt. Hood with rhododendrons and bear grass blooming in the foreground.  I decided to take a painting class and began painting outdoors with my class regularly.  I love painting en pleine air as long as the weather cooperates.

I have a new art love.  Printmaking.  I am etching and printing at Flight 64, sharing a press with 20 other printmakers.  I have an old love, too.  Weaving.  I haven't done much of that lately, but I might.  I have been flirting with the idea.  Also - Book arts.  I have sewn my first book together and I have been hanging out with practitioners of those dark and addictive arts, so I might be off on a new tangent.  We will see. 
"Viola School", pastel
"Stagecoach Stop" at Diamond, OR
"Menopause"
"Diamond Grade - Day One"
To view Eileen's ONLINE GALLERY SALES page - click HERE.