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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 2, 2019)
4 Wednesday, October 2, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Oscar Peña’s work is on display at Sisters library By Helen Schmidling Correspondent As a youngster growing up in Mexico City, Oscar Peña loved to draw. He stud- ied art along with his other subjects, and his grandfather gave him a book about how to draw animals. He sketched a lot, but even if art was a pas- sion, it wasn9t destined to be his career. He set aside his sketchbook and went out for soccer. He opted to further his education at the Universidad Iberoamericana, graduating with a degree in electrical engineering. He worked for technology companies and lived in Mexico, Brazil, and the United States. When it came time to retire, Oscar and his wife, Gabriella, wanted to move to the mountains, after liv- ing in Florida for 15 years. Colorado didn9t feel quite right. They drove around the country, and 7,000 miles later, visited some friends that they knew from Florida who were living in Bend. Three months later, they moved to a new home in Sisters on December 31, 2016. Peña laughs now as he recalls that winter9s heavy snow. What it did was give him a chance to pick up a project that he9d begun some 45 years earlier 4 paint- ing and drawing. A series of Peña9s portraits and a land- scape are framed and on dis- play in the Computer Room of the Sisters Library through October 30. His first new drawings were with charcoal, as he rec- reated scenes from his cross- country travels. He found that people liked his work, and he began to get commis- sions from friends and neigh- bors. He dove into his work, experimenting with pastel, oil, watercolor, acrylic, and scratchboard. Since retirement, Peña has traveled to several countries, enjoying nature and getting to know the arts and cultures of different lands. He enjoys getting closer to nature and wildlife. On one such visit, he got very close to a mountain gorilla, and made a portrait he calls <Silverback.= <He looked into my eyes for a very long time,= Peña recalled. The memories and photo- graphs of his travels provide material for his paintings. So do photographs of ani- mals. Look for a pair of Saint Bernards hanging their heads through the back window of a car; a happy black lab, two boxers 4 one serious and one not so much. Besides travel, Peña enjoys hiking, playing golf, and taking photographs. He loves to read, especially novels, in both Spanish and English (he speaks fluent Portuguese as well). He still alternates the dif- ferent media in his paintings, but his portraits of both peo- ple and animals are very close PHOTO BY HELEN SCHMIDLING Eyes on Oscar Peña’s portraits at Sisters Library. to his heart. It has a lot to do with the eyes that seem to communicate from the page to the viewer. Peña keeps on learning, and he has studied techniques in all media by watching hun- dreds of online videos. He particularly enjoys scratch- board, where he can experi- ment in playing with the light. <I just follow my instincts and the videos,= Peña said. <The incredible Sisters artis- tic environment motivates and helps me. I enjoy other artists9 work, and I love to learn from them as well.= Friends and family con- tinue to encourage his artis- tic pursuits, and Peña will do The countdown is on. Fully Cooked LIMITED QUANT ITY Reserve yours today by calling, stopping by, or emailing sistersmeat@ gmail.com. 541-719-1186 • 110 S. Spruce St. Open 9 AM -6 PM Every Day PRE-ORDER NOW! MEATS • CHEESES • EATERY • DRINKERY Not Using Your RV? Want it Sold? CONSIGNMENTS WANTED! 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The Sisters Library is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. CBD producer sues hemp seed seller PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) _ A Kentucky-based company that produces CBD has filed a $44 million lawsuit against an Oregon company it claims sold it nearly worthless hemp seeds that ruined a giant 2019 crop. The Oregonian/ OregonLive reports the crop was destined to help ful- fill the country9s booming demand for CBD, a plant extract soaring in popular- ity as a treatment for health problems from anxiety to insomnia. But Elemental Processing of Lexington, Kentucky, claims those plans tanked when HP Farms of Troutdale, Oregon sold it more than 6 million seeds that were mostly <male.= The female plants produce a CBD-rich flower. The suit says it was only after the Kentucky company had distributed the seeds to farmers and those farmers9 crops had sprouted that the company learned the seeds were male. Elemental Processing esti- mates it lost at least $44 mil- lion in profits.