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Artist of the month inspired by travels
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By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
The painting came to her in
a dream.
A black, white and gray
piece of a spiraled keyboard,
ukelele, trumpet and fl oating
musical notes.
The artist, Doris Jackson,
titled her work Unfulfi lled
Dreams.
“I love music but I never
had the opportunity to take
lessons,” Jackson said. “My dad
played by ear and he thought all
us kids should have that gift. I
woke up the next morning and
I had this vivid image of what
I had dreamed and so I drew it
and painted it in the same day.”
Two and half years ago, Un-
fulfi lled Dreams could have de-
scribed her painting career, un-
til, at age 68, Jackson decided to
take a watercoloring class with
the Keizer Art Association.
“I’ve loved it ever since,”
Jackson said. “I’m obsessed.”
Jackson, KAA’s June Artist of
the Month, has long been fas-
cinated by watercolor, drawn
to the paintings at museums or
in people’s homes. But with a
career with the Department of
Education and two boys of her
own as well as three stepsons,
Jackson never had the time to
pursue it herself.
At Oregon College of Edu-
cation, now Western Oregon
University, Jackson minored in
art but never took painting.
She was invited to An-
gela Wrahtz’s watercolor class,
which meets Thursday morn-
ings at KAA, by Terry Witter at
a dinner party.
Next thing she knew, Jack-
son had turned the craft room
in her home into an art room,
and was taking photos on her
phone when she traveled for
future paintings.
One of the works in her
KAA exhibit came from a
photo of a fl ock of ostriches
she took while in New Zealand
fi ve years ago.
“I put them on there and
they looked so plain I couldn’t
stand it,” Jackson said. “I had to
do something else. They’re go-
ing to be a chorus line so then
I added the stage and the cur-
tains.”
Jackson has also been in-
spired by trips to Portugal and
Spain.
In December, Jackson is go-
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ing on a cruise around Austra-
lia and next spring will explore
France and Germany.
“I take my own photos of
fl owers or scenery,” Jackson
said. “I have a quirky mind so
you never know.”
Jackson loves animals. An-
other piece in her exhibit at
KAA is of her daughter-in-
law’s cat, Sasha. She’s also paint-
ed Misty, the former family
dog, with her tongue sticking
out from an old photo on a hot
summer’s day.
Painting people is much
more diffi cult.
When she took a life draw-
ing class in college and the nude
model posed wearing nothing
but tennis shoes, Jackson drew
the tennis shoes.
Jackson doesn’t set hours for
herself but just paints when she
has the time.
“I’m a pretty fast worker,”
Jackson said. “Everybody has
their own techniques, their own
style. My style is totally differ-
ent than someone else’s style. I
tend to like detail but not as bad
as some people. Other people
are much more abstract in their
work.”
Jackson’s work can be seen
for the rest of June at the Keizer
Art Association gallery, located
at 980 Chemawa Rd. NE. Gal-
lery hours are Tuesday through
Friday, 1-4 p.m. and Saturday
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.