Front of Card

Back of Card

"Wheel Lines"

Tethered together like so many Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs, the wheel lines bring life to the high desert of Central and Eastern Oregon.  Poppies peek out through fields of mint, alfalfa and wheat.  Two pheasants, usually so colorful, make their appearance here in black and white.  The whole landscape moves like a flag, flapping in a warm summer breeze.

- Paul Alan Bennett

PB101

"Stardust Everywhere South of The Dalles"

(The Dalles, Oregon)

Sometimes while driving, the beauty of a landscape envelops you.  Your eyes are not big enough to take it all in.  You want to stop, but there is no place to pull over.  Such an area is found in the Tygh Valley south of The Dalles.  "I must come back here," you say.

- Paul Alan Bennett

PB102                                                                

(Redmond, Oregon)

Roads cut through hills and mountainsides, leaving shapes that remind me of ancient architectural forms.  Stars spin in the sky, like small mirrors sewn into the fabric of traditional Greek costumes.  Highbeam headlights create a triptych out of heaven's night.

- Paul Alan Bennett

PB103

(John Day, Oregon)

The John Day Fossil Beds reveal strange rock formations, painted hills, ancient bones and thunder eggs.  Horizontal patterns of Modoc designs move across the land, inspired by my grandfather's bows and arrows.  Someone shoots an arrow at the moon.  Why not?

- Paul Alan Bennett

PB104

"The Orchards of Dundee"

(Dundee, Oregon)

An orchard is a child's ideal playground.  Trees to climb and hide in.  Branches that reach across row after row, creating a tunnel effect that serves to invite and protect.  The mazework of the plowed earth seems to say, "Come!  Follow me!  Let's find a rabbit!"

- Paul Alan Bennett

PB105

(Sauvie Island, Oregon)

Large orange polka-dots scattered across a farmer's field.  Muddy feet, tired arms and jack o'lantern smiles fill the occasion.  What better way to experience nature's bounty that a trip to the pumpkin patch?

- Paul Alan Bennett

PB106

(Pendleton, Oregon)

To drive through Pendleton is to become part of a child's picture puzzle-  the 25-piece variety with the large colored shapes for young hands.  Shapes snap neatly into place in the crispness of the dawn.  There!  Did you hear it?  "Snap!"

- Paul Alan Bennett

PB107

To live in the Willamette Valley is to know rain.  Cars are basically umbrellas with windows and wheels.  A Japanese fan unfolds, painted with a scene of a Van Gogh night over a wedge of tree-lined highway, topped by the lights of an oncoming truck.

- Paul Alan Bennett

PB108 

"The Road to Joseph"

(Joseph, Oregon)

Once, during a childhood camping trip, I held a flashlight up to the night sky.  A fellow camper said to me, "You know, that light goes on forever.  As long as it doesn't hit anything, it will just go on in space."  This was one of my earliest experiences with wonder.

- Paul Alan Bennett

PB109

"Happy Campers"

When I was 10 years old, Cub Scouts was a big part of my life.  One day, we made an Indian papoose.  The baby was made out of clay and placed on half a tongue depressor.  Patterned fabric was then wrapped and glued down around the figure- a warm and cozy "Happy Camper" in miniature.

- Paul Alan Bennett

PB110