The Art & Science of Soilscape Painting

Amity at Schmidt Farm

2010-08-30T18:05:00.000-07:00

Acrylic on clayboard panel, framed 18" x 24"

Portrait of Amity soil series (an Argiaquic Xeric Argialbolls) in research field of Oregon State University's Schmidt Farm, Lewisburg, Oregon. Albic (light-toned) horizon is subtle in this profile.

© 2010 Jay Stratton Noller

Depoe Convexus

2010-08-30T17:51:00.000-07:00

Acrylic on canvas

13.5" x 25.5" x 4.75" (convex)

Portrait of Depoe soil series (a Typic Duraquods) on a marine terrace, Seal Rock, Oregon. The Bsm horizon is shattered and these fractures are infilled with roots and other organic matter.

© 2010 Jay Stratton Noller

Willakenzie II

2010-07-31T15:59:00.000-07:00

Acrylic on canvas

30" x 40"

Portrait of Willakenzie soil series (an Ultic Haploxeralfs) at the 400 ft elevation contour on "Mary's Hill," Corvallis, Oregon. Fractures in sandstone bedrock form "eye" structures. This profile is exceptionally red for the series.

(c) 2010 Jay Stratton Noller

Troodos Forest Wall

2010-07-31T15:50:00.000-07:00

Acrylic and soil on canvas

24" by 48"

Portrait of soil (Calcic, Chromic Leptosols [Serpentinitic]) beneath a lichen-encrusted stone wall in forest of Troodos Mountains, Cyprus. Lichen species and the diameters of their thalli (bodies) indicate Medieval to Late Roman age for the construction of the dry-stack stone wall. That the wall is founded on soil indicates soil development and thickness was advanced and still present at the time of wall construction.

(c) 2008-2010 Jay Stratton Noller

Biscuit Scabland

2010-07-11T13:45:00.000-07:00

Acrylic on canvas

22" by 28"

Portrait of mound-intermound soils of the Biscuit Scablands of the Columbia Basin, in northcentral Oregon, as exposed in a county road cut. These are soils mapped as Bakeoven-Condon complex. Bakeoven soil series is a loamy-skeletal, mixed, superactive, mesic Lithic Haploxerolls; Condon soil series is a fine-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Typic Haploxerolls, by Soil Taxonomy, 11 ed. (US Dept. of Agriculture).

(c) 2010 Jay Stratton Noller

Bolt of Red Clay

2010-04-30T21:18:00.000-07:00

Acrylic on canvas

30" by 40"

Portrait of epikarst soil profile in hillside above Korfos Harbor, eastern Korinthia, Greece.

A Lithic Rhodoxeralfs by Soil Taxonomy, 11 ed. (US Dept. of Agriculture)
A Leptic Luvisols (Rhodic) by World Reference Base, 2007 (UN-FAO soil taxonomy

(c) 2010 Jay Stratton Noller

Finger flow

2010-04-25T09:56:00.000-07:00

Acrylic on canvas

30" by 40"

Portrait of a paleosol under the sand dune complex at Seal Rock State Park, Oregon. Stains of ferric sesquioxide finger flow features and gibbsite haloes of long-decayed root zones.

(c) 2010 Jay Stratton Noller

Morning coastline, Korfos, Greece

2010-04-25T09:34:00.000-07:00

Acrylic on canvas

40" by 30"

Portrait of epikarst soil profile in shoreface of Korfos Harbor, eastern Korinthia, Greece.

A Lithic Rhodoxeralfs by Soil Taxonomy, 11 ed. (US Dept. of Agriculture)
A Leptic Luvisols (Rhodic) by World Reference Base, 2007 (UN-FAO soil taxonomy

(c) 2010 Jay Stratton Noller

Seacliff at Yaquina Lighthouse

2010-02-13T06:37:00.000-08:00

Acrylic on canvas
68" by 44"

Portrait of a profile of the Bandon soil series (Coarse-loamy, isotic, isomesic, ortstein Typic Haplorthods) on seacliff below the Yaquina Lighthouse, Newport, Oregon.

Official series description

(c) 2010 Jay Stratton Noller

Installations at Allison Inn & Spa, Newberg, Oregon

2009-10-01T06:03:00.000-07:00

Permanently installed my latest artworks in the new Oregon wine country luxury hotel -- The Allison Inn & Spa. These were painted using pigments from the soils excavated for the hotel construction. One is a quintych portraying the cumulation of Missoula Flood sediments and soil development (named Slackwater Terroir)(pictured above) and the other gives the impression of what glacial Lake Allison looked like at the hotel site during one of the floods (Glacial Meltwater).

Nearly all of my publications of the past several years each have an accompanying painting. I now find my advancement in science walks hand-in-hand with my art. So, these paintings have two scientific journal papers as accompaniment.

Slackwater Terroir

2009-10-01T06:02:00.000-07:00

Quintych. 10 feet by 16 feet. Self-made soil paints, with minor manufactured acrylic paint in upper panel areas, on concrete panels, enclosed with site-aged oxidized, welded carbon steel frames and carbon steel mounts and underframe structure. 36-1/2" by 120-1/2" each for full dimension of 10 x 16 feet. Painting face is set 5" from two-foot-thick untreated concrete wall.

Collection of Springbrook Properties and permanently installed in the Allison Inn & Spa, Newberg, Oregon.

Soil minerals (pigments) gathered from the soil excavated for the Allison Inn & Spa, including the Amity, Jory, Nekia and Woodburn Soil Series and underlying saprolite.

Official Soil Series Descriptions
Amity
Jory
Nekia
Woodburn

(c) 2009 Jay Noller

Glacial Meltwater

2009-10-01T06:01:00.000-07:00

Painting. 49" by 145". Self-made soil paints, with manufactured acrylic paint patinae, on concrete panel, enclosed with stainless-steel frame and carbon steel mount and underframe structure. Painting face is set 3" from two-foot-thick untreated concrete wall.

Collection of Springbrook Properties and permanently installed in the Allison Inn & Spa, Newberg, Oregon.

Soil minerals (pigments) gathered from the soil excavated for the Allison Inn & Spa, including the Amity and Woodburn Soil Series (Willamette Silts deposited from glacial Lake Allison).

Official Soil Series Descriptions
Amity
Woodburn

(c) 2009 Jay Noller

Baker Creek Gley

2009-04-29T06:58:00.000-07:00

Acrylic and Wapato soil on clayed panel
18" by 24"

Portrait of a profile of the Wapato soil series (Fine-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Fluvaquentic Endoaquolls) amongst the scroll bars and sloughs of the mighty Willamette River, Benton County, Oregon.

Official series description

(c) 2009 Jay Noller

Nekia at Springbrook

2009-03-16T14:11:00.000-07:00

Nekia soil and acrylic on clayboard panel
24" by 30"
In private collection

Portrait of a profile of the Nekia soil series (Fine, mixed, active, mesic Xeric Haplohumults) on hillslope above Allison Spa, Sringbrook (Newberg), Oregon.

Official series description

(c) 2009 Jay Noller

Great Basin Soil #4

2008-09-04T01:46:00.000-07:00

"Prismatic Structure"

Playa soil and acrylic on panel
24" by 48"

© 2008 Jay Stratton Noller

Three views of painting

Great Basin Soil #3

2008-09-04T01:42:00.001-07:00

"Blue Horizon"

Playa soil and acrylic on panel
24" by 48"

© 2008 Jay Stratton Noller

Three views of painting

Great Basin Soil #2

2008-09-04T01:41:00.000-07:00

"Flow Morphology"

Playa soil and acrylic on panel
24" by 48"

© 2008 Jay Stratton Noller

Three views of painting and frame.

Great Basin Soil #1

2008-09-04T01:36:00.000-07:00

Salmon-colored soil under coastal forest

2007-11-05T19:46:00.000-08:00

Acrylic on canvas
50" by 66"

Portrait of a profile of the Bandon soil series (Coarse-loamy, isotic, isomesic, ortstein Typic Haplorthods) on marine terrace above Otter Rock Beach, Oregon.

Official series description

(c) 2007 Jay Noller

Collection of Springbrook Properties and permanently installed in the Allison Inn & Spa, Newberg, Oregon.

Mazama tephra blanket

2007-11-05T19:33:00.000-08:00

LaPine soil, Mazama volcanic pumice, forest duff, and acrylic on canvas
22" by 30"

Portrait of a soil profile buried beneath a blanket of pumice (tephra) from the collapse of volcanic Mt. Mazama (7,700 years ago) and forest floor detritus. LaPine soil (series designation is a Ashy-pumiceous, glassy Xeric Vitricryands) and other materials collected from central Oregon.

(c) 2007 Jay Noller

Blacklock I

2007-10-13T07:27:00.000-07:00

Acrylic and Blacklock soil on panel
24" by 96"

Portrait of a profile of the Blacklock soil series (Sandy, mixed, isomesic, ortstein, shallow Typic Duraquods) in coastal Lane County, Oregon.

Official series description

(c) 2007 Jay Noller

Roots of Green (detail)

2007-09-17T17:55:00.000-07:00

acrylic and soil on zinc-coat sheet metal and chipboard panel
9 feet by 4 feet

Global soilscape -- Desert detail
Mounted artwork on Fence Gallery, Center Camp, Burning Man 2007 (Green Man), Black Rock City, Nevada.

(c) 2007 Jay Noller and Gabriel Noller

Roots of Green

2007-09-17T17:35:00.000-07:00

acrylic and soil on zinc-coat sheet metal and chipboard panel
9 feet by 24 feet

Global soilscape -- Tundra - Taiga - Prairie - Desert - Savannah - Equatorial Forest
Picture of artist mounting artwork on Fence Gallery, Center Camp, Burning Man 2007 (Green Man), Black Rock City, Nevada.

(c) 2007 Jay Noller and Gabriel Noller

Mirage beneath playa soil

2007-09-05T06:06:00.000-07:00

Playa soil and acrylic on panel
48" by 96"

Detail of work

(c) 2007 Jay Noller

Shelly Soil

2007-06-21T22:47:00.000-07:00

acrylic on canvas
8" by 24"

Portrait of a profile of the Homefield soil series (Fine-silty, mixed, superactive, calcareous, frigid Cumulic Endoaquolls) near Narrows, Harney County, eastern Oregon.

(c) 2006 Jay Noller