The basalt cliffs on the Columbia river form free-standing columns that stand side-by-side. There is one spot where I return year after year. I’ve known this place of palisades rock since childhood. Man and weather have etched pictoglyphs in the red stones. Ever since one quiet summer day when I was stunned by the sudden rush of wings as a flock of desert birds flew through a crack in the wall of basalt columns I have been exploring that theme in painting. The explosion of wings, transparent and silent, fracturing the light and the stillness with movement is unforgettable.

~ Griffin