<p>"The Vanity of Toil" is a pastel on paper by Thomas Benenati, who will have an exhibit at RiverSea Gallery during November. Submitted photo</p>

ASTORIA – RiverSea Gallery will showcase new works in pastel on paper by Thomas Benenati during November in “From a Bare Hand.” The Long Beach Peninsula artist is noted for his self-taught and original approach to pastel, and has garnered attention from collectors around the nation. The show opens with a First Night from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 3, featuring a short presentation by the artist. The reception will also have complimentary refreshments. Another reception will be held during Astoria’s Second Saturday Art Walk Nov. 10, and the artwork will remain on display through Nov. 27.

In his day job as a park ranger at Cape Disappointment State Park, Benenati is immersed in the light and landscape of the North Coast, and it is this natural environment that informs his artwork. His renderings of landscape and still life are executed in a flurry of deft marks that dissolve recognizable images into expressionist energy. A gathering of torn clouds, hills melting into a shimmering sky, tangled grasses suffused in light and mist, even a simple tumble of berries, all sing with life force from the artist’s mark.

In this new body of work, Benenati’s marks are stronger than ever, dismantling his subjects to evoke the color and mood of the world around him. He seems to see past the comforting solidity of matter to capture the vibrating energy patterns that create it. Through his hand, all is distilled into exuberant, yet carefully choreographed, composition.

Benenati muses, “Sometimes the subjects here seem to be absolutely falling to pieces and disintegrating. When painting, this descent is difficult to control, and frightening. I’m nonetheless grateful for the edgier, honest result, and opportunity to be free from the tyranny of what I thought I knew.” He considers each artwork he creates to be a milepost on a continuum as he explores new artistic territory, sometimes revisiting the same images until he feels he has expressed all he can visually convey about them. “The artist’s work is in the head,” he says. “It’s what happens in between.”

RiverSea Gallery is open daily at 1160 Commercial St. and features original art, fine craft and jewelry by established and emerging artists from the Northwest and around the nation. Business hours are 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays. For more information, call the gallery at 503-325-1270 or visit the website athttp:// riverseagallery.com for more information.