Home page Russ Mead Artist


Art that teaches, words that move, change that lasts.

I’m an artist, a lawyer, a professor, and an author.
But really, I’m an advocate.
I teach through art and fight with words.
I follow the pull of justice.
This is my path. I hope it helps you find yours.

Ink on raw canvas, hung tapestry style. I have a lot of requests for wall-size tree paintings.

A large elephant painting. Ink on canvas. Popular Zoom room background.


An illustrated book on the current fight for reproductive freedom. Available as a Kindle book for download. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D1T3N417

  • New large work

    I painted these four paintings for a showing at Lewis & Clark Law School. They are ink on raw canvas hung tapestry style. Size 4 feet by 5 feet. The show was part of a program highlighting art as advocacy. The highlight was a presentation by the world-famous animal rights photographer Jo-Anne McArthur.

  • Maybe a found object frame?

    I came across this pile of wood from the remodel of the Seaside fire station. I thought, maybe I could use this scrap blocking as a rough frame of a painting.

  • First Post

    I’ve decided that most of my work should be ink on canvas. It took quite a while to learn how to use ink with a brush on rough, untreated canvas. I like the results I’m getting. What I like even more is the archival quality of ink on canvas. Paper is unforgiving. Canvas lives on nearly forever. Look at this small detail on a 5-foot by 7-foot painting. The shading is just magical. After setting the ink to make the painting archival, I rolled it up. Then, it shipped out in a mailing tube to its new home in Colorado. Russ

    Detail of ink on raw canvas on 7-foot painting.