Urban Sketchers

The Urban Sketchers are in town. They are holding a Symposium at PNCA.

Lots of good sketches of Portland here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/urbansketchers-pdx2010/pool/with/4841397525/

I would like to have attended, but I didn't think I would have the energy and the skill. I don't practice nearly enough (except of Sadie, of course), but I love looking at their sketches.

The internet reaches out...

"All the paintings in this exhibition have Norrbyskär as a theme, an island south of Umeå in Northern Sweden"

For months, I've been anxiously awaiting the posting of an exhibit of paintings by one of my favorite watercolor artists, Nina Johansson. http://www.ninajohansson.se/

She uses found objects in her work to apply paint to part of her paintings or to stencil. She is particularly good at getting the values correct and unifying her paintings. Most of her paintings seem to feature a building and its surrounding area. Sometimes she'll include a bit of trompe-l'oeil finery such as including a black and white photo "taped" to the painting.

I certainly don't have the means to travel to a remote Swedish island to see the exhibit right now so I'm glad she is sharing. She's posting a painting a day through July.

Upcoming Events

It was 60 degrees on Monday and expected to be 101 degrees on Thursday. How's that for the ramp-up to Summer?

Garden 2006

I have an opportunity to do a show in October. OK - so it will be seen by oh, say, no more than 20 people, but I'm excited. It will give me a goal and a chance to try it all out. My client has a very nice cafeteria with room for around 15 pieces of art. They've been rotating shows every month. It will give me a chance to gather together 15 works of art, frame and prepare them for hanging, create title cards, and an artist statement: ("I like color. Thank you very much".)

It will feature both encaustic and water color works. I have three months to prepare. Can I do it? Crossing my fingers!

Feature wall - I plan on creating four 24x24 encaustic works for this.