Adrianne Martin : Painting in Portland

Happy final day of 2011!

2011-12-31T18:11:00.000-08:00

This has been a long year for a lot of people for a lot of different reasons. Personally, we lost two of our pet friends, gained another, and my husband had a lot of health challenges this year. I've been scrambling to catch up with bills and taxes, which seems like a big hill. But we're looking forward to 2012.

I don't have any art to post, but here is a link to a drawing and painting video by Nina from Sweden. I love her work and I love this video:

Nina's drawing video

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012!

A couple of visual blogs

2011-12-19T12:38:00.000-08:00

Photo by Margaret Oomen, ResurrectionFern (Click to enlarge and see the snails)

While it is fun to read blogs, sometimes I just want to relax with a few words and some beautiful photos.

Margaret Oomen, in the Toronto area, takes gorgeous photos of the natural area around her home and the east coast of Canada. She also creates various beautiful hand-made items. Her blog is called ResurrectionFern.

Another blog containing lots of homey photos and snippets of homelife is called Habit and has several contributers.

Both of these blogs are updated often and are a quick stop to reflect and enjoy the beauty of the world.

As for my own photos, I think I lost my digital point and shoot camera. Plus, the preview pane was broken, so it was a little awkward to change menu settings. In the meantime, I'll have to make do with my Windows phone camera.

Sketch of Honey the dog.

Wild Arts Festival

2011-12-04T18:48:00.000-08:00

Encaustic: Rue de Pic

The Audubon Society of Portland puts on the Wild Arts Festival every year - this was the 31st. This year, the event was November 19 and 20, 2011. I created a painting for the 6x6 show. The art piece needed to have a bird as the subject. Art Media, now Blick Art, donated a 6x6 canvas. Each artist created a work of art and it is sold for $40. The artist received acknowledgement, free tickets to the events and some nice coupons.

I painted a watercolor picture on water color paper and then affixed it to the canvas and added the encaustic to it. Using heavy staples and a dark colored encaustic on the sides definitely give it a bit of an industrial look. As usual, I enjoyed the combination of water color painting, language play (pic = woodpecker in French, and the Latin for Flickr is up in the left corner), real postage stamps and encaustic paint.

The show is fun - lots of people and art. Bob and I showed up Sunday afternoon and I was pleased to see my work was gone. Phew - I didn't have to buy it myself! I picked up some art cards of herons - inspiration for painting another favorite bird.

I barely made the deadline for the show. I've been pretty lax and felt a bit rusty, but I managed to get something together!

House of Dreams for Kitty Cats

2011-10-13T23:49:00.000-07:00

On November 12, 2011, House of Dreams cat shelter is having a Pretty Kitty Craft Bazaar at Tabor Space, 5441 SE Belmont Ave in Portland, Oregon. They will have all sorts of fun gifts to buy which will help the shelter continue to help kitties with no homes, including a room of Feline Leukemia positive cats.

I won't be able to attend, but I did donate some of my Speedy cards:

Speaking of Speedy, this poor kitty is really feeling the weather. He's very wobbly on his feet right now. At 18 years old, this Age Chart says he is around 88 in human years. We visited Bob's sweet grandma Reggie to celebrate her 89th birthday last night, and she would agree that she's been unsteady on her feet lately too!

If you can't make it to the Bazaar, I'll be listing cards on Etsy soon - the one above and a close-up in a vertical format.

Postcards from the Swap

2011-05-22T14:35:00.000-07:00

Here's an assortment of the postcards I received in the swap. I'm posting late, as usual.

Here are links to some of the senders:

http://www.loneblackbird.blogspot.com/

http://andria-drawingnear.blogspot.com/

http://purplelotusart.blogspot.com/

Stephanie from Singapore, of purplelotusart.blogspot.com, sent me a postcard both this year and last!

iHannah's Postcard Swap 2011

2011-04-19T12:17:00.000-07:00

Hannah's postcard swap ( www.ihanna.nu/ ) was in April this year. I thought I would just make "what I felt like." The first thing I wanted to do was paint skies in water color. So I did. What next? I'm still crazy about yarn. I'd been wanting to experiment with some "motifs" which are small shapes in crochet. Of course, that meant that my postcards now needed envelopes.

I enjoyed playing with the color combos and yarn varieties. Still a little plain. What about some words? We spent time on vacation at a place that had signs everywhere which read: "Deer have right of way." We saw several herds of deer and came within 15 feet of a herd while on a hike.

I added the words "Deer have right of way" to the cards on pieces of decorative tape.

As I was preparing the cards for mailing, I realized that I had 4 recipients who don't live in the USA. They are in Canada and The Netherlands. Uh oh - that requires customs forms. What am I doing? This is supposed to be a simple post card swap. If I send a package, will they have to go to the post office to pick it up? Fill out forms on their end? That doesn't seem right. So, I took off the crochet and added a free form deer head created from washi tape.

I've been thinking about stencils lately and how you can suggest a figure with a minimum of shapes.

Anyway, it was an interesting experiment. All of the postcards were mailed late and I apologize! I've been receiving lots of fun ones. I'll show photos in the next post.

Fun with hanks of yarn

2011-02-21T14:18:00.000-08:00

I'm still playing with yarn while waiting for the weather to warm up so that I can work in the basement. When I started, I thought I could buy a hank of yarn (a big circle of yarn folded in on itself) and it would be easy to wind into a ball.

Not so! It is much more likely that I'll end up with a big tangled mess. So, I've learned to ask to have it wound when I buy it at the yarn store. But what to do with the hanks I have that came in the mail? Well, one part of the answer is a swift.

A swift holds the yarn in a circle. There are accordion-style swifts and peg swifts. I found a nice folding peg swift for a very reasonable price from a maker on eBay.

So you put the hank on the swift and then you can wind the yarn into a ball. But it takes so long! So then you can buy a yarn winder. But they're expensive uni-taskers and I'm tired of buying stuff. Well, thanks to my sweet husband, I don't have to. He brought up his cordless drill. Ta da! I just slid a paper towel core on the drill, wound the tail of yarn around and turned on the drill. Instant wound yarn! For the blue yarn, I used a cone from Yarnia that slid over the saw bit.

OK - it looks kind of funny but now I can get to work!

Latest Commissions

2011-01-18T15:11:00.000-08:00

Oh - doesn't that sound nice: "Latest Commissions". My friend asked for a few more of the "Pear Mail" series. I made a few as gifts as well.

Of course, once I received a request and a deadline, I went into resistance mode. I put it off as long as I could.

The story of my life.

The same thing happened with crochet. My niece asked for a scarf made from yarn she chose. I had to make her a hat, scarf and gloves from yarn I picked out before I could get around to making the one she wanted. Of course, don't even get me started with my regular work.

The scarf and hat colors I chose.

The scarf and hat colors she chose

They're both nice. Both easy.

My sister Rachael's scarf.

I can't be the only person who has resistance issues. Anyone else have any stories? Remedies?

Dee Dee in the window on a sleepy January day in Portland.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T09:24:00.000-08:00

Wishing everyone a very merry Christmas day!

My favorite gift was a visit from my sister and niece this past week. This is the only sketch I've done recently. I've been focusing more on "crafts" and less on "art" the past month, but I have lots of ideas I want to try soon.

This and that...

2010-11-10T16:12:00.000-08:00

Art Journaling: Last year I tried to make cohesive pages surrounding the daily word prompt. It was a helpful exercise, but a bit stressful. This year I'm making sketches and seeing if they match any of the prompts. It's more relaxing.

Glass coaster and three glass candle holders

Douglas fir and cones

Last Friday, I took advantage of the sunshine and tried out Nature Printing Paper, which uses photographic technology. Place objects on the paper, expose to sun for 2 or 3 minutes, then soak in water for a minute and let dry.

As it is November and we're just above 45 degrees North Latitude, the sun was quite low in the sky at noon. You can see the elongated shadows in the photos. I don't know what I'm going to do with the pictures yet, but they sure were fun and easy to make. Nature Print Paper.

Yarn! Resistance is futile. I've been trying to avoid yarn stores for at least 5 years, but Yarnia opened up a few blocks away. Once I found out they make custom yarn, well, it was over. I'm resisting knitting, but I don't mind doing a little crocheting. It's a very relaxing and non-messy activity to do while watching TV with Bob. No ink or paint on my clothes!

I walked into Knit/Purl in downtown Portland for the first time today and found this pink-fuscia sock yarn to make a scarf for my niece. The color is called "Light of Love." I've always wondered how they've stayed in business. Well, their yarn is gorgeous and priced to match! It's a great treat to hang out in a place like this.

Art Journaling

2010-11-01T13:22:00.000-07:00

It's November already. This is the month of several challenges such as NaNoWriMo and NaNoJouMo - which are, admittedly, pretty silly sounding. NaNoWriMo is for people wanting to write more - they accept a challenge to write a certain number of words each day of November. This site dawndsokol has NoNoJouMo (for National Nonstop Journaling Month) which challenges people to spend some time each day of November working in their art journal. Dawn gives a one word prompt every day and people can post their pages to the Flickr Group: NaNoJouMo.

Sadie's Halloween Costume last year:

This year she went as "Vicious Guard Dog" and barked at all of the trick-or-treaters.

"Pear Mail" Series

2010-10-30T17:02:00.000-07:00

The other set I created for the Oregon Society of Artists show are done in watercolor with clear encaustic on top. The boards are Claybord Aquabord. The surface is more absorbent in order to use water media more easily.

Since we were supposed to paint a series, I started with 1 pear and added on. I had a hard time thinking of a subject. We had a bowl of beautiful pears on the table so I started with those.

After I painted the watercolors, I looked at them for a few days. They were OK, but not really thrilling me. Did I want to hang them on my wall? I felt they were a little bit boring.

At the same time, I've been reading a couple of books on mail art. Oh my goodness - Pear Mail! Get it - P-air Mail. That's it! I added postage stamps, ink stamps and imagined sending the pears off to foreign lands: Spain, France, Germany and well, San Francisco. They are finished with 2 layers of encaustic medium.

Numbers 3 and 4 were purchased by an Oregon Society of Artist member before the show even opened! The other two are listed for $20 each.

Oregon Society of Artists Small Treasures Show

2010-10-30T16:42:00.000-07:00

"The Road to Starbucks" Numbers 2, 1 and 4

I dropped off my art for the OSA Small Treasures show yesterday. They'll have over 150 sets of four 6 in by 6 in paintings in every media. The show runs October 31st through December 3rd, 2010. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 1 - 4 pm, closed on Monday. I'll be "sitting" as an attendee on Saturday, November 20.

Here's number 3 of my abstract encaustic series, titled "The Road to Starbucks:"

I'm sorry about the poor photographs. I just shoot and go. The real colors are not as strong nor as dull as they might appear online. These have embroidery thread, Pearl-ex sparkle powder and seed beads mixed in with the encaustic paint. The title is derived from the fact that "Starry Night" was already taken (smile.) Actually, they are intended as abstracts and were painted rotated 90 degrees to the right. They obviously can be turned in any direction one likes. Listed for $20 each.

Portland Open Studios - Weekend 2

2010-10-26T15:58:00.001-07:00

We enjoyed visiting the Open Studios during the second weekend.
Chuck Sites' work is beautiful and technically striking. He uses encaustic on tempered glass and aluminum. http://www.chucksitesstudios.com/

I stopped by Bridget Benton's studio and finally bought a few pieces. An encaustic work, a printed piece and a photograph of a set of encaustic tiles. I'm really enjoying having them around. http://eyesaflame.blogspot.com/

Both of these artists will be influencing my work for a while. It's unavoidable.

Portland Open Studios - Weekend 1

2010-10-10T20:56:00.000-07:00

I managed to make it to one studio this weekend. Kevin Noonan (see a link to his Flickr set on the sidebar.) works out of a studio on SE Division. He has some lovely large size encaustic portraits - large brushstrokes of color. He also has a great collection of large oil paintings of icons (Lincoln, Nixon, etc.) and pop art.

There are still two days left: October 16 and 17. Here's the website: portlandopenstudios.com

We had family in town this weekend, but I hope to see more next weekend. Bob even promised to go with me!

What did we end up with?

2010-10-07T17:31:00.001-07:00

"Transformation", 6 in x 6 in, Encaustic, Pen and Silk on wood.

I used a cheese slicer to scrape off some of the top layers of wax. That's a fun tool to use!

This is the style:

So, anyway, my plans are not working out very well. I cancelled my "show" - I hesitated to start on the larger works and now my regular work has gotten very busy.

I don't have much energy due to health issues. I read a lot about artists who push through no matter what - work into the night if they have to, so on and so forth. I admire that, but I really only have so much energy. I have a lot of bills to pay and weight to lose. I can't let that stuff slip much more or we will be in trouble.

Art is still interesting to me, but I'm cutting back on some of the projects I want to do. I'm going to keep trying to get a workable schedule figured out so there is some time for it.

Work in progress

2010-08-26T00:34:00.000-07:00

I made this little piece (6' x 6' x .5") using wax encaustic, pigment and drawing on silk habotai. I really kind of liked it. It has some depth and interesting color combinations. I call it "Transformation."

THEN, as I looked at it, I thought perhaps I should add some texture and bronze oil stick on top for more depth! and some shimmer! I had just read this article: http://lynettehaggard.blogspot.com/2010/08/jeffrey-hirst-minneapolis-artist.html

The artist Jeffrey Hirst talks about pushing his work to the edge and maybe past it in order to improve. I would assume he then fixes it!

Here's "Transformation" part 2. The underlying colors haven't changed - it's just difficult to photograph encaustic and adding the top layer changes the look.

Hmm - I'm not sure I like pushing the work. Now I have to decide if I like this at all, and if I don't, can I scrape off the last layer without disturbing everything underneath? Decisions, decisions. Ugh. Well, next I need to gesso (using an absorbent gesso) the four 24" x 24" cradled boards I'll be using for the rust wall in the October exhibit. Sixteen times the excitement and opportunity to mess it up.

I know - courage!

Urban Sketchers

2010-07-30T15:34:00.001-07:00

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...

2010-07-11T01:41:00.000-07:00

"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

2010-07-07T00:08:00.000-07:00

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.

Gratitude Day

2010-06-28T14:04:00.000-07:00

Clematis

After this long weekend and before I sit down to dealing with the inevitable letdown of real life, I want to list many things I am grateful for, in no particular order:

the beautiful sunshine we're enjoying after so many months of rain

that I drank just enough water to avoid sunstroke yesterday

the incredible effort and work of the volunteers and coordinators of the Lake Oswego Art Show

that I had enough energy to create and submit art and be a participant

my friend Jenny is home after 2 weeks in the hospital

the existence of Starbucks, cell phones and taxi cabs after I missed the last shuttle

I'm of the age that reunions are interesting and welcome

the friends I've reconnected with this past year and the new ones I've met

Bob's help framing the art works and attending the show with me

Bob doing the laundry, cleaning and barbecuing while I gallavanted around all weekend

the artists who teach and share their techniques in person and on-line

the people who support me and have supported me in the past that I often take for granted!
I have work/career that lets me indulge my interests

Honorable Mention!

2010-06-26T00:28:00.001-07:00

Today Bob and I left our house at 5 pm to go to the Lake Oswego Art Show - and we finally made it to George Rogers park at 6:50 pm. There was a traffic backup on Highway 43, so everything just crawled. We heard the last two songs of Lenny Rancher's band (he was in my class in high school) and wolfed down dinner. We went to a vendor booth and I picked up a birthday gift from an artist for a friend who admired her work two years ago. Then we rushed up the hill to the Art Center to attend a panel talk on "Why Wax?" which showed the work of 4 encaustic artists. We just had time to see the juried Encaustic show before they turned out the lights. Finally, we scurried over to the big tent for the Open Show and ran around looking for my art pieces.

Guess what?! "Begin Anywhere" won an Honorable Mention and it sold! I think it was Honorable Mention - the ribbon was yellow. As we were being kicked out of the tent, we found "Cabbage #1" which is still available.

"Begin Anywhere"

(Remember encaustic works often look better in person. *grin*)

How exciting is that? I have no idea who decides on the awards - perhaps I'll find out this weekend. I'm really happy. I'm looking forward to going back this weekend and spending some time actually looking at all the work there.

Encaustic Works for 2010 Lake Oswego Festival of Arts

2010-06-19T20:11:00.000-07:00

Here are my two pieces for the Lake Oswego Festival of Arts show taking place June 25-June 27, 2010 in Lake Oswego, Oregon. Website is here.

"Cabbage #1"

"Begin Anywhere"

The right third of the painting turned out quite differently than I had imagined. I originally put down various colors of dots, then layered with more colors. When I scraped back, they did not please me. I added more color and stripes and that did not work either. I left it for a week and realized I wasn't getting the industrial abstract look I wanted. I added organic elements in the form of pen and pastel on mulberry rice paper fused to the picture with clear encaustic medium.

I had also planned to do a whimsical 3D work called "View from my (pretend) Beach house." That one will have to wait.

At first, I had a great time working on the pictures for the show. Then I hit the wall when I realized they just weren't what I had pictured in my mind. I spend an awful lot of time thinking and reading about art, but not that much time actually creating art.

I had to remind myself of the quote from Martha Beck that I wrote about here. Basically, it says if you want to be good at something, you need to do the work. I really haven't done that much encaustic painting since last year's show. I've taken a couple of life drawing classes and sketch on a regular basis, but I haven't produced any full size paintings. So, remember, to get better, keep doing!

Finally, the stars align...

2010-06-13T17:50:00.000-07:00

I managed to clean up my basement studio space enough to actually start working on some projects, I'm caught up with work enough (sorta) to take a weekend off, it's beautiful out and the show deadline is next Sunday. In addition to planting flowers and visiting the Farmer's Market, I worked on some encaustic panels.

Here's a panel that has been painted on the sides and taped. Then I fuse a couple layers of encaustic layers to the surface.

I added alizarin red, titanium white and dots in R&F Cadmium Green Light, R&F Bronze, red.

To the red, I added a layer of bronze, then a layer of R&F King's Blue encaustic paint. I plan on scraping back the blue. In the center stripe, I used a paper towel to dab on shellac and 3 colors of Jacquard's Pearl-Ex powdered pigment, then lit it on fire. (Fire, fire, fire! - Too much fun.) Actually, I didn't put enough shellac on at first - it seemed to need a layer instead of drops.

This is the begnning of a big cabbage. I really love the look of a nice cabbage.

Hmm - what will these turn out to be? Bob promised to put them together for me. More later!

Travel, work, looking at art...

2010-05-10T08:19:00.000-07:00

Not a lot of making art. Here are a couple of photos from around the neighborhood.
Happy May!

A few more drawings from class

2010-03-31T23:48:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple more of the 23 x 34 charcoal drawings. This model was very fun to draw - lots of muscles! Tonight I was kind of wishing I had signed up for spring term, but I have plenty of other things to do!

Drawing Class finished for the term

2010-03-20T19:49:00.001-07:00

I just finished a term of drawing at The Drawing Studio. We work from photos and models. The first one is of my sister and her daughter. I used the same photo I used when I accidentally made them into zombies. Sorry for the flash. They say you need to get the eyes right. I think the mouth is really important as well since I did not get it quite right here.

The second one is from a photo of a statue. We don't usually end up with a presentation picture since we are practicing and working towards our 1000 drawings, but I wanted to post something! I enjoy working in a large format (these are 23 inches by 34 inches), but the charcoal dust and black hands are really a pain. Two showers, two days of dishes are the minimum needed to get my hands sort of clean.

It is pretty fun and I'm getting quicker and more comfortable at putting marks on the paper. I'll probably not take the class again until fall. I'd like to work on some color projects next.

Postcard Swap - received!

2010-02-20T14:32:00.000-08:00

Yea! I've received one postcard a day for the last 5 days. They've arrived from New Zealand, Singapore, the US - including one that doesn't have a return address or a legible postmark! It's very fun and they're all handmade, beautiful works of art. I LOVE having something that I can hold and keep. It was fun participating in the November Journal Challenge and viewing the artwork of others, but it's even more fun to receive the artwork of others.

I finally made it down to the basement to work on an encaustic painting this week. However, today I'm off to paid work. The bank account is empty so time to try to fill it up. Repeat to myself: I do not have a trust fund, I do not have a trust fund. ;-)

Postcard Swap - my cards

2010-02-14T14:41:00.000-08:00

I created various versions of these cards while I was on vacation using inks, stamps and a stencil made from a heart punch. I decided not to be too ambitious since the idea was to have fun and not stay up all night creating original watercolor paintings.

On the other side, I wrote a quote from Wendell Berry:

Be joyful though you have considered all the facts.

I have to say, I also like his:

Don't own so much clutter that you will be relieved to see your house catch fire.

Um, and I don't like to complain, but I haven't received anything in the mail yet! If I don't see anything this week, I might need to ask if I happened to be left off the lists!

Click here to see the Flickr group of the other postcards that were created and sent.

Postcard swap

2010-01-23T17:13:00.000-08:00

This looks fun - a postcard swap. Make 10 and receive 10. I'll post photos in a week when I'm done.

iHanna Blog Postcard Swap

January 2010 - the Quiet Returns

2010-01-11T20:00:00.001-08:00

Sadie drawn from above with a purple Sai pen, December 2009

Our holidays are almost over - we had another Christmas party with Bob's parents on Saturday, they leave Wednesday and we can put everything away for this year. The festivities really are enjoyable, but are all-consuming. Today I slept a long time, then kept quiet for the afternoon. I haven't spent much time making art - although wrapping presents and baking cookies are still creative endeavors. I'm looking forward to easing back into painting and encaustic.

I did start attending an Intermediate Drawing Class last week with my friend Jan at the Drawing Studio. It's nice to have a scheduled evening of art to look forward to! As I keep hearing, consistent creativity keeps you in the flow! The fun thing about the intermediate class is that we can use paints in addition to charcoal and graphite. The class is longer at three hours so there are 2 breaks, more sessions with live models and freedom not to do all of the assigned exercises. The instructor points out that interesting work may be produced in the last hour when everyone is tired out.

Journaling Update

2009-11-15T14:12:00.000-08:00

The journaling has been going OK. I feel like I probably won't continue as much with words and pictures together. For writing, I prefer to write a lot and very fast. For art, I'd rather concentrate on the picture by itself and perhaps add a title. It is fun to be part of a group and to see what others come up with for the prompts. I am already rebelling against the prompts: "I don't need no stinking prompts." Famous last words - I'll probably be crying about not having any ideas next time. I'm just making the prompts fit with what I want to do.

Art Journal Challenge

2009-11-01T15:33:00.000-08:00

I found out about an Art Journal Challenge from Bridget Benton's tweets. Starting today, November 1, through the end of the month, work on a page or part of a page of an art journal. Sounds fun - I think I'll try it!

It's call NaNoJouMo (National Nonstop Journaling Month) and you can go to http://www.dblogala.com/ to find out about it. I've posted links to the blog, the Flickr group and to my Flickr stream on the Links list to the right.

In case you don't know, there are other challenges out there such as NaNoWriMo*, NaNoBlogMo, etc. Kind of silly names, but kind of fun too!

Notes on my creative progress: I didn't quite make some goals I had of finishing some work projects and billing goals in September, so I kept working into October without taking a break for art. I started getting really grumpy and angry. Finally, I realized I had better take some time for myself. I am so much happier this past week, but I'm slipping on my "day job" a bit. Such a challenge for me to keep up with both, but obviously necessary!

I went to a drop-in life drawing class last Wednesday at Hip Bone Studio in Portland (http://hipbonestudio.com/.) It was incredibly fun for me! I brought charcoal and watercolors and switched back and forth between the two. The three hours went by in a flash. Since everything I did was of a nekid woman (NSFW**), I won't post it right now, but I had the best time. And it's only $10 a session! Such a deal.

*National Novel Writing Month

**Not Safe for Work

October Zombies

2009-10-13T23:53:00.000-07:00

As I promised, I am showing some of my "zombie" paintings. These were not done intentionally - just accidents that happened when I lost control of the paints. This is very easy to do with watercolors. One day it will be 105 degrees F with low humidity, and a week later, it will be 70 degrees F and raining. Paper and paint dry at completely different rates depending on the weather and, of course, how much water I slop on. Also, I actually forget how to paint if I haven't done it for a week or so. That's why it's often a good idea to warm up first!

So, Happy Halloween everyone!

My beautiful sister Rachael and her daughter Emma. Not what I intended, but you both look kind of cool, actually.

Jon Stewart in July. No offense - we love you Jon!

I can't remember who this was. I was trying out a Chinese Water Pen and using my Koi pan water colors. The paper was too wet, but I kind of like the moodiness of it now.

Adult Responsibilities

2009-09-23T14:20:00.000-07:00

Here's Sadie resting from her responsibility of
guarding the house from the letter carrier.

My drawing teacher used the term "Adult Responsibilities" while talking about having time to practice art. Sometimes we need to focus on those responsibilities. I was having fun and feeling like I had moved to the next level, that I would be able to create art at least half time.

Then, my husband became ill - in a cycle lasting several weeks, the summer temperatures were very hot, my energy level dropped, and most importantly, I realized our bank account was empty!

Hmm, time to focus on my work again! I've been trying to be as diligent as possible, working hard and making enough to cover our bills and upcoming bills.

Now, my next task is trying to integrate art and nature back into my life. We're having a warm beginning of fall this year. I hope that as the weather turns cooler, I make the time to go for a hike. It's probably time to back off on watching TV if I want to spend some time in my "studio" in the basement. I am beginning to sketch and draw a bit.

Anyway, not to give up, not to declare that I can never create again, just trying to keep life in perspective, take care of my adult responsibilities and continue on!

Speedy with "Lost Edges"

2009-08-31T00:36:00.001-07:00

I really enjoyed painting this - the Canal paper is very absorbent. It's a little difficult to control the paint, but it is fun to try.

When I paint people, and lose control, I end up with "zombies." I won't post those - although, maybe at Halloween... The boys in the previous post are rather close.

In case you don't know, lost edges (or soft edges) are where the borders between two areas blur a bit as compared to "hard" edges which are clearly delineated. It's a concept that may be obvious to others, but I admit was very difficult for me to understand at first.

People in Water Color

2009-08-21T12:35:00.000-07:00

Here are Bob's nephews - Morgan and Colin. Perhaps too much contrast, but fun to do. I'm anxious to try painting my sister Rachael and her daughter, and Bob's cousin and his wife.

I'd like to paint my sister Roxanne. She passed away 15 years ago today. Maybe another day.

Water color

2009-07-12T13:33:00.000-07:00

Here are some exercises I painted. The first two use Koi pan water colors, the second two use the colors from my palette, mostly Daniel Smith and M. Graham paints.
They're painted on Khadi Rough paper from India, about 5x7.

First try - clematis and roses from our garden. I thought I didn't quite get it all integrated enough - not enough lost edges.

More lost edges.

Drawn using a grey Pitt pen and painted using my palette colors.

Drawn in pencil, painted, then ink added with a calligraphy pen. I have to admit, I like the high contrast. Next time, I might try to remember to vary the type of lines.

I sold an art piece!

2009-06-30T00:22:00.000-07:00

"Arranging a Sunny Day" was sold, and as far as I know, it was not purchased by a relative or friend. Now, Bob's annoyed because he wanted it! Oh well.

Here's an iPhone photo of Bob looking at the piece at the show. We were not actually allowed to take photos, so I covered up the other work. However, there was plenty of great work to enjoy. It was a lot of fun to participate.

Tuesday night I'm taking a Mixing Your Own Encaustic Medium & Paint class from Linda Womack. I'm very excited to play with the pigments. Not to worry - we are wearing respirators!

Otherwise, I've been doing lots of painting exercises, but I don't really have any finished pictures at the moment.

Submitted!

2009-06-21T19:52:00.000-07:00

Bob went with me to make sure I didn't change my mind at the last minute!
Here's the line.

Here's Bob with my dinky art pieces. There was one man with a canvas that had to be 8 feet by 6 feet.

The show starts on Friday!

Perhaps now I should get back to my regular, income producing work. It would be nice to make the July mortgage payment!

Final pieces for the art show

2009-06-20T21:54:00.000-07:00

My pieces are polished and packed up, ready to be submitted to the Lake Oswego Art Festival Open Show tomorrow.

"My Blue Ocean" - Final. I removed some of the sea foam - it was obscuring the ocean blues.

"Arranging a Sunny Day" - 12x12 bulletin board with 9 4x4 tiles. These are all Aquabord with water color and water color pencil and colored markers. I topped them with 2 layers of clear encaustic medium.

Magnets were glued on the back. Most of the tiles can be arranged in any orientation and in any position on the board. I thought this would be fun because it would give you an excuse to touch the encaustic finish. A soft cloth will remove fingerprints and smudges.

Close-ups of a few of the tiles.

Encaustic works in progress

2009-06-16T18:30:00.000-07:00

The Lake Oswego Art Festival takes place June 26 - June 28, 2009. They have an Open Show that is, well, open to anyone who wants to enter. There is a small fee of $25 per three pieces, the items have to be for sale, and the festival keeps 40% of the sale price.

I set a goal to have something ready for the show this year as a challenge to myself. It's a way to get started interacting with other artists, learn about art shows, learn about readying a piece of art (hanging, framing, matting correctly), and see how my works compare.

The submission date is June 21. Here are two of the pieces I'm working on:

"Vaux Swifts at Chapman" - 12x12 on birch board, encaustic with tissue paper transfers, in progress.

"Vaux Swifts at Chapman" - completed in a frame. Sorry about the parallax in the photo.

"My Blue Ocean" - 11x14 on Aquabord with water color and 2 coats of clear encaustic medium (beeswax and damar resin), in progress.

"My Blue Ocean" - still in progress. I added encaustic paint and ground glass for the sand. This is on a 2 inch cradled board, so I'm collaging the edges. I'll show that when I post the finished piece.

I have one more to display. It's called "Arranging a Sunny Day."

"Brushes" on iPhone

2009-05-22T12:34:00.000-07:00

Something I've been enjoying, and which I've read is all the rage, is using the "Brushes" app for the iPhone. Just download it from the app store and even if you forget your sketchpad, as long as you have your phone, you're ready to go.

Brushes has 3 different brush types with adjustable widths. Infinite colors AND you can vary the transparency for layering. Pinch to zoom in to create detail. Only one color at a time, but use the eyedropper to grab a previous color you painted. Fun and a challenge! I purchased a special stylus to go with my iPhone. It helps a bit - although I mostly use it for the keyboard for sending messages.

Keep Trying!

2009-05-10T23:41:00.000-07:00

I was re-reading the book "The Joy Diet" by Martha Beck when I came across this passage:

Uncomfortable Truth #2: Creation is Hard
...Aha, I remember thinking. Here is one of those artistically ambitious people who believe that talent means success without effort. Benjamin had been searching vainly for his own genius all his life, because he didn't know what it would look like. He thought he'd recognize it by the magnificent work that would spill out of him spontaneously, perhaps while he was napping. He never expected talent to come wrapped in the slow, messy, awkward, humbling work every creator will sooner or later have to face. Michelangelo once said, "If people knew how hard I work, they wouldn't find my achievements so remarkable." Like Benjamin, most people attribute creative achievement to great ease, when in fact it comes from great effort.

That reminds me of something my drawing teacher spoke of during last term's class. He quoted some other teacher who declared that one must draw at least 1000 figures before drawing one good one (or something to that effect.)

In other words, I should stop crying because my painting didn't turn out. Paint 100 or so, then let us know how it's going for you!

Of course, the joy is supposed to be in the process, in the creating, and we're not supposed to worry so much about the outcome. It's just that - time is money, baby! If I spend 5 hours on a painting and it's crap, maybe I should have been working instead. Of course, I don't feel like I'm wasting time when I'm watching television. But I consider that re-charging my batteries - and getting my allotment of witty repartee!

Current art progress: I spent yesterday trying different materials for filling incised lines in an encaustic painting. Oil sticks are okay, but they are kind of dull. I bought a tube of Indigo Oil Paint. That was quite beautiful, actually. I'm planning various paintings to try it on. First, I just need to get the work hours in to pay the mortgage - and my husband's dental bills, and the dog's arthritis medicine - and the cat's flea drops...

Keep trying?

2009-05-04T16:49:00.000-07:00

I started this to keep motivated, but I haven't been maintaining my enthusiasm. It's just so hard to do what I want to do! I spend a lot of time experimenting and playing, but that means I end up with a pile of messy, ugly work.

I'm posting a few drawings I've done over the past few months. Today is Speedy the Cat day (aka Speed Racer.)

Spring Hostas

2009-03-27T17:33:00.000-07:00

This is an 8 inch by 7 inch detail from a 15 x 11 watercolor painting.
I've decided I don't like the original but I want to start posting.

What don't I like about it? Too few colors? Composition. Values - the center of the leaves turned out too dark. It was painted on Arches 140lb Rough. The paper was kept loose to be able to move the paint around. I think 300 lb will work better. The Sap Green was very sedimentary, which is something I've never noticed before.

Here's the original: