Dreams Really Do Come True . . . .

Last fall I was invited by my friend Stephanie to attend the fall retreat of the Portland Art Collective. It was great fun and I loved the whole concept of a group of women coming together to support, encourage, offer feedback, and share fellowship all around the common theme of art. Here is what the Collective says about who they are:

We are a local group of artists with all levels of expertise who are interested in gathering together to share ideas, tips, techniques, gallery shows, swaps and artwork. . . .

I blogged about the retreat last October and wasn't shy about admitting I would love to one day become a member of the Collective. I mean, who wouldn't want to hang out with a bunch of women like this (and by the way, the ringleader here, Tory, she is my sponsor in PAC for the upcoming year!):




My wish came true. Through a series of events, including a round of nominations, I am now officially a member of the Portland Art Collective. This Thursday is my first meeting, an all morning affair and concluding with a group lunch. I still am a little bit in shock! This is me at the October retreat wearing my mighty wish tiara.


The next retreat is for members only and I'm planning to attend. I can't wait to walk the Labyrinth again, this time as an official PAC member. Pinch me.

Four Fabulous Females in February: Opening

Our show, Four Fabulous Females in February, opened on Saturday night and we had a nice, steady stream of friends stop by to look at what we had created and to chat it up. It looks like I sold four pieces of my art during the evening! Here's a link to the blog post I did last week that introduces all of the artists and talks about how our show came to be.












Here's one of my favorite photos, me with a whole batch of my special girlfriends!


I do have to mention that my art that got the most attention was the Breaking Free piece, the one with the patterns, baby doll, and a coating of wax. People were intrigued and Sam, of Lil' Gypsy, said I should have named it Scarred For Life . . . ummmm.

Thanks to all of my Artist's Way ladies, my sister Denise and brother-in-law John, Sam, Jasmine, the biker guys, and most of all, to my great supportive husband, Howard, for showing up and cheering me on!

Duets: Opening

The 100th Monkey Studio Duets Show opened on Friday night. Destree and her family (Champ, Olivia and Deven) piled into our car with Howard doing the driving. After arriving in Portland, we dropped off our piece, Dark Heart, for the 5th Annual Portland Love Show (which opens next Friday), then headed over to Old Wives' Tales where we met up with my daughter Amy and her family (Mike, Jackson, and Emmett). We chose the restaurant not only because it has delicious food, but it is also within walking distance to the 100th Monkey Studio where the Duets opening was being held.

Here I am surrounded by two of my favorite women!


Champ and Olivia (Olivia is opening a journal I made for her to celebrate her 7th birthday, which is TODAY!).



On our way over to the studio, Amy and Destree got into a little mischief . . .



Welcome to the Duets Show!






Here is some of the art done by other artists in the show.

13 Pieces of Art, 4 Venues, 2 Cities

I have 13 pieces of art scattered across four venues in two cities. Here's a listing of what I have cookin' for the month of February!

100th Monkey Studio: Duets Show

In collaboration with Destree, we created the following piece, Into the Abyss.


Here are the details of the show:


(Above image was featured on the show card: Lotus Lady by Jennifer Mercede & Anna Todaro)

Opening night: Friday, February 5th from 6-9pm

Show Dates: February 5th-28th, 2010

The event will be from 6:00-9:00pm and is free and open to the public, all ages welcome!

This month all the art in the show was created in a collaborative effort.

Featured artists this month:
Collaborations by Jennifer Mercede & Anna Todaro

Additional collaborations include:

Chris Haberman & Jennifer Mercede
Jessica Breedlove & Joshua Latham
Laura Poynor Daley & Beth Ann Short
Troy John McCray & Todd Meisler
Michelle Freedman & Doni Connor
Beth Ann Short & Mina Bella Kreiter
Ans & Stuart Ellis
Kerrie Hubbard & Kate Morris
Carli Davidson & Beth Ann Short
Dayna Collins & Destree Ruldolph
Junko Suzuki & Jessica Cornelius
Ian Shickle & Karen Loehner

We will also be featuring live music by Scott Eaves, Ronnie Taylor & Tom Lund

The 100th Monkey Studio
110 SE 16th Ave
Portland, Oregon 97214
503-232-3457

100 Artists at Mary Lou Zeek Gallery

My entry in Mary Lou Zeek's annual 100 Artists show, Pieces of Memory.

The details of the show from Mary Lou Zeek's website:

Nourish and Sustain
100 Artists Show
February 1 – 27, 2010
Benefitting the Marion-Polk Food Share

100 Artists agreed to a challenge to participate in our show to raise awareness and funds for the Marion-Polk Food Share. Each artist was mailed a simple food can, unpackaged, nothing inside except two beans and a small tag with the name of the show “Nourish and Sustain”. During this month the artists present their own ideas of what it is to “Nourish and Sustain” while creating these striking and inspiring art pieces.

The 5th Annual Portland Love Show

Another piece done in collaboration with my friend Destree.

The details of the show:



Four Fabulous Females in February


The details of the show:

Month of February, 2010

Opening Reception is on Saturday, February 6th, at Cafe Noir (610 Marion Street NE, Salem), from 5:00-7:00 p.m.

Four Fabulous Females in February

Where to begin? My friend Jami contacted me many months ago and asked if I would like to participate in a show with three other women in February. The title of our merry little band would be Four Frickin' Fabulous Females (we later dropped the Frickin'). We met at a coffee shop and decided our theme would be flora and fauna. As you can see, that is a lot of F's! I started putting FFFFFFFFFFFFF in the subject line of my e-mail posts to the other ladies. The other artists are: Jami Moffet of Off the Hook Studios, Melinda Dalke of Day-Lee Mojo Arts, and Dani Mouser of Dani Photography. We decided the theme could be loosely interpreted as long as it involved some sort of flora or fauna.

Beatrix the Chicken

In addition to our individual work, we decided we would each create a 12 x 12 canvas using the same image. Dani, the photographer in our group, chose a photograph of her chicken, Beatrix. Now I have to tell you, I'm not a big chicken fan and dear Beatrix really flummoxed me. I spent way too long on my original attempts to create my required 12 x 12. I started out by doing a series of nine mini collages on my canvas. I worked and reworked the little pieces of art to no avail. I started to add some 3-D embellishments, but the piece seemed to be getting worse rather than better. So one day, I took my jar of molding paste and slathered a thick layer of goop over the entire canvas, burying the mini collages forever (but I know they're there). I enlarged my photograph of Beatrix 400 times and used just her head to draw into the molding paste. Once dry, I got out my acrylics and began adding some color. She's not my favorite piece by any means, but I have to admit she kinda grew on me.

The Finished Pieces

The titles of my pieces include: Fearless, Patience, Jump, Soar, Swoop, Emerge, Courage, and Twirl.

Breaking Free - One Final Piece

After we hung the show, there was space for me to hang one more piece. I decided to finish up a piece I had started a couple of years ago in a class taught by Lisa Kaus. It already had some bird imagery, so it qualified for the show. I added a few final embellishments, then added a light coat of wax to finish it off.






Hanging the Show

Cafe Noir

This is the space where our show is being held. The cafe is tucked in a small space just on the outskirts of downtown at 610 Marion Street N.E.




Please join us for our opening reception on Saturday, February 6th, from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.!

5th Annual Portland Love Show: Dark Heart

I recently did a collaborative art piece with my friend Destree for a show that opens on Friday night (as in February 5th) at the 100th Monkey Studio in Portland. The show is titled Duets and the only requirement for the show was that the the piece had to be done by two artists. Here's the piece we created for that show (and a link to the blog post I did):


We had so much fun working on our collaborative piece, that we decided we wanted to do it again. And so we did! Our most recent piece is called Dark Heart and is for the 5th Annual Portland Love Show. Over 300 artists are participating, so it should prove to be an inspiring and rich show. As with the piece we created for the Duets show, I usually splashed my paint during the day, while Destree popped over to the studio in the evening (she lives next door, which is mighty convenient for an artful play companion). Here is the evolution of our most recent piece, Dark Heart.











The Love Show opening will be held Friday, February 12th, 7 pm - 12 am at Olympic Mills on 107 S.E. Washington Street in Portland. It's free and all ages are invited!

100 Artists Show Opens!

The 100 Artists show opened last night at Mary Lou Zeek's Gallery! I have a piece in the show, my first time participating. If you want the back story on the piece I created, Pieces of Memory, just give a click HERE. The gallery was abuzz last night as the opening coincided with Salem's First Wednesday.


Here's the list of participating artists - I'm there about a third of the way down . . .

. . . here's a better shot, although a bit crooked!

And there's my piece, at the bottom of the row next to the list of artists.



I met up with my friend Tory of Copper Crow Studio, who also has a piece in the show and which SOLD on opening day! Way to go, Tory! (Side note: I bought Tory's piece from last year's show before I even knew who she was - and now here we are, friends!)



And with our host, Mary Lou Zeek herself!