Halfway Point: Day Three

Today marked the halfway point of the five-day Architecture of Memory class that I'm taking at Oregon College of Art and Craft. I've been writing about my experiences and the progress I make on the six pieces I am working on simultaneously. Here's a link to yesterday's post. Today I called one piece finished. It was the smallest of my boards, but done nonetheless. It has been waxed and hung on the wall. Other than No. 2, I worked on revamping a piece from orange to red. Here it is in it's fiery red form.



I got started on my big circle piece (as you can tell, no names yet), beginning the layering and texturing process.









Class notes:

I had to laugh when I looked along one wall of the classroom. From one end to the other it was bags, boxes, and suitcases of stuff for just three people: Steph, Greg, and myself. The whole wall!



Works in process of of Greg, myself, and Steph (first two are Greg's, next two are mine, and the last two are Steph's).




Here's Pat discussing one of Greg's pieces while Greg experiments with using graphite.


Greg's partner, Tabor, popped in for a visit today (Tabor has a show going on this month at Guardino Gallery on N.E. Alberta).


Two of my pieces have built in niches - a place for bundled objects. For my red piece (which will hopefully become somewhat turquoise tomorrow . . .) I plan to bundle vintage bottles. I've been on the hunt for little brown bottles the past two days after class. Today I found what I was looking for at two of my favorite little junk/collectible stores: Really Good Stuff and Shadowhouse Collectibles, both on S.E. Hawthorne.



I'm a bit weary tonight, but excited to get back in the classroom in the morning.

Dirty, Dirty Girl: Day Two

A new day at the Oregon College of Art and Craft. Second day of a five day class, The Architecture of Memory. More details about the class can be found in yesterday's post. For today, time to get some paint on my boards.


Playing the day away with paint (and tea staining some fabric bits).




Working on a piece for Howard . . .



The great thing about this process? If you don't like something, you can just sand it out!



Here I am with the awesome instructor, Pat Wheeler!


I made some headway today.




Steph with her beautiful piece of art and a view of the painting studio.



A self-portrait of my dirty, dusty self.


The end of another day.

The Architecture of Memory: Redux

Ohhhh, it's good to be back at the Oregon College of Art and Craft with Pat Wheeler and friends. Last June I took Pat's class, The Architecture of Memory: Paintings and Construction, and it was such a rich experience that I signed up for it again this year. It's a five day class, so there is plenty of time to settle in and develop a rhythm (and we get to eat lunch every day at the Hands On Cafe). Today was Day 1, the day we paint our wood substrates and get the limestone clay applied. It was very warm last year, so the clay was dry by the afternoon and we were able to begin sanding and even painting. But this year, with the damp weather, our clay wasn't drying very fast so we just spent the day playing in our mud.

Pat had the room set up and ready for us to get started.


A bit of the process:








Goofing around with Steph and Greg.




It was a good day's work.




Lights out. End of the day. We'll start fresh in the morning.


P.S. I recently gifted Steph with a bleached out turtle shell that she was coveting from my stash. When she arrived at OCAC this morning, she had a gift package for me! She knows me so well . . . and by the way, it was at OCAC last June that I met and befriended Steph!

How I Spent My Memorial Day Weekend

It was a pretty rainy three-day weekend so while we were spending our days in Portland on the boat, I managed to make time on a couple of days to play in my visual journal. My pages in process.







I came away with several completed pages and several background pages ready for more.