Rancho Deluxe: Experienced Home Furnishings

I've been meandering my way home from class each day and I'm happy to report on yet another great store in Portland. This one I discovered a few months ago, but forgot where it was located, so I never got back. And since it is only open on Saturdays, I was limited as to when I could go. The store: Rancho Deluxe. The store is located at One North Killingsworth and like I said, is open only on Saturdays, so plan accordingly. It's worth the stop.

The A of M: Day 4

Holy Moley. I made it through Day 4 of The Architecture of Memory, the class I'm taking at the Oregon College of Art and Craft. I started the day feeling a little weary after four full days of making art, but I reworked some of my pieces and felt satisfied by the end of the day.

Here is Pat Wheeler, our gentle and wise instructor, demonstrating some techniques to Stephanie and then to Stephanie and Linda.

I mentioned in my last post that I decided to ditch my little 8x8 board and yesterday I smeared a fresh layer of compound over the whole affair before I left for the day. Today I started playing with the fresh surface and as of 4:00 today, here is the revamped piece (with more tinkering to be done in the morning).

I did complete one piece, the one that Amy wants. I've scribed into the surface a line from a book written by Kim Stafford, so I guess it will be the title of the piece: Coming up on the other side. I was trying to figure out what words I wanted to write and Pat had me read a short essay in Kim's book. Since I wanted the quote to reflect all that Amy is balancing and doing right now, when I read that snippet of a sentence, I knew what words I would include in my piece. As soon as the words were inscribed, I added a thin layer of cold wax medium to the whole work to seal it and to bring out the deep, rich colors.

My other daughter, Melissa, said she was going to look at my blog tonight so she could figure out which piece she wanted dibs on. When I told Howard that, he said, "What a minute, don't I get a choice?" I'm happy to be so popular with my family!

Okay, so here is a shot of my pieces (hanging on the wall, no less), about mid-day:

At the end of the day, here's the gang--a couple of the pieces have some wall compound added in and will be dealt with in the morning.

Little Edie's Five and Dime

I've done it again. Discovered a fun little gem of a shop while tootling around Portland. After my class today, and after another visit to SCRAP, I was driving down N. Williams on my way to Killingsworth, when my head snapped to the right, seeing some kind of second hand store/vintage shimmer of goodies. My head had snapped to the right yesterday as I was driving down the same road, but I didn't think quick enough to pull over. Today I did. The shop: Little Edie's Five and Dime. And if you're a Grey Gardens fan (I am, so is Sam), you'll recognize the name of Little Edie. And yes, the store is named after Little Edie of Grey Gardens!

It's a great little store, which bills itself as having "thrifty vintage." Click HERE to get carried immediately to the website for the store.

I did buy a wonderful journal made out of an old Steely Dan record album cover. It was made by the store's owner, Caroline (spelling? hope I got it right). Here is my fun little treasure (be sure and read the note that came with the journal).



The shop is located at 3120 N. Williams Avenue and is open every day noon to six, except for Sunday when the store is closed "to rest."

The A of M: Day 3

Jeez, I'm getting weary. Taking a five-day class is like running a marathon, not that I've ever run one (I did walk the Portland Marathon a few years back . . . one of my toenails fell off, come to think of it). Anyway, there is a need to pace oneself to run a marathon, walk a marathon, or take a five-day art class.

One of the women I've met in the class is someone who was already a Facebook friend, and that came about because someone made a friend suggestion. Well, Stephanie and I have been having lunch together and we seem to have hit it off (I hope our friendship continues after the class is over - does that sound stalkish? I hope not). Stephanie's website is under construction, but here is the link, which is worth looking at for the snippet of her art work you'll see. Just know that Stephanie is a talented Portland artist who has shown her work extensively in galleries and exhibitions. Here she is working on one of her big canvases.

Work continues on my four boards and here are photos of a couple of them:

Now, as for my little 8x8 "Why" piece, it just was not working for me. I tried doing a few modifcations, but it began to get muddy (and then it got pink - don't ask), so I decided the best thing I could do was put it out of it's misery and start over. It was so nice, when I told my husband what I had done, he said, "Good for you. It takes courage to cover over a piece and begin again."

And finally, my end of the day photo:

The A of M: Day 2

Tired. Exhilerated. Playful. My day started with writing Morning Pages and addressing my inner critic. I realized I can't completely shut the bugger out, so I invited my critic to sit on my shoulder during the day and offer helpful hints. Not sure how successful that whole plan turned out, but I did start my day feeling lighter for having written about my fears. As I left the boat and headed to the second day of my class at the Oregon College of Art and Craft, I dug my camera out of my purse and snapped a few photos just to get some creativity pumping through my veins (along with the caffeine).

It was a fun surprise to run into Linda Womack in the class. Linda is the queen of encaustic and has written a successful book on the topic, Embracing Encaustic. Check out Linda's website, blog, and her book! Here's Linda working on one of her class projects.

Here I am working on one of my boards:

A few more layers of paint and scritchings since yesterday:

And here are my paintings waiting for tomorrow's transformation.

The Architecture of Memory: Day 1

I'm taking a five-day class at the Oregon College of Art and Craft in SW Portland and today was our first class. The class, The Architecture of Memory: Paintings and Constructions, is being taught by Pat Wheeler. If you've never visited the OCAC campus, here's a couple of shots of the peaceful and serene campus.

We arrived this morning (there are nine of us taking the class) to find our work station all set up and ready for us to begin getting messy, er, I mean creative.

A few peeks of my panels in process.

And ME in process:

My boards are ready for me to resume in the morning.