Shut Up and Paddle

Members of the Portland Art Collective gathered at the Portland Waterfront this morning for a Pirate Paddle on a Dragon Boat. Tory's cousin Les was our instructor and when she first saw all of us standing around in pirate garb, she just shook her head (and walked away like she didn't even know us!). She did come back and after a brief lesson on land, we hopped in a boat and paddled the boat out into the Willamette River. . . . Shut Up and Paddle, that's what Les had written across the tip of her paddle. Our favorite command? Let It Ride, which meant stop paddling and rest. Oh yeah, we did that quite well. Actually we did pretty good overall, but I must admit, although it was fun, it isn't anything I would want to do on a regular basis. Okay, here's the experience captured in photos.


















Yo Ho Ho!

Fearless Faces

I've started a new project: Fearless Faces. I took an old atlas, glued some of the pages together, removed some of the other pages, gessoed the whole ball of wax and began doing faces. Fearless faces. I'm in love with the bold vibrant color, I'm in love with the imperfection.



A series of two-page spreads:




Close-ups because they're so funky.





I went to the studio this morning to play for a bit and decided to finish a couple of the faces I started earlier in the week. Here's what I started with:


And here is where I went:


Close-ups:



Stay tuned for more Fearless Faces! I'm addicted.

Spritzin', Scritchin', Puddlin', and Loadin'

Last night was Part II of an art project that was started last week and ready to have paint added. The limestone clay was dry and the students were itchin' to add some color. Unfortunately Keeley couldn't join us, so Sam brought another friend, Cindy, for our playtime. Since Cindy didn't have a plastered board, she played on a 10x10 canvas. The process for the others was to sand down their clay, scritch and make marks, then add paint. The best quote of the night was from Sam:

Oh, I love scritchin' so much! I never knew I would love scritchin' this much. Yes, indeed, Sam, scritchin' and spritzin' are mighty fun.













We thought we were finished for the evening, when Deven and Olivia showed up to finish their pieces!






We again thought we were done for the night, but Howard and Sam decided they wanted to get their pieces waxed and wired. Mission accomplished.




Happy campers.



And in the end . . .