Artful Gifts: A Child's Perspective

My two Portland grandsons, Jackson and Emmett, spent a few days with us leading up to Christmas. One of our planned adventures was to make art in my studio and that is what we did last Wednesday. The project? For each of the boys to make a piece of art for their Dad. Emmett decided he would do a painting and Jackson wanted to do a story board of their road trip to Yellowstone last summer. It was amazing to see the differences between the boys, probably a lot to do with age, but also because of their personalities and temperaments. Emmett, who is four, was pretty free-wheeling with the paint and the vibrant use of color; this fits his personality for sure. Jackson, at seven, is more precise, calculated, and dare I say it? a perfectionist (damn that first born trait). Jackson needed a ruler AND an eraser and was quick to get frustrated when his art materials didn't cooperate. But in the end, both of the boys were satisfied with their creations (although Jackson took his canvas home and continued to work on it for the next couple of days).












After their hard work, the boys decided it was time to play with some of Whammie D's studio toys.


Mike opens the gifts from his boys!

Flighty Friends

I was working on increasing my flock of Funky Junkyard Birds right up until Christmas. The red-skirted one was a gift for my daughter Amy and the the one with the key legs was a commission for my friend Holly. Whew! Got them done in the nick of time and now I'm working on a new batch with a heart theme. I sold out of my flighty friends at the the recent Open Doors Show and Sale, so I'm having fun creating a whole new batch.

Purple Egypt Androgyny

The Orange Dream Monkeys came out to play on Wednesday night. Not everyone could make it during this busy time of the year, but those of us who did show up had a nice time creating art and visiting.




We had some pretty yummy treats, too.



Our December theme was Purple Egypt Androgyny (yes, it really was - remember, we pull from three jars to get our theme: a color, a noun, a concept). Some of the ladies chose to stick with the theme . . .



. . . and some didn't!



Tory didn't use the suggested theme as a prompt, but worked on a creative altered book she designed. She even completed one of the pages and inserted it into her book.



I didn't stay with the chosen theme either (it's only a suggestion anyway, right?). Instead, I worked in a journal I started in Leighanna Light's class at Art and Soul, The Construction of an Art Book. My little book will be a tribute to my Dad, who is physically healthy, but beginning to fray a bit mentally.






Our theme for next month . . . .

Portland Art Collective: Party Time

The Portland Art Collective closed out the year with their annual Christmas party and we had a great turnout for the event. I feel so fortunate to be a member of this talented, warm, and funny group. They are also very much foodies, and our party spread illustrated that.




I've made so many special friends over the past year. Here's a few of them . . .



Of course we had to take a peek at Judi's studio!




After our bellies were full, it was time to do our gift exchange. We had drawn names a couple of months ago and Thursday was the big reveal.






Lots of pretty wrapping.



My gift was something made especially for me by Jill. A doll's head mounted on a votive candle lantern with a cute polka dotted cone hat. Oh my.


Post Script:
Our hostess, Judi, also likes dolls. These are two she made.



Post script two:
I saved the best for last: Steph with her gift, a very personalized mug (shared with Steph's permission!)