Collage Garage

Nikki Blackwood, a Portland artist, has gathered together a rag tag group of her art friends for a monthly gathering at the art store collage on Alberta. Last week was our appointed art date. The numbers vary each month depending upon who is available to make it and who isn't, but the great thing is that we just get together and work on whatever we want. I felt like painting last week, so I brought my Fearless Faces atlas journal and just painted my little heart out.

One of the highlights of our monthly meeting, is the stuff that Tabor brings to sell. He is a collector extraordinaire, so his stuff is really good, and we all started our day by doing a bit of shopping.






Tory brought some vintage tops that she offered for sale (and in Steph's case, for experimentation . . . . do you get my point?).




We finally settled down and started to do some art.















It got to be lunchtime, but no one wanted to break long enough to go out to eat. Who should walk in the door about the time our tummies were growling? The tamale lady. A collective cheer went up as we all ordered bags of perfectly made tamales!

Portland Love Show 6

The Portland Love Show 6 opens next Saturday, February 12th, with the traditional party and celebration. The show will be held at the Gallery Homeland (in the Ford Building), located at 2505 S.E. 11th, and will be up through February 26th (when they have yet another party). Both parties start at 7:00 pm and go until midnight. Party on. I created one of my Fearless Faces for my entry, entitled Fearless Faces No. 10: The Singing Bird Will Come. I pulled the name from a Chinese Proverb that I wrote out in full on the back of the repurposed board I used for the painting: If I keep a green bough in my heart, then the singing bird will come. I dropped off my entry on Saturday afternoon, leaving No. 10 alone on the floor. But he'll be in good company as over 300 artists are participating in this popular open call show!

Mr. Valentine and Friends

My Funky Junkyard Birds have been quite popular at The Heart of the Matter Show at Guardino Gallery. So popular that Donna, the gallery owner, wanted me to make more (as of Thursday, there were only four of my Junkyard birds left). I managed to eek out five new birdies this week. Meet Mr. Valentine, It's Time, Angel, Please, and For Ann. The show runs through February 20th, so if you're in Portland, swing on down to N.E. Alberta and pop in.







Junkyard Birds in their temporary new home.

Fearless Faces: A New Gang

Here's the latest gang of Fearless Faces:

Monograph Bookwerks: Fine Art Books + Objects

Late on Saturday, after spending the day antiquing and junking, we found our way into a delightful little bookstore, Monograph Bookwerks, located right off of Alberta on N.E. 27th. It is a store devoted to fine art books + objects. It was so much fun to browse through the art books. Blair, the owner, was so helpful (and fun). It's a beautiful little specialized shop.














Beautiful owner Blair Saxon-Hill.


This was the book I purchased at Monograph: The Open Daybook. The description on the back of the book reads:

The Open Daybook is both a compilation of original artwork and a functional perpetual calendar. Over the course of a single year, three hundred and sixty five artists were assigned a date and given 24 hours to create a work of art. Each one of those days is a page in this book. Every page is a unique expression of a moment in the life of a different artist. But The Open Daybook is also an invitation to record your own day. The book can be used as a day planner, a journal or a daily sketchbook. As you doodle, plan for the future and record your past you will be creating a second book, a collaboration in which each artist's day becomes your own.

I'm still trying to decide how I want to use my book!


The dates and artists are listed inside the front and back of the book:


Here is the spread for today and tomorrow:



Ummm, what to do!?!