An Artist's Dream Home

I had the thrilling experience to spend part of last Sunday with artist Judy Vogland and her husband Bob at their NW Portland home. The purpose of the visit was to learn how to build my own canvases (I'm taking a class from Judy later this month at Sitka), but the bonus was getting to tour Judy and Bob's house. Oh my. It was an artist's dream home - filled to the brim with Judy's art, her daughter Taylor's art, and the art of lots of Northwest and internationally known artists. Judy graciously allowed me to snap as many photos as I wanted. I've restrained myself pretty good and whittled my dozens of photos down to what I'm sharing in this post. Enjoy the visit. It's certainly a sensory delight.



The basement!





Some peeks into the first floor living quarters.













Up up up the stairs and into Judy's expansive studio.
















The reason for the visit? To learn how to build sturdy, heavy duty canvases. Check.

Curious Elements: It's a Process

I've spent the past couple of days working on my Curious Elements. I get so excited about the many possibilities of assembling these little works of art. Making them involves several steps: Cutting old wood boards, sanding, painting, plastering, sanding, staining, waxing, AND then begins the assembling of the elements. The whole process of creating the little elements that get attached is a multi-step process entirely separate from the wood boards, so I find that I try and do batches of whatever process I'm currently working on. The past two days I have concentrated on plastering and staining, with a little bit of assemblage.

Warning: This Post May Cause Dizzyness

If you're a junker, a hoarder, a recycler, a lover of rusty stuff, or just a lover of vintage stuff, you're gonna love this post! Here's the story. Last Saturday, about 10:30 a.m., my phone rings and it is my friend Sam (who owns the vintage store Lil' Gypsy). She says: "Are you garage sale-ing?" I told her no, I was still in my jammies and hoped to stay in them all day. She proceeded to tell me about a moving sale about three blocks from my home and it had my name written all over it. I was getting dressed before I hung up the phone. I zoomed over (in my car rather than walk because I had a feeling I was going to need a vehicle). Oh my. The sale was being held at the home of an artist who had moved to Portland. And this artist obviously likes the very same things as I do. I immediately filled my first box, and then another.

On Sunday, I took my treasures to the studio to unpack, photograph, and put away. Here are the two, oops, three boxes (I went back to the sale on Sunday when everything was half price!).


The boxes unpacked.





Detailed photos of the loot.



















I even bought a piece of art by the artist I loved her stuff so much!


Of course, how could I resist a big jar of baseballs for my husband? (But then I went back and bought two huge boxes of baseballs . . . not just sure what I'm going to do with them!).



On Sunday afternoon just as I was unpacking and beginning to snap some photos, who should ride up? Sam and Stewart, the very two that called on Saturday morning to alert me to the sale.