Art in August

The studio was abuzz yesterday with summer art. In the afternoon I hosted two women who have been taking my online Artist's Way Creative Cluster and so we got together yesterday to wrap things up and have an art play date. Alicia and Cindy were totally open to whatever I had planned so I decided it would be fun to have them try the Architecture of Memory process I learned from Pat Wheeler at Oregon College of Art and Craft. Cindy and Alicia had fun painting some small wooden boards and then applying limestone clay. (Oh, and I just couldn't resist sharing a photo of the goodies I picked up at the outdoor market earlier in the day.)






Cindy and Alicia weren't creeped out by my dolls at all (well, maybe just a little . . .).




In the evening, a group of friends came over for pizza and an art date. Sam, of Lil' Gypsy, invited her friend Keeley to join us, too. Destree popped over and so did her husband Champ and their kids Deven and Olivia. Even Howard joined in the fun.

Vroom Vroom!

Guess what? I'm the proud sponsor of a race car! Well, a small sponsor, but a sponsor nonetheless. Laura is a jewelry artist I met years ago when we both had booths at Salem's Saturday Market. Then Laura took my Artist's Way Creative Cluster and for the past couple of years she has worked for Howard keeping his law office running smoothly. In one of her other lives, Laura is a race car driver and both Howard and I are sponsors. The photos of Laura and her car are so cool, I just had to share. By the way, Laura's jewelry business is named Living Out Loud Designs.

Another Opportunity to Win a Journal

Back in June, I offered one of my Paper Remnant Journals as a thank you for being so supportive of my blog over the past several years and to commemorate my 500th blog post. Well, if you want another opportunity to win one of my ephemera journals, here are the details:

Go to the Portland Art Collective blog (here's a link to make it easy peasy) and leave a comment on that particular post. Around September 1st, one lucky name will be drawn to win the journal. And the other good news? Portland Art Collective members aren't eligible to win, so your odds are greatly increased. If you aren't aware of these monthly drawings, you might want to become a follower of the PAC blog because every month of one of our fabulous artists posts something for the giveaway!

In case you're wondering what you might win for this month's giveaway, here are photos of the journal:




So what are you waiting for. Get yourself over to the PAC blog and leave a comment.

Hold On

The Portland Art Collective has a roving visual journal that gets passed around so each member can complete a two-page spread, something that has been going on since 2004. I've had the journal the past couple of months and managed to complete my pages in time for our August meeting last Thursday. Here are my pages (the angelic clay face was something I bought from Clarissa Callesen a while back and I was excited to finally be able to incorporate it into my art. My pages were done using molding paste and acrylic paints . . . and with a found bit and a twirl of ribbon, of course.



Here's the PAC journal in all of it's full and packed glory.



I snapped photos of a few of the pages so I could share them here. This one was done by Robin Olsen.


And then by Tory Brokenshire.


Next up, Jan Harris.


The pages of Cynthia Mooney.


And finally, Paula McNamee.


I leave you with a smidge of detail from my pages.

Visual Journaling in a Braille Bible

About three years ago I saw an article in Sommerset Studio about doing visual journaling in a Braille Bible. Holy Smokes! A Braille Bible? The pages were beautiful and I remember going onto e-bay and buying a Bible to use sometime in the future. Fast forward a couple of years. I got invited to join the Portland Art Collective. Guess who is a member of PAC? Yep, Donna Bauermiller, the Braille Bible artist! Fast forward again. Donna mentioned at a PAC meeting a couple of months ago that she would be teaching a class on visual journaling techniques using Braille books. I immediately signed up (and got into the sold out class). Last Sunday was the class. It was held at an art store that I have been wanting to visit, Art on a Lark in Hillsboro, so I not only got to visit the store, but I also got to take a class from Donna. The four-hour class flew by way too quickly. Donna is a very talented artist and an excellent teacher. She took care of every detail, from a creative and informative class packet, to extra supplies, to detailed demos. I wasn't sure how much I would learn as I've taken so many classes on visual journaling and I teach classes myself, but I was blown away by four very specific techniques that I wasn't familiar with and am excited to incorporate into my repertoire of techniques. Wow, what a lot of chatter. Let's see some photos.


Donna had great handouts.


Getting started.



My pages in process:




Donna doing demos:






I'm anxious and excited to keep going in my Braille Bible!

Painting With Natural Forces

I've just returned from spending a week on the Oregon Coast, four days of it at Sitka Center for Art and Ecology. Sitka is nestled in the woods at Cascade Head, located between Lincoln City and Neskowin. Here's the facility:


My Home Away From Home

Sitka does not provide housing, so most people stay in either Lincoln City or Neskowin, however, a friend of ours has a cabin that is located right across the street from Sitka, so that is where I got to stay. Here's a few photos of the cabin nestled in the trees and a couple of photos of the view out the front window.

And So It Begins

Here I am on the first day of my class, Judy's Vogland's Painting With Natural Forces: Sand, Sun, and the Tides.

And the "teacher's table" up front.


To the Beach

We headed to the beach on the very first day of class, in the afternoon, to get some sand on our canvases. It is one of my favorite parts of the class (I've taken it before), although I was initially a little frustrated because I was trying to steer the sand and water and as you can imagine, neither are very steerable!

Let There Be Paint







A Closer Look

Here is one of my pieces, Nightfall at Neskowin (like the name, Judy!?!), from initial painting to completion (Howard wanted us to hang it in our living room at home!).










Evolution of My Collage

I started with a large canvas, added textured papers and distressed cardboard, slapped on some clay slip (I love that stuff!), some black lines and smudging, and presto, Reconstructed was born.









Fun-Filled Days

There was always lots of activity going on -- painting, giving and getting feedback on pieces of art, redoing pieces of art (isn't that what white paint is for?), and end of the day appetizers.










Final Sharing










Thanks, Judy

And here I am with Judy, who is an excellent (and patient) teacher.