The Oregon I didn't know!

Here's an Oregon Landscape I didn't know! I had been to the Deschute's River Valley before and oooo'd and awed at the desert like landscape of golden hillsides and rock formations but this past weekend we drove to Central Oregon to the Painted Hills. Wow!! It was like the world was transformed into a pastel painting you could just walk through with your mouth wide open in amazement! I was astonished at the colors, textures and the barrenness of the region. Due to the minerals in the soils, it make plant life nearly impossible to survive. This is Spring, where the rest of the US is waking up and beginning to grow and come back to life but in this area the rebirth is a struggle; the beauty is in the colors of the landscape.

It kind of helps that it was a cloudy, cold, overcast day... well, as far as pictures go! We camped at the Ochoco Divide which was much higher up and about 30 minutes away. At our campsite the ground was still frozen and there was snow still present on the ground from the night before. It was very cold, dog shivering cold as a matter of fact! I was expecting to come down into this valley and find some warmth but it was chilly. The formations are incredible though don't you think?!

 The above picture gives a glimpse of the texture of the ground, seemingly clay like little clumps but this is just the effect of the rain that had fallen. I love how there are so many colors; gold, red, green and almost a lavender. Really magnificent! There are 'scrub brush' growing which are mostly sage bushes. It smelt good there! This was a mind blowing visual experience that I am very happy to have been able to visit.

We got up early the next morning and proceeded to the next adventure, the Lucky Strike Mine. The mine is a little over 11 miles into the mountains on a challenging one lane 'road' ( I use road lightly cause it was a bit scary at times). Here we were guided up another 'road' to where we could mine for Thunder Eggs - the Oregon State Rock! What a trip! These eggs were embedded in a hillside of crumbly rhyolite material it was difficult at first to identify what we were suppose to be using the pick ax and sledgehammer to dig out but eventually figured it out and brought back a bucket that was only half full. I didn't take the camera up to that experience and happy that I didn't due to the unstable ground. Here below you can see the Welcome station, a pile of Thunder Eggs in the raw and a tree with a pile that they had sliced open. 

We stuck around to have two of our eggs sliced open and brought the rest back to Portland in hopes of finding someone in town who can slice them open for us. It's almost like waiting for Christmas - we want to know what's inside those eggs, is it hollow, is it solid, is it pretty??? The suspense! I will have to let you know....

We adventured back down into the valley beyond where the Painted Hills site was and just took in the scenery. The day before we had stopped into the town of Mitchell to get gas, don't bother if you are ever out that way! This day however we stopped in Dayville to get gas, it was much more hospitable and had atmosphere as well as an old fashioned store with scenery to goof off for a few minutes :) 

 Me goofing off! 

Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures when we stopped in the town of Fossil to attempt to collect fossils. But we did find fossils of plant life, leaves and fern fronds mostly. Behind the high school a 5$ donation allows you to go and dig fossils til your heart is content or your hands are so caked with clay you can't stand it! I ended up with so much clay on my hands.... oh the dried out skin on my hands!!! Nearly painful. 

As we drove home on Sunday the landscape changed from dry and rocky to grassy and windy. As we entered back into the Columbia Gorge there were the hills dressed in their Spring greens and the wind and waves across the Columbia River reminded me of how powerful Mother Nature is and that the landscape that we had just left was a different picture painted at a different time. It is an amazing world we live in and I am grateful to have found someone to share the experience with. 

Next adventure.... Suggestions?  

Kenton Street Fair

Well, yesterday was the second time I put my artwork out in mass to sell to the public. Again, scary but this time my friend Jenn Feeney was there showing her paintings as well. At least the day was much less painful having company; there weren't long stretches of silence, instead lots of giggles! The people watching was awesome but the sales were not. Oh well! Perhaps this isn't my calling to do street fairs, not that I won't try again but perhaps some other venue.
Here's the set up from yesterday:

I think we had the most attractive and eye appealing booth there! Personal opinion of course :) I sold two pieces yesterday. One was to a friend who had requested a wood burning of a flicker; I created this and held it under the table until she could come by. The other was one of my favorites - the Poppy piece. 

I must say it's nice to sell a piece to someone who is really in love with it. 

There are many more pieces that I have which need to find homes. As much as I love the work created there is only so many spaces on my own walls to fill! I am looking to move forward with the Etsy account I set up to move some artwork. I am excited to see if that sparks any interest in the world! 

I will post on this blog when the site is ready. 

Until then - Enjoy the beauty that every day brings! 

Gulp! Stepping out of a comfort zone.

I took a big step last weekend.
For me, it was larger than large; a culmination of working through issues, confidence and fears. It's going to sound like not such a big deal when I see it in print however, it was a big deal.
I have always been an artist, creator and at times inventor. A creative being doesn't stop being creative when the work day is done. It's always on. I have been wood-burning, painting, clipping, cutting and pasting in a fury for the last few weeks. Planning and preparing, researching and purchasing, waiting for deliveries and updating accounts. My mom (still to this day) preaches: Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance. And it's true. I planned accordingly and the event came off without a hitch!
Ok, so I put my artwork and myself out in public, at a bizarre/ fair, for all to see. I was a vendor at the St. John's Bizarre - which is a tiny venue in small town America. But it was a giant step for me. It was a warm up to putting my art out to bigger and better things! The Kenton Street Fair is on May 20th and I am more excited for this event, it's closer to home.
I received a lot of great responses to the artwork and many Kudos's from my friends and colleagues regarding the set up. The ladies set up next to me were amazed that I had all the bases covered and that I sold stuff! I was encouraged by Christie, one of the two vendors next to me. She explained that when she did her first show, she sold nothing. She said she cried and went home wondering why she chose to do it at all. I have to admit, I had similar thoughts up until she told her tale.

I sold 5 pieces and did not stress over needing something to complete my booth or having enough to sell. Now that it has been a few days of processing, I am ok with how it went and now look forward to the next adventure in Kenton!

The week as a Roll, what did you flush?

Wow! The week has flown by, they go by faster the older I get.
 Monday comes, it's the beginning of a fresh week. Like a new toilet paper roll, it's big and soft and full - seems everlasting. Slowly a few squares at a time, the roll diminishes. Unnoticeable on Tuesday, showing signs of use by Wednesday. Thursday comes but little thought is given - too caught up in the happenings of the day; in and out in a flash, lots to do. And now it's Friday. The week is gone. There are only 4 squares left on the paper tubing. Looking back at the week, I wonder where it went? Did I use the time wisely or thoughtlessly grab handfuls for little use and flush it away?
Thankfully, I can report that I made good use of every square of time for this week! Monday still had the sun shining and gave me the opportunity to work outside all day! It was AWESOME! Alas, the sun disappeared and only peeked out between rain showers the rest of the week. But I was able to move inside and keep plucking away on the roll. I do have to admit to one day with hick-ups. It was a reality check that definitely burst my high floating balloon. But that's why they say life is full of ups and downs. Sometimes a little deflation puts us back on course, with a better sense of reality. ( Ouch :) )
Here's some of what I was up to this week:

Pardon my toes! I loved the wood grain on this panel and felt a sunset would be the best way to compliment the grain. 

There are flowers in bloom every where with Spring slowly making it's presence known. I love the Camilla Trees - bushes? The ones I have seen are old 'trees' tall with deep green leaves and beautiful rose like flowers, full blown with color. 

Lucky for me I have a nice selection of flowers blooming in my yard, thanks to the original home owners (1928 - 2000?) they left behind roses, tulips, daffodils, and other flowers. However, last year I was gifted some iris bulbs, and they are blooming nicely. As a tribute to them...

I really dig the way that most subjects look before they are painted, but then I add color and it's difficult to decide which way I like better! 

This picture really doesn't show the color well. Not quite sure why but these are painted purple. However, after taking several pictures the only way it wants to be shown is as blue - go figure? 

And last but certainly not least is one that I think is still in progress... 

The birds have been in FULL swing of Spring in the backyard! The trees are full of movement; dashes and dots of swooping souls in multitudes of colors and song. It brings me such great joy (really, it's almost boarder-line nutty) to watch with Awe how the birds fly with such grace, hang upside down, hop in the grasses and splash in the fountain. I picked a few favorites that are constants at the feeders to adorn this panel. 

Top is the common house sparrow, chick-a-dee in the middle and Bewick's Wren at the bottom. 

I think these guys need just a touch of paint to finish them up and perhaps make the tree a bit more alive with spring! 

This is mostly my week in review (with the exception of a bunch of cards). It is rewarding to look back over the week and see that the squares of time were not lost. True many squares were flushed but I am satisfied with how the roll of the week was used and the art produced. 

Enjoy the weekend but remember come Monday - it's a fresh roll! 

Moving forward...

Woo Hoo! I will be a vendor at the St.John's Bizarre this May 12th and am hoping to be accepted to the Kenton Street Fair which would be tops!
I have been working on some new pieces to put in shows. I am learning a lot about wood and how different types burn differently. Hardwoods definitely take a lot longer to produce art on! Though the effects are nice, the time it takes is sometimes daunting!
Here is a picture of a salmon which is done and an owl in progress. I took the picture at the raptor rescue in ID an am working from that image of the owl.

 And now for the finished owl...

This has a lot of detail in it and was quite the undertaking. Due to working on hardwood, this took many days and about 15 hours to complete. I really, really like this one! I like it so much that I traced the outline and attempted to re-create it on an old cabinet door. The door is made from Doug Fir which is much softer and burns much faster so it only took a couple of days to complete. 

After working on such large pieces, I decided to simplify and work on a smaller board capturing the essence of spring flowers that are progressing this year much better than last year! The weather in Portland is much warmer than it was last year, we may even have summer this year! Yeah!! These are wood-burned and then painted. The Black Eyed Susan's were a bit more detailed than I had originally planned on but I think they turned out well. 

The Poppy turned out exceptionally well, I think. 

A little glimpse into what I have been up to lately, with more to come! I am looking forward to warmer and dryer weather so I can work outside doing the artwork I love! Burning wood inside is stinky and though I wear a mask, tends to stick in the already clogged sinuses of Spring! 

Comments and suggestions for backgrounds are most welcome! 

Enjoy the change in seasons and welcome change in life!! 

I just finished this piece last night. One of the largest wood-burnings I have done since the bookshelf for the Chair Affair, it took many hours but I love the result! 

After spending a week working at a temp job I was feeling stuck, unengaged. Thoughts of art work swirl in my head, desire to create was there but wasn't coming through. I had been working on this a few hours here and there but it remained largely unfinished. Frustrated but having the option of doing housework or working on this, you see what I chose! It was a great sense of accomplishment and relief. I am now reinvigorated to move forward with new projects! 

Oh Boy!! Awoke to SUNSHINE today!! Supposed to climb to 60 degrees today!! So excited, I am heading outside to do some work with the stylus tool. Hopefully there will be new stuff to post after today! Here's a little something to enjoy in the mean time...

Round and Round

I have been trying to vary my substrates a bit. Mostly I use wood that I have gleaned from other places. When I worked at Pratt and Larson I would visit the workshop and gather cast offs from where they make the display boards for showing tile. At one time the company my husband worked for had wood samples in a variety of sizes which was fun to work on too. I still have some of that to work with but I was looking for something else that would make a great gift item. 
I came across a great deal on Lazy Susan's recently and purchased a few - what a HOOT to work on! Literally having to think outside the box was a challenge! I traced and drew out several ideas on paper months ago... I didn't like any of them! So recently, I just decided to just go for it, do something on one of them. I loved working on the round surface because it spins! I disliked working on the round surface because it spins! I found ways to overcome and stop the spinning when necessary but embraced the versatility of the spinning surface, it made it easy to adjust hand positions and approach the subject from different angles to achieve different burn strokes. 


Here I started off just sketching on the surface: 

Next was to do the woodburning. I had to do this in stages over the course of several days. Perhaps it was the type of wood or the way it was cured, but it was tougher than birch to burn on. 

Given that the subject matter was small and detailed, that probably made it take longer to work on as well. I had to do a little research on dogwood flowers to remember what they looked like and what the leaves looked like! 

After adding some paint and then a little finish over the paint, I think it looks quite nice! 

Looking forward to the next adventure!! 

fishy, fishy

I know, I need to do more. More art work, perhaps less job searching! The job searching thing is bringing me down, way down. 
But I have some artwork to post so that makes me feel happier :) 
I worked on a piece for my husband for Valentines day which took quite a while to do but since he was out of town for the weekend, I was able to work on it freely! It is one of the most detailed pieces I have done. I thought the heron on the bookshelf was intense but this took the place of that intensity! 
Here's a picture of 'in the beginning' : 

It's a Salmon by the way.... 
                    And now for the finish.... 

It has a bit of a shine on it in this photo but I did put a finish just on the burned image, hopefully you can still see the details!  
More to come shortly! 

Beginning to End Bookshelf for the Chair Affair

The table & Chair Affair supporting the Community Warehouse

THURSDAY     MARCH 15, 2012

CASTAWAY   1900 NW 18th Avenue

     Portland, 97209

                              www.communitywarehouse.org/

This year I was invited to participate in the table & Chair Affair which supports the Community Warehouse. A great organization that helps folks to set up house for the first time or after experiencing hardships in life. It's a great place to donate all of the home goods that may not be needed at your house any longer. Towels, sheets, mattresses, toasters, silverware... You get the point! 

As a fund raiser, the warehouse allows artist to come in a pick out a piece of furniture or they can find a piece on their own, alter it in an artistic way and bring it back to be auctioned to raise money to support their efforts. This post is to show the transformation of the bookshelf I picked out and it's progression.

In the beginning, it was an old, way over painted bookshelf. After 2 chemical peels and a day plus of sanding, the wood grain was revealed and inspiration began bubbling. 

I took inspiration from a place I see several times a week, Delta Park Dog park. There is a wetland bird sanctuary located right beside the 'park'. Great Blue Herons, Eagles, multitudes of ducks, hummingbirds, and various other birds inhabit the wetland area. I love watching the birds and observing how the weather and light changes there from season to season. One day while pondering what I should do with the bookshelf a heron passed overhead and landed just a bit away as if to say, "pick me!". So, I did! 

 

I really wanted to capture the essence of what I see at the park with the cat tails, tall grasses and the water. The top of the bookshelf had a gorgeous band of wood grain that I wanted to emphasise and the idea of the wet land played perfectly with that. I began by wood burning the grasses, then went back and painted each blade and then sealed each so the color would show even after painting in the water and sunset. 

 

Moved by an Audubon post to my facebook page regarding how hummingbirds pick the fuzz from cat tails to make a nest, the inspiration for the last panel was born. I chose to put a male and female Anna's hummingbirds on the last side. (Anna's hummingbirds stay in Portland year round!) 

The final step was to put on the grasses. I painted grasses on craft paper, layering red, then greens in long strips I then cut them out and glued them on with matte medium. I will add that I used some blue & black spray paint and black gesso to paint the inside area of the bookshelf. The entire piece was then painted with a satin finish poly acrylic to seal the deal :) Here are the finished pictures, enjoy!