Home from Artfest

Another amazing Artfest has come and gone. I had a traveling companion for the first time this year. It was soooooo wonderful to have my budding artist friend Maureen with me.

My first class was with Nina Bagley. I had the amazing privilege of sharing my table with the beautiful, brave Tina, who turned out to be a kindred soul. I love how Artfest makes things like that happen.

I made this wrap bracelet, dramatically improving my wire wrapping skills while I was at it.

Friday I had the lovely Misty Mawn. I had a great time hanging out with table-mate Ben, talking sports and admiring the pretty patterns we ended up with on our hands.

I was completely in my element in this class, slapping paint and collage and stencils and hand-carved stamps around. This is one of several pages I worked on.

I spent Saturday with Sunny Carvalho, who is just so wonderfully talented and kind. Above, my table-mate Lynn and I show off our pretty girls.

I usually paint with acrylics, so painting this lovely with Genesis oil paints was quite the learning curve, but so rewarding in the end.

And now it's back home to the regular routine. Happily I've come home inspired and itching to make things.

I'm teaching a quick Surface Design on Fabric workshop this Thursday evening at Sew Uniquely You. $5 to come play with my stamps, stencils and paints. Last I checked there were still spots open if you're in the area and want to join the fun - 509-467-8210.

Weekend wanderings

I was lucky enough to have both time and energy for a bit of wandering this weekend. Starting in my own front yard where Pistol and I have been wandering quite a bit lately, checking out the new stuff popping up out of the ground. I have crocuses!! I can't tell you how excited I was to see these beautiful spots of color pop up!

I headed out to Coeur d' Alene where I caught the fabulous MaryJo McGraw in action teaching a class on Copic markers at the North Idaho Rubberstamp Show.

Here's Melinda demoing at the Lost Coast Designs table. There were some great vendors and lots of folks snapping up all the great products. I left more than a few of my pesos with Elaine from Carmen's Verandah!

I made a brief stop at a flea market in Post Falls. I found a couple of things but was thrown totally off my game by the sweetest little black baby puppy. I couldn't concentrate after putting him back in the basket with his sister and left emptyhanded.

I still had an hour to kill before a hair appointment. I was way out in the valley (where I almost never go) so I had to make the most of it and go somewhere cool. I got off the freeway and cut over to an extremely uninspiring stretch of highway where I found this little oasis of bliss. This Old House, The Mad Cow and All That Glitter all lined up in a little row of pretty.

Here's a pic from inside the shabby chic heaven that is All That Glitter, possibly the prettiest store in the Spokane area.

I also managed to hit Longhorn BBQ for some zesty pork and garlic rolls on the way back home. Which really just rounded out a nice yummy Saturday.

If you wake up with a sore throat...

It's all over. I'm sick. Sick sick sick. Sickety sick sick.
I've been reading yummy photography blogs* and they are encouraging me to capture the simple everyday moments of my life. So here you go. My nightstand pretty well sums up all my moments this week. Pills, cough drops, water, kleenex, you get the idea.

*Here's a couple of those pretty photography blogs for you to look at until I'm feeling better:
Darrah Parker
Vivienne McMaster
Liz Lamoreux

More painting

Here's my week three assignment for Get Your Paint On. Week three was color week, so I played with a different palette than I usually use, one inspired by some of the colors Mati McDonough uses. I'm really loving all this painting. Even when I'm just filling in blocks of color, I get totally absorbed in what I'm doing. Wonderful.

Stuck!

Help! Feedback please! This is my Get Your Paint On week two assignment. I don't think it's finished but I am stuck, stuck, stuck. What do you think?

Getting my paint on

I love the work of Mati Rose McDonough and Lisa Congdon so when I found out they were teaching an online class together I signed up immediately.

This is what I painted for week one of Get Your Paint On. The inspiration was the Gees Bend quilts. I chose to focus on color and shape. This felt very different from what I usually do, but I love the whimsical feel and the graphic style. 11" x 14" acrylic on canvas

And now for something completely different...LOL! I actually painted both of these yesterday, moving back and forth during the background stages. I got totally absorbed in these and you know I love it when that happens! I'm also taking Misty Mawn's current online class, trying to figure out her soft dreamy painterly style. This wasn't a class assignment, just me playing around with this style. It's kinda crazy how different these are, but I really like both. I used to worry about how to integrate the different styles that I like or whether I should pick one in order to develop my "voice". I finally figured out that I could just make whatever I want to make and the rest will take care of itself. The important thing is to make stuff. Do the work. Except it should be called "Do the fun!" 11" x 14" acrylic on watercolor paper

Resourcefulness

Here's a gratuitous cute cat photo since a) I haven't posted one for a while and b) I don't have any pictures to go with the rest of the post. Please enjoy.

So what I really wanted to say is that I had kind of a crazy day at work. I don't write much about work here because, well, this isn't a blog about litigation. (thank goodness!). But when I took a deep breath at 4:55 today and started reflecting on the day I discovered a parallel to my art work. If there was a "theme" for me today it was Resourcefulness.

There was a lot to do and it seemed like every little thing had some little extra glitch. And so a lot of different people came to me with a lot of different glitches and I had the resources to help them. Yes, you can fix that by filing this and here's the form. Yes, I have that person's home # right here. Yes, I can find that piece of information on this website. Yes, let me call this person I know who can fix that. All day long. And here's the thing: It was fun! I love to solve problems and I've reached a point in my career where I have lots of resources at hand for solving problems. And that is such a satisfying feeling. The hard work I've done in the past pays off for me now.

So how the heck does that have anything to do with art? I'm coming to understand that a big reason why I love creativity and art making is because I love to solve problems. How can I put these elements together in an interesting way? How can I express this idea? How can I fix this painting that looks like vomit? And I've reached a point in my art making where I have lots of resources at hand for solving problems. I can balance that big element with these three small elements. I can stencil/stamp/draw these symbols. I can throw a splash of red paint right there to cover that awkward part and make the whole thing pop. The hard work I've done in the past pays off for me now. Awesome! Here's to experience and resourcefulness!

You never know what you're going to get

This wasn't at all what I intended when I started this painting. But my original plan wasn't working, so I started playing around with random collage bits that were handy. And came up with this. I've learned to just go with it when the paintings boss me around. They're always right.

I've been practicing faces. I signed up for the Faces class over here. Faces are a fun challenge. I'm always surprised by the expression they end up with.

Here's another little angel, one of three I'm painting for a commission (!). I've set up a painting station in the dining room since the basement studio is pretty cold right now. I've been painting in batches, starting several different sizes and surfaces at once, then having fun seeing where each one goes. You never know what you're going to get!