Making Marks

March Show at Lunaria

In the late fall, I was going to the Let's Paint class, taught by Ann Altman. One of my goals was to experiment with oil pastels, a medium that Ann has mastered. This is one of the pieces that emerged from the class that will be shown at Lunaria Gallery in March.

Our March show, called Moon and Stars, will include guest artists: each Lunaria member has invited one guest to participate in the show, which means we'll have 50 artist showing! This concept has generated a lot of interest, and I'm excited to be a part of it. To make a long story short, I got to invite two artists, and am happy to have Amy Wagner and Margaret Mallatt join me.

Time to Celebrate

I've written almost 100 posts! At the beginning of 2008, I'll be hosting a give away. For now, let's pretend we're celebrating with our parasols at the beach.

My intent with this blog was to record how my artistic life progressed, to capture the successes, and to share my thoughts. Sometimes writing has been easy and fruitful. I've been able to articulate some ideas that were floating around my head and make them real. Other times writing has been more challenging. I've had to dig deep to find something meaningful to share. Writing has helped me push through some difficult spots. I've had to learn how to form words around concepts when I'm used to just making the art and letting it speak for itself.

Thank you for joining me!

29 paintings

I uploaded images of all 29 of my current paintings on my website. It feels really good to be this far along in preparing for the show opening on Sept. 7th!

The show postcard is in production, and KC and I have been planning for the publicity. Our work will compliment each other for a great show.

Since preparing for this show has gone so well, I will return to the goal of one small painting a week. I've taken a good portion of the summer off due to travel and work commitments, so I'll have to choose a start date. This week. I'll start again this week.

I was recently reading Acrylic Revolution and was truly inspired. Declan Halpin's work really caught my eye. This book will give me a little boost to start painting again. Yes, I'll start this week.

Silverton Arts Association Show

Our local Arts Association hosts a show in conjunction with the Silverton Fine Arts Festival. I was juried in and am showing the embossed pastel work I made at a workshop at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology. Tidal Forms (to the left), Spring Garden Forms, and Pebble Forms are for sale at the show.

Silverton artists have developed a strong network and a vibrant community. I am constantly surprised at the dedication and effort so many people put into sustaining the arts here. Thank you!

Red, White and View

This is a sketch for an upcoming exhibit at Lunaria, Red, White and View: Artist Visions of Freedom and Color. The design is inspired by a book I found last week by Nancy Crow (self titled). She is a quilter who works in free-form machine piecing. I am drawn to her use of graphic lines and bold color statements.

The sketch is acrylic on watercolor paper. Now I need to decide how to take this forward. I'm tempted to use fabric, but I may try to paint on canvas or use fabric, paper and metal on a substrate. In any case, I hope to capture some essence of the U.S. flag without hitting the viewer over the head with the traditional image.