Open Studios and Art and Soul

Come On In!

This past weekend I participated in Portland Open Studios. My studio will be open this coming weekend as well. It's been so wonderful celebrating my beloved new studio with the many visitors who stop by!

I can't resist sharing some photos of the studio decked out for the event.

The Door's Open

Sit down and have a chat

Display Table

Display Table View 2

Art Wall where garage door used to be

A visitor experiments with encaustic

I took three classes and taught two at Art and Soul Portland which ended last Monday. Wow, what a great week! I taught "Tear it Up!" and "Wabi-Sabi Wonder." I took a book making class from Traci Bunkers, "Dolls for Big Girls" from Judy Wise, and "Vintage Metal Deck" from Leighanna Light. I learned a lot and had a lot of fun in these classes. The classes I taught were full of amazingly brave and talented women, and I'm excited to share their work with you!

Below are some dolls other students and I made in Judy's class. Go to her blog to see pictures of all of them--they're great.

This outrageous witch was made by one of my students and a new friend, Diane

Diane begins a doll



Here I am at work on Miss Havisham

A friend from Art Unraveled, Nancy, made this book in Traci's class.



Nancy with her book

I won't show you my book from the class yet, as I still have to do the stitching. I did finish my vintage metal deck in Leighanna's class. Here's a phone picture.

I discovered the wonders of my new Crop-a-dile. I think it will change my life.

(If you are a mixed media artist and haven't discovered the above tool, I recommend you do so at once!)

My table at Vendor Night

After teaching on Saturday, I womanned my booth at Vendor Night, an annual shopping extravaganza at Art and Soul.

Here is work from "Tear It Up!" The students created torn paper flower collages. We had a somewhat challenging area for the class, being in the atrium of the Embassy Suites, with a waterfall loudly flowing behind it and a greenish light to work by. The students were troupers, and made lively and fascinating work. At the end of the class we went outside to photograph what they'd made.

Lovely blue flowers pop out of the complementary background

Evocative flowers and woods in fall

This lively and clever flower has diverse petals and a background just right for it

This student had a great time creating this delightfully surreal flower

A complex and organic environment for this lovely bloom

Bold 3-D daisies on a rich background

Nature unrestrained and lush

A happy, whimsical flower with a bold stem

A many layered piece full of life

This flower piece celebrates a special child

Wild and stylish flowers

Rich colors and yummy daisies

Magical, fantastical plants and bloom

A 3-D lovely--you can almost smell it

Luscious, tropical pieces by a student from Florida

Swirls and text set off by a dazzling red bloom

A set or diptych with richness and movement

An aged, Renaissance like piece. right out of Old Europe

Tres chic with a stylish flower, this suggests Paris

Tropical and clever with photos of stairs for stems

A mysterious, and complex flower, maybe from another planet

Inspired by Monet's Lilies, serene and vibrant

Modern and vividly imagined flowers

Elegantly composed flower, reaching for the light

Perfectly shaded hydrangeas--hard to believe they're made of paper



This piece embraces life and death and has a comforting feel

I want to go where these flowers are

Fresco-like delicious mystery

A 3-D rhapsody

The whole piece is like music

An jaunty and bold flower, not afraid to be green

White lilies pop wonderfully from a complex background

A lyrical evocation of spring

Thanks to all the Tear it Up students--you were a great bunch of artists to work with!

In writing this post I noticed that the flower collage class pieces had an overall mood of vibrant joy. I smiled all the while I was downloading the pictures and savoring each one. I've decided not to add captions to the Wabi-Sabi Wonder class pictures, in keeping with the indefinable essence of Wabi-Sabi. I'll let readers and viewers respond in your own ways to these pictures, which evoke complex emotions.

The Wabi-Sabi class was held the last day of the retreat and this group was ready to try anything. Thanks for your great energy and boldness!

Thanks to Glenny, Vonnie, Maria, Jen, Richard, and everyone who helped make Art and Soul a wonderful experience. I learned so much from my teachers and from my students!

GASP--The Studio is Finished!

My encaustic area and major storage. (Okay, the one undone
bit of construction is the exhaust fan. You can see where it is going to be at
the top of the picture.)

I can't really believe it! After so many months and after days and days of my friend Julia and I painting until our eyes were crossed--the GASP project is finished!!
Today we actually got to the fun part of arranging furniture and decorating. Next week I'll move in the large bookshelves and tables. It looks like a real studio! Can you tell I'm excited? Waaahooo! Yee-ha!

Here are a few vignettes that I hope will whet your appetite to come see me at Open Studios, the second and third weekends of October.

I'll see some artistic-minded clients here and hang out with friends

Closeup of sitting area

Corner of what I'm starting to call the "Rococo Bathroon"

More of the bathroom

Top of the entryway cupboard

Cupboard shelves with old treasures and garage sale finds

Closeup of Goodwill armoire, all dressed up to celebrate

Have I mentioned how excited I am?

The One and Only Miss Havisham

Remember Miss Havisham from Dicken's Great Expectations? It used to be required reading for most of us in the 9th grade. I've found I'm not alone in considering Miss H. to be the most interesting feature of the book. Here's how Dickens describes her:


"She was dressed in rich materials--satins, and lace, and silks--all of white. Her shoes were white. And she had a long white veil dependent from her hair, and she had bridal flowers in her hair, but her hair was white. Some bright jewels sparkled on her neck and on her hands, and some other jewels lay sparkling on the table. Dresses, less splendid than the dress she wore, and half-packed trunks, were scattered about. She had not quite finished dressing, for she had but one shoe on-the other was on the table near her hand-her veil was but half arranged, her watch and chain were not put on, and some lace for her bosom lay with those trinkets, and with her handkerchief, and gloves, and some flowers, and a prayer book, all confusedly heaped about the looking-glass."


As you may remember, the fiftyish Miss H. had been jilted on the day of her wedding as she was getting ready. She stopped all the clocks, and left all as it was, including the cobweb-ridden wedding cake rotting on the table. Deliciously creepy.

So here are a few images from my new altered book. Guess I'm feeling Halloween-ish early.

Front Cover

The woman on the left would probably weather a jilting just fine, but our
Miss H. hides behind her wilted garments and flowers.

Here's little Pip, (left) our hero. He doesn't get to go

out shopping like the young Miss H. and her family did.

Two of Miss H.'s more fortunate school friends who have
become an explorer-ballonist, and an actress-mistress.
(I made this up--it's not in the book.)

Hunting and Gathering Bulletin and GASP Report

Rancho Deluxe

What a great day. Hunting and Gathering today and going to
Ten Tiny Dances at TBA in the evening. If you've never seen Ten Tiny Dances--do! This event happens twice a year, one time being during TBA (Time Based Art.) It's always different and always wonderful. As I'm typing this I'm hearing a medly of Reba McIntyre songs. Dot is preparing to interpet her concert, so now it's All Rita, All the Time. Okay by me.

Today's H and G bulletin and a brief GASP report. I kept the H and G to a minimum, hitting just two stores. I've been wanting to go to the celebrated Rancho Deluxe for some time since I read about it on Dayna Collins' blog. This antique and junque store is only open on Saturdays!

(I seem to be going for a link record in this post...)

I finally made it there and came back with two grab bags, a funny tree thingy, and for a dollar I got a play diamond necklace and a bug encased in hard plastic. Lots of stuff for art in the grab bags. The funny tree thingy and the bug will be perfect for my studio. If any of you are familiar with Interior Alchemy by Rebecca Purcell, you'll notice that I seem to be going for an Alienated decor.

Funny tree thingy, faux diamond necklace, and a bug-in-a cube

Closeup Bug

Purcell defines the Alienated style as "an otherworldy tableau...combining vintage pieces, strange flora and fauna, and humble man-made objects that are modern or futuristic in a naive sort of way with various Gothic embellishments...Think of it as future Gothic and you'll get it immediately."

Grab Bag #1

Grab Bag #2

Purcell's Alienated style is perfectly realized in my favorite shop, Flutter, whose praises you've seen sung here before. They have exquisitely, heart-breakingly beautiful re-imagined vintage dresses that I desperately wish had been around when I was 20. They also have taxidermy, a whole suitcase full of vintage postage stamps, and way too much inspiring stuff to list.

Flutter's Alienated Interior

Restraint was my watchword today. I came home with just one thing from Flutter. One perfect thing. (See below.)

Bird's Nest with Eggs from Flutter

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The studio is getting so closed to being finished! It's insulated, the egregious garage door is removed and replaced with a nice new wall. It's hard to believe I'll be in there in less than a month.

Of course a new studio, teaching at Art and Soul, participating in
Open Studios, and teaching a few weekend courses for PSU weren't enough to schedule for September. As my therapy office mate, Diane, and I both have our own studios now, we're downsizing the office and moving this month! Geesh. Wish me luck!

No more ugly old broken garage door

Cement River where the concrete was repaired. I know I can
do something cool with this "river, I just know I can...

Studio is starting to look human with a new door

Living Now, Remembering Then

Sara in 1922

I tend to get extra energetic as fall approaches, but the last few years I've been surprised to find myself a bit blue when September comes around. I always spend a few days wondering why that is until I remember that it was this time of year (four years ago now) that my mother became ill with her last illness. She died at home about a month later, with her husband and children at her side.

We didn't always get along. One of my mother's old friends said we had a "colorful relationship." But I miss her. I still find myself wanting to ask or tell her things. Today I want to share some pictures in her honor.

1933



1942

c. 1954

Early 1990's?

With great-grandson 1999


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