A Happy New Year 2013--Return to Art

Happy New Year!  

I love the holiday season. The winter celebrations are lovely--full of family, fun, food and festivities, but I miss my studio time. I love returning to the studio to create art, think about future paintings, and, like today, plan for upcoming exhibitions.

I currently have one painting heading to Fallbrook Art Center's 4th Annual American Signature Exhibition and another painting going to an invitational exhibit at the Umpqua Center Art Association in February. I also have things in limbo like a proposal in to Jacobs Gallery and a painting or two out to juried competitions. Those are just waiting games. But I do have a definite upcoming exhibit at a local restaurant, Zenon's Cafe in Eugene, starting on January 15.

Zenon's is a popular, upscale restaurant in a busy area. I think it will be great exposure for my paintings. Typically, I paint on a fairly large scale, but I want to offer customers some smaller and less expensive pieces as well. 

Last April at Carla O'Conner's workshop, I learned a method of making a lovely small painting and a mono-print. First I cover hot press watercolor paper with metallic gold gesso. The second step is to paint on the gold with gouache (opaque watercolor paint.) Once that is dry, it becomes a plate which is transferred onto damp watercolor paper, making a mirror image of the original.

Below you see the walking heron going both east and west. These are 4.5 inch squares.

 

In the last couple of days I have made a few more of these little gems. The four below are 5.75 inch squares. 

I visited a fellow artist, Marilyn Odland, the other day to get her great ideas for framing these to make the best presentation. I'll show the framed pieces in a future blog.

 

 

December Snow--2012

As the month of December moves on, the art studio stays dark and empty because we have three of our grandchildren on this week before Christmas. I am practicing a different art--the art of grand-parenting  They certainly help me stay in shape with their activity levels!

With an unusual early snowfall in our region, we have enough snow to make pulling out our dusty and cobwebbed toboggan worthwhile. Noah gets the first pull by Angelica. 

 

A toboggan can be used in several ways. Marin and Dabbadoo like to show off their excellent balance.

 

 

Angelica chooses another form of transportation.

 

And Noah plays snow peek-a-boo for the camera.

 

 

Just a few days away from Christmas, and we are having fun in the snow, learning how to make cake-pops and wrapping presents. Happy Holidays to all of you!!

Christmas Tree Decorating--2012

It is a long tradition for Mike and me to go out in the woods for our Christmas tree. For $5, you can purchase a tag from the US Forest Service, use up a tank of gas, spend half a day or more tromping through the woods to come home with a beautiful natural tree like this. The dollar price is way less than gym membership and the hourly rate of a psychologist. Yes, this is the stuff we do that keeps us fit and sane!

 

The next step is conning my sister Janice to come up and help us put on lights. This really keeps down the bickering over who has to do this least fun part of the decorating, and the swearing as the task is done. Her price? A roast chicken and vegetable dinner and a clean bed for an overnight stay.

 

The part I truly love is reaching into the ornament box, pulling out a favored ornament, and being flooded with the memories of who picked it out, where we were, and which child loved it most. Almost every year (even before our kids were born) Mike and I each picked out and purchased a beautiful or meaningful ornament for the tree; a tradition we continued with Rachel and Meg.

 

And the final step of the evening is posing with the tree, leaning on the branches. That's just how strong and stiff a high altitude tree is!

 

Janice and Mike

 

Mike and Me

Nothing Like Communication that Begins "Congratulations"

Today I was notified that my painting "Blue Moon Heron" was selected for the 2013 Signature American Watercolor Exhibition at the Fallbrook Art Center.  The juror is the well known artist Cheng-Khee Chee. I assume that the competition was strong because all artists entering have earned a signature membership in an American Society.  Mine is from the Hawaii Watercolor Society, but there are many around the U.S. 

Just for fun, I am posting three photos showing the progress, changes and hard work involved in finishing this piece.

 

 

 

Blue Moon Heron, 22 x 18

The Quest for the Perfect Christmas Tree--2012

After the china comes down for Thanksgiving dinner . . .

 

After the turkey is baked . . .

 

And carved  and eaten . . .

 

After the kids pose for pictures . . .

 

And wrestle . . .

 

After the stories are read . . .

 

And after the tired babies are put to bed . . .

 

the holiday season changes from Thanksgiving to Christmas overnight.

So Mike and I left Washington and returned home to Blue River, knowing that the first nice day we would be out in the woods for the search for the perfect Christmas tree.  On the Sunday following Thanksgiving, we were, indeed, on our quest.

 

It's in my blood to be relentless in looking for the best tree:  symmetrical, blue-green, full, yet natural, and preferably a noble fir. I've gone out in the woods for a tree for as long as I can remember; first with my mother and father, then with my husband and an assortment of family members, and this year just Mike and me. As the clear-cuts and new plantings have dwindled over the last few decades, finding a tree that is the right size and growing in good light to form the symmetry I desire has become a greater challenge. Once a year I happily tromp through the snow, over logs, through the brush for as long as it takes to find a great tree. 

 

Not this one.

 

Never a pine tree, although this is pretty.

 

The nobles we saw this year were all too sparse.

 

Now you're talkin'--this is a beautiful Pacific Silver Fir.

 

"Are you sure?" Mike asks before he begins sawing.

 

So this fir tree is escorted from its home to ours.