Fall 2015 Wrap-up

As I look back at the last 3 months, I am about even with days spent in Blue River and days away from home. As much as the travel and workshops have been invigorating and inspiring, I am now looking forward to a number of solid at home days before Thanksgiving.

View of the Rogue River from
Horseshoe Bend Camp.

September brought one of our annual trips to the Rogue River with most of our favorite rafting friends. Much of the rest of that month was art related. As a Co-chair of the Western Federation of Watercolor Society's 2017 Exhibit to be held in Eugene, Oregon, there were several organizational meetings during the month. I also spent time and energy preparing for the Watercolor Society of Oregon's Fall convention in Hermiston, Oregon.


October: I feel so fortunate to be a part of this large organization where the creation and appreciation of art is nurtured. We also have a heck of a lot of fun!

WSO held a Murder Mystery dinner at the
Hermiston Convention.

The Last Hurrah

After the three day convention and exhibit, where my painting "The Last Hurrah" was accepted for the show, I took the week long workshop taught by the very talented transparent watercolor painter, Ratindra Das. One should never expect to do their best work at a workshop, so I am not disappointed that I came home with only one painting I am willing to post here.

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I liked the simplification and flatness
of this piece.

Ratindra Das is not only a great painter, but a generous
and dedicated teacher as well.

The week in Hermiston was an opportunity to get back in touch with transparent paints. Mr. Das is a master of that method of painting. I spent time outside of class with other class participants and Ratindra trying out the restaurants in the area. Again belonging to WSO is an enriching experience for a multitude of reasons, but developing friendships and meeting some great painters is among the best benefits.

Enjoying rafting on my friend Toni's birthday.

In the middle of the month, my friend Toni came up to Blue River for a visit. Luckily we were able to raft on her birthday. It will truly be the last rafting of the season, I'm sure. For one thing, our raft trailer was stolen right off our rig (our 4-Runner). We'll have to replace it before next summer. I hate events that make me more skeptical about the world we live in!

My sister, the actor!

Later in the month of October, I taught a workshop myself in Menucha on the Columbia River Gorge. I covered that event in my last post.

Breaking the Surface

In the last week of the month, I traveled to McMinnville, Oregon with my sister, Janice, to film her annual Haunting Video. This time it was filmed in a cemetery near where she lived years ago when her children were young. You can watch her video here on youtube.

All About That Vase

November: The month began with an artists' reception held at the Excelsior Restaurant and Inn where 3 other artist and I share hanging space. I was able to put up some of my newer work and enjoy the company of friends and family on a Sunday afternoon.


We just returned from a week's visit to Arizona, where we visited our younger daughter and her family. Among the highlights were birthday celebrations, a trip to Sedona, and a morning at Butterfly Wonderland. Mostly, it was wonderful to see Rachel, Josh and the grandkids. I'll end my post with a photo essay of our visit.

The Birthday Girl, Marin!

Hannah in her Anna from Frozen
costume.

Making accordion books at the birthday party.

Our trip to Sedona. It is such a spectacular place.

This looks like they are standing in front of a painting!

Rachel, the kids and I visited Butterfly Wonderland, where there are many butterfly varieties from around the world.

Hannah with live butterfly barrettes.

Magical Menucha Workshop 2015

Our cabin in the woods

I was fortunate to be invited to teach a workshop at Menucha Retreat. The Watercolor Society of Oregon arranges for two art workshops at Menucha each year. The venue is really beautiful; and with the meals prepared for us and comfortable sleeping arrangements, all I had to do was teach and think about art! What a great way to spend four days!

The workshop space--The Greenhouse

The view of the Columbia Gorge

One of many water features
on the grounds.

Trying our a new stamp

The ten participants were so willing to try new things and add what they learned to their own unique art making. I was inspired by their enthusiasm and creativity. The workshop title was The Bridge Between Abstract and Realism, so everyone attending came with the hope to learn more about combining these two aspects to their own art. We made stamps, stained papers, created art material from newspapers; all new materials were then used in paintings. For some people, painting on a full sheet of watercolor paper (22 in. by 30 in.) was a new challenge, but I encourage painting big!

A demonstration by yours truly

Carving a stamp

Working on a full sheet

On day three, I asked everyone to share and talk about their art making. You can see the many directions each artist took with their new tools. Most of these paintings are in process.

One last photo: every night we had a slightly different, but equally beautiful sunset to watch as we ate dinner.

One More Warm Day on the McKenzie

Here's a post to share with you one of the last warm days to raft the McKenzie River. Enjoy the photos.

Getting ready to launch.

The vine maple and dogwoods are saying fall.

We saw one heron and were followed
down the river by an osprey.

It became harder to see the rocks

as the sun sunk closer to the horizon.

Belknap Covered Bridge--love the shadows.

More About Mounting on a Cradle: A Precautionary Tale

I often think that mounting on a cradle saves me time and money over the traditional matting and framing with a glass or plexi cover. However, I learned a lesson on this round about carefully following each step. On this piece, I took these steps:

1. Carefully spray painted the entire wood cradle with a mat black, sanding between coats.
2. Sprayed my painting with varnish, using several coats to protect it.
3. Carefully measured and cut the painting in order to apply it to the cradle leaving an even black edge.
4. Oops!! Missed this one
5. Applied the appropriate glue to attach the paper to the wood
6. Used a brayer roller to press down paper firmly, leaving no bubbles
7. Weighted the entire painting upside down to let dry and adhere completely

So what was step #4? I failed to put tape on the edge of the cradle to prevent the adhesive from oozing out and dribbling down the edge. I had no dribbles, but the smears that occurred were glossy, and I felt a need to make the edges of the cradle as perfect as possible. 

Today I went to town to get more spray paint in black, carefully covered the artwork with freezer paper and frog tape. Then with sanding and a few coats of new spray paint, I think it's ready to sell! 

With luck, I won't forget step #4 again, avoiding steps 8, 9, and 10!

After a White Water Trip, I Got Back Into the Studio

Em rowing her parents, Dave and Cathy

We were so fortunate to have the last truly warm summer days on the Rogue River. It was so pleasant that Mike, Emily (my great-niece) and I slept out under the stars. Each night when I woke up with my normal insomniacal (yes, I know that's not a word) hour or so, I was just entertained by the beauty of the night sky. I would think about my ancestors, the many. many humans through the centuries who spent hours looking at this very sky and imagined scorpions and bears. I felt connected to my species in a way that was both comforting and peaceful. How can I paint that?

Unfortunately, I have a new camera and got very few good photos. I need to spend some time climbing up the learning curve!

My most beloved and reliable rower!

Returning home, I got back to the studio and worked on mounting a couple of my new pieces of art on wooden cradles. Earlier I posted the flowers in a vase. This week I mounted the diptych on a cradle I painted black. I think it is quite dramatic. A title? What do you think about "All About that Vase"?

The other piece I placed on a cradle is this small fish struggling through the rapids. Again, I'm searching for a title. Any ideas?

Something Old, Something New

This week I enjoyed revisiting some of my older posts. I am amazed at the usefulness of this history I have created over my nearly 8 years of blogging. The two posts I sought out in the last few days were one from March 2013 on how to mount a painting on a cradle (because I plan on mounting the floral on a cradle, and a post from March of this year about marbling papers. I also went back to my saved "old desktop" to find one original painting that was brought back to life through marbling and painting over that. All of this searching was to present you, the reader, with as much information as I could about the process, which many people have asked about via facebook.

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7013530919398545410#editor/target=post;postID=7729941177761527597;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=5;src=postname

http://margaretgodfreyart.blogspot.com/2015_03_01_archive.html

I have had a bit of an artistic block lately Due to this personal artistic stagnation and frustration, I searched through some "starts" and pulled out my many marbled pieces created in Liz Walker's wonderful workshop back in March. Somehow, a vision of what could be came forward in my brain and I put two marbled pieces on my work surface.

This yellow and purple piece started as a half sheet of watercolor paper, but was cut into two pieces in order to fit into the marbling tray. On Friday I pulled out both pieces and decided to create a floral diptych (two related paintings.














The next painting I worked on was a marbled piece originally painted in 2004. I was a bit "on fire" and easily saw what I could do to turn this into a beautiful landscape.

The piece I finished today was a start from Hawaii in 2007. Below you can see the transitions of this painting.

Here it is as Haukalau Path, the original version.











Then, after it had marbling over the top of the original painting, it looked like this.






The final version, finished today, has an elderly couple walking into a magical place. I added the figures and enhanced, simplified, and reconfigured the space and colors until I was happy with this painting.

My last decision for this is whether to make the couple in the magic by adding a swirl or two over the figures, or to let them be on the outside, entering the magic. So far, opinions have leaned toward keeping it as it is. What is your opinion?