Hillsboro Plein Air Paint-Out

Participating in the Hillsboro Plein Air Paint Out last Saturday was a first for me. I've painted outside but never in an organized event and never with so many people watching. Cowardly me chose a rather quiet sidewalk in front of the courthouse, set up my equipment, and got to work. I've heard experienced outdoor painters advise "find a comfortable spot and paint what's in front of you" so that's what I did. There was a blue tent nested beside a path among the trees so I chose that as my subject.

I worked with Holbein acrylics and wasn't happy with the paints at all. The colors are wonderful for my splashy studio work but didn't work well for me that morning because I couldn't mix my greens to suit myself. My fault, not the paint. I need to practice mixing greens. And I didn't get the tent right which threw everything off.

Yes, I was doing way too much self critiquing and I knew it so I quit that painting and found another comfortable place, on a bench in front of The Candy Basket and behind a flower seller. The next painting came rather quickly and I was done in perhaps 30 minutes.

We turned in our 2 paintings for judging and I won an Honorable Mention in the Figurative classification for Flower Seller. What a surprise! I was participating because I thought it'd be fun to do and give me good experience. I gave no thought to winning anything. The judge mentioned the simplicity of the work and knowing when to stop. I didn't tell him that it was better about a dozen brushstrokes before I finished.

White Vase with Purple Flowers

I've been working with acrylics this afternoon and as long as I remember to make a statement with my painting and not get too realistic I'm okay. This was fun.

It's 12"x14".

Painting with oils

I got out my oils last week and decided to just play without any self critique and I'm presenting them in the same spirit of no critiquing allowed. One thing I decided is that I need to do a LOT more work before I'm comfortable with the medium. On hot days when I first put out the oil it's quite slippery on the board and then a few days later it becomes a bit tacky as it starts to dry on my palette and I need to squeeze out more paint. No wonder some of the old palettes of the master painters are several inches thick with dried paint. They didn't clean off their palettes; they just kept adding more paint to the drying mixture.
Three little paintings reinforced for me that no matter the medium I prefer to paint an abstraction of an image rather than try to represent a more realistic version with my brush. I have my camera for copying the scenery.

Watercolor

No, I haven't been to Italy lately. I finished this painting today but it was started in a workshop last month that I took from the Australian painter John Lovett . I don't call myself a watercolor painter, not having put in nearly enough time and effort to control what I'm doing. I usually beat the paper into submission, scrubbing layer after layer of paint onto the surface until I have a muddy mess. My hand is too heavy for this lovely medium even though I have fun doing it. This painting is like most of the rest that I'm not showing you but I rather like it. It's half-sheet size: 11" x 15".

John's a good teacher and I took his workshop for the purpose of improving my style of drawing and painting in my sketchbooks. I've always taken lots of photos, many with the idea that they'll imform my artwork but I stumbled when I tried to paint from them, lapsing into copying the photo rather than using it in a thoughtful way. Something happened to my thinking during this class, something I can't explain at all, but I think I get it... I finally get how to pick element from a scene and making a painting about them rather than trying to put everything in the scene into the painting. I'll have to work at it for awhile but I can already feel my thinking shift.

Note Cards are available

Sometimes I make things harder than they need to be. I've been selling my Note Cards for awhile but kept stalling going ahead with online sales. Now it's done. I'm offering them in lots of 10 with envelopes through Pay Pal. I can't personally take credit cards so this seems to be the easiest way for you and me. Just click on the Add to Cart button and place your order for 10 or multiples of 10. The inside of the card is blank. These Fine Art cards are suitable for framing in the frame of your choice and because they are Giclee prints they should last years on the wall, out of direct light. Email me with any questions or if you have trouble with your order by clicking on the email link at the top of this column.
Sales are going very well. I've sold nearly 1000 cards and they're being reprinted. I expect these will be most appealing to the community of Jesus-followers who will use them as a way to encourage the recipient or as a gift on a special occasion. The cards titles include Who Are You?, Lowly (humble), Servant, Truthful, Loving, Obedient, Optimistic, Gracious, Forgiving, and Victorious.

Sketchbooks

I've uploaded most of the pages from the sketchbook I worked in while we were in Israel. It's just a little book, 3.5" x 5.5" and about an inch thick. It's just a bit more than half full and is already one of the favorite things I own... my own little treasure, full of little drawings and notes to myself about things I saw and did.

I'm so amazed at the power of sketching/drawing while out and about in my world. Because I take time to SEE, to take in the scene with my eyes and ponder what's before me, the moment is captured in my memory and sticks like glue forever.

For example: my husband and I visited Australia in 1994 and I remember one part of that trip like it was yesterday... because I took time to sit and sketch some country houses. Even though the sketch is pitiful when I look at it I can remember where I was sitting, the sounds of the schoolyard down the street, the stone church behind me, and especially the fact that I left my camera behind which led to a wonderful Lost and Found story that was published in International Travel News.

Looking at my photos doesn't recall memories like sketching does. Sometimes I look at old photos and think, "where in the world did this batch of photos come from; surely I wasn't the one who took them because I can't remember a thing about it".

One teaches oneself to sketch; it's not something you learn in a class nor is it something that you're born to do. Perhaps the desire to learn in inborn or bred, and I do have the desire to make art. But if you've ever thought that you'd like to learn to draw or paint then I KNOW that you can learn to do it well enough to enjoy the process.

Inspiration

Two weeks of traveling in Israel infused my thinking with a completely new to me symbol... stones. The country is made of stone. The countryside is very rocky from the Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee. Rocks are everywhere, and consequently all the buildings are made of rock, whether they are 2000 years old or built yesterday, and they are a uniform color... sort of yellow ochre-ish. Blocks of stone are cut and piled to make the walls of buildings and stones gathered out of the farmers fields are piled to create terraces and walls on the land.

One day we were poking around in the lowest reaches of a church in Jerusalem and found hundreds of little crosses scratched into the foundation walls. Were these messages of early Jesus-followers or simply an early form of graffiti? Whatever, they've already made their way into my artwork. Around the edges of this piece I've carved names of some of the places we visited. This piece is 16 X 12" and is on a cradled panel which is 2" deep.

Sketch Crawl

Once a month three friends and I meet to sketch. It's part of a global drawing marathon called SketchCrawl. Anyone can participate and anyone can organize their own event... it just takes a couple of people who're interested in improving their drawing skills. Mine need help! I've taken drawing classes and I've drawn a lot but I don't draw daily, and that's the key. Draw every day. There's bound to be improvement.

You won't hear from me for a couple of weeks... we're leaving in the morning for a 2 week tour of Israel. I've been obsessing for weeks about which art supplies to take and I've finally decided on just a simple set of drawing materials and my little watercolor paintbox with a waterbrush. We'll be doing lots of walking and will be too tired at the end of the day for me to want to do much in the way of art-making. I know that I "see" better when I draw so that will be my goal... to see and draw a lot. I'll collect ephemera and take lots of pictures and store up lots of memories from which to make art after I get home.

Works of Faith

Two of the pieces in my Sermon Notes series have been accepted into "Works of Faith", June 8 - August 10, and "Gifts of the Spirit" August 17 - October 12. The exhibitions are sponsored by the First Presbyterian Church in Portland, OR. I haven't exhibited my work for many years; it feels good to have been accepted into these shows in my home town.

Note Cards

It's been a busy week and it's not over yet. There's been so much positive response at my church about the big posters and how they add life and color to an otherwise huge white room and so many requests for prints or cards that I got on the ball and did it. Thanks to my photographer/printer, David Hooten, all 10 of the most recent pieces have been printed as 5 x 7" note cards and will be for sale at our church with proceeds to benefit outfitting the kitchen remodel. I'll offer them through the blog as soon as I can figure out how to do that most efficiently. They're beautiful. David printed them so the art bleeds to the edge; the print quality is such that they can be framed. We'll also offer framed prints in 3 sizes: 5x7, 9x12, and 18x24. We're off and running with this.