I created this treasury this morning. Shopping on Etsy can be a daunting experience with so many listings to sort through. Treasuries like this are a way to see a group of favorites and browse quickly. You can find my treasury here: http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=124211 I’d love it if you visited the site & took a look! You may find something new & exciting!

I’ve listed some originals on my etsy site that I unframed to make way for the new paintings going to Riversea this month. Buying unframed originals can be a great way to save money… buy the painting now, frame it later.  I have a couple more to list in the next week or so, so keep checking back! I’m also planning to list some note cards with my images soon.

Creative work makes me happy, but the subsequent pauses for rest are all the more painful, for then one begins to think things over. – Hugo Wolf, Composer

"Gathering" Watercolor on Yupo 25"x25"

I can’t believe it’s been so long since I posted! Tomorrow will be my opening reception at Riversea Gallery, and I’m both looking forward to seeing the work hung, and aprehensive. It is always a jittery feeling wondering how the paintings will all look together, whether any will sell, whether anyone else will like them.

When I delivered the paintings on Wednesday I was very excited by the feeling of accomplishment. It has been a good month getting so much work done, and seeing their positive response was gratifying. But now, on the eve of the reception, I start to have doubts. Thank goodness for the steadfast few of my friends who have promised to be there to ease my jitters!

There is so much to be said for making a public declaration. Once it’s out there, it really motivates a person to follow through! I recently sent an email newsletter to my email contact list. If you’d like to join, you’ll find a button on the sidebar to sign up! The newsletter has resulted in a few small sales (Thank You!) and a bit more productivity for me. I publicly stated that I’d be listing a few unframed originals on my Etsy site, and now I’ve done so! Also, if you haven’t checked out the new class listing on TeachStreet, be sure to do that. I’m trying to make it really easy to sign up!

Have a great Weekend

part of our new flock

 I’ve been busy this past week painting, getting photos taken of the new work, planning my framing strategy, writing my artist’s statement, and generally worrying whether my paintings are looking their best. It’s kind of like the frenzy of getting ready to give birth!

Amidst all this activity, spring has arrived here on the farm. We’ve been planning our garden spaces, adding new babies to the flock, enjoying the new blossoms, building fences, and generally nesting in our new home. Here are some images to share:

An orchid shows her beautiful face in the window

Artist buddy Laura Mack's new baby at the Salem Art Association Auction

Jamee Linton and her cute husband at the auction

I’ve really been enjoying the support of my fellow artists lately. It is difficult to imagine what it’s like to put yourself out there, at an auction, exhibition or gallery unless you’ve been there yourself. It’s nice to compare notes, and realize you’re not the only one!

One of the ways I connect with fellow artists is by blogging. It was nice to meet artist and professor Jessica Burke at the Salem Art Association auction on Saturday night. We had exchanged messages via blog, but it was so much fun to meet her in person! Blogging is not just for networking, but also inspiration. Leslie Avon Miller shared a thought-provoking question on her coaching blog this weekend:

What is one of the top energy boosters in your creative practice (or life) that nourishes your creativity, your body and soul, and how can you honor that even more?

For me, it’s not just nature and life, but also music and poetry. I almost always have music on in my studio… all types. I love the random setting on my ipod, and it’s always interesting the way the songs that come up serendipitously dovetail into what I’m painting. I keep my poetry books close by, and sometimes type out parts of poems to keep on my inspiration board. These are some of the things that provide my daily inspiration, what about you?

Winter Morning View

I’d be interested in your response to this question… leave me a comment!

New work, influenced by my new surroundings!

"Private Tune" watercolor on paper 9x12"

I’ve been really focusing on my studio habit this month in preparation for my show at Riversea Gallery next month. This means I have to say no to more social things, be really focused on routines and habits, and be really efficient in my household tasks. A lot of support from my husband helps too!

I’ve noticed that the search for new inspirations has really opened me up to trying to pick up other habits too. Spring is a great time to do this! We seem to have increased energy, the light lasts longer, and I can feel new things shooting up everywhere.

One of the new things happening for me is the advent of more landscape influence in my work. I wrote that I had felt this coming on in this post…way back in August. I had such a positive response to the landscape painting I did for The Whistling Season show for Lake Oswego Reads, and it was so much fun to do too…. The painting even sold at the show! Maybe the recent press in The Oregonian was an influence there… In the actual newspaper my image was featured. I always wonder who the purchaser is. If you are an artist, does this make you curious too?

Meeting Ivan Doig was a huge inspiration. He was a brilliant speaker, easy to talk to at our exhibit and had wonderful things to say about the creative process. When someone asked me how I got such color into my landscape, he quipped: “Just tell them the same thing I do: you used your imagination!” Another thing Doig said that has stuck with me was a quote from Vladimir Nabokov about writing: “The writer must use the PASSION of a scientist and the PRECISION of an artist.”  By this he meant that to be creative, you must be a passionate explorer… one who is always asking ‘what if’? But you must also be able to find the perfect balance of imagination and reality… be the artist who can fool us into believing that the illusion before us is real.

I had a nice compliment this week from someone who bought a print on ETSY… she said my painting made her think she WAS the girl in the yellow dress at the flower market. That is always my clue to when a painting is finished… I can forget about the details and feel myself in the painting. Here is a new one… I am walking the dog It has undergone a few minor changes since I photographed it, but it is near completion at this stage. Look for the differences when/if you see it in person. After I get the show together, I will be rephotographing things and updating my website (finally!) I also plan to list a new class here in my home studio. It will be Thursday mornings, starting in mid-May. More details to follow

Winter Evening Walk, Watercolor on Yupo

 I will leave you with part of an inspiring, motivating poem by Mary Anne Radmacher  (used with permission) that I have hanging in my studio to remind me to work hard:

Be avid,

Create apart from perfection. Risk failure. Cover your words with sweat. Run a little.

My favorite part is “cover your words with sweat.” That’s what I’ve been trying to do lately….

Jessica  included a link in one post that is so funny…. the instant art critique. Put in any five numbers and it generates a phrase that will make you sound pithy, smart or at least over-educated when talking about an art piece.  My numbers generated this lucious bit of art-speak:

“It should be added that the optical suggestions of the sexual signifier makes resonant the essentially transitional quality.” 

It would be fun to look at a random painting and a random critique together and try to make sense of the two!

OK… enough procrastinating! Off to the studio

I’ve been cooking, cleaning, unpacking to beat the band and it finally feels like things are getting back to ‘normal’. Even though my studio is still a wreck, I’ve started back working, which feels great! I’m going to love having all the new space to roll around in… Still need to install better lighting and get rid of boxes & clutter. But one of the greatest pleasures of moving has been finding new display areas for some of my favorite art pieces. I felt so lucky when I saw all the things piled in one room during the move. And just putting them in different places helps me to notice them more and others to see them often for the first time!

Vicki Hammond's Beautiful Assemblage

This piece by Vicki Hammond, which used to give me great inspiration in my studio, now provides a great mood on my bathroom vanity. If you haven’t moved your artwork around lately, try it! A fresh look for the New Year!

I wish I had photos to post of my newest artwork, but I was working on it until the last minute before I delivered it! Deadlines are a powerful motivator!!!! My most recent piece was for the 100 Artists show at Mary Lou Zeek Gallery in Salem. This year’s show is called “Nourish & Sustain” and will benefit the Marion-Polk Food Share. If you’ve seen these shows in the past, you’ll know what an honor it is to be invited to participate. Artists from all over the country (and places even farther) work together to accomplish good things in our community. It is always amazing how different the art pieces are, each artist beginning with the same challenge: an item sent through the mail.

This year the item was a tin can, pictured below.

The show runs February 2-27 at Mary Lou Zeek Gallery, 335 State Street, Salem, Oregon. If you are out of state, you can usually view the work online. Bids on the artwork begin at $50 and go up in $5 increments. The competition can be fierce!  The artist’s reception on February 3 promises to be thrilling! Hope to see you there!

Mary Lou has posted one great example of William Skripps’ piece on her blog: http://marylouzeekgallery.blogspot.com/2010/01/100-artists-show.html Check it out!

Bluebird I

Every once in a while, things fall into place. I recently heard from a woman in Texas who was interested in the above painting. She found my website through my friend Bonnie Taylor Talbot’s website, I Paint Pictures. To make a long story short, I made a sale from my website! It is always gratifying to know that your work touches someone enough to buy it. Also, today I made my first sale of a fine art print on Etsy.com! I am thinking of Katy and hoping she will enjoy her purchase very much! If you like, you can check out my shop from the link on my sidebar.

Of course, that spurred me to spend some time on the Etsy site… finding lots of beautiful things to drool over. I need to get up to the studio. Lots to do! I got some good suggestions for a painting in progress last night at my critique group, and I’m looking forward to finishing it today! Also, I need to make the final decision about what to enter for the AWS exhibition coming up. The above image was a contender before it sold. Now I’m vacillating between “Mother & Daughter” and “Fish Market”. Do you have a preference?

Mother & Daughter

Hong Kong Fish Market

Farmer's Daughter 2008 15x22"