An Aerial view of the project

We had a lot of feverish activity in the garden over this long weekend. Our forcast calls for extreme heat this week, and the weekend was long and cool, perfect for working on the hillside in progress. I wanted to set in all my new plant purchases before the heat sets in and the sprinkler tune-up on Wednesday. Lots of hand watering, digging, rock hauling etc. Our backs are really feeling the consequences, but the hillside is taking shape! We had some help from one of my daughter’s college buddies and our sturdy tractor. The bunting above the fence was crafted by Amelia in a move to keep the deer from jumping the fence. It looks higher and adds some fun color to the garden. Hard to tell in the picture, but the triangles are made from bandannas. A friend had suggested Tibetan prayer flags, but this seemed more appropriate for the country feel of our house for now. We will see how they weather, and whether they fool the deer.

This weekend brought another excitement… our first glimpse of a new fawn in our yard, just below this project on the lawn early Saturday morning. She was so sweet, if shy. Sorry, no time for a photo… she was too fast.

“Oregon Dawn” 18″x15″

As promised, I’m sharing a few images that I did a couple of weeks ago in Santa Barbara. I was pretty happy with some of these paintings. It makes such a difference to be able to focus only on painting  for a whole week!

"Morning Light" 15"x22"

Try as I might, I can’t seem to get a good photograph of this painting. The colors don’t really come through. I guess I’ll need to get it professionally photographed. Trust me when I say that this is a subtle painting, but there is richer color than the photo shows.

"Evening Vista" 16"x15"

It was a busy weekend here on the farm… Our new babies are finally weaned and arrived on Saturday after we spent all morning fixing the fence. We are now the proud owners of three young kids…. Larry, Moe & Curly! Sunday was devoted to my mom… her birthday as well as Mother’s Day. We sat in the sun and ate brunch while all the kids and husbands waited on us It was a beautiful day. 

'Curly'

Larry looks like  Curly, except his ears are brown, and Moe is black with brown markings. They are so cute… and useful! Their first bites in the pasture were none other than the prolific, insidious, invasive and pervasive Himalayan blackberry! I’m so excited to get this place rid of all the noxious weeds

On Friday my sister & I took a trip up to Woodland Washington to see the Hulda Klager Lilac Garden. It was a kind of showery day, but the lilacs were gorgeous. I bought a large one and two smaller ones, one of which went to my friend Sue, who raised our goat kids.

"Glory" one of my favorite Lilacs

This particular variety has huge, softball sized flower clusters and the individual blossoms are very large and richly fragrant! I’m just sorry I couldn’t bring one of these babies home There is a waiting list for the plants! If you plan to attend next year’s lilac festival, I would recommend going early in the season when they have the most variety of plants available. I was a little disappointed that they were out of a few of my favorite types.

This year we also took time to tour the house, which is restored to period detail, just as Hulda Klager would have lived. It was a great way to escape the showers

Life here on the farm has been busy and full: fixing the fence, planting and weeding in the garden, enjoying the wildlife from our kitchen window. We’ve had abundant deer, rabbits, coyote, hummingbirds, goldfinches and this guy came strutting out one night just as we sat down to dinner.

I’m getting ready for my daughter to move home this week. She’s the first one done with classes so she’ll get a jump on the job market and get to bond with the livestock here Also, I’m excited to be traveling to Salt Lake City on Thursday for the Western Federation of Watercolor Societies’ Annual Exhibition. I’m looking forward to seeing the show, which will include paintings from each of the eleven different watercolor groups that comprise the Federation. It’s also a great opportunity to network between the groups, sharing ideas and brainstorming about how the societies are organized and function. While I’m there I’ll get to visit my cousin Lucy & her husband Drew, and do a little research on my family tree! It’s getting harder and harder to leave home though, as the weather gets nicer & nicer!

"Spring Song" 15"x11"

I can’t believe time has gotten away from me for so long. It’s been three weeks since I posted! I’m torn  between trying to catch up in one long post, or dividing this post into shorter, topic specific posts. I guess that would probably be the best way.

The past three weeks have been spent: Painting at a workshop with Skip Lawrence in Santa Barbara, babysitting my 3-yr. old godson for 3 days, visiting my oldest daughter at OSU, spending some down time with a doozy of a cold, and working in  the garden. Spring has sprung and I’m so happy to be getting things accomplished!

I loved every minute of painting in Santa Barbara last month. Some of my paintings were successful and others weren’t, and that is a good thing. I think that if all of them were successful, I wouldn’t have been pushing myself. It was great to have a whole week to just focus on painting and nothing else. It is amazing what that can do for your creativity and confidence.

I wonder when people see my work at a show or gallery if they realize that its always a struggle to make time to paint. I wonder if they realize that Pollyanna doesn’t always sit in the room with me saying how wonderful each work is. Doubts creep in, rejections are recalled, the laundry needs to be done, the weeds are sprouting, the darned phone starts to ring just as you pick up a brush.

One of the women in our class invited the whole group to her beautiful home in Montecito for a potluck dinner on Thursday night. One of the highlights for me (aside from the stunning views and gorgeous art collection) was visiting her studio. I love to see where artists work. I wish I had snapped some photos of the actual space (but it was full of artists!) One thing I did bring home as a souvenir though, was a list she had taped to her easel.

NOTES TO MYSELF ON STARTING A PAINTING

(RICHARD DIEBENKORN) 

-ATTEMPT WHAT IS NOT CERTAIN – CERTAINTY MAY OR MAY NOT COME LATER. IT MAY BE A VALUABLE DELUSION. 

-THE PRETTY, INITIAL POSITION WHICH FALLS SHORT OF COMPLETENESS IS NOT TO BE VALUED – EXCEPT AS STIMULUS FOR FURTHER MOVES. 

-DO SEARCH, BUT IN ORDER TO FIND OTHER THAN WHAT IS SEARCHED FOR. 

-USE AND RESPOND TO THE INITIAL FRESH QUALITIES BUT CONSIDER THEM ABSOLUTELY EXPENDABLE. 

-DON’T ‘DISCOVER’ A SUBJECT – OF ANY KIND. 

-SOMEHOW, DON’T BE BORED – BUT IF YOU MUST, USE IT IN ACTION. USE ITS DESTRUCTIVE POTENTIAL. 

-MISTAKES CAN’T BE ERASED BUT THEY MOVE YOUR FROM YOUR PRESENT POSITION. 

-KEEP THINKING ABOUT POLLYANNA. 

-TOLERATE CHAOS. 

-BE CAREFUL ONLY IN A PERVERSE WAY.

I giggle to think of the illustrious Richard Diebenkorn trying to channel Pollyanna while painting. Reminding himself to keep a positive attitude… let it flow. I think there are enough grains of wisdom in that quote to expand into several posts.

In our class, there was one woman who had never picked up a paintbrush before. She is a successful physician and signed up in the hope of learning to paint before taking an extended trip around the world. She had admired the work of another artist who studied with Skip and recommended him as a teacher. 

As experienced artists know, it takes much more than a week to learn to paint. But her enthusiasm and naivety allowed her to create something quite wonderful on the first day. On subsequent days, her critical mind got in the way and she was less successful. It was an interesting phenomenon to watch… Pollyanna was helping her on the first day! Once you’ve been painting for quite a while, it’s harder to get Pollyanna to stick around to watch but if you could tie her up in the studio, telling you things like wow! great job! that’s beautiful!, etc. it just might help.

The sun is shining & I’ve GOT to get out in the garden! Next post I’ll share some of the work I did in class. I’m quite pleased with some of them. Do you paint near Pollyanna? I’d be interested to hear your perspective.

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.

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….

Thank you to Lisa Swifka for having the idea at Whimsical Bohemian and getting so many great participants. I wish I’d had a chance to visit more of the great blogs that signed up. I had no idea how many artistic bloggers were out there! And thank you everyone who visited my blog and left a comment. I hope you’ll come back soon to see what’s new!

I did my draw this morning with a random number generator. It seemed too paltry to offer just one prize for the 184 great comments, that I decided to surprise you and add another! The runner up will receive a set of my art print cards, which I am just getting ready to list on etsy.

OK, the winners are: Comment # 76 (Debby at The Gathering Nest )for the Original Acrylic Painting on Block “Bird in the Head” and Comment #27  (Lauren) for the art print cards! Congratulations… I’ll be emailing you directly next!

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!

I’ll also include here a sweet picture of the newest member of our flock: Bobbie

Ready to pounce out at the dogs!

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. (20^th century abstract expressionist painter Hans Hoffman)

Getting ready to move is an exercise in getting organized, and I need it badly! People often look at the volunteer activities, teaching, parenting and art that I do and assume that I am organized. I assure them that I am not. I just work hard. Really. I’m not joking. I-am-not-organized. My house assumes the illusion of being organized, but beneath the surface there is a jumble. Everything in its place? nope. Everything is someplace though, and I do mean everything. It is amazing what a house can hold in its dim dark recesses.

Yesterday I woke up, took a peek at the comments on my blog, and suddenly realized…. horror of horrors…. I had framed and sent the wrong painting for the NWWS show! As I was framing the painting in a rush on Monday, I thought to myself that it didn’t seem as good as I remembered it. The figure’s arm and hand looked wonky… the background was too simple…. it didn’t stand a chance to win an award.

As I glanced through the blog yesterday morning after already delivering the painting it hit me… I had framed the first version of “Explorer” not the second, much finer version. I ran upstairs and quickly shuffled through the paintings in the flat file…. no Explorer. Where was it?

Oh no, did I accidentally sell it? No, I wouldn’t have done that… I knew it was a competition worthy painting. Did I take it to the gallery? No, I hadn’t framed it yet. Did I accidentally leave it at critique? No, someone would have called me. Did my private student accidentally pack it home in her portfolio? I called her… nope! Panic was setting in now. I started saying the rosary passionately. I dug out the St. Anthony (patron saint of missing items) key chain.  I called the woman who is transporting the paintings to Seattle, explaining my dilemma. She said I had until late evening to find the painting and switch it.

OK… it must be here somewhere. I tore apart the flat files and moved them to see if it had fallen behind the huge pieces of furniture. Nope. As I was doing that, I meticulously sorted through each drawer, looking for that darned painting on each side of paper, beneath mat board, collage papers, sketches from life drawing…. etc. I searched both portfolio cases, behind the paintings I had done in that same month that were already matted & shrink-wrapped, thinking maybe I had done it on the back of one of those. My friend arrived to paint the utility room. We moved the dryer and found the masking tape & paint roller. I wondered if I was losing my mind.

I contemplated fabricating a story about how someone had broken into my house and stolen just that piece of artwork as I explained why my painting could not be exhibited. I reminded myself of the plans I had just made to attend the opening with my friend Mary from Montana. I imagined greeting the juror and explaining why my painting didn’t arrive at the show, and the look of derision on his face.

Finally the only place left to look was the back of the image I had already framed. I wouldn’t have been so stupid as to miss framing the correct painting just because I had the wrong side of the paper would I? I called my friend. She opened the frame. There was the elusive “Explorer”. I had framed it wrong side up. I guess that will teach me to try to be thrifty by painting on the other side of my rejects. I’m just so thankful that I realized my mistake before the painting actually travelled to Seattle!

Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it’s not all mixed up. (A.A. Milne, English author and creator of Winnie-the-Pooh)