Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival

Sheep, llamas & alpacas filled the stables at the Clackamas County Fairgrounds in Canby. Vendors sold anything to do with processing wool and making fibers- spinning wheels, roving for felting, yarn for knitting all hand-dyed in incredible colors. I'm definitely a city girl and the Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival proved to be fun for all ages with spinning contests, an antique hand-cranked sock knitting machine demo (it looked like a meat grinder) and lamb cook-offs.

I took beginning feltmaking and locker hooking classes from Una Walker. I love the feel of wool in my hands and will enjoy making more handfelted accessories.

I imagine my grandmothers did locker hooking. Its neat to see the revival of these old crafts.

Botanical Illustration

I spent the last weekend taking a botanical illustration class from Linda Vorobik at the Berry Botanic Garden. These huge lily pods caught my attention during our garden tour.

We selected plants to draw- with the mantra 'measure, measure, draw' to get an accurate rendering for scientific documentation. We copied the drawings in pen & ink and painted them with watercolor glazes. Now I want to learn more about bontanical science and illustrate more plants.

More Art Excursions

Last week, we sketched at Pittock Mansion. It threatened to rain and clouds covered the Mt Hood view so we spent the afternoon by the Gate Lodge.

This weekend, a group of PAC friends headed up the Columbia River Gorge to the Maryhill Museum of Art to see the 'Gadzooks! Amazing Books' exhibit by Northwest Artists. I don't know which I liked better- the books or 'Le Théâtre de la Mode French Fashion Mannequin Collection'. Both run through November 15th.

We shared art and food and fed the peacocks in the shade .

Today, we visited the Japanese Garden
to sketch and see the High Fiber Diet Art show. Check out the Garden website for more information. The art quilts were inspired by wabi-sabi- "a sense of beauty of things that are simple, natural, sometimes rustic, and always quietly elegant". Karen Miller told us about the Japnaese stencil dye art of katazome. She gives a demo on her website.

Art in the Pearl

Art in the Pearl has to be one of my favorite Portland festivals. Three artists really spoke to me this year. I loved the old-world collages by Danielle Desplan as in the above botanical with her tapestry-like, medieval rendering.

Lissa Herschleb displayed two of her sketchbooks which really caught my attention. Her sketches of the organic, morphed shapes of plants and faces with weight and substance are transformed into her mixed media paintings.

Lisa Kaser makes wonderful, whimsical sculptures with wire and handmade felt and wax. She will participate in the Eastside Portland Open Studios in October. I sure want to visit her studio.