Persepolis, flower exchange & new sketch

I highly recommend reading Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis I & II her memoir about her childhood in Iran during the revolution and toppling of the Shah's regime, her adolecsence in Vienna, her return to Iran and her life of oppression under a fundamentalist government. She combines her written words with graphic illustrations in a comic strip format with a wonderful sense of humor. Then go see the movie, Persepolis. Her images create a powerful, visual experience. She reminds us about the importance of individual stories and the impact they have to combat stereotypes placed on nations and peoples. It's an incredible human rights story.


On a lighter note, I want to share with you our Camp Runamuckus ArtFest flower bouquet. Our individual creative imaginations never cease to amaze me. Thanks Nikki, Tammy, Suz, Sheba, Stephanie and Enchy for a great swap! Check out Andrew Boloz's blog which details his Puget Sound Adventures and ArtFest experience.
This week, we sketched at Abundant Yarn & Dyeworks. I enjoyed sketching Christy N. Pagal's oil on cotton fruit paintings and a knitted leaf banner. The yarn and roving color selections boggle the mind. Plus, the barista makes a great latte and a foot soaking tub eases those weary feet. I discovered Edina Tien's knitting blog. She shares patterns and ideas to use all that yarn

Mark Your Calendar for Fairy Festival May 3rd

Mark your calendar for the 4th Annual Portland Fairy Festival at Alpenrose Dairy May 3rd. It's a fun, noncommercial event for the whole family.
Yesterday, volunteers made fairy tiaras to wear during the magical festival. It's a time for play, imagination, dress up and whimsy. Stop and see us making flower crowns. If you want to help, we need more volunteers to make little fairy dreams come true.

Back from ArtFest

The ArtFest theme this year was Forest Walk. I made this PhotoShop collage for my journal before the event using photos taken the end of January at Play along with the
handmade little creature in the middle that someone gave to each of us.

Anahata's Mixed Media Mandala workshop inpired me to have fun with gold foil, paint and doodling.

I collected a variety of plant leaves from Marianne's garden on Vashon and used them for gelatin prints in Dorit Elisha's workshop Nature Imprinted. At the end of the day, we made collages with our prints.
Theo Ellsworth's workshop Mystery Play Inside inspired imaginative drawing- what he calls imaginary performance art. He led us through several exercises to deal with the inner critique. The drawing below represents my secret language drawn with eyes closed and translated later with eyes open using my imaginary detective.
This drawing uses the awkward hand to explore the inner-child out on the playground. His way of delving into and exploring our imaginary world offers a deep well of creative inspiriation.ArtFest offers the chance to see old friends, make new friends, learn new techniques, feel the creative energy and the bounty of imagination in all the inspired projects from each workshop. It's creative adrenaline for my art.

ArtFest 2008

I'm off to ArtFest this next week and am looking forward to seeing friends and taking workshops. Thursday is Anahata Katkin's Mixed Media Mandalas.

Friday is Nature Imprinted with Dorit Elisha and Saturday is Theo Ellsworth's Mystery Play Inside.
In the next post, I'll share what we created. It's great to be able to take the ArtFest adventure.

Printemps nm 1. [saison] spring

The French have a wonderful expression- "avoir 20 printemps" or to be 20 years old. I was 20 years old when I first studied the French language. That time represented the springtime of my life- young, a university student, in full bloom with lots of options and possibilties for the future. Learning a new language now offers certain challenges- remembering vocabulary, hearing pronunciation, concentrating to listen and speak- being in the moment. The process helps to exercise both the right and left sides of my brain. Check out Kristin Espinasse's French-Word-a-Day site.

Spring still offers many opportunities- new growth, a burst of creativity, change, cleansing rain, exploration of the earth's beauty in color and form. This bounty makes me grateful for what we have and the paths taken since "avoir 20 printemps". It's a blessing to be able to enjoy this rebirth et parler français.

Les Fleurs et Pâtisseries à Portland

Bonjour! We celebrate the first day of Spring today. Spring rains cleanse the earth and new growth returns color to our world- a renaissance. In preparation for a Camp Runamuckus ArtFest flower swap, I made les fleurs above with layers of felt, fabric, tulle, hair curlers and copper wire. The whimsical bouquet brightens my studio work table.

Maybe it's because of mon leçons françaises that we're frequenting les pâtisseries à Portland. Le Petite Provence, 4834 SE Division offers comfortable dining and a counter full of elegantly displayed and hard-to-decide-which-to-choose pâtisserie. Très bonne!

Fleur de Lis, 3930 NE Hancock took over the old Hollywood neighborhood library. It's Portland casual with indoor and outdoor seating et plus pâtisserie- une boulangerie excellente. C'est la vie - avec amies, conversation et café au lait.

New Sewing Machine Cover

It's finished! In January, I took a fabric collage class at Fibers in Motion in Multnomah Village with Darlene Veltman. After seeing Darlene's cover, I wanted one. She told me I had to make my own. For the first sewing project in years, I really enjoyed piecing some of the fabrics together that I brought back from Japan and embellishing the collage. It says "Om is where my art is". The great Buddha Diabutsu from Kamakura sits on a lotus flower.

The beaded embellishments add color and texture. It's hard to see but the background green fabric behind the Buddha is embellished with small gold seed beads to make it look quilted.