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.

The Bishop's Close

The Bishop's Close is another Portland treasure and this week's sketching site. The Elk Rock Gardens cover a bluff overlooking the Willamette River.

Double anemones bloom along the path.

A trail hugs the cliff edge and we decide to sketch the landscape to the East from here.

We're rewarded with a beautiful view of the river and Mt Hood.

Garden Wonders

This week, we sketched at the Berry Botanic Garden. The six acre estate in Dunthrope area of Portland is full of rare plants from around the world as well as native NW plants. It contains the largest public rock garden on the West Coast and is a national historic site. Rae Selling Berry developed the garden and was known internationally as a pioneering plantswoman.

The troughs really spoke to me. These minature garden landscapes contain a variety of plants and vary in size and construction. Some troughs are 30 years old.

Here's another of my favorite roses- 'Dainty Bess'. It's so delicate and almost looks like a dogwood blossom. Pink roses symbolize happiness, gratitude, appreciation and admiration. This is how I feel today about nature and the world around me.

Reconnecting to Mother Earth

'Chicago Peace' roses bloom in a great bouquet in my garden. Their fragrance permeates the air as I go about garden maintenance. Morning watering and pruning start the day out right with the world.

The Edgefield Manor gardens in Troutdale, OR are amazing and it's fun to walk their vaired paths. Yesterday, Martha and I spent the day sketching these garden treasures sitting under the grape arbor.

The grape arbor frames sunflowers in the distance.

The old, red door and it's surrounding garden kept us sketching all morning.

What is it about sunflowers that speak to me this summer? I remember how they kept guard over the northside of my father's garden on Maple Avenue. They looked down with their grandeur on the corn stalks, tomatoes, pumpkins and cukes. We collected and roasted the seeds in fall. The fields of sunflowers in Southern France or in Justy's garden turn thier heads with the sun, an amazing sight. Nature journaling has reconnected me to Mother Earth and her bounty. She's grabbed my attention to see anew what I often take for granted.