Flora Bowley's e-course

I'm taking Flora Bowley's online e-course called "Bloom True". She's one of my favorite painters and lives here in Portland. I love how nature inspires her paintings and her use of color, the contrasts of light and dark. Her paintings have a very organic, feminine feeling.

You might ask how do you take a painting class online? Each Tuesday and Friday, we paint with specific instructions. It's all very abstract with many layers. I started a notebook for the class and made the above cover with a couple layers of paint. It's a Strathmore watercolor notebook. I painted a layer of absorbent ground on the shiny surface, a layer of watercolor paint and then a layer of acrylic paint.

This week, we concentrated on inspiration. Here are a couple of my sketches.

Nature inspires my artwork and is a common theme I like to explore.


Midway through the course, here are my two canvases. For me, they are large- 24x30 inches. I bought a sturdy table easel that holds up to a 39 inch canvas for the work. At this stage, both canvases have six layers of paint. Flora says her painting often have ten or more layers.


The scary part comes next. To use all the techniques we learned to create another layer that brings the painting together. This is where courage comes to play and I just have to go for it.

Calligraphy Class

I'm taking an Italic calligraphy class at the Multnomah Arts Center with Christine Colasurdo- a writer, teacher and calligrapher. She gave us the above quote the first day of class. It reminds me to be a beginner in all that I do- to see with fresh eyes, to practice a lot, to make mistakes, to be patient with myself, to grow and learn.

I've wanted to learn a calligraphic hand but thought I didn't have the time to practice. I'm finding the repetition of letter forms to be very meditative work.

From the lowercase letters to the capitals, there is a beauty in the pen angle, letter slope, shape and spacing.

This summer, the International Calligraphy Conference will be held at Reed College. The Portland Society for Calligraphy will host the event. The conference is my motivation to study and learn more. I already signed up for Spring term. It will be great to experiment with adding calligraphic writing to my artwork.

Making 2012 Visual Calendar

Here it's already February 1st and I'm posting my 2012 calendar. You can see other visual calendars HERE. I made it bigger this year so it measures 8 x 9½ inches. The format is different, too. I decided to keep the calendar grid open and create an illustrated calendar with my artwork, practices, books read and favorite quotes.
The calendar starts with a table created grid. The left hand side is Sunday through Wednesday and the right side is Thursday through Saturday.

I used to photocopy and collage the covers of the books I read for my calendar. This year, I'm making my own books-read illustrations. Jill Berry's new book, Personal Geographies- explorations in mixed media mapmaking, offers lots of information about maps and ways to create your own. Checkout Jill's blog for arty cartophiles.

Maps fascinate me. I want to know where I'm going and where I've been. A friend shared with me map quotes from the Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear. These quotes are from her book The Mapping of Love and Death.

I chose the word focus for 2012. Sometimes I feel like I go in too many directions with my artwork or don't concentrate enough to learn one skill well. My hope is that by selecting this word, I'll be able to complete projects and find purpose in my artwork.

Networking with Artist Blogs for Friendship and Inspiration

Robin Olsen surprised me with a Liebster blog award. Her blog, Rough Around the Edges, always inspires me with her fresh, creative ideas with fibers and the new directions her artwork takes in her painting, journals and travels. I really appreciate her passing this award onto me. Thank you, Robin.

The award is meant to showcase bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers. It originated in Germany and means "favorite" or "dearest." The rules are you must mention and link to the person who gave you the award and mention five other blogs that you think are worthy of the Leibster.

Dayna Collins- Her blog, Alley Art Studio - Be Bold, showcases her artful journey through her paintings, curious elements, travels, workshops and antique/junk hunting. I'm always amazed at her artistic energy.

Jo Reimer- Her blog, One a Day, offers examples of her daily art making and experimentation with her painted/paper collages, photographs, journals and paintings.

Liesel Lund- Her Blog, Adventure in Pretty, highlights her art interests in watercolor and mixed media painting, art journaling, jewelry and photography.

Lorrie Haymaker- Her blog, Lily Lovekin Tails, shares her life journey with its ups and downs, bits of wisdom, insights into daily living, poetry and wonderful photographs.

Penelope Harris- Her blog, Radiant Crust, tells wonderful stories about her artwork, art exchanges and other esoteric topics that enter her very inventive mind.

Blogging allows me to make and network with artist friends all over the country. Even though we live miles apart, I feel close to each one. Their friendship and inspiration stoke my creative fires.

Thankful for my Art Groups

Readers of my blog know how important my art groups are to my life. I feel fortunate to belong to several- Portland Art Collective, Portland Artist Group, Gussies art journaling retreat group, a weekly sketch group and a group that explores new art techniques together.

It's great to have so many like minded art friends. I learn something new from each member. They keep me inspired, encouraged to try new media and focused to create on a regular basis. Each friendship is a blessing.
The January/February issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors has an article entitled "Strength in Numbers- or how to start your own art group" written by Tory Brokenshire and Robin Olsen.

If you're not already in a local art group, I encourage you to start one for 2012.

Gifts that Keep on Giving

For a month, I've watched the paperwhites grow and now blossom. Each day is full of a new surprise- the angle of a leaf, the sprout of a bud and the bloom of a flower- gifts that keep on giving.
The growth and blossoming of the paperwhites remind me of other gifts that keep on giving- friendship, the love and support of family, mother nature, books and new ideas, sharing, a random act of kindness, wonder and curiosity, adventure and travel, memories, dreams and special moments.
I am grateful everyday for these gifts. In this season of giving, it's time to remember all the gifts that give us daily sustenance and pleasure.

A Big Thank You to All Who Came to our Open Doors Show and Sale

Thanks to all who stopped by my booth at the Portland Art Collective Open Doors Show and Sale to say hello. It's fun to see friends and family. Your support means a lot. I appreciate all who offered good wishes and were there in spirit, too.

For more photos of the show check out the post by Dayna Collins on our Portland Art Collective blog HERE

and to learn more about the Portland Art Collective listen to an interview with Robin Olsen and Lorraine Jones hosted by Eva Lake that aired on KBOO radio HERE