More than Beautiful

On May 3, 1891, my great grandfather wrote to his bride-to-be about some of the things he encountered while working in the forests of Washington State. He was the assistant geologist for the mining bureau. I’m not certain how they met, but he sent letters often via train back to Puyallup or Tacoma, wherever my g-grandmotherContinue reading “More than Beautiful”

Support Crew

Life continues to drift in and out of days spent with my brother in Eugene and trying to recuperate from energy spent towards him. I’ve had since Friday “off” but it’s now Sunday and I’m just starting to feel like possibly doing something creative. Friday, I was fortunate to spend a bit of time helpingContinue reading “Support Crew”

Adding Light

When I started creating silhouette images of native (and some invasive) plants, I had wanted them to hang in windows where backlighting could increase the design contrast. Fairly quickly I shifted to creating lamps using  papercuts, but I’ve struggled achieving a really good bond between the translucent and thicker paper (not to mention how long it takes to cutContinue reading “Adding Light”

Starting something new

Finally my brain is ready to start experimenting with a new project. It will involve copious amounts of cut paper, mounted onto translucent paper and set into wooden boxes. It will also involve spending more time out in the forest doing a bit of research. Today was a testing day. I needed to determine aContinue reading “Starting something new”

Party Animal

Today is the birthday of an amazing artist, Rosie Scribblah. She posts daily sketches of her life in Swansea Wales. If you’ve not visited her site, click HERE. We’ve been blog friends for many years and actually spent a week together at Wingtip Press in Boise Idaho. She taught a multiple day workshop on ManierContinue reading “Party Animal”

Passing the Blog

It’s official. I’m now the blog master for Philomath Open Studios! Last Monday we had our first group meeting for the season and the blog baton was passed to me. Kris Mitchell has done a wonderful job with pulling together so much information regarding the studios and visiting artists. This year, I needed to take aContinue reading “Passing the Blog”

Owl Pellet Finds

I received Cathe’s book for the collaboration yesterday and my brain has been trying to figure out what I’ll be contributing to her mix. Her book theme is “Collections”, something we can all relate to. As an artist I’m drawn to picking up bits and pieces that inspire my tactile and visual senses. I bringContinue reading “Owl Pellet Finds”

Gear Switching 

Friday I technically had to myself, which didn’t seem to make much difference since my brain is back on all the brother issues. To divert attention, I started playing with a bag design that will eventually receive screen printing. More and more towns in our region are banning plastic bags and charging $0.05 for paperContinue reading “Gear Switching “

Water Sketchbook Collaboration

Back in February, three blog friends (2 Australian, 1 USA) asked if I would be interested in joining them with a sketchbook collaboration. Karen Bailey,  Occasional Artist , lives near Melbourne AU, Anna Warren lives in Sydney AU, Cathe Jacobi of Amaryllis Log (who I’ve recently connected with) is in Minnesota USA. All three women areContinue reading “Water Sketchbook Collaboration”

Crazy attempts

I was a tad overly ambitious attempting waves for my full page spread. Especially when I don’t work in watercolors. Nor have I ever attempted anything water related before. I think a little addition of black micron pen might aid the situation. However, it reads really well from a distance, actually looking like waves. I’llContinue reading “Crazy attempts”