New Labyrinths!!

Next month, I will  have a show of  labyrinths and snowmen at the Lane Gallery.  The theme is "Winterfest."  I hope you can join me at the reception on December 7 beginning at  6 PM.  The address is 2627 SE Clinton St in Portland.  If you want to know more, check out the website at www.gilalane.com

To get ready for the show, I have been exploring ways to make labyrinth paintings that will be more affordable than my first ones.  I realized that a lot of the time involved is in developing the design.  I decided to try four labyrinths that are the same design, but interpreted differently.  This is the first of that series.   I am really happy with it.  It is based on the Chartes labyrinth, which is the most well-known.

Hope to see my Portland friends at the reception!

Snowmen at Lane Gallery

Next month, I will have a show at the Lane Gallery.  It will feature labyrinths and snowmen.  When I recently talked with the gallery owner, Gila Lane, she suggested that I bring in some snowmen cards and she will have them on display as the "season" approaches.  Of course, all Winter is snowman season!

So, this is this year's snowman card!  I'm celebrating my "big show" at Lane Gallery.  The artist reception will be December 7.  Save the date!  

The snowman is very happy about being at the Lane Gallery.  Lane Gallery is at what we call Clinton Junction--near the intersection of 26th Ave and Clinton in Southeast Portland and right next to the Press Club.  It's a fun place featuring local artists.   Instead of "open" and "closed," the sign is "Here" or "Not Here."  This is how the Lane Gallery looks from the street:

A Silver and Amethyst Bracelet from Patty

Recently my friend Patty visited Mexico and I was surprised to get a beautiful silver and amethyst bracelet she bought there.  I couldn't think of how I could display it, and so found a picture of a hand with a meditation mudra and so painted that.  It fits for Patty since she is someone who meditates regularly.  She is also co-leader of a Centering Prayer group I go to.   I tried to paint my own hand, but found it too hard.  This is a beautiful bracelet and is much more delicate that it appears in the painting.  Thanks, Patty.  You are always so thoughtful.

"Mistress of Darkness" Tattoos!

Halloween is coming up. I am ready for it and, thanks to my friend Nancy, I have some great "Mistress of Darkness"  tattoos (temporary, of course) to use.  They have hearts and black flowers and vines and black blood dripping down.  The picture above is my little painting of just one of them.  It was quite a challenge.  There's also a spider that I didn't even attempt to draw!  They will be great fun in the next couple of weeks.   When I made the "thank you" card for Nancy, I added this sketch is on the back:

The "blood" is really drippy.

The Seasons Change

It's Fall now, and I can really see it in the long shadows and the sharper air in the mornings.  Portland is beautiful at this time of year.  So, now we turn to pumpkins and back to school and scarecrows.  Here's a little scarecrow who is really a crow himself.  I put him on some bunco score cards that I made for my friend Kathy.   She is in a bunco group and will be the hostess for the October meeting.  I've never played bunco, but she assured me that I did the cards right.

I'm in a big process of downsizing, and have been frantically "editing" my stuff.  Things are slowing down a little and I want to get back into more painting. A few more thank you cards are coming up.

Thank You Alice

Recently, I helped my daughter Jen move from Fair Oaks to Paso Robles, both beautiful areas of California. Fair Oaks is east of Sacramento and Paso Robles is near San Luis Obispo. It;s not the subject of this blog, but Jen heroically drove a u-haul with a transporter behind carrying her SUV. B=Great job!!!

Jen was leaving a very supportive church community in Fair Oaks where she was a teacher in a Lutheran school.  One of her friends there was Alice, a truly sensitive and engaging woman.  Although I had been to Fair Oaks many times, I had only met Alice briefly.  She was a neighbor of my father, so we also had that connection.  While on this recent trip, Alice joined Jenifer and me for a dinner at the Olive Garden.  I, of course, wanted to pay for the dinner because I wanted to treat Jen and because I wanted to thank Alice for the friendship she had shown for Jen.  After the meal, as we prepared to leave, Alice "just happened" to have an Olive Garden gift card for me.  I was happy to get it, and told her I would send her a thank you note.  As readers of my blog know, I make a little watercolor painting on a card and then write a message on that card as a thank you.  This one for Alice doesn't have a restaurant scene....it is a scene from the front yard of my cousin's house in Italy---so Italian!!!!  Old buildings that have been added to again and again, vineyards, country roads, trees--some of the things I like about Italy.  Lots of memories from that and now, lots of memories of a good Italian dinner with Alice.  So, thanks, Alice...your card will be in the mail.

It IS Summer

...and so far, I hadn't painted any sunflowers.  Well, in my world you paint sunflowers in Summer--it is just something you do.  I am grateful that my friend Nancy lulled me out of the complacency of forgetting to paint sunflowers and brought me some when she came for dinner a couple of days ago.  This is a note card painting, so it is small, but I kind of like it.  I am not thrilled with how I did the "signature/logo" in the lower right, and will give that a little more thought.  It seems to work with this composition, though.  There were actually five sunflowers, but I focused on my favorite three.  This was kind of fun, and I loved going with a darker value background.  Thanks, Nancy.  I needed to paint those sunflowers!   I'm not limited to just one sunflower painting in the season, but at least I did one.