We did a lovely hike up a bubble-type hill called The Beehive. The views were spectacular looking east and north over the Atlantic Ocean. I would love to sit up here and paint the pink granite, yellow and green lichen overlooking the ocean but my knees were shaking too much from the climb. I have started a few paintings in my journal that I will share soon.
I am on my family vacation and of course I can’t go without exploring the local art supply stores. One of my favorite is an Art store near Portland: Artist Craftsman I can always count on them for having exotic hand made papers from Indian and a wonderful selection of colors in any medium. Here are my new toys for this trip: handmade papers, dip pen with inks, sea sponges, oil pastel (didn’t have this beautiful poppy orange color yet). I did get the rub on letters at Art Mart in downtown Portland but would recommend the Artist Craftsman store if you only have time for one stop as I often do.
I am in the beautiful country side of southern Washington (state), visiting mom, my brother and sister-in-law. Wow! I just want to stop and paint awhile. Here is a painting entitled “In the Wine Country” that shows the vibrant, green rolling hills of this charming area.
My daughter, home from college, is teaching me some fantastic things about computers and the internet. Today’s lesson is about staying in contact with fellow artists. She showed me how to create a form so that people, like you, can sign up for my email/newsletters. Sign up to get my newsletter. Let me know it works!
A birthday present arrives – wrapped with this sweet red polka dot ribbon. I could not throw it out because it was so cute, so I wrapped it around my favorite blue vase. The tulips are begging to be painted and it all came together in this bright and cheerful painting, Blue Vase with Polka Dots!
Our trip to France was a huge success! Everyone painted such beautiful and creative paintings in their journals. We learned some new techniques and practiced painting on location in such wonderful places: St. Remy, Uzes, Daudet’s Windmill, the cute friendly town of Eygalieres, the beautiful and peaceful St. Paul de Mausole. Here is a photos of our group at the Hotel du Soleil in Saint Remy de Provence.
It has been a long time since I blogged but I got very discourage because there were never any comments left and I was not sure people were finding me. This is what I have been doing:
Writing a book
Donating a painting to the Deschutes Childrens Foundation
Teaching my The Good, the Bad, the Beauty of Color
Teaching my Watercolor Journey’s Class
Teaching the Elements of Design Class
Getting ready to take a group of watercolorists to Provence, France, September 2009
Finalizing my article for the July – August Issue of Cloth Paper Scissors
So see not much but………
Sandy’s box became a beautiful white sandy island surrounded by turquoise blue seas. We all had so much fun with this one and the theme was set and easy to think tropical.
Part of what we did for this Art Box Group was to record our thoughts, our progress, our frustrations and why we did what we did to these boxes in a little journal that each Art Box person provided. The journal traveled with the box as it was passed from artist to artist. The blog below is my first entry for Helen’s box.
O ne evening while driving home on Shevlin Park Road, just before the curves going down to the river, I passed a shoe in the middle of the road. My curiosity was peaked so I turned the car around and drove back to the shoe sighting. Shoes and boxes were scattered everywhere. I was able to retrieve 2 very nice pairs of size 6 ½ soft leather, Anne Klein, low heeled shoes; one pair light blue and the other black, as well as 2 clear acrylic boxes marked: “shoes, green” and “shoes, red”. Driving home I wondered about the demise of these shoes. Was some young lady with petite feet driving away from a tortured life so fast that these shoes were flung out of the car? Was a young couple on their way to a new home and these shoes just slipped off the back of the truck? The original shoe owner was obviously a very meticulous and organized fanatic to have marked each box so carefully but where were the red and green pairs of shoes? The history of the shoes will remain a mystery, but the moment I received Helen’s box I knew right away that she would get the blue shoes.
Even though Helen talked a lot about loving the stars and heavens and being up high, I could tell that she is a woman with her feet secure to the ground. But her box is now suspended above the shoes, thanks to the help of my husband and his shop tools. My impression of Helen is that she is very sure of herself and is someone that has been places and is going places so I wanted to give her Art Box a sure foot to get started on and since her favorite color is blue, of course she gets the blue shoes.