Late August news

If you are in Portland there are a couple events this month where you can see my paintings.

Through September 30, 2022 the Pastel Artists of Oregon Spirit of Pastel show is up at Chehalem Cultural Center in Newberg, Oregon. It’s a wonderful show, there are a lot of beautiful pastels! 415 E Sheridan St., Newberg, OR 97132.

A corner of the Pastel Artists of Oregon 2022 Spirit of Pastel show, up till September 30, 2022. My paintings are on the far right panel. It's a wonderful, diverse show, Another reason to take the trip to Newberg, Oregon in September.

August 25, 2022, 5-8 p.m. As part of the Sellwood-Moreland Last Thursday event, I’ll be at Cellar Dog Wine Shop with my paintings and cards. Come by, you can bring your dog! And there will be live music.

August 25, 2022 from 5-8 pm I’ll be at Cellar Dog wine shop with some paintings and cards. 1620 SE Claybourne St. #106-A (behind Relish) in Sellwood-Westmoreland.

Voices in Pastel at the Hilbert Museum, Orange, California

September 3 through December 3. A number of paintings from the Pastel USA/99 Voices in Pastel show were chosen for a show at the Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University in Orange, California. Show opens September 3, and closes December 3. This painting will be there.

Pastel Artists of Oregon, Spirit of Pastel International Show

Two of my paintings were juried into the Spirit of Pastels, the Pastel Artists of Oregon’s Biennial Exhibition. This year’s exhibition will be in the Parrish Gallery at the Chehalem Cultural Center in Newberg, Oregon. This is one of Oregon’s prime wine country areas and a lovely part of the state to explore. If you live in NW Oregon or SW Washington, Newberg isn’t far.

Show Dates: Exhibition Opens Tuesday August 2, and runs through Friday, September 30.

Gallery: Parrish Gallery, Chehalem Cultural Center, 415 E Sheridan Street, Newberg, OR 97132
The Chehalem Cultural Center galleries are open Tuesday – Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
They are CLOSED Sunday and Monday

PSWC Pastels USA/99 Voices in Pastel, Morro Bay, California

I had a painting juried into the Contemporary Impressionism category of the Pastel Society of the West Coast’s Annual Pastels USA International Open Exhibition. The show will be up June 30 through August 7, 2022 at The Art Center Morro Bay on the central California coast.

This show is subtitled 99 Voices in Pastel and 33 paintings are accepted into each of three categories: Contemporary Impressionism, Contemporary Realism and Ultra-Modern/Experimental. I’m so pleased to have been juried into this show.

Opening reception: Art Center Morro Bay (Morro Bay, CA) is Sunday, July 3 from 2–4 p.m.
Closing reception: Sunday, August 7, from 2–4 p.m.

Location: Art Center Morro Bay, 835 Main Street, Morro Bay, CA

If you’re near Morro Bay, stop by their Art Center, I saw the 2018 show and it was amazing. I plan to make the trip for the closing reception on August 7.

Northwest Pastel Society 36th Annual International Open Exhibition.

I had a painting accepted into this show that will be up at the American Art Company gallery in Tacoma, Washington May 7 through July 9, 2022

Opening Reception: Saturday, May 7, 2-4 pm

Location: American Art Company, 1126 Broadway, Tacoma, Washington 98402

Portland Open Studios

I participated in Portland Open Studios this year!

Dates were October 9, 10, 16 & 17 (the 2nd and 3rd weekends in October)

I really enjoyed this, meeting many people who were doing the Portland Open Studios tour plus seeing friends and relatives who were here helping or to see what I have been painting . It was great to have so much human interaction, even if we all were masked. I sold 14 paintings (!), and hope to replace them with new ones over the next couple months. I have to thank Sue for loaning me the three metal painting racks, and Jeff for building three wooden ones.

We were lucky with the weather, although there was that one hail storm the first Sunday of the tour — that was exciting, trying to keep everything dry.

Our neighborhood newspaper, The Sellwood Bee, will have an article in their November issue with interviews of some of the Open Studios artists in Sellwood-Westmoreland. And keep an eye out for next year’s schedule and maps, here’s a link to the Portland Open Studios website.

The Oregon Lavender Paint Out 2021

I signed up for the Oregon Lavender Paint Out this year — it’s a chance to visit lavender farms all over Oregon for almost 3 weeks in June and July. I was able to get to Park Place Perennials in West Linn, Wayward Winds Lavender in Newberg and Mountainside Lavender in Scholls (on Chehalem Mountain). We had the worst heat ever recorded right in the middle of those weeks, but I visited three beautiful farms while the weather was good, and while my paintings weren’t good enough to share, they provided starting points for studio paintings, and I came home with lots of reference photos. Now I have a list of some gorgeous farms not far from home to visit in the spring and summer going forward.

Great workshop with Nancie King-Mertz

Oregon Society of Artists brought Nancie King Mertz from Chicago to do a 3-day workshop on urban plein air paintings.

This is the first live workshop I’ve done in a long time and it was wonderful. Each day there were demos and one on one help from Nancie. Day 1 we worked from reference photos in the classroom, Day 2 on the streets around Oregon Society of Artists (King’s Hill neighborhood, very near Vista Avenue where it passes Washington Park) and Day 3 we were at the Pittock Mansion. Great class, painting outdoors is challenging — tackling the perspectives and structures of buildings and streets is more challenging, but the class was great, I learned a lot, met a great group of people and had fun.

January 2020 workshop with Richard McKinley

January 2020 workshop painting

I attended Richard McKinley’s San Miguel de Allende retreat in January this year. I have struggled with painting on location, but spending most of a week drawing and painting outdoors it got easier. The fourth day the group went to the San Miguel botanical garden that is along a reservoir. I set up with some others along the banks and painted this view, starting with a watercolor underpainting, and getting quite a bit done on site. Worked further in the great hotel studio space, this was a wonderful workshop/retreat, really enjoyed learning from Richard and getting to know the others on this trip.

October 20 Reception in Kirkland for NW Pastel Society member show

One of my paintings was accepted into the Northwest Pastel Society’s 2018 Annual Member Exhibition, the show will be up at Evergreen Health Medicial Center in Kirkland, Washington from October 20, 2018 through January 9, 2019.

There’s a reception on Saturday, October 20 from 1 to 3 p.m. If your’e near Kirkland, WA this Saturday afternoon, please stop by. And if you’re in the area between Saturday and January 9 stop by to see the show.

Reception:

Saturday, Oct. 20, 1–3 p.m.
Evergreen Health Medical Center
2nd Floor Hallway/Auditorium, West entrance
12040 NE 128th Street
Kirkland, WA 98034

September 2018 travel and making connections

Pastel USA Closing ceremony — I was able to attend the Pastel Society of the West Coast closing ceremonies on September 16, it was a treat to meet a gallery full of pastel painters, hear about their work and just network. It seemed that most of the artists I talked with meet with others on a regular basis to paint plein air, providing support, feedback and encouragement. Membership in both the PSWC the Northwest Pastel Society is helping to form some great connections with other pastel artists. NWPS member show opens on October 20 and I’m looking forward to attending another reception!

Annual pastel painting retreat — After I returned from Morro Bay I got on the road to western Montana at the base of the Bitterroot Mountains to paint for 5 days with my friend Shahar. Driving there and back was beautiful, and painting together was great. Getting up to speed again the first couple days, steady growth after that. I haven’t posted new work yet, I’ve been catching up on design work deadlines, but I plan to add new work to this site before the end of October.

June plein air workshop with Kim Casebeer

I had played with setting up an easel and a box of pastels outdoors before, but this June signed up for a workshop with Kim Casebeer. We set up in the Dundee Hills at the studio of another pastel artist with beautiful views in every direction. It was very challenging! I did just one painting then gave up on it for this time, next time I'll be a little more ready for it. In the meantime I've set up closer to home a few times, and will continue to do that.

What's new?

Two things: A painting accepted into the Pastel Society of the West Coast's Pastels USA exhibition and this website!

This summer I entered some paintings into the Pastel Society of the West Coast's Pastel USA Exhibition and had one accepted. They ask that we wait to share the image until the show goes up on August 16, but this prompted me to put this website together. There will be a catalog of the paintings in the show available on the Pastel Society of the West Coast website  by the time the show closes on September 16. They also have some pages showing the accepted paintings in their Summer 2018 magazine.

If you're near Morro Bay, California between August 16 and September 16, 2018, stop at the Morro Bay Art Center Gallery to see the show.

April workshop with Diana Sanford

Early in April I took Diana Sanford's wonderful Jam 1 Workshop at Dakota Art Center. She set up a 4-day workshop with exercises that helped us set aside judgment and analysis and bring a playful, experimental part of our brains to the task. I think I was smiling the whole time.

I've posted some of the images I created in her workshop above; they're much larger (about 16x20) and very different than anything else I've done, perhaps more authentic because I wasn't trying to represent a subject and I wasn't focusing on the end product. I was "in the zone" and absolutely enjoying the process.

I intend to take Jam 2 when I can.