I hope this looks enticing…….

I like the looks of it!  It is to let you know that we will be having some painting classes down in Portland at the ultra-fab Trader Vic’s restaurant, so stay tuned for further details!  If you have never been there, it is a most groovy spot, so we are definitely looking forward to this event.  It will be in January, 2016…….But don’t wait until then – we are also planning more classes in the ‘Couv, because it is just too much fun.  Our next event north of the river will be held in a new venue, the Above and Below Art Studio, on Wednesday, November 18th, and we will all be painting a pear.  We’ve had lots of fun at Evergreen Wine Cellar, but we have outgrown the space – of course, we will be bringing Pam along with some of her very special wines.

I have been keeping very busy with these painting classes, and enjoying every minute of it.When not working on a class,  I have snuck in several nursery murals, one with Karen – (see her here on her lunch break.)  We painted an adorable jungle room for a new baby brother.   (We worked on the big brother’s room several years ago.)  Here is how Maverick’s jungle room turned out! I also did a wall in a lovely room for a baby who hadn’t arrived yet.  I love the simplicity of this. I’m ready for another mural gig!  But when I’m not painting murals, or having classes, I love to make small paintings and mixed media pieces – I have some on display and for sale at Evergreen Wine Cellar – check them out next time you need an excellent bottle of wine or two.  There is a mix of older and new projects. They go well with all vintages of wine!

I have been working on lots of smaller pieces, apart from mural work, lately, and thought I would share some of them here.  As I have for the last three years, I once again donated some art to the fabulous Community Warehouse Table and Chair Affair, in support of their generous contributions to local families.

This year, rather than painting a piece of furniture, I chose to make some furniture-themed mixed media canvas pieces.

I have also had some work featured in shows at Vancouver’s Gallery 360.  The first show was a few months ago, and these are the paintings from that exhibit.

The upcoming show in July, is called Art on Wheels, and I will be showing these 3 mixed media pieces:Stop by the Farmer’s Market at Esther Short Park, and take a look at Gallery 360 at the Slocum House while you are there – they are both highlights of Vancouver!

I have been so fortunate this week to meet, get to know, and get to help out with the remarkable Lydia Emily,

and her crew!  She was in Portland to paint a large mural in support of finding a cure for M.S., and I was thrilled to be a small part of her local crew, helping to put in her last-minute finishing touches before the big party on Wednesday for World M.S. Day.  There is so much I could say about this amazing, magical woman and her strength and talent and generosity – but I will let the photos and the links to her information speak for her.  She is a world-renowned extraordinary painter, muralist, street artist, and an even more exceptional human. 

Here I am!

I simply feel so lucky to have met her, and her friends and crew – Andy!, Libby and Heather from BluPrint Films, Robin, Michelle from PSU, Nishima, Chris, Dan – what a truly memorable week, and they are already doing it again in Louisville, Kentucky!

Check it out on 5th and Flanders in Portland

A fun additional surprise treat, was our trip to a secret and awesome location to help Lydia paint one of her street art images.  The whole experience was enchanting and a bit surreal, with a fantastical blend of art, nature, friendship and the powerful vision of Lydia Emily.

Here is a fun clip that ran on the local news over the weekend.  My “Secret Passage” mural is featured at the end of the segment, so please enjoy!

Before

Last week’s client was a young man who is crazy for comic books, and is especially a fan of the Batman series.  He wanted to transform just a part of his room to look like he had access to the comic book world of Gotham, through a hole in his bedroom walls.

Here is what I came up with – I’m just going to put the photos up in the order I painted it, so you can see the process of layering paint, and tape, and more paint… until the final image emerges.  Enjoy!

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4 – Taping!

Day 5

Detail

finished!

finished!

finished!

The month of August was a family vacation month, away from making any art or working on any murals, so I used this incredible, luxurious opportunity to look for inspiration everywhere I went.  Not too difficult in Bali, Indonesia.

My journey even begins before we take off, as there is always an interesting exhibit at the Portland International Airport, and this time it was a nice show featuring modern and contemporary paintings by Leonard Ruder.And then onward to Ubud, Bali!

I don’t actually have the writing chops to adequately describe the beauty of this magical place – so I will simply post some photos I took while thinking about the aspects of visual art that I like – color, texture, contrast and composition.  I also spent many hours among the ancient temples admiring the talents of those long-ago artists, and the additional richness that layers of time adds.  Of course, I checked out some contemporary galleries to see what the trendy Balinese artists are doing.

Beauty is everywhere.

Okay, we are not art, but here I am with my husband, snuggling a cozy Asian Bear Cat.  Getting mentally prepared for the big back-to-school-back-to-work rush that awaits when we land back home.  What an amazing summer!  Hope your summers were equally wondrous and restful, and that we are all ready for September and another year of hard work!

While looking over some recent photos, I realized that I have quite a few mural projects that have been left out of the blog reports, so thought I would throw them all into this miscellaneous pot just to show some of the things I have been up to in the last year that didn’t make it to the website.

Finally! The Theater Mural at VSAA is complete.

This first project was originally mentioned when it was begun as a senior project at the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics in 2012.  Two years and several seniors later, it was completed, so here it is!

Next is a circley room that will make a colorful and fun playroom for a bunch of grandkids.

Here is a garden door where I featured a portrait of the clients’ cat, Gouda.  Their garden is lovely, and a stone path leads right up to the stone path on the door.

Gouda the cat

This amazing comic book superhero wall is something that Karen and I have been working on for years.

These superhero clients keep changing the storylines and adding and subtracting the heroes and villains and innocent bystanders as they re-envision the worlds of Metropolis and Gotham.  We love it there!  This time, they even wanted Deadpool pushing a VooDoo Donuts cart.

Here is a spring tree in full bloom, with a friendly owl keeping watch over my little client and her cat.

Me with my client

Sweet!

I am currently working on some designs for a new project upcoming in the fall, and a pet portrait or two.  Then I will have a summer adventure with my family and will take lots of pictures to share.  As always, I will be looking for art everywhere.

Have a joyous summer and spend time with as many loved ones as possible.

Julie oversees the installation

I originally featured a story on my friend and singular Renaissance woman and artist extraordinaire, 2 years ago, when the first set of these monumental mosaic panels went up.   The final triptych was installed in June, and I want to share her brilliant art again.  I am so proud to know her, and so proud to have been a just a small part of this amazing project. Along with countless others, I had the privilege to work as a volunteer on the VSAA Confluence Project in Vancouver, Washington with mosaic artist, Julie Brown, of Lake Oswego, Oregon.  This is a 6-panel series which has been installed on the Main Street side of the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics.  Each panel measures over 6′ x 15′ when complete, and is comprised of puzzle-like pieces which fit together when installed, to form an image or images that tell the story, through history, architecture, and wildlife, of the Columbia River.  Or, this from the Confluence Project website:

First installation

What is Confluence Project?

“At seven points along the Columbia River Basin, an unprecedented endeavor continues to unfold. Here, where rivers meet and indigenous people once gathered, the Confluence Project explores the intersection of environment, cultures and a regional history that reaches back many hundreds of years. Confluence Project is a collaborative effort of Pacific Northwest tribes, renowned artist Maya Lin, civic groups from Washington and Oregon and other artists, architects and landscape designers. The project stretches more than 300 miles from where the Columbia River flows into the Pacific Ocean, to Clarkston, WA, with sites in both Oregon and Washington. Each of its seven sites features an art installation by Ms. Lin that interprets the area’s ecology and history, encouraging the visitor to reflect on how the surroundings have changed over time. Each references a passage from the Lewis and Clark journals. With distinctive artworks and restored native habitat, the four currently completed sites create new points of contact – confluence – between nature and art; past, present and future; and the enduring communities of the Pacific Northwest-its Native People and more recent visitors and residents.”   Julie works with ceramic, glass, and any object she finds that works into the image she is trying to create:  in this project she utilized vegetable steamers

Vegetable Steamer Fish

antique car parts,

Antique hub caps

and miscellaneous aluminum forms she found browsing the aisles of hardware stores.  She is a true master of the mosaic medium, and managed an often random team of volunteers which she trained to cut tile and glass, and learn all the steps of this labor-intensive art form.  I was lucky enough to be one of those volunteers, and while my time was very limited, it was a thrill to be involved.

First Triptych

Final Triptych

Karen painting a palm tree

Week two at Ronald McDonald House!   Karen and I worked hard all week to get the room ready for the big ribbon-cutting ceremony, which will be Monday afternoon, and will include representatives from the 19 Marriott Hotels who participated in this project!

The Marriott Team hard at work

As room adopters, the Marriott group came up with a theme, purchased all of the furnishings and décor, replaced the carpet, and even installed a new sink and vanity, and put up new blinds and curtains.  The room will be overflowing with people for the grand opening!   We always love painting at the RMH, and this time Karen really did an impressive job of designing the murals for this jungle/safari room,  – what an over-the-top oasis for children and their families during their stay at the hospital.

Cool ceiling fan

Painted Toy Chest

I painted a toucan in a tree in the bathroom vanity area

me with my lions

Beds go here….

We had a fun interruption on Friday!  Once a week, Copper the house therapy dog comes to visit, and kids and families get to spend some relaxing time with a sweet pet.  We took advantage of this opportunity as well.

We had to take a break when Copper the therapy dog came to visit