the mind's eye

Looking through sketchbooks. This is a drawing I did after the "fire". It is a memory drawing of a composite piece I did for Dr. Kiley, who I met when I first moved to Portland. He had written some children's poems and was looking for someone to illustrate them. This is not as "tight" or colorful as the composite was, but was a recollection of what I had done before and liked and lost. I don't really like the random, stream of consciousness "stuff" inside , but like the general concept and layout of the reflecting aspect and when I was playing around with the image's contrast and such , I discovered another small face in the cheek area that was sort of like an engraved image of another drawing that I had drawn on the prior page of my sketch book. I get a kind of serene, madonna like feeling about it. What do ya think?

Happy Halloween and El Dia De Los Muertos, tomorrow and Friday. I am the lone skeleton this Halloween, all the family peeps are gone- Europe-Tacoma- all the exotic places! Anyway I was looking at pictures and found this one of 'dem bones in a museum somewhere in Mexico when we were there. Like it -thought I'd post it. So there it is.

Fascinating Kalie

Here is the fabulously, fascinating feline, Kalie. Everyday you can hear the people coo with sweet adoration for Kalie, the Kween of 37th and Hawthorne. "She looks like my old kitty..." or "...I had a cat one time that looked just like her."
I wonder what the fascination is much of the time..but I am from the farm and cats were cats when I was growing up. Now they seem to be almost human or at least hold the majestic and mysterious power that once was worshiped by some Egyptians.
Kalie can certainly stop the busiest of pedestrian that strides by our house in an "I need caffiene, now!" blur to get a Starbucks by just delicately sitting on the fence by the sidewalk while licking her petite little paws. Halting in their tracks with shrieks of delight..they immediately stop and say,"Oh, look- it's a KITTY. You are sooo-oooo cute."
How lucky they are to be allowed to touch and pet and be apart of Kalie's life. After all, she is the Kween.
Oh, yeah--and remember the lady who wanted to buy this version of Kalie- she still hasn't picked her(the painting) up. So she (the painting) is available again for anyone out there who understands the Kalie-cat phenomenon.

el dia de la calavera

So here are some quick shots of a few things at the show--however not so representative of the artwork, but more the process of skullifying things. Here is lovely Brenda from the Detour restaurant, putting on the sugariness of skulls on those delectable guiness chocolate cupcakes. Needless to say there were only four out of three dozen left!
Then there was the tin skeleton man who greeted you at the door -with bandanna and pepper lights to guide your way.
I got enamored by my shoes- as I used them in conjunction with a pen and ink piece I did of three little girl skull heads. I put the piece on the kitchen step stool and my shoes on one of the steps. Then I started taking pictures of my shoes--thinking I would like to use them somehow in a logo for square II studio.
Last weekend we opened the doors to the House Gallery because the weather was just too beautiful! We had some visitors and one lady who wanted to buy Kalie, the cat, (the painting). She wanted it because it reminded her of her cat -that had died....alas she didn't put any money down ( cash only downfalls) and the lady hasn't come back for Kalie!

calavera cupcakes

The second Thursday at Square II Studios went well. These are the delectable and delicious guiness chocolate cupcakes that the Detour restaurant made and Brenda sugared--(with an original stencil by me.). They were a big hit along with the shrinky dink skull necklaces. I will post more pictures later of the gallery and how it looked. My husband, Tedarling, was instrumental in being my representative in negotiating sales and actually sold a substantial piece that I have had for awhile. We had to hold onto the piece until 9:30 for the couple who bought it to pick it up...so in the meantime some neighbors and folks from our "hood" came and played some music on the front porch until they showed up for the painting-that was fun. Our new brainstorm for Christmas is EGGS! We're egg-cited----NOOOOOOOO--ohyeah.

countdown calavera

The windows in the neighborhood are starting to show signs of October activities. I love October and the seasonal change ---cooler weather and the wind here in the northwest can blow in a downpour in five minutes and then the sun breaks out in the next five. This is actually a picture taken by husband ,Tedarling, and is a reflection of a storefront --looking into the window. So you can only see what is across the street, when in reality he was actually looking in the store window. Not sure if that made a whole lot of sense, but I really like the picture ,so here it is! I changed it around and manipulated it a bit to make cards for second Thursday this month.

skull chalk break

Skull on my brain, my sidewalk, my mind......took a break from skull making and doodled some skulls. Took this before the rain came to our backyard sidewalk.

el dia de la calavera

Yep -this looks a little crazy, but I am up way too early and this was as good as it got in the wee hours of the morning. So, I am gearing up for another second Thursday. All things of the skull. Don't be afraid, it is all in good fun. I will have skull jewelry, inspired by the Skull a Day blog, original drawings, paintings, cards and magnets, and am even working on getting some mini Guinness chocolate cupcakes with an original powdered sugar stencil on top, from the Detour restaurant on Division. I will be attempting to turn the main floor into a gallery petite, which should feel cozy and welcome with the rain starting. Get a head start on all things of the skull before Hallow's Eve! Hope to see you there!

makin' memories with pdub

I have been blog negligent-but for good reason. We took a trip to our cabin in the mountains and spent some very valuable grandson time before returning to the daily grind in September. The Belmont Street fair -another one-close to my house- over a beautiful weekend in early September. We saw everything from the world (super extreme large ball) to all kinds of mini cars and bikes and ideas for living "green." We walked and played , listened to music and saw lots of art and rode on the street trolley. Los abuelitos got to have time the whole weekend with the most imaginative and observant little boy in our lives. What a treasure.
"Time go park, please, Gramma?"

learning the"how to" of flicker stickers

Using the flicker site to make some stickers today. I felt like it was easy,as far as the ordering part ,but was frustrated with the way I was limited in cropping. So we will see how they turn
out. This reminds me of Jack Skellington-- I am obviously being influenced by the Skull a Day blog site. They have some amazing ideas there-check it out if you have time. Skull a Day

August 18th is Hawthorne Day! The neighborhood is having a day... so we are having a backyard sale, to make room in the basement for the reorganization of square 2 studio. Lots of rare and collectible items..like the hamster that plays kungfoo fighting- (thanks joe) and oh, my goodness the list is so long, you will need to come and see what treasures there will be. The neighborhood is having music and sales and who knows what else-clowns?(scary) Come on by and check us out!

vibes

The second Thursday garden art event was a nice experience. The boys next door came with their vibes and guitar and drums and filled the air with beautiful sounds-thanks for that, guys. Some family, friends and neighbors dropped by and I even sold some substantial watercolours and some little items. I noticed there were some folks who wandered in, following the arrow down the easement off of the beaten path. Thanks to 3 Doors Down, the restaurant, who "corked " some fine pinot gris and a couple of reds for us even though their schedule was heavy that night. All in all, I feel like it was a success and hope to maybe do another one.

So--today was busy. This is a photo I took at the restaurant that is next door to my house. Cute boy and Mom having sushi. Used this on some promotional magnets for the neighborhood.

getting ready

See you August ninth!
I designed this flier to email and send to people for the art in the backyard on August ninth. However, I spent all this time doing that and when I went to email it the attachment was all messed up and everybody has been emailing me about how they can't open the attachment with the flier in it! Aggggggh! So I should just give them all the blog address and have them come here. I really appreciate a computer as a tool and use it everyday and I like it, but I got somewhat frustrated with my inability to figure out why it was not doing what I wanted it to.
Anyway, here it is.

work with mistakes

This is the "accident technique" I discovered the other day, but used on a different subject area.
Here is the "process."
I was printing scans onto post- it note paper and discovered that my fingernail had accidentally scratched the print. I was not thrilled with having to spend more time and ink on making mistakes-then I remembered Mrs. Schirmer, my high school art teacher, saying "work with your mistakes." I started sqiggling all around with my fingernail, almost as if to see how messed up I could make this. However, I got somewhat excited at seeing the ink peel back and create strong contrasting patterns that repeated some of the patterns in the subject. It reminds me of scratch boards in a way and I noticed other tools (exacto blades, paperclips etc ) didn't seem to work as well as my own fingernails-wierd, but fun. Thanks Mrs.Schirmer, I made a mistake, and I hope to make more. I like the way this turned out.

happy accident

I had an art teacher in high school that always said, "work with your mistakes, they can become happy accidents," and today I was reminded of what that was all about. I am working on a garden art show in my own back yard to participate in the second Thursday activities in my neighborhood. Cafes and some stores stay open a little later and some businesses host artists to hang work in their spaces. I live so close in this area that I have foot traffic that hopefully will come and experience some of my art in my own space.
Today I was preparing some work for this event, and as I was printing some pieces out on my computer-that is when the "happy accident" happened. I will post a picture of the beginning of the process... later I may explain the process- now I must move on to other duties.

Yesterday there was a street fair in a neighborhood adjoining mine. I took my camera to see what I could see. I often paint from photos or manipulate photos or just simply take photographs for the simple pleasure of looking at a visual image again and remembering.
There was a sweet girl who had many homemade and delightful treats that not only looked good, but are good for you,too.
I like the way they looked on the tray. Native blackberries and hazelnuts adorn these beautiful breakfast gems.