summer journal 2018

summer light


For me, a landscape does not exist in its own right...
For me, it is only the surrounding atmosphere which gives subjects their true value
—Claude Monet

 

a color-wheel garden

click here or on the photo below to visit a series of July garden photos that sweep through the spectrum of the rainbow.

 

To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug.
—Helen Keller

  

artful living summer 2018

Click here to see photos of home and studio and lake and gardens ... the pleasant parts of my life as an artist.

I got a little carried away with the camera...
So much beauty, light, form...

 

abundance

“Every day I discover more and more beautiful things.
It’s enough to drive one mad.
I have such a desire to do everything,
my head is bursting with it.”
—Claude Monet

 

 

one thing at a time

With so many possibilities and such a short life here, my summer work is to diligently prioritize and follow through. I'm attempting to reduce my focus to just one thing at a time. I'm de-cluttering my house, yard, workspaces, studio, and even modifying my garden and watering systems to save time.

I'm convinced that the male (human?) mind works most effectively while embracing mainly one thing at a time.


neighbor/Nelson's farm - mima mounds in July sunset.
 

 

 

plein air in the gardens

In July, I invited a few artist friends to come to the gardens and create. They could shoot photos or video, sketch, draw, paint, write... See more...

 

 

 

 

 

 

plein air and alla prima - in oils

This July was my first attempt working small in oils, outside, in one pass...

Read more...
 

 

 

 

 

summer update

pace of grace...

  • With an abundance of plants remaining from last year's Art in the Garden sale, I just sold hundreds of nice plants at crazy-low prices. If you live nearby and want plants, I still have many.
  • I enjoyed creating music celebrating my friends' wedding.
  • Summer is the season of visitors from overseas and around.
  • I've been blessed with some unexpected sales, for which I'm grateful.
  • Finanically, I'm living lean but I'm alive and well - and I think I live like a prince.
  • I have a good, private commission just starting (thankful for this).
  • Art workshops are on "pause" for summer, to resume in fall. Inquire now to begin scheduling.
  • I've a small, informal plein air (outdoor painting) event in July.
  • I'm working one step at a time toward a likely fall-winter art show. I'll post any fall activities in my journal here. If you want to be notified by email, contact me.
  • I've begun painting in oils - small studies of color and light. So far, so good.
  • Good news! I've been juried into Washington State's Public Artist Roster, from which commissions can be selected over the next three years.
  • I have another "secret" project - my summer focus. More on that in time.

 

Oh and I hope to get some "slow down" off-the-grid time,
(something like a solo kayak trip).

And I'm trying to be outside often.

 

So thankful to live in such beauty.

(photo right is friend's son)

 

 

public art in washington state

Happy! I've been juried into the Washington State Arts Commission's Public Artist Roster, through which state art commissions are selected and contracted.

 

new artwork

While I’m savoring these hazy days of Summer, they aren’t lazy-hazy days.
I’ve just begun a new series of artworks for a fall show. More on that upcoming…


(above) I've re-started a watercolor - a new artwork of a familiar scene. There's so much lush scenery and colorful atmosphere, I could do this painting three times and it will always be fresh and surprising.

 

summer fun

 
Tropical? Nope, these pumpkinseed sunfish live in Offut Lake. I took this photo.
Maybe I'll paint 'em.

 

exhibitions

  
 

come to the table

Come to the Table, features thirty-five carefully selected works including everything from historical pieces by Albrecht Durer, to modernist work by Jasper Johns and Sadao Watanabe, to fresh contemporary pieces created by CIVA-member artists. My artwork "Because We Can't Eat Rocks II" is included among the thirty-five artworks in this travelling exhibition (since 2014).

Click here to see the show in Boston.
 

 

 

 

select past commissions

 

 

silk-in-glass commission

I'm pleased to announce my first completed installation of silk laminated within glass. The artwork fills the spaces between open trusses of a residential interior. The photo at right two of four panels. Click to see more.

 

 


Land and Sea Passage

As students, faculty, and visitors enter Gilson Middle School in Valdez, Alaska, they are greeted by a vibrant suspended mural--over 26 feet wide. Read more...

 
 

 

Macroscape Slides

Three new glass artworks resembling over-sized microscope slides measure two feet high by six feet wide. Each artwork is uniquely created in mouth-blown art glass laminated onto dichroic float glass. They are installed in the Margaret Murie Life Sciences Building at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
 

  

 

Illuminated Passage

This suspended mural of dye-painted silk measures over 300 square feet. For Liberty Middle School in Spanaway, Washington, it depicts junior high years in a metaphor of a river passing through a canyon.
I love it. It turned out to be all I hoped for and more. Read more...

 

 

Experimental Image Glass

I continue to collaborate with Seattle glassblower Jim Flanagan to create gently abstracted imagery within colored glass. Click here or on the photo at right to see our most recent sheets of blown glass (and scroll down, as the newest work is near the bottom). 

 

 


Tree of Life

Commissioned for a thriving church in the town of Dunwoody, near Atlanta, Georgia.

 

 

 

 

Discovery

This mural in dye-painted silk was commissioned for Katchemak Bay Campus of Kenai Peninsula College of the University of Alaska. Discovery was installed in Homer, Alaska, in June of 2012. Read more...

 

 

Generations: Incubation

Kenai Peninsula College etched mouth-blown glass public art installation

Click here to read about Generations.

Here is a link to KPC installation photos

 
 

 

 

studio and story

 

 

 

 

2011 nest images on cotton paper

Click here to see photos of ten images completed in January 2011

 

 

 

stone impressions - watch the art-making process on video

People often ask me how I create a stone lithograph. It's hard to explain in words so I have a short video that shows the process.

Click here for photos and video on stone impressions.

 

 

 

silk rivers

These river silks were inspired by and modeled after the beautiful Fremont antique glass we used for the Kenai Peninsula College installation.

 

 


flowering

My Grandma's name, Florence, means "to flower" as in the sense of a blossom. And 2012's flowers were an explosion of color. See photos in her memory...

 

 

 Be silk scarves


Links...
gallery of Be silk scarves
significance in Be-ing
silk care
displaying silk

 

 

past journals