New ( Little) Paintings

I love making these little 6"x6" paintings.  These three will be making their debut at the Wild Arts Festival this weekend at Montgomery Park in Portland.  There is a link at the bottom of this post for a two for one admission coupon.  

The first one is one of my favorite spots to paint on Sauvie Island, just off Rentenaar Rd.   It's a beautiful place, and has the added bonus that I can park on the side of the road and paint right out of the back of my car.  It seems like there aren't very many places around here where that is possible.  

Our Little Corner of the World   6x6  pastel  N Equall

This second painting was done on location at the Beaverton Creek Wetlands Natural Area, from the little bridge.  This painting was done plein air, which simply means it was done outside, on location.  

Beaverton Creek   6x6 plein air pastel   N Equall

This third painting was also plein air, and was also painted on Rentenaar Rd on Sauvie Island.  This canal is further down the road from the other location- almost to the dike, just before the boundary gate.  It was painted on a beautiful October afternoon, with sandhill cranes hanging out in the field to the right of the canal.  Their cooing conversations were magic.  

The Space Between   6x6  plein air pastel   N Equall

Click here for 2 for 1 coupon for admission to the Wild Arts Festival

A Tricky Start to the Plein Air Season

 And we're off.  Plein air season has begun.  I say this as rain pounds against my window.  It's just a spring thundershower, but wimpy me is inside with the heat on.  Maybe I'll go outside to paint tomorrow...

I did get my paintings submitted to Plein Air: A Chronicle of Lake Oswego which is part of Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts  June 20-22, 2014.  They were due last Friday, and even with the grandkids here, I got the photos of the paintings shot and emailed.  At least I thought I did. Yesterday, I got a frantic phone call and email from the organizers, wondering where my work was.  What?  I sent it.  And they didin't have it.  I had no idea that there was a problem.  No messages on the computer that it didn't send...nothing.  The organizers graciously allowed me to resend the images.  I'm not kidding...it took 15 emails to get the images to them.  Six images.  I tried sending them all at once, splitting them into groups of three, sending them individually...and they finally all got there after 15 tries.  Some of the emails just vanished in transit, which I think is really weird.  I don't get it, but I'm happy that they arrived!

Here are the pesky images that they will be picking from...all painted on location in spring weather at Lusher Farm in Lake Oswego, and the Upper Easement next to Jantzen Island.

I Know A Place   12x24 plein air- oil paint   N Equall

Through The Trees   12x12 plein air pastel  N Equall

A Warm Welcome  12x16  plein air pastel  N Equall

The Way Things Used To Be  12x12 plein air pastel  N Equall

Lucky Clover  6x6 plein air pastel  N Equall

Along The Path  6x6 plein air pastel  N Equall

Plein Air: A Chronicle of Lake Oswego

I am excited to be an invited artist participating this weekend and next in Plein Air: A Chronicle of Lake Oswego.  I'll be painting this Saturday, May 10 at Luscher Farm in Lake Oswego, and somewhere down by the river with Jackie McCartin at Foothills Park/Roehr Park  on Sunday.  My fingers are crossed that the weather is cooperative!  Paint out days are May 10-11 and May 17-18 Finished artwork will be displayed at the Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts June 20-22.

-click on the link below for more info, and to see a list of the other participants-
Plein Air: A Chronicle of Lake Oswego

Three shows this weekend!

This weekend I will be in three shows here in the Portland metro area.

Chip  8x8 pastel     at Celebration of Creativity this weekend!

Celebration of Creativity starts this evening and runs thru Sunday at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Beaverton, OR.  I have ten paintings hanging, twenty framed and unframed paintings in the bin, and lots of cards.  It is always a wonderful show.   The church becomes a big gallery.  It's not a booth type art show. This is the first time that I've been invited to participate, and I'm thrilled to be part of it!  Click here for more info.

I will also be participating in the Buckman School Art Show and Sell, at Buckman Elementary School in SE Portland (close in).  This is my fourth year being asked to participate, and it's sure to be lots of fun with lots of great arts and crafts.  This is an art focused elementary school, with something for everyone.  They have performers on stage, more than 100 artists showing their wares, and an art room so kids can try their hand at different activities.  It's running this year Sat 11-7 and Sun 11-5.  Click here for more info about the Buckman art show

Sunday afternoon is the Oregon Society of Artists Spring Juried Show at their gallery in SW Portland.  I'm going to try to make it for the ribbons, which will be awarded around 2:30.  I have one painting entered into the show.Click here for info about Oregon Society of Artists

People's Choice Twofer!

Yamhill County  24x24  pastel     People's Choice winner at OSA Fall Juried Show '13

 I was very honored to be awarded the People's Choice award at the Fall Juried Show at the Oregon Society of Artists Gallery in Portland, OR.


 I also was awarded the People's Choice award at the Hillsboro Plein Air event last week.  Along with a lovely ribbon, I won a beautiful Guerilla pochade box and gift certificate.

Thank you to the People!

Hello Autumn  11x14  plein air pastel    available at the Walters Cultural Center Gallery in Hillsboro OR thru October 2013

Fresh Off the Easel- new paintings

Fresh off the easel!

May Days   6x6  plein air pastel  

Out to Pasture   2.5x3   plein air pastel

Untamed  12x12  plein air pastel  

Crow Family Portraits VI    12x12  pastel     N Equall

not yet titled    16x20  plein air pastel   N Equall

not yet titled   6x6   plein air pastel

not yet titled   18x24   plein air pastel  

The Mighty Bushtit   24x24   pastel

Summer Plein Air Fun

As usual, the seasons are flying by.  It's already midsummer.  My yard is filled with a variety of fledgling birds, all screaming for food.  The phlox and bee balm is blooming and the lawn is going brown. My feet are tanned from hours of standing in at my easel attempting to paint just a speck of the beauty and magic that we call summer in Oregon.

I just finished two weeks of painting area lavender farms for the Yamhill Lavender Festival Plein Air Art Show and Sale.  The show this year was gorgeous, with work from 50 artists.  The actual festival is over now (it's always the second weekend in July), but a selection of  paintings will be on display at Currents Gallery in McMinnville and the Coldwell Banker Office in Newburg.  I have two paintings from the festival at Currents.  They will be on display through August. McMinnville has a nice artwalk the 3rd Saturday of the month 5pm-9pm.  Stop by this Saturday evening for a glass of wine and take a look!

The Sunny Side  12x12 plein air pastel    N Equall     Currents Gallery- McMinnville OR
 Excellent award at Yamhill Lavender Festival

Wild Imaginings   20x20  plein air pastel   N Equall    Currents Gallery- McMinnville OR

How the Yamhill Lavender Festival Changed My Life

I started participating in the Lavender Festival Plein Air Art Show in 2008.  I had been plein air painting for several years,and no one but my painting buddies and family ever saw anything I did.  When I read a flyer for the festival plein air paint out and show, I knew it was something I wanted to do.  For a small fee I'd have access to about twenty five lavender farms for the two week period before the art show.  My friend Mary and I dared each other to enter at least one painting into the show.  I had never framed any of my paintings before.  

I furiously painted during the two weeks.  I think I visited about ten farms that first year, and had a terrible time framing the one painting that I entered into the show, but I did it.  It was scary and exciting to put my work out there.  My painting hung for the two day show, and then I brought it home. 

A Wild Debut 20x20 pastel
2008 Yamhill Lavender Festival entry

The following February I got a phone call that my painting from the lavender festival had been chosen for the poster and catalog promoting the festival for 2009.    I didn't even know that was a possibility.  I was so honored.  I had to provide an artist's statement and photo for the catalog, so I learned how to put one of those together.  It took me a whole afternoon of agonizing to put two paragraphs together.    That summer, I felt like a minor celebrity when a lavender farm owner recognized me from the catalog and insisted that she must introduce me to her employees and customers.  She thanked me profusely for coming to her farm to paint and kept my complimentary glass of lemonade full while I was there.  

In 2009, after the two day art show in Yamhill, the remaining unsold artwork was split up between several galleries in McMinnville and Newberg and displayed through August.  This was an amazing opportunity for artists like me who were completely inexperienced and had never dreamed of being in a gallery.  I received an honorable mention that year from the festival, plus sold several paintings at the festival and at the gallery.   I was painting because I loved it, but the recognition and sales made me even more determined to become a better painter, improve my skills, and make marketing my paintings a reality instead of a daydream.

In the years since, I've continued to look forward every year to the Lavender Festival.  I have a special feeling for Wild Rain farm in Yamhill, the site of my first year's painting, and make a point to go back there every year to paint.  I spent four glorious days painting there this year.   I don't know what it is, but there is something that just feels right when I'm there and it makes me so happy to be there and to paint there with Laura and her cats and dogs and lavender and the droning of the bees.  It's like being inside of a wonderful summer poem.

I am so honored to have won this year's first place award for my painting  Wild Dreams, which I painted at Wild Rain Farm as part of this year's festival.  I am especially proud because it was painted with love at a place I hold so dear.  

I was able to go back for one more visit on Monday of this week, and got two paintings in.  The lavender is scheduled to be harvested tomorrow, and the poppies will be tilled under.  I'm already looking forward to next summer.

Wild Dreams   12x12 pastel  sold

A Few New Paintings

Puffed Up  8x10 pastel

On a cold, foggy April morning, I came across this little red winged blackbird, sitting on a sign post on the side of a country road out by Hillsboro.  It wasn't bothered by me and the camera, and seemed content to hang out while I clicked away.

A. Crow  8x10 pastel

A. Crow is one of my neighborhood crows.  This crow loves tasty morsels, but is very skittish.  One day I put a couple pieces of dinner roll on the deck for the birds.  The crow watched and waited as a Steller's Jay took a piece into a nearby tree. Rather than fly down for her own piece, she went after the Jay and stole its piece.   About an hour later my husband said that as he was driving home he saw a crow fly over the road with a large piece of roll in it's beak.

Misunderstood  8x10 pastel

Another goose.  I was at my neighborhood park, and there was only one goose left.  I don't know what happened to the rest of them.  The goose spends a lot of time hissing at anybody who comes close to it.  I understood why when I saw a nice looking family walk by the goose, and they allowed their leashed dog to lunge at the goose.  They laughed that it was funny when the "mean goose" had to run for it's life to get away from their dog's snapping jaws.

Visual Arts Showcase November 5-13 2011

Out & About

Listings of arts, entertainment and leisure activities in the Tigard and Beaverton areas

The Times, Oct 27, 2011

SUBMITTED PHOTO / FOR TIMES NEWSPAPERS

“One Last Look Before I Go” by artist Nathalie Equall is one of the pieces to be shown in the Visual Arts Showcase scheduled for Nov. 5-13 at the Beaverton City Library.

ART

VISUAL ARTS SHOWCASE – The 29th annual event sponsored by Reser’s and presented by the Beaverton Arts Commission is Nov. 5-13 at the Beaverton City Library, 12375 S.W. Fifth St., during library hours. The event is free, the art is for sale. Call 503-526-2379. For more information, visit beavertonarts.org. Also planned is a media workshop for artists and performers presented by the Westside Cultural Alliance on Saturday, Nov. 5, at 10:30 a.m.; Music in Small Spaces presents The Oregon Guitar Quarter on Sunday, Nov. 6, and Flute, Viola and Harp on Sunday, Nov. 13, Teen Art Show Nov. 17-23, Family Art Day presented by the Washington County Museum and Print Arts NW Nov. 19, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and more.

Paintings From Indian Ford Show in Sisters Oregon

Indian Ford Meadow III  12x36 pastel  N Equall

There are a few places in Oregon that really strike a special note for me.  A couple weeks ago I was able to revisit one and found another to add to my list.

I had to drive a couple of paintings over to Sisters for a show(Paintings of Indian Ford) that opened on September 24 (thru Oct 9 at Sisters Art Works).   I could have shipped them, but it was a good excuse to get some more painting time and the weather was gorgeous.

I drove up to Three Mile Lake on Thursday evening, and was there for the sunset. I took photos and a little sketching, but I got there too late to set up my painting stuff.

Friday morning I drove a couple miles east of town and found some beautiful views of fields and the mountains.  Lots of material for future paintings.  I also checked out Camp Polk Meadow, which is just around the bend from Indian Ford Meadow, the site of the paintout in July.  It was beautiful there, and after wandering around taking pictures for a couple of hours I set up to paint at the north end of the preserve under the pines just outside the split rail fence.  I stayed all day, did two paintings, and met a really cool local quilter/photographer/pet portraitist, Mary D Smith.  She straightened me out on what the big flock of birds that swooped almost into my face and landed in the tree right behind and above me was(pinion jays).   I was thrilled when she came to the reception, and brought me a gorgeous digital painting that she had done of my lab Deuce.

Indian Ford Meadow II  11x14 pastel  N Equall

I really feel so blessed.  I can do what I love in beautiful places, and I keep meeting the most wonderful and interesting people along the way.

Oregon Society of Artists Fall Juried Show- Honorable Mention

I attended the OSA reception today, and was thrilled to receive an honorable mention for my painting "Reflect".

My prediction was correct re: Lorraine Bushek  (who runs the Monday Salon group).  Her egg painting won first place. Stunning!  Congrats Lorraine!  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=161451053938166&set=a.161450490604889.40525.100002198173873&type=1&theater

Also, Gena Keith, also from my Monday Salon group won third place for her striking collage.  I knew it was an amazing group on Mondays, but to get three out of six ribbons from our little group is astounding.  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=161450897271515&set=a.161450490604889.40525.100002198173873&type=1&theater

Oregon Society of Artists Fall Juried Show

Reflect  pastel  N Equall

This Sunday marks the opening of OSA's fall juried show.  I submitted two paintings. I don't hold out much hope of adding to my ribbon collection this time, as the work being submitted was gorgeous.  If I were placing a bet, I'd put my money on Lorraine Bushek.  She has a gorgeous still life with eggs that seemed to be lit from within.  The awards will be given during the reception this Sunday September 4 around 2 pm.  The reception is open to the public.  Refreshments will be served.

Respite  12x36  pastel  N Equall

A Wild Sequel- sold!

Thanks to an anonymous comment here on my blog, I called Currents Gallery and found out  my painting "A Wild Sequel" sold.  Apparently it is hanging in Manzanita.  Yeah!  What a lovely surprise!

I painted it at Wild Rain Lavender in Yamhill, one of my favorite places.  It's funny how every once in a while you find a place that just feels right.  This is one of those places for me.  I love painting for the Yamhill Lavender Festival, and I'm thrilled my poppies are brightening up a corner of Manzanita!

A Wild Sequel  pastel  24x24  -sold

Lake Oswego Art Market- Tonight!

New Beginnings   24x48  acrylic    N Equall

Tonight (6/30/11) is the last Lake Oswego Art Market.  It runs from 4-8pm in Lake Oswego, Or.  It's in Millenium Park, which is at the south end of First Street, by Wizer's, Chico's, and St Honore.  There is live music, 40 artist tents, food and wine tasting.  And it's free to attend.  The plaza area where we're set up is all paved and leashed pets are welcome.  There is lots of on street parking as well as a somewhat hidden parking garage (go down First and take a left into the driveway before the last restaurant (St Honore) and the turnaround.   The food vendors are great, especially the wood fired pizza guys who make fresh cannolis.  I'm bringing along a new big painting (two feet by four feet) of my favorite place down by the Siletz River.  I hope to see you there!

May Day on the Island

I was up early this morning to drive out to Sauvie Island.  I wasn't disappointed.
Deuce (my chocolate lab) and I met up with Brenda at about 8:30 at Steelman Lake.  The sky has been intensely blue the last few days, and coupled with the completely lush spring foliage, well, it was almost too much to take in.

I felt like I was on a movie set.  The lake is bordered by a gorgeous grassy field that grows all the way to the waterline.  The trees are wearing most of their leaves, and the field grass is thigh high and beginning to bloom.  When Deuce ran through the field he made the pollen puff up off the grass, leaving little trails of "smoke".  

 A kingfisher hung around for a while making quite a racket.  He seemed to like the attention as he flew back and forth over the lake, very close to where we were painting, calling loudly to anyone who would listen.  There were quite a few cows at the other end of the field when we first got there, but I saw them walking single file over the dike, so I thought they had left the area.  At one point they started bawling really loud and sounding like they were getting pretty close to where we were.  Deuce would have enjoyed a bovine encounter, but it was not to be.

It was so nice to be able to set up my painting stuff in the grass.  It was easy to set up my big umbrella into the soft ground, and Deuce made a nice nest in the shade.  We were joined late morning by six or seven more painters, and I heard there were three other painters working down the road.

The weather forecast is looking good, so I'm planning on getting out again tomorrow to soak up more of this perfect weather.  And paint!