Fall Home and Garden Show at the Expo Center Oct 3-6 2013

Crow Family Portraits VII  12x12  pastel  N Equall

Well, I made it!  Today is the seventh and final big art shindig in the past six weeks.  I can't believe it's already here.  In a couple of hours, I'll be setting up my booth at the Fall Home and Garden Show at the Expo Center in Portland.  The show runs Thursday thru Sunday, and I'll be part of the artisan village. Apparently my booth is conveniently located across from the chainsaw carver.  No kidding.  All I can do is laugh, and take some ear plugs.

Crow Family Portraits VIII   12x12  pastel  N Equall

I've got a few new paintings making their debut's, including two more from my Crow Family Portraits series. In case you missed it, I have become the crazy crow lady in my neighborhood.  One of my neighbors asked me why I feed the ravens. That cracked me up.  We don't have ravens here in the suburbs, but we do have crows, and I have been feeding a beautiful pair that work this sector of the neighborhood for a couple of years.  Just the two of them. Well, until this past July when my pair showed up with three loud fledglings.  I had thought that my pair were siblings.  Wrong again!  Anyway, they enjoy eating our table scraps and the babies hang out here part of the time while the parents go out to work.  I love watching their antics.  They are adorable, and very curious.  Sometimes they sit on the gutters and try to look in the windows when I'm working in the studio, or holler at me from the tree outside my bedroom window.

Click here for coupon for the Fall Home and Garden Show

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

Umpqua Plein Air 2013- Best of Show!

First Look   6"x6" plein air pastel  Best of Show- Umpqua Plein Air 2013

This was my third year participating in Umpqua Plein Air, put on by the Umpqua Art Association in Roseburg, OR.  As in previous years, the plein air event was wonderfully organized, with all the information spelled out ahead of time.  The actual schedule of events was different from previous years...this year, the quick draw was held for two hours on the afternoon of the first day.  

I arrived in Roseburg about an hour before the event began, so I had a chance to check in to my favorite little place to stay in Roseburg, the Rose City Motel.  It is the cleanest and most comfortable motel I've ever stayed in, and at about $50 per night, it is a real bargain.  The rooms look like they are straight out of Country Living magazine circa 1983.  I was in the garden room, and the bed was as comfortable as my own at home.  

The quick draw was held in the park outside the Umpqua Art Association gallery.  My painting was nothing to write home about.  It happens.  Plein air painting is hard!  

Quick draw entry- photo shot in the back of my car, complete with reflections on the glass and poor color choices.  It started off a pretty nice painting, but I killed it somewhere along the way.  Oh well.

There was a catered dinner in the park after the quick draw, followed by a nice talk from the show juror Brenda Boylan, who spoke on the Good, Bad and Ugly in regards to painting plein air. 

The next day dawned partially cloudy, with a high chance of thunder showers.  I had signed up to paint at the Norris Blueberry Farm about ten miles NW of Roseburg.  The farm was awesome.  I wandered around for about a half hour, taking lots of photos and trying to decide where to set up my painting gear. Once I got near the pond (complete with two swans), I knew my search for a painting place was over.  It was absolutely amazing. The swans begged to be painted- beautiful white feathers, exotic black lined eyes and beaks, and then those weird legs that looked like their flesh colored tights were falling down.  They spent over an hour preening themselves on a little island just off shore from where I set up my easel, and I was very tempted to paint them, but I just couldn't once I started to really soak in the territorial views.  

I couldn't decide which view to paint, so I started two paintings- one looking north, and one looking east. I could see both directions from my easel. Because of the chance of rain, I set up my big Eddie Bauer beach umbrella from Costco.  It's huge, it's beige, and it works.  

I am a fair weather girl, and I just don't paint outside when it's anything but dry and pleasant. That is, up until now.  This was a timed event, and I had until 4 pm to produce something for the show.  I was pretty excited about the sky show that was going on, and the constantly changing state of the light on the landscape.  A pretty major storm was moving into the northwest, and it was fascinating to be a witness to the subtle and not so subtle changes.   

I chose to do a 6x6 and a 12x12 painting for the competition.  I hoped that at least one of them would turn out ok.  I never know if my idea is going to pan out, especially with the added stress of being in a timed competition.  Painting outdoors is challenging under the best of conditions.  I settled on my compositions, sketched them in, and using thin oil paint, completed both underpaintings.  It was feeling pretty humid outside, so I did a little blotting onto the underpaintings to try to get them to dry faster.  I didn't want to put much pastel onto the surface before the Gamsol was dry, as it melts the pastel onto the surface, and gives a darker look to the light colors.

photo- the view to the north, Norris Blueberry Farm

The 6x6 almost painted itself.  As soon as I noticed the sun lighting up the edge of the treeline, I was interested.  Then I noticed the trees that were a bit further back, and that I could see through the trunks to the fields behind.  That was it. I was totally besotted with the scene.  I love it when that happens!

The 12x12 scene was almost as easy to choose.  The view up the valley was spectacular, especially with the storm clouds piling up against the mountains to the east.  Purple and blue. Delicious!

I had not really planned for inclement weather.  I had a fleece zipup, but I had neglected to bring long pants or real shoes.  I was fresh from Hood River, and it had been around 90 degrees there.  If not for that Eddie Bauer umbrella, I would have been up the proverbial creek.

As the storm blew in, it got colder.  The wind started blowing.   And then it started raining.  Hard.  I saw other artists make a run for cover, and I thought about packing it up, but then I realized that I was dry under my umbrella. My easel, cart, pastel box- everything stayed totally dry.  I was chilly, but dry.  I figured I may as well stay put and finish my painting.

I was amazed when, in the middle the pouring rain, there was a tiny break in the clouds behind me and a brilliant ray of sun lit up the trees I was painting.  It lasted about 45 seconds, and was absolute magic.  I've never seen anything like it.  Probably because I NEVER paint outside when it is raining. It was fun adding the bright gold sunlight to the back of the field in my painting, and made coming up with the title much easier!

Sunbreak   12x12 plein air pastel    N Equall

I had no problem finishing both paintings before 2:30, and was even graced with a break in the rain, allowing me to pack up and get back to my car without getting soaked.  I backed into an open shed, and got both paintings framed without incident, and then safely turned in at the art center.

I was totally surprised and thrilled to be awarded best of show for my little 6x6 painting First Look.  The paintings from the plein air event will be on display at the Hallie Ford Gallery at the Umpqua Valley Art Association in Roseburg through October.

I'm looking at these cloudy skies a little differently now, and actually had another opportunity to paint an approaching storm a couple of weeks later at the Hillsboro Plein Air event. More on that next time...

Intermission- between Hood River and Roseburg

Yamhill County  24x24 pastel  N Equall

September has been my art vortex of craziness.  The saga continues...

Cluck  12x12  pastel - Note there are weird reflections in the glass- I will replace this image as soon as I get the painting back...I forgot to take the photo before framing, and figured awful was better than nothing! OSA Gallery

PNPA was finished, and I had one day in Portland before I had to be in Roseburg (175 miles south of Portland).  I was afraid that we were going to run out of food for our diabetic dog while I was out of town, so I cooked up a batch of chicken, vegetables and barley, did five loads of laundry, straightened up the house,  framed two pastels for the OSA Fall Juried show, dropped them off at the gallery, and repacked for the three day plein air competition in Roseburg.

Crow Family Portraits IV  pastel   N Equall
Artreach Gallery thru 9/29/13

I was already committed to participate with the Westside Artist Guild in a group show at the Artreach Gallery in downtown Portland in a show titled Five O'clock Shadows.  I decided to use only bird paintings for that show, so before I had left for Hood River,  I packed and delivered ten 8x8 pastel bird portraits , and three 12x12 crow portraits for my friend and artist Patty Gifford to deliver to the gallery for me.  That show will be up thru September 29.

Next time...Umpqua Plein Air 2013!

Pacific Northwest Plein Air 2013

All I Ever Wanted  6x6  plein air pastel  N Equall

This past month has been bananas!  Like the rest of my crazy life, everything happens at once, and September has been no exception.  I participated in three plein air competitions,  had 15 paintings in two group shows, and have been preparing for the Fall Home and Garden Show at the expo here in Portland, OR which will set up Oct 2.

May Days  6x6  plein air pastel  N Equall

At the end of August,  I went to the Columbia River gorge to participate in Northwest Plein Air 2013, a juried plein air event put on by the Columbia Art Gallery in Hood River, OR.  A juried event is one where the artists submit an application with examples of their work and the organizers choose who they want to participate, in this case 35 artists.  This was my third year participating in this event.   I rented a great one room cabin in White Salmon, WA using www.airbnb.com.  It was just across the Columbia river from Hood River,and served as a peaceful home base during the five day paintout.  For this event, each artist could submit up to five paintings at the end of the five days of painting, all done in plein air, meaning they were all painted outdoors in the open air, and had to be painted within the past year.  

Fluorescence  11x14 plein air pastel

I was a bit nervous about the weather.  It had been stormy during the week before the event, and the hard rain actually woke me up the night before the event started.  I was pleasantly surprised on the first day when the alarm went off at 6 and the sky was bright pink with no clouds in sight.  It ended up being hot and sunny during the days of the paintout.  I brought two finished plein air paintings with me, one painted in May across the gully from the Tom McCall Nature area in Rowena, and one painted at Wild Rain Lavender Farm in Yamhill.  I painted and framed three new paintings during the paintout- two painted at The Gorge White House, and one painting of the view looking east down the gorge from the AniChe Winery in Underwood, WA.

Painting is normally a solitary endeavor, although I do attend a weekly open studio at Oregon Society of Artists, and oftentimes paint outdoors with another artist or two.  Attending plein air competitions is the complete opposite- lots of people painting similar subjects in the same real estate.  I love getting to know the other artists, but it can really mess with my mind to see other artists doing spectacular things when I either haven't started, don't have a clue as what I'm going to do, or don't like what is happening on my easel.

Inevitable  11x14  plein air pastel  

Then there is the problem of where to paint.  The gorge and surrounding areas are stunning, but deciding exactly where to paint can be a real problem.   The organizers had suggested painting locations every day, and they were all terrific.  I have to find some type of connection, inspiration or emotion with the landscape if I hope to come up with a painting that pleases me.  That little piece of the puzzle can be elusive. It's always such a relief when an idea for a painting  floats up to the surface like the answer on a Crazy 8 ball.

 I struggled a bit, but finally came up with three paintings that I wasn't embarrassed to let people see.   I spent my last day at a nice quiet park with a boat launch on the Washington side of the river where I touched up and framed my finished paintings.  I really wished I had found that park earlier in the weekend, because it had a beautiful brushy wetland area with the gorge as its backdrop.  Next year.  

The Sunny Side   12x12 plein air pastel

As Labor Day weekend came to a close, I turned my paintings and cabin keys in a day early, and drove back to Portland to spend an extra night at home to do laundry, regroup and repack the car before driving to Roseburg, OR to participate in Umpqua Plein Air 2013.  

The Plein Air Northwest show at the Columbia Center for the Arts in Hood River, OR will be up thru September 29.  

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

New Year, New Paintings Part 2

W S Jay I  pastel  6x6

W S Jay II  pastel  8x10

W S Jay III  pastel  8x10

Songs of Love  pastel  8x10

Commonwealth Goose  pastel  8x8

Amused  8x8  pastel
available at Currents Gallery  McMinnville Or

New Year, New Paintings

I have been having a blast painting the local crows.  They're loud, clever, and endlessly fascinating to watch.  I just love their rictal bristles(those whiskery, eyelash looking feathers between their eye and beak).

I will have these paintings, along with much more at the Spring Home and Garden Show next week (February 20-24) at the Expo Center in Portland, OR.  I'll be set up in the Artisan Village, along with some of my Oregon Society of Artist buddies.  I will be spending my time painting during the show, so I'll have my own little studio area set up.  This is my second year at the show- it should be great!  Click on the following for a discount coupon into the show...Click here for $2 off coupon to the Spring Home and Garden Show!

Crow Family Portraits I  pastel  12x12  N Equall

Crow Family Portraits II  pastel  12x12  N Equall

Crow Family Portraits III  pastel  12x12 N Equall

Crow Family Portraits IV  pastel  12x12 N Equall