Saturday I plan to drop off three paintings for various shows.

First, I intend to drop off my 6″x6″ canvas for the Wild Art Project at the November 21-22 the Wild Arts Festival.

This is one of my favorite events of the year, and I’m always proud to support it.

The other paintings are a set for the Oregon Society of Artists 200 For Under 200 Show.

These two paintings ($100 each unless I can sell them as a set) are mounted on a wooden panel. Each artist is asked to make one or two paintings on this same panel. Some artists mount their paintings on the panel (like I did); some artists do the art directly on the panel. But all the art is 12″x12″. It’s always fun to see what everyone does.

Mark you calendars to addend the reception on Friday, November 6th, 6 – 9 pm. Show closes Friday December 4th, 1 to 4 pm.

Sorting is any process of arranging items systematically, and has two common, yet distinct meanings: ordering: arranging items in a sequence ordered by some criterion; categorizing: grouping items with similar properties.

Last weekend’s Open Studios of Beavercreek went well, with a couple more paintings (including Thunderbird, a favorite of mine) finding new homes. Unfortunately, on Sunday I could tell I was coming down with a cold, and I’ve spent the last couple of days sleeping (which I needed), worrying (which I didn’t), or working on projects that I never seem to have the time to do.

The reason for the worrying is that it is inspection time in the world of house selling / buying. On my house, we went into it knowing a couple things would show up: a 40-year old furnace and an electric panel that has always worked well, but for some bizarre reason lenders don’t like. I was SHOCKED, however, when some mold showed up in my attic crawl space. Fortunately, no one was scared off and we have again come to agreement.

On “my” house in Salem, my inspection turned up a few repair issues (significant, but not terribly spendy) and a foundation issue which really worried me. It has taken a week, but the seller has agreed to fix it all; thus it appears the move is on.

This is good because it’s time, according to various timelines, I should be making some serious headway. I have been collecting boxes. I reserved a “pod” to be delivered to the house. I’ve started contacting utilities. And Saturday I have a “de-packing” party scheduled; a de-packing party is something I made up. The idea is that I feed my friends and they help me sort through stuff and help me decide what to take and what can go.

The (admittedly vague) plan is to tackle a room a weekend over the next five weekends. Hopefully, at the end, we’ll load up the dog, cats, and a few unpacked essentials and go. It’s unclear now if the closing in Salem will happen soon after the closing in Oregon City, so I’m trying to keep options open/

What is interesting about this is that I see this whole process as a way to refine the next stage of my life.  I’m hoping to get rid of some baggage (physical and emotional) so that when I’m eventually down in Salem, I’ll have less clutter to deal with.

Bringing this back to art, that issue of clutter is one that resonates with me. Last weekend at Open Studios, I thought a lot about what I wanted to continue down in Salem. In the last few months I’ve given up several positions in organizations, and there is only one commitment still on my plate.

Right now I belong to:

• Watercolor Society of Oregon
  • Recently gave up webmaster position
  • Committed to 2016 Fall Convention
• Three Rivers Artist Guild
  • Recently gave up webmaster position
  • No other commitments
• Oregon Society of Artists
  • No commitments
• Open Studios of Beavercreek
  • No commitments

In the future, Open Studios of Beavercreek will only be possible occasionally because of my new location, and the Oregon Society of Artists (based in Portland) will be difficult to interact with regularly. I will keep up my membership in Three Rivers Artist Guild through 2016 because they are helping with the fall WSO convention, but I will not be able to do much more than pay dues. This leaves the Fall 2016 convention for WSO, and then 2017 will be commitment free.

I think I do better not taking on so much, and I’m going to try to to remember that adding commitments is time clutter; time clutter makes it hard to focus on art.

And art is something I definitely want to sort into the “take with me” pile for my new home in Salem.

I’ve decided to use one of the downstairs bedrooms to create a working studio (separate from an office.) With the arrangement of the doors and things, I am hopeful that this space could even be used as an “Open Studio” or other public space to show my art.

But I’m also trying to back burner this plot and work on simply getting moved. Pinterest, however, is an appealing (and somewhat scary) option. Especially when I’ve been stuck for a couple days at home, sick.

I have a confession. I really hate the promotion side of this whole art thing. I like the painting part, but getting out there and selling paintings is not great (I’m just too much of an introvert.)

However, I have been particularly bad the last few months. Here is some atonement.

Open Studios of Beavercreek – THIS WEEKEND

October 9-11 is the Open Studios of Beavercreek. This time I will be at Studio 1, located at 17612 Holly Lane, Oregon City, OR 97045.

Three other artists will be at this location. Just remember… the holidays are around the corner. I bet if you stopped by our studio and a few more you’d have that list DONE!

American Academy of Equine Art – Fall Open Juried Exhibition and Sale

You’ve probably heard me crowing that “Shoes and Shadows” got into this show. And if you’re like me, you’ve ruled out a trip to Lexington just to see it (unless you’re already there; if you are in Kentucky, RUN to the show! Fortunately, the show is available online.

You can just look at the thumbnails, but take a few minutes and click on the images to see larger images.

Now to do some (imaginary) shopping.

I arrived home about three hours ago and have spent that time wandering around the house trying to figure out a game plan.

I think my game plan is to be without a game plan for right now.

In the last week I have spend four of the seven days away from home. Monday-Wednesday I was traveling for work and Friday-Sunday (today) I was at the Watercolor Society of Oregon Convention in Hermiston. The good news is that a lot of painting has occurred in the last week, but the bad news is that I’m wiped out. I’m so glad to be going to work tomorrow (done with traveling) because I need the rest!

Here’s some quick painting recaps for the week.

Monday

While waiting for a meeting I took a 1/2 hour lunch and did a little painting outside the cafe in Standfield, Oregon.

Tuesday

No painting, just an site visit for work to Catherine Creek.

Friday

Drive over to Hermiston for the WSO convention. I took my time and stopped at a wildlife viewing area. Also go lost and stopped by a guard, but that’s another story.

Saturday

Started out the day taking a class on graphic elements in still life from Bill Bailey. I wasn’t able to finish any paintings, but I did learn a lot.

My next class was a lecture by juror Ratinda Das. Unfortunately I forgot to turn in my image for critique, but it was a good lecture anyway.

Next I took a class on making a journal. I thought it was a class on journaling, but it turned out to be a class on making actual journals.

Good to know.

After class I decided to go out on a tour around Hermiston. I took my watercolor stuff.

I saw cows. Lots of cows

I saw some deer.

I saw corn. And a pumpkin field.

I found a nice little pond with a blue heron and later an egret and painted a little.

But my favorite moment was when i saw this Paul Bunyon sized bench.

When I went over to investigate, this was the view.

Wouldn’t you paint it too?

I like this so much I’m really thinking about it for a full sheet painting.

Sunday

By nature, Sunday at a convention is less painting driven. It starts out with a business meeting and then comes the juror demo.

I had watched Ratindra’s video and would have loved to take the workshop this week, but I just couldn’t manage it. Ratindra proved to be a good speaker and his love of painting really came through. But the bills must be paid.

I came away wanting to do some painting, and there really isn’t too much more you can ask for from a convention.

The last week has literally carried me all around the state. When I was hired at OWEB, one of the exciting parts of my job was an opportunity to travel around the state doing financial trainings for grantees. After months of prep, this week (and next) are high training periods. Last week I went to Gresham (okay, it was nearby…), Central Point, Klamath Falls, and Bend. In the coming week I’ll be traveling to Pendleton and Baker City.

In all the traveling of last week, however, i wasn’t able to take a single picture because the battery on my camera died and I didn’t bring the charger. Doh!

So I can’t show you the birds at Klamath Falls, the mountains in Bend, or the… well, I’m sure there was something about Central Point that was fun, but without a camera, I can’t remember it!

Fortunately I plugged in the charger and when I go out this week it should be more interesting from a blogging point of view.

Still, other exciting things have happened besides travel and it’s a good time to do an update.

30 Paintings in 30 Days… Busted

Last Sunday I had made a lot of progress in catching up. And if I had been in the office, I feel like I could have done it. But travel defeated me, even though I took my painting gear and was preparred. Budget hotels, however, don’t tend to have great views.

I’ve decided to give myself a break. I learned that painting at lunch is a great thing and I’m going to try to do it when I get back into real life at work again.

House Sale (Oregon City)

As I mentioned, I put my house in Oregon City up for sale. It was very successful and I got several good offers. While I am waiting for an inspection to put a cap on it, a deal has been struck and it looks like we’ll close October 27.

House Purchase (Salem)

So in the limited amount of time I had between engagements, I forsook day 1 of the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival to go down to Salem for some serious house hunting.

Nine hours later I had it narrowed down to three (maybe four…) homes, but that was as far as I could get it. The porched house mentioned in my August 31 post “This Human Craves Chaos” was still under consideration, but it has been overshadowed by a new home build on an infill lot a little further out (but still within a couple miles of work) and an absolutely STUNNING house right in downtown and ON Mill Creek. I mean RIGHT ON. Like living in a camp site. And a high-priced fixer up right on Busch Park that I was pretty sure wasn’t right, but the park part would have been fun…

Doing some research and thinking about my priorities (and realizing that my father would rise up out of his grave and kill me for even thinking of buying a house on a flood plain (and looking at pictures from the LAST flood)) I reluctantly came to the conclusion the creek house was too risky for my essentially cautious personality.

More research revealed that the new construction home would be followed by more construction RIGHT in back of it. After looking at some plot maps (and my budget) I came back to the porched house.

So this morning we put in an offer and I’m waiting to hear back. Fingers crossed.

Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival

Fortunately, I had a great way to fill my time while I waited. Months ago I had signed up for an all day class: Spinning 2 – Building on What You Know. Taught by an encyclopedia Laurie Weinsoft, it was a good class because we got a lot of opportunity to for hands-on play with the various technique and materials. My only complaint was that Laurie used her inside voice and the class next door used their outside voice; in other words, it was hard to hear.

Still, it was a day well spent. A fleece was purchased (yes, another. A gray one this time) as well as some Firestar and silk to add in, as well as plans to dye the fleece. i’ll finish my white one first though.

Probably…

Well, I’m heading off again tomorrow and I haven’t even packed, but you now know everything I do. I’ll endeavor to do better in the photo department for my next post.