Online Studio Sale: Day 2 – “Steens Mustang”

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In 2003, before I started painting (at least this time around) my family took a trip over the Steens Mountains.

My goal for this trip had one item–to see mustangs. And we were very lucky. We actually saw two different herds. We saw a band (from a distance) of the Kiger mustangs and then later we ran across a band of the South Steens herd (sometimes called the Hollywood pack because of how often they are photographed.)

We saw the Kiger herd briefly when we were driving up to Kiger Gorge lookout. It was early in the morning and we were the first cars on the road. The horses had come down for some early grazing, but the minute we entered the area, they were up and over the top of the next hill.

kiger2kiger1As you can see, the experience was brief and somewhat disappointing.

But later in the day we came across the South Steens herd, finding some shade under a tree.

When we stopped, I jumped out of the car and walked across the field to get a better shot. When I got closer, two of the horses separated from the herd and spent some time warning me off. I wasn’t interested in disturbing the herd, so I left when it was clear the herd wasn’t going to settle down again.

herd4

When I picked up the paintbrush in 2008, it wasn’t long before I tried my hand at a horse, and the memory of this trip is what I tried to capture. [image removed]

This painting always gets comments when I have it in my booth, and is one of my first attempts at capturing a memory and a subject at the same time. Like yesterday’s offering, I am offering it at 20% off ($40). It comes with a mat, but no frame; the mat will fit into a standard 12″x16″ frame that should be easy to find. Contact me if you are interested.

Online Studio Sale: Day 1 – “Between Classes”

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As promised, I’m starting my online studio sale today. This piece, “Between Classes” is a relatively recent painting. It was inspired by a snapshot taken at the Sound Equine Options “Ride to Provide” show this last spring. [image removed]

This piece comes with a mat that will fit into a standard size frame, but I have not framed it. I’ve been offering it for sale at $50, but I’ll over it now at a 20% discount or $40. I’m adding it to my pages at a regular price of $50; if it doesn’t sell by December 25, it will enjoy another tour of next year’s art shows!

Get in touch if you’d like to take this home!

It’s all about the stealth projects…

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It is painting night, and I am hard at work. But again, I can’t show you anything too revealing.

stealthSo I will distract my loyal readers (Mom and possibly the dog has learned to flip on the computer.)

Knitting

I am within a literal inch of finishing the main parts (sleeves, back, and two fronts) of the sweater I have been working on since last February. If I can finish it tonight, I may stay up late and give it a good blocking so I can sew it together this weekend and add the button band (but that will take a little more time.) After 10 months of working on it… well, you can see why I’m excited about getting so close to being done.

sweater

My knitting friends have lately been teasing me about how long this has taken. But I’ll have a new sweater soon and that’ll show them! Of course, after 75 pounds (20% of my body weight and 7 sizes) it may not fit. But it will be new and MINE!

This means that for knit night (and a couple of meetings tomorrow) I need to cast on a new project. I want something fast, easy, and with BIG yarn. I feel a hat coming on…

Recent hikes

Sunday I went to Canemah. Winter has set in so everything is so wet. I played with the manual focus features on my camerah to get this photo (and managed to get poison oak…)

drop

Someone had made a little pile of stones at the entrance of the park; it was just one of the many “salient details” I fin charming this time of year.

Birding was mediocre, but I did get these beautiful shots of a Western Scrub Jay.

One last note

Starting tomorrow, I am going to be offering an “online studio sale” for all of my pieces. Please look at my art pages to see if anything catches your fancy.

I plan to feature a painting a day at a bit of a discount to see if a few paintings can find a new home before the new year.

I hope to hear from you all!

P.S.

It’s ten minutes to midnight and the sweater is blocking!

 

I’m just working here…

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This weekend is a neat kind of weekend.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel like I have to make decisions ALL THE TIME.

What to wear, what to eat, what to paint, what to do.

But not this weekend! This weekend, I am merely a warm cog in the machinery of the organizations that I work for.

Saturday Morning

I got up and headed down to the Oregon Society of Artists to enter a couple paintings in the December “Urban & Rural Landscapes” Show.

osaThe great thing about this experience is that when you walk into OSA, you are bossed about: fill out this form, put that there, hang that. It’s great. Bing, bang, boom, and you’re done!

Also, I saw and talked to a bunch of my artist friends, which is always a lot of fun.

Saturday Afternoon

From here I drove across town to the Sound Equine Options barn. Not only was it my scheduled day to clean stalls, it was also “barn cleanup” day.

The horses were out playing in the fields…

theboys1 theboys2

This is Fritz, Nate, Jax and Rufus. Aren’t they lovely? And all up for adoption (just saying…)

For two hours I did as told. I cleaned stalls, swept things, unloaded buckets, and pulled dirt away from walls. When I got done, I said, “What do you want me to do next?” It was bliss.

The barn now looks amazing. I claim no credit, because I was just some short-lived grunt labor.

You probably have to be a horse person familiar with old barns to appreciate this. But trust  me, it’s gorgeous.

Saturday Late Afternoon

My final stop was a few hours serving as greeter and door counter for Three Rivers Artist Guild. I showed up at my appointed time and was given a script and a counter and worked the front door, greeting some of the 375 guests who showed up at our Holiday Show.

I’ll be here tomorrow as well. I have a large portion of my inventory in this show, as well as some extra knitted pieces that were lying around the house. I highly recommend coming down to the Oregon City Pioneer Center between 11-4 and checking it out.

None of these items are mine… but they are ALL awesome. TRAG artists really kick it!

Sunday Afternoon

The fun doesn’t stop with today! Tomorrow afternoon, my church is having an advent festival and I volunteered to help with the kids crafts. Again, I just told the leader I’d do whatever she wanted. I don’t know what that will be, but I’m assured that all I need to do is show up.

Sunday Evening

Finally, I will help with the tear down of the Holiday Show tomorrow evening. I know this will be hard work, but it’s something that I’m not in charge of and I just need to do what I’m told to do.

Awesome, huh?

Cold, windy and bright

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It has turned cold here, with ice dusting a few shady places and wet spots. More than that, however, it is windy and bright. We went for a hike today, and while it was cool in the protected shady places, it wasn’t until you were exposed to the sunshine that you felt the weather.

Because it was so bright, I got some good bird photos, though I didn’t see as many birds as usual.

Still, it was a gorgeous day. I’m very fond of this time of year. There is still a lot of detail and color, and the angle of the light makes some really stunning photos.

Can you believe it’s almost December?

Making progress

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Happy Thanksgiving!

This year I’m having a bit of a non-traditional Thanksgiving. Neither my mom or me felt like really “doing” Thanksgiving this year, and It didn’t make a lot of sense to go see my mom for less than a day, so I’m staying at home for the day.

But it’s been a busy day.

Someone mentioned the Turkey Trot and that caught  my fancy as a way to celebrate my new lifestyle. It’s a 4 mile run/walk around Washington Park and the Oregon Zoo. As you know, I did a 5K back in May and with 75 lbs lost, I thought this might make a good celebratory milestone.

I am pleased to say I did it! I took a pit stop in the middle, but my times looked like this:

  • 8:09-8:44 (35.24 minutes)
  • 8:49-9:43 (54.05 minutes)

Mile 3 was definitely the hardest (steepest), but I think an average of 22 minutes per mile is NOT bad. I know mile 3 was the slowest and lowered my average, but at least I have a place to start.

Like the 5K in May, it felt like everyone was passing me. I did start off in the last “wave” to let everyone else go ahead.

But I did eventually pass a few people. There was one gal about my size who was obviously doing this run as her own personal quest. I felt a total kindred spirit with her and was SO proud of her when I saw her cross the finish line. I’m so proud of me too.

I’m a little sore, but not as exhausted as I was after the 5K in May. I had enough energy to head down to SEO and do 3 stalls, before coming home.

And now I’m off to fix white chili with turkey! It’s a good day.

Wahclella Falls

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The breakneck pace of summer and autumn is fading, and Friday night when i checked Facebook, I saw an invite from one of the nature pages to go on a hike to Wahclella Falls. I marked it on my calendar and decided to go.

Finn, of course, said he was in, and we got up this morning and drove out to the gorge.

Come hike at one of my favorite waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge! The easy 2 mile, 400-foot elevation gain leg stretch to Wahclella Falls. It will be a slow-paced, family-friendly, camera-friendly saunter to one of the most beautiful grottoes anywhere in the state.

The experience lived up to the hike. Pictures are worth a thousand words, so here’s my essay.

When we finally got to the main falls, it was spectacular.

While it was only two miles round trip, and the trail was well marked, it had a lot of ups and downs. It was muddy and rocky and occasionally even steep. I was glad I wore my hiking boots.

bootsWe got back to the car just as the downpour started. The drive back home was…

driving

Cameras

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At the last Open Studios of Beavercreek I hung out at the home of Connie Veenker for Open Studios of Beavercreek. I also shared space with another artist, Larry Baird of Not Too Far From Here Photography. As you might guess, Larry is a photographer and I heard a lot of great stories over the weekend about his photos, his trips to Africa (5), and various camera equipment.

For me, this was a little bittersweet (notice over a month has gone by since Open Studios). Dad was the constant photographer in our family. We have thousands of photos over the years, and 98% of them were taken by Dad.

Along the way, he also seemed to collect cameras. When going through his things recently, we found three antique cameras, four inexpensive digital camera, and his “big” camera.

I still remember him getting the “big” camera. He  made a special “gun” type holder and went around for most of the summer, hoping to get a great shot. I remember the first time I was trusted to hold the camera and how special that felt. In subsequent years he only pulled out the “big gun” on special occasions.

cameralot_case

The “big” gun with several lens in its carrying case.

Dad never really transitioned over to the digital age. Computers were not his forte, and the idea of digital editing and all the rest just never caught up to him.

With his passing I have inherited his vast collection of film equipment. Physically, nothing he has is very expensive. Even the “big” camera lens is probably worth less that $50 on ebay.

I’ve asked a few people some questions about whether or not the lenses could be used on a digital camera; the shortest answer is no, with the medium answer being “with difficulty.”

I’ve been pondering if the emotional value of these cameras is worth anything to me. I posted a picture of Dad with his camera a few days ago; that’s the memory that sticks with me. I will never use these cameras again (I can’t imagine going back to film, either from a usage standpoint or a cost standpoint.) And having them cluttering up my office isn’t very exciting either.

So this week I decided to list them on ebay. I’m surprised that all of them already have bids. I hope they go to a good home.