"Goldfish Dreams" - Something Different

They say that necessity is the mother of invention and I have the necessity to "recycle" about .... a million... frame samples in some artful way. The moldings are so beautiful, how could I let them be tossed into the trash when my favorite local framing shop closed their doors. I got my dad to cut points on pine boards to fit these moldings and let my imagination run wild while repeating the words.."Fun-funky-folk-art". Ten done, 990 to go.

Summer's end

Oh my gosh! Will you look at the date! How is it the middle of September already. I really do have a good excuse for not posting anything since June. Let's see....

I have completed my 7th season as a vendor at the Bellingham Farmers' Market. Once again, it was 4 months of meeting wonderful people and getting to talk about my favorite subject in the whole world...ART!

In April, at the urging of a good friend, I entered a pastel into the Northwest Pastel Society's International Show. As I am somewhat of a novice when it comes to soft pastels, I was surprised and very pleased to be accepted into the show with the second attempt at "Pear with Mini-Blinds." (I will post the image when I have a web-sized jpg available. The jpg I have is HUGE.) The entries had to be very large (by my standards, 22" x 33" is big), so all around this was a challenge for me. Imagine my even greater surprise when my painting was selected to receive the Northwest Pastel Society's Award of Excellence, a generous monetary award and a year's subscription to The Pastel Journal. My subscription had just expired. How timely. Like my friend said, you will miss 100% of the shots you don't take... and she was right. Thank you, Trish.

I recently completed the illustrations for a charming little book by Joan VanWykhouse entitled "Jillian and the Elusive Queen." It is a tale of a young girl named Jillian who is concerned that the Queen may be in trouble, or else why was everyone be saying "God save the Queen" ? I'm looking very much forward to receiving a hardbound copy of my own. The book will be available on Amazon.com by Christmas time, I believe.

High and Dry

Yet another dinghy that was destined for the Downtown Gallery Walk that was held last Friday, June 13, although, at the last moment, I decided to keep this one for myself for now. The gallery walk was very fun! We had a number of people come through and say nice things. Kelcey's pastels were (still are) wonderful! I think we both felt the evening was well worth the effort.

The Bellingham Farmer's Market is in full swing. The "tourists" are arriving, which is a good thing for the vendors. I love hearing from people who live in exotic places far and wide how they JUST LOVE Bellingham and wish they could live here. Hey, I guess I don't need to go anywhere else, cuz I already live in this great place that so many wish they could move to.

Blue Reflection

Yet another in the dinghy series bound for the Bellingham Downtown Artwalk on Friday evening, June 13. If you're in the area, stop by Envy Salon (next to the Bellingham Parkade) and say hello to Kelcey Bates and myself.

Harbor Morning

Another in the dinghy series. Acrylic on hardboard. Framed in a plain black metal floater frame and will be displayed at the Bellingham Downtown Art Walk on June 13.

Salty Skiff

This is another acrylic painting on hardboard from the "Dinghy" series destined for the June Bellingham Downtown Art Walk. I am particularly fond of this one. The original boat was a drab charcoal gray, not anything much to look at, but the inner spines of the boat caught my eye along with the rippled reflections in the water. I just knew I could do something with it. I can't really say how big this painting is because it's currently hanging at Chuckanut Bay Gallery here in Bellingham, but I'm guessing it's about 9" x 12" and framed in a black metal floating frame.

One Oar

Another in the Dinghy series. Acrylic on gessoed hardboard, measures roughly 12" x 12". The original photo reference for this was the whole boat, but after playing with various compositions, I elected to push this one to the edge of abstraction. It has just enough information to say "boat" and enough left out for the viewer to use their imagination. I'm planning to do that more often in the future. Like they say, "Less is more". This image will also be offered framed and for sale at the Bellingham Downtown Art Walk on June 13.