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Archive for the ‘Art in our home’ Category

Day 8

Tuesday, December 8th, 2015
Krystal Nacht  by  Robert Natkin

Krystal Nacht by Robert Natkin

Since I have been unable to get to my studio, I thought I would share some art I love, with you. I just recently discovered this abstract artist and I love, love his work. This is a link to his website. Love his use of color and the interesting shapes.

Robert Motherwell, At Five in the Afternoon, 1950. Oil on hardboard.

Robert Motherwell, At Five in the Afternoon, 1950. Oil on hardboard.

I was also delighted to find that there is a collection of Robert Motherwell’s Elegies at the de Young. We are heading to the bay area after Christmas so this is on my to see list. We own a Motherwell signed print so I am looking forward to seeing more of his work. This is our piece hanging over the fireplace.

fireplacearea

I picked up my bionic knee brace today.

bionic knee

I could only wear it for an hour today and add an hour each day with a max of 8 hours. On my initial use, I think it is working. Now I have to figure out what I have in the way of pants that will fit over this.

rainydayviewfromgym

And this happened – more rain and more flooding, mudslides and sink holes in the Portland area. It is so warm, I fear that the snow will have left our mountains.

 

A Busy Week

Thursday, May 22nd, 2014

tjapsandwoodblocks

I didn’t realize that a week had gone by and I only posted Wordless Wednesday. I am a bad blogger. But, I have been very busy. We had the opening of the New Heaven, New Earth show last Friday. Here are my two pieces in the show.

nhneshow2

nhneshow

 

We had a good turn out at the reception and have sold a few pieces of art. We gave a Genisis award for best interpretation of the theme. It was won by a quilter from Montana who used to be a member of Trinity and comes back in the spring to be in this show.

On Saturday night, we went to a gala dressup fundraiser dinner for an organization that provides quality experiences, such as summer camp, for abused children — Sparks for Hope. We were invited to be at a table put together by one of Steve’s former co-workers. I was thrilled to be able to get into the dress I bought for Lisa and Clay’s wedding. Speaking of which, how great is it that gay marriage is no longer banned in Oregon! State by state, we are winning.

Sunday, I took part in a forum at Trinity. The artists in the show talked about our inspiration and other things. I also sat at the show on Sunday afternoon and got a sale, just as I was packing up!

I have spent a bunch of time getting my studio set up. Almost there! Today, I wrangled four 2 foot by 4 foot insulation panels and taped them together and covered them with flannel to make a 4 x 8 design wall. It was a bit hysterical as my studio is not that big so there is no place to lay stuff on the floor. I guess I could have gone out in the hall!!

The photo at the top is of my tjaps and printing blocks on display in front of my encaustic experiments. I have utilized the back of the door for some hanging storage.

studiodoorstorage

We also put up lots of shelves for storing stuff where I can see it.

studioshelves

I have also been to a couple of meetings this week — High Fiber Diet on Tuesday night and SAQA on Wednesday, followed by lunch with a group of friends.

We continue to get the condo in order. I hung a bunch of quilts and other art in the hallway and bedroom

motherlode

I hung Motherlode in the entry way and realized it has the complete color palette of our new home!

hallaspenquilt

One of my aspen quilts graces the hallway.

I also hung some of my work in the bedroom

bedroomart1

bedroomart2

We bought a nice little glass topped desk at Crate and Barrel for my desktop computer. It is a lovely place to work and look out on nature. It is in the bedroom.

newdesk

This is the really cool walnut dresser that we found when we went on our hunt for Midcentury Modern furniture.

bedroomdresser

That wall needs some more art, don’t you think?

chandlier

Our chandelier arrived this week, too. And with much ado, we got it installed.

Today, we walked up to the Rose Garden from our home. It is a good hike — straight up — but it only takes about 15 minutes to get there. Portland is known as the Rose City and the rose Festival is happening, soon. Here are some photos. The first is a view of  Big Pink from the garden.

rosegardenbigpink

rosesgalore

coralrose

redroses

hotpinkrose

Walking home is a breeze because it is down hill most of the way.

 

washington parkpath

 

 

Checking in from Condo Life

Thursday, April 24th, 2014

auditionbirchpainting

 

I have been too tired most days to blog. This move has been exhilarating and exhausting. The painters finally finished yesterday. It took 4 full days, but not consecutively so we have been in limbo until that was done. The photo above shows the accent color I chose where there used to be hot pink and black. The color is allspice. I am auditioning Lisa’s birch tree painting for that wall. Here is the long view of the hall.

longviewofhall

This was all black, even the ceiling and it was like walking through a tunnel! I used a pale, warm yellow, called complexion on the walls.

bedroomlamp

The bedroom has a really nice soft blue green. We found these glass lamps at Pottery Barn. The new bed has 3 big storage drawers on each side, – found at Crate and Barrel. Today we found a Mid Century walnut dresser for this room.

tablemess

The dining table is still piled with things to put on shelves and the mantle post painting.

bigpainting

We are starting to hang artwork Here is Mr C putting up our biggest painting. It looks really good in the room. The walls in here were painted a warm white. Except for the fireplace wall and kitchen. We kept the black but changed it to a bluish black called Midnight Magic.

fireplacearea

Mr C has his computer set up in the mini office on one side of the fireplace. The doors close when you want to hide it. The tv is on the other sicde and those doors close, too. I think the Robert Motherwell looks fantastic right there.

multipurpose room

Here is the problem room. The multi-purpose room as I call it. We got a new sofa sleeper that looks great with the pale topaz walls. This used to be purple, ceiling and walls. My Horn cabinet to house the Janome is in the back right corner. There is a closet with shelves waiting to be filled.

storagecloset

 

Scooter is settling in quite well. He gets lots of attention from people on NW 23rd when we go for walks. I found a new groomer for him and he looks very handsome after his doodle cut.

eaasterscooter

 

We have great views from out bay window. Sometimes it is cloudy and stormy.

cloudyview

And sometimes it is sunny and clear enough to see Mt. St Helens and Mt Adams. That is the Fremont Bridge.

sunnyview

We are really enjoying our walks and discoveries in our new neighborhood. We can cross the main street and get to Washington Park. There is all kinds of shopping on NW 23rd and gorgeous neighborhoods. We are in the hills so we are either walking up hill when we leave or walking up hill when we come back home. We have met most of our immediate neighbors. All are very nice and many are retired, like us.

I am itching to get to my studio and get it set up and start doing some creative stuff. I am so excited to be signed up for Judy Robertson’s Innovative Dye Techniques class at the Eugene Textile Center May 1-4. It will be a great way to jump back into doing what I love.

 

 

 

One Down, Two to Go

Monday, May 20th, 2013

baskinbowl

Artists Among Us is history for another year. The show closed yesterday. Last night I reconciled the database with the receipts. This morning I printed all the sales inventories and headed to Trinity to help with art pick up. When I got home, it was almost 7 pm. I made some dinner and headed to my basement hideaway and settled into my sofa and did some hand stitching on my SAQA auction quilt for two hours while I switched back and forth between The Voice and Dancing With the Stars. It was so nice to do some hand work.

The bowl up there is our purchase from the show, made by our featured artist, Chris Baskin. Here is a photo of him with the display of his beautiful work.

 

ChristBaskindisplay

Here is one of his beautiful pitchers with his work as the backdrop. There were several beautiful arrangements around the room, using his pottery.

pitcherarrangement

 

Here is a photo of some folks chatting with Terry Grant’s quilts in the background.

terrysquilts

 

We had several middle school kids from the church who served yummy food at the Gala. They were so gracious and seemed to be having a great time.

middleschoolservers

 

We had lovely music provided by very talented members of Trinity.

 

 

 

 

galamusic

 

Mr C sold wine tickets. Looks like he is not getting much business.

MrCsellingtickets

 

And here are my two co-chairs on the right with Chris, our featured artist next to me.

 

3amigosandChris

 

It was a whirlwind week-end with lots of work. So, tomorrow, I get back to working on the SDA Conference and planning for attending Lisa’s wedding. We leave a week from tomorrow.

 

Thursday This and That

Thursday, August 30th, 2012

Whew! I’m glad that is over! The RNC Convention that is. To keep my blood pressure stable, I have kept from watching it and only followed live blogging which adds levity to the proceedings.

My quilts arrived home from Southern California yesterday so today, I had to drive to Woodburn to return the two elements quilts as the show is going to make it’s debut next week. It is an hour each way, but it was a pretty day for a drive and I took the back roads rather than the interstate.

I wanted to show you the beautiful etching that I bought in Bodega at one of the galleries. The gallery reps the prints of Stephen McMillan. I was in love with all of his work, especially the larger etchings of the California landscape. Here is a link to his gallery. I bought a small print of trees that I now need to get framed.

When I got home from our trip, I found this beautiful fiber postcard in the mail from my friend, Connie Rose.

This afternoon, I got caught up on my 3 x 3’s. It is almost time to work with another color.

Preview

I am hoping to get to work on the water quilt tomorrow. I am attending a memorial service for the husband of a friend in the morning. I can’t believe that it is the end of August and the end of the week. Time goes by too fast for me.