RENTON RIVER DAYS AWARD

I was pleasantly surprised earlier this week when my husband brought the mail in and there was a letter from the Renton Art Show Committee stating that one of the paintings I entered into the show had won a prize, and enclosed were complimentary tickets to the preview party.

Last night was the reception preview party. Even though they don't start it until the ungodly hour of 8pm, we went and had a good time. There is a real nice spread of hors d'hoeuvres, wine and dessert. Which is where we both headed first! Me to the wine and Darrell to the food line.

It was a very nice show with some very impressive pieces. I saw some people I haven't seen for a year and we had a nice time.

I'm always impressed with the quality of the young students that show their work. It makes me wish that I had started out so young and winning awards. It might have inspired me to head in a different direction in my life and become a professional artist.

This is the painting that won the Jurors award of $200 "Little 17th & Roxbury". It's acrylic on canvas, 12" x 9". This has been on of my favorite paintings since I painted it. When I put it into the show I was reluctant to have it purchased so I placed a very high price on it. I liked it so much I did another version that is 20" x 30". That's why this one is called 'little'.

Maybe I should enter the larger one into a contest, also.

SKETCHING IN PORT TOWNSEND

Darrell, Lucy-dog and I spent the weekend in Port Townsend, Washington because Darrell was teaching a woodworking class at the Port Townsend School of Woodworking.

While they were setting up, on Friday afternoon, Lucy and I sat in front of the school and sketched.

Above are two of the better ones.

The top sketch shows Darrell (seated on bench in red) and the owners of the school talking about the class beforehand.

The bottom sketch is of the NCO houses that are across the way from the school.

These are on 9" x 9" Super Deluxe Aquabee papers. I used a Pigma pen and then went back and colored with watercolors.

I haven't used watercolors in a long while. They are great en plein air.

After Darrell finished we went for a really nice walk around the gun emplacements.

It was a very warm, sunny and relaxing weekend.

CLASSICAL ELEMENTS FINISHED

Finally finished with Four Oceans Press Classical Elements Exchange. Yeah!

I started this project with the idea of portraying the elements as we encounter them today in our urban environments. We have limited exposure to the elements, or have tamed them for our convenience.

This last one, Fire, was the one I had the initial idea about. We seldom use fire in our urban lives. Even cooking, we use heat, not fire; and with the microwave, we don't even use heat!

FIRE - DAY TWO

It was a busy day today. I made two passes through the press with the forty sheets of paper. So, there are now four colors on the paper. Tomorrow I'll do the key block, which outlines everything in black.

I'll let them dry over the weekend and then I've just got to sign and number them and stuff them in clearbags. Oh, and write a colophon to accompany it.

Almost there! It will be nice to be finished with this series.

I'm really looking forward to receiving back everyone elses prints. I plan to sit down and look through them all and see each participants four prints together.

FIRE - FIRST DAY PRINTING

I finalized my drawing for my last Classical Element, 'Fire' on Sunday and carved the key block. Yesterday, I transfered the keyblock carving to two more blank lino-blocks. I decided on the colors this morning and carved the first color block.

Today, I finally got ink on paper and just finished the first run.

I set my Zune to play just 'rock', turned up the stereo and set about the repetitive job of inking the block and running the papers through the press. It's mindless but fun. The hardest part is to keep from completely zoning out and not repeating each step exactly the same.

I must reiterate: I love Akua inks, I love my Ettan press and I love the registration system I learned from PrintMakerGuy on Wetcanvas, Andrew Gott.

I think I'm finally getting the hang of it.

I'm going back up to the studio now to carve the next color block.

See ya soon!

PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION

I hung some of my paintings upstairs at a coffee shop in Ballard (northwest Seattle) today. They will be available to see through the end of July. Thank you to my friend, Sue Danielson (there is a link to her website on the page under 'Links') who curates the artwork for

Java Jahn's Coffee

1438 Leary Way NW, Seattle, WA 98107

206-789-9441

They are open M-F 5am to 6:30pm, S-S 7am to 7pm.

Stop by, have some great coffee, go upstairs and view the show.

Let me know what you think! Thanks.

I am so pleased to have them out in the world!