Happy Holidays, Best Wishes from Me!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and all best wishes for you in this holiday season! Here are some of my favorite things to do this time of year.

Admire snow. Preferably in a warm jacket with a warm beverage. Or even better, from inside.

Go to the Davenport and admire their Christmas decorations and hopefully catch some live Christmas music.

Visit Manito Park to see the Gaiser Conservatory Lights. I recommend a week day if you don’t want to wait outside in the cold. Maybe a hot cocoa at Rockwood Bakery to go?

Wheatland Bank does free carriage rides in downtown Spokane for some old fashioned fun. I love seeing horses on the streets of downtown Spokane and hearing the jingling bells as they clop-clop by!

Whatever you’re doing, I hope it is lovely and I’ll see you in the new year! Here’s to another year of adventures! Thanks for coming along with me and for all your kind comments and support. I really appreciate it!

Winter is Here!

Hoo boy guys, we haven’t seen much snow yet, but last night, the high at my house was 15 degrees! As I write this on Sunday afternoon, the furnace keeps kicking on to keep us warm!

Other signs of winter and the holidays? Amaryllis for sale at all the grocery stores! I love these flowers. They are so dramatic. I like to track the unfolding of their blooms in my sketchbooks every year. I’ve got all of mine stashed in a dark closet, trying to prep them to bloom sometime in January and I have high hopes that I’ll get at least a couple of flowers out of them, but it is still hard to resist buying an already blooming plant at the store when I pass by!

I did this demo at my last watercolor class to demonstrate how to make something look further away when we were working on landscape and reflections. More water, less color intensity, and softer edges are key!

Here’s another demo from this class, this time also addressing sky. The sky is typically a darker and redder blue up high and gets lighter and yellower toward the horizon (all the dust and dirt and particles in the air). Clouds are way softer than you think and definitely not just white! The colors from the ground below reflect up into cloud bottoms! For reflections, dark objects usually reflect a little bit lighter than they actually are and light objects a little bit darker! There you go! A quick lesson. Have fun!

Now here are my last two holiday shows of the season (You can always find my stuff at Pottery Place Plus and the From Here Store all year round!):

Urban Art Coop’s Holiday Market which is THIS weekend. They have an paid preview night on Friday where you can meet the artists and get delicious nibbles and are open for free Saturday and Sunday. The show is managed by the co-op so if you want to chat with me in person, your best bet is my next show: BRRZAAR, Saturday December 14th at RiverPark Square Mall! Yes, the MALL. Now this was a great show last year with lots of amazing stuff (I bought a print of a giant marmot rampaging through the Monroe Street Bridge whipping the gondolas over his head.) so you should definitely brave the crowds and come!

Urban Art Co-op 3209 N Monroe St, Spokane, WA 99205

Friday- opening night 6-9pm light food 5.00 suggested donation at the door
Saturday- 10am to 6pm
Sunday- 10am to 4pm

RiverPark Square Mall in downtown Spokane!

Snowy Scenes & Holiday Shows!

My painting of the Woman’s Club was the feature of my column in the Spokane Coeur D’Alene Living Magazine this month. These columns are always such a great excuse to go digging around on the internet for the history of my favorite places and buildings around town.

Snow and historic buildings are still on my mind. This is the Fort Sherman Chapel, also known as “The Little Red Church”. It is the oldest still standing structure in Coeur D’Alene! It has been a church, a school house, and meeting area, and now seems to be a popular wedding venue!

Every year I enjoy sending out Christmas cards, though most years they are more “Happy New Year cards” than Christmas because things get so hectic during the holidays. I love to get snail mail and I know I’m not alone in the burst of excitement when I see an envelope in the mailbox that isn’t a bill or ad. This year I am doing a special postcard for people who have helped my art career along the way so, if you have taken a class with me, backed the Kickstarter, commissioned me, helped me show my work or bought over $100 in prints, cards, calendars, etc, reply to this email with your address and I’ll send you a postcard!

This guy is my most recent finished commission-the Liberty Building! The original is 30” x 22” and getting framed right now to be hung on location, but you can get 11” x 14” prints at my next show-CUSTER’S CHRISTMAS ART AND CRAFT SHOW. It is Nov 22-24th down at the Spokane County Fairgrounds. It is $10 to get in but I know there are some $1 off entrance fee coupons still down at the front desk of Pottery Place Plus if you want to grab one. It’s my first year at this show and I’m hopeful that it will go great.

Fall Love & Art Shows

Siemer’s Farm up at Greenbluff! This was drawn on location, sitting on the ground in the pumpkin field.

The Golden Hour!

Teeny Autumnal Road scene (3” x 5”). I’m loving playing around in this smaller format becuase it lets me experiment with colors and compositions quickly and have a lot of fun.

Another 3” x 5”, this time inspired by sunset on a wet road seen this last year on my drive. This guy will be for sale at the Spokane Art School Holiday Small Works and Ornament show November-December!

I’ll be at the Woman’s Club Holiday show on the second weekend of November. I always look forward to spending time with all the other cool artists. I’ll have a bunch of my calendars! Come get your Christmas presents!

I will also be the Custer Christmas Arts & Crafts Show at the Spokane County Fair Grounds November 22-24th. It is $7 at the door for the whole weekend. This is my first time doing this show and I’m excited to see how it goes!

Sketching at the Spokane County Fair

I always enjoy visiting the Spokane County Fair. I explore all of the animal barns, check out the crafting section (special interest in knitting and quilting), and pop in to marvel at the GIANT pumpkins and towering sunflowers, before wandering off to eat something unhealthy on a stick. No rides for me, but I do enjoy watching them-all flashing lights and color. What is your favorite thing to do at the fair?

I came out of the animal barns to the rear view of the carnival rides. I loved the colorful tent and Ferris wheel and sat down right there to draw!

Amazing Eurasian Eagle Owl.

My September Spokane Coeur D’Alene Living Magazine column using sketches from a visit to the fair two years ago, pigs and a really fun bear ride where people climb into the cavity of the bears and ride around and around and around. No thank you for me, but cute to look at!

My animal sketches for this year at the Spokane County Fair. I forgot my stool so all of these were drawn standing up and color was added from memory while sitting on the bleachers. I always enjoy exploring the animal barns at the fair and the chance for an up close look at the different species. It can be challenging drawing a live subject but I feel like you learn so much more about the animal than you do when you draw from pictures.

GIANT PUMPKINS (that is all.)!

I will be at this show this year at Kay’s art studio! This is my favorite show of the year to visit so I’m so excited to be a part of it. An extra bonus is getting to snoop in the artists’s beautiful gardens and studios as well as ll the fabulous artists.

There I am in the fourth column! I hope to see you there!

Lake Crescent

One of the highlights of this summer was getting to make a quick foray up to the Olympic Peninsula with a dear friend. She was kind enough to share with me one of her treasured places-Lake Crescent. We had quite an adventure getting there (over 10 hours of travel for me) and tent sites can’t be reserved at the camp ground near the lake so when we finally got there after a major road closure, we found that the campground was full. Quick Googling found us another campsite not too far away and we were able to spend the night there and the next day, we woke up and had this view to look forward to. Lake Crescent in all its glory. Worth it!

My friend, Danielle, is an experienced camper. In fact, my first experience camping was when I was 10 years old with her family. While I pretty much never camp (This is the first time in nearly 5 years!), Danielle has carried on the tradition of camping and has picked up all sorts of outdoor skills and supplies. This is a tiny chimney style stove that she used to boil hot water to make us coffee and instant oatmeal one morning. Do you guys go camping?

This was the view from our campsite. I could see why this was Danielle’s favorite campground in the area! Lake Crescent is incredibly clear and I was fascinated by the way the color of the lake changed depending on the depth of the water. I painted this as the light shone through the trees and adorable duck families paddled by. A great memory.

Our campsite was just yards up from the lake front and we had a great view through the trees. We hung Danielle’s hammocks and we had our morning coffee and contemplation in them. I, of course, chugged my coffee and put it down so I could draw. These little stuff sack hammocks sure are fun and I can’t believe how easily you can set them up. I may have to buy one!

Danielle has a camping tradition of playing the ukulele and singing around the campfire after dinner (multi-talented, this friend of mine!). I painted this by the light of the dying campfire, using memory to mix colors. Her face should be much redder due to the fire, but I’m quite pleased with how it came out, especially the contrast between the warmer colors of her face and the cooler ones on her hand and uke where her phone screen light (for reading lyrics) shone up at her. Ah, the magic of camping!

In the grand tradition of National Parks, Lake Crescent has a historic lodge that’s heavy on the dark wood and has a giant fireplace. My favorite spot was the sun porch-windows all the way around with views of the lake and great light. I painted this while enjoying a mojito and it’s a miracle that I didn’t drink my paint water or put my brush in my mojito.

Photo credit: Danielle Curl

More camping adventures with Danielle doing the work and I sketch. 😄😝 I drew her progress from right to left across the pages and she started a fire with flint and tinder, split wood for smaller slivers and built the fire into something to cook our sausages on!

Photo credit: Danielle Curl

This is probably my favorite painting from the trip to Lake Crescent. This is the Devil’s Punchbowl, the deepest part of Lake Crescent. You can see down over 40 ft and that is not at all close to the bottom! It was cold, SO COLD, but also, so beautiful. Danielle lasted longer than me, you can see her swimming in the far right sketchbook page. Freezing to death, I got out of the water and onto a rock to make this painting using water from the lake. It was very windy so I had to clutch my supplies to keep them from blowing into the water, but on the plus side, I dried out quickly for our walk back to the car!

What’s been your favorite trip or adventure this summer?

August First Friday

Hi Everyone! I know this is a bit last notice, but I’m the featured artist at Craftsman Cellars in Kendall Yards here in Spokane for the month of August and Friday the 2nd, I’ll be there from 5-9. I’d love for you to join me for a glass of wine and some live music (starts at 6:30) and don’t forget to grab an ice cream cone at Brain Freeze Creamery just down the street! Hope to see you there!

Spokane Summer Heyday!

We’re in the heyday of summer here at the Perkins’s household! I’m trying to make the most of it.

Strawberry picking up at Green Bluff. I picked a total of around 36 lbs in June to eat fresh and to make fruit leather that I treasure in the winter (if it makes it that long!).

Doing some house cleaning and assessing things found in the back of the closet.

Enjoying a rainy summer day, painting some salmon berry leaves photographed in Priest Lake in a sketchbook.

Plenty of Plein Air sketching with my Garland Sketchcrawl classes at the Spokane Art School.

Demonstrating how trick it is to draw the Garland Theater sign at last week’s class, haha!

Playing with a colored pencil with a multi-colored lead (orange, blue, green, yellow) and drawing an interesting intersection of buildings downtown by the Parkade.

Completed this painting last night ask the sun went down behind the trees to the west of a volunteer sunflower in the rocks by the edge of the deck. Did this sitting on my deck, barefoot, listening to cricket buzzing and the sound of the neighbor’s goat. Peak summer joy! What have you been up to this summer?

Slice of Life

Here’s a look at what’s been in my sketchbook and on my table recently.

We went on a trip to visit my husband’s aunt at her guest ranch-Eden Valley Ranch up in the Okanagan back around Easter. They are at a higher elevation and nearly to the Canadian border so it was interesting to see how much further behind the plants were here than back in Spokane.

I accidentally used a watersoluble pen on this sketch, but the bleeding ink creates a really great effect, capturing the sort of greyed tans and greens of the land just barely coming out of winter (this was back in April).

I’m doing spring cleaning around the house and trying to clear space both physically and mentally!

This door on Howard Street is a favorite of mine. I see it whenever I head to the group of galleries over on Adams Street for First Friday. It’s just so dramatic! I’ve never been inside. To be honest, I think the interior will disappoint me after the door!

The Parkade, captured at sunset with some dramatic clouds. I think of the Parkade as an enormous animate sculpture, a head with broad shoulders looking over downtown and Riverfront Park. I love to watch the way the light moves on and across it.

I’ll be at Art on Blacktop up at 29th Ave Artworks in my fancy new white tent June 21st-23rd! I’d love to see you!

And thanks to everyone who came out to see me at Artfest this past week. I really appreciate it!

Final Kolkata Adventures

We spent some time in the South Park Street Cemetary, a historic walled cemetery that housed many British citizens from the colonial era. It was extremely sobering to see the ages listed on many of the large monuments. It was rare to see an age over 40. According to a booklet we got at the office, British citizens who traveled to India lasted about two monsoon seasons before succumbing to tropical diseases.

This was the largest obelisk in the cemetery and it is even bigger in real life. I had to squish it a bit to fit it on the page!

There were many monuments in this style and homeless people lived in them years ago before the cemetery was restored.

This is the Marble Palace, an enormous house of a very wealthy family that still lives in one wing. It is a museum now. We had to pay a bribe to get in because you’re supposed to fill out paperwork with the government to get in, but our Indian friends told us that that process is so impossible that it is better to just give the guard money. We did and were lead on a tour through rooms filled with classical sculpture, huge Chinese vases, and more. The floors were elaborate inlaid marble and oil paintings papered the walls. The lights were turned on as we entered a room and turned off as we left. There was a sense of decaying grandeur in the air.

I was constantly agog at the beautiful outfits of the women out and about on the streets.

The pollution resulted in pink, hazy sunsets, most obvious out in the countryside.

A leftover from the first post! This is my husband doing sudoku in the Telegraph newspaper.

Many of the stores in Kolkata were tiny, sometimes just alcoves with the proprietor sitting on a shelf. This store was just down the block from our friend’s house and we got our water from them. They didn’t speak much English, but whenever they saw us coming, they’d get out the water! Doing this sketch in the neighborhood attracted around forty people in the hour and a half it took me to do it. I had a group of older gentlemen move their bench so they could sit directly behind me and watch my every move!

I spotted this pink and blue house on a walk around our friend’s neighborhood. Buildings are so much more colorful in India than in the US.

There was a frame shop by our friend’s house and they had a collection of Jamini Roy prints in their frames.

Our trip to India was remarkable-a land of many contrasts and incredible energy, but I have to admit that it is good to be home!