Happy Holidays!

Hello again everyone! I hope you are doing well. I write this on the shortest day of the year as a constant rain slowly washes the snow off our lawn, but by the time you receive this, we’ll be on the other side, heading toward lengthening daylight. I wanted to wish you all well and thank you for coming along with me on my adventures. While it has been a wild ride out in the world, in my little sphere, I’ve gotten along quite well with lots of time spent in the garden and out painting on location and learning to use gouache. Loss of income due to the cancellation of art festivals and store and school closures was offset by people reaching out for private commissions so I feel very fortunate. My studio-to-be arrived in its raw state in late April and is still a mess inside, but I have hopes of getting in there before its 1 year anniversary-ah, home improvement projects. I’ve been talking with the Northwest Museum of Art and Culture and the Spokane Art School and we have plans to teach online via Zoom starting around March and I hope to also do Zoom classes out of my studio once it is finished. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what kind of classes you’d like to take from me on Zoom-a Paint & Sip class? Painting skies? Color theory?

Here’s a painting of the Gaiser Conservatory from two years ago, all aglow. This year there is a drive through holiday display that seems to be very popular.

Last year I visited the display and then walked the Duncan gardens in the dark so I could look back and really feel the impact of the light in the dark (a lesson in contrasts and perhaps a metaphor?).

A gouache painting of the Duncan Gardens in the daylight with a light coating of snow. The garden is most popular in the summer but I think winter is an underrated time to visit!

A gouache painting of a light dusting of snow on wheat fields.

This painting is from 2 years ago when I took a ride on the Wheatland Bank Carriage Rides. You can tell because the sky walk across main is still the vintage yellow one in this painting rather than the modern glass one that is there today. I think I need to retackle this subject. Maybe my Christmas card for next year?

Wishing you well in 2021. I hope I’ll be able to invite you all to visit my new studio in the coming year. Fingers Crossed!

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!

Mukogawa

At the end of last year I made a foray over to Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute out on the west side of town and was delighted what I found-tall trees lining a long and misty path, surprise public art, a delicately decorated historic church moved from GU’s campus decades ago, rows of brick buildings, formerly barracks and fort offices, now repurposed for the college, a fabulous brick path and more. Thank you to Akihiro Nakahara for the fabulous tour...I was really inspired!

This painting is the result of wistfully thinking about spring as I batten down the hatches for another snow storm. Koi fly at Mukogawa in the spring time for Boy’s Day, a Japanese children’s holiday.

In progress shot.

I had to laugh when I saw the Sisters of the Holy Names Music Center on the Mukogawa campus. I went to Holy Names High School in Seattle and it seems like the order of nuns pops up all over the Pacific Northwest!

One of the things I love about the Fort Wright Mukogawa campus is the quantity of tall old trees, especially the ones lining the road into the campus. I even heard that one of the oldest ponderosa pines in Spokane is here on campus! Want to take a stroll?

Sketchbook studies of a petite white and gold church decorated with all sorts of interesting shapes. I heard it was moved over the Fort Wright campus from Gonzaga long ago. Anyone have an information about its history?

A surprising sculpture in an evergreen shrub.

Gloriously colored and patterned brick make up the paths in some parts of campus.