Catching Up

In August there was a 'Paint Out' at the Johnson Creek Park, part of the extensive water system of streams which transverse over southeast Portland, Oregon.  The 'Paint Out' is an effort to make the public aware of the natural creeks within the city and the importance of keeping them unpolluted and available for us to enjoy.  This year's exhibit was held at Reed College, which has a beautiful campus and part of Johnson Creek running through a natural canyon.  There were guided nature walks while the exhibit was shown and it all went together very well.  Looking forward to another plein air adventure with these folks.

I participated in several local exhibits also in October and the rest of the Autumn was spent painting out of doors, gardening and preserving those garden treasures for Winter's feasts.

Three copies of the Secrets of the Silk Road, have been travelling to many venues in the last 6 months.  The entire collection of 260 books can be seen in only a few select exhibits, one of these is at the John Ryland Library in Manchester England, and another full exhibit is at Cambridge Massachuctes .  Many stops are scheduled for this collection of artist's books,  with the final destination to be an auction which will benefit the  Doctors Without Borders.

The Pacific Northwest provides many good studio days with the rain pelting the windows and you are warm and dry in your own studio enjoying the confines of a creative space.

A return to Printmaking.  After working with the small landscape prints in the Silk Road Book, I thought I would make another reductive color print.  I have been fascinated with the newer birch trees which are at the edge of a small woods.  They dance in the wind and with the bright white trunks and graceful branches, it is a favorite subject of mine.  I also have been wanting to push toward more abstraction and this was a good topic.