A happy week. I finished a big project at work on Monday, and had lots of quiet birthday celebrations. I had fondue at Melting Pot with my sister and boyfriend tonight. Looking forward to getting back into working in my sketchbook this week.
33 Things I Want To Do in Year 33
I celebrated my 33rd birthday quietly on Thursday. I spent the day painting, eating my favorite Indian food, napping and eating really good cheesecake. Nine months of my 32nd year were pretty good, but I have some making up to do for the past three months I’ve spent healing a broken ankle. To keep me on track, here are 33 things I want to do in the next year. Monthly updates to come!
01. Walk over seven Portland bridges
02. Walk a 5K
03. Take a mud bath in New Zealand
04. Try indoor rock climbing
05. Take an Indian or Japanese cooking class
06. Take a printmaking class
07. Back up all of my digital photos
08. Submit artwork to Art-o-mat
09. Make a quilt
10. Unpack all boxes from our move in January (so sad…)
11. Learn how to use Wacom tablet
12. Go camping with my sister
13. Make french onion soup
14. [Private goal]
15. Go to Astoria or Bend for a long weekend with boyfriend
16. Join or create a sketchbook or artists meetup group
17. Start classes at PSU
18. Finish two art journals
19. Go to zoo before my membership expires
20. Sell a piece of artwork
21. Save $X
22. Take a soapmaking class
23. Make a collaborative sketchbook with another artist
24. Try yoga
25. [Private goal]
26. Make a new girl friend in Portland
27. Open an Etsy shop
28. Go on a short trip somewhere in the U.S. by myself (or to visit a friend)
29. Build a portfolio website
30. Buy a bike and ride somewhere with my sister
31. Cook 20 new recipes
32. See Crater Lake
33. Go to OMSI After Dark
Update: This post by Summer Pierre may be helpful if you are considering writing your own list.
Five Years in Oregon!
Five years ago today I arrived in Oregon from California by way of Nebraska. Five years! I fell hard for Portland immediately after arriving to visit my sister here in November 2006. I remember the reveal of the stunning trees on Sunset Highway when I came out of the tunnel and knew this was where I wanted to be. A couple of days after I returned to California I made the decision to move here.
I love everything about Portland: downtown, food carts, tree-lined streets, farmers markets, Saturday Market, Council Crest Park, Central Library, Hotcake House, Vista Bridge, the bronze animal sculptures on Yamhill and Morrison, Powell’s, waterfront, Cupcake Jones, Oregon Zoo, Crystal Ballroom, the Max, art everywhere, blackberries & blueberries, the rain. I’ll even forgive Pioneer Courthouse Square for breaking my ankle. This is home to me.
To celebrate the anniversary, here are my top ten Oregon moments. ♥ ♥ ♥
01. My sister and I doing unspeakable things to a turkey to get it to defrost on Thanksgiving 2007.
02. Driving around in the snow with Leslie during the freak snow storm in December 2008. The snow was like a fairy tale. Until I realized how hard it is to get around in the snow by public transportation.
03. Cooking couscous and chicken & pineapple kabobs over the fire on my first ever camping trip.
04. Picking up the keys to my sunny little downtown studio apartment.
05. Many nights spent drinking raspberry lambics out of tall glasses at the Dublin Pub with good friends.
06. Falling for Bill on a four hour walk through downtown Portland and the Pearl.
07. Walking over the Burnside and Morrison bridges and picking blackberries along the waterfront with my dad in summer 2010.
08. Hosting my first party in an apartment that was all mine. 20+ people in a 400 square foot apartment!
09. Journaling with Hilary outside at the South Park Blocks.
10. Annual trips to Crafty Wonderland with my sister to buy each other our Christmas gifts.
Sunday Seven: Instagrams
Busy workweek, so I snapped some photos while Bill and I were out this afternoon in NW Portland. It still feels like summer here. I feel so lucky to have these extra weekends in the sunshine. We had lunch at Jamison Square, and then shopping at Dick Blick. I have lots of new supplies to work with this week.
Portland Color: Mural on NE 11th and Alberta
Part of a new(ish) mural on NE 11th and Alberta. I pass this on the way to work everyday. ♥ purple + orange
Mid-Week Links: Pattern/Textile Design
01. The Design Center tumblr: Wow! This is a stunning collection of vintage textiles. There is so much inspiration in these swatches. Some of my recent favorites.
02. New Pattern by Eeli-Ethel Polli: The colors in this pattern are so happy.
03. Lourdes Sanchez: I was fortunate to find this artist/textile designer through what at first appeared to be one of those frustrating endless tumblr chains. I love her stripes and geometric collections. I also enjoyed reading the last paragraph of her faq page addressing how to get started in textile/surface design. Basically, make work. Very direct.
04. COLOURlovers Patterns: Browse or contribute to the community. I’ve loved the color resources on this site for years, and am just now getting into looking at the patterns.
05. Pattern Design Resource Books by Book By Its Cover: An impressive list of pattern resource books in one blog post. I have 1000 Patterns, and it’s one of my favorites. I have my eye on Textile Designs for my next purchase.
Sketchbook Tip: Preserving Leaves
Oregon Zoo, 2009 (Portland, OR)
The journal page I wanted to share today took a turn for the worse (too heavy acrylic paint = torn sketchbook page), so I decided to share a couple of my favorite older pages. Are the leaves falling where you live? Pretty leaves on the ground can be a great source of inspiration. Preserving fallen leaves is an easy way to save a memory for years. I still remember picking up these leaves on my first (sort of) date with Bill at the Oregon Zoo. See below for some tips on keeping leaves in your sketchbook.
Sawdust Festival, 2005 (Laguna Beach, CA)
Can you believe this page has survived so well for 7 years? The left side is a very thin piece of bark. These easy tips have worked well for me.
01. Choose thick, sturdy leaves that have not yet dried. Partially dried or fragile leaves will take a bit more care to preserve.
02. Place the leaves between two sheets of white paper and place a stack of heavy books on top.
03. Be patient while the leaves dry. Check on the leaves after about a week. If they still feel damp or pliable, be more patient.
04. When the leaves are completely dry and flat, brush a thickish layer of adhesive to the back of the leaves. Press the leaves gently into your sketchbook. I’ve used acrylic gel mediums or Mod Podge in the past with success.
05. If you’d like an extra bit of protection and shine, use a brush to apply thin layers of acrylic sealer or varnish to the top of the leaves (the leaves at the top of this post have this treatment).
06. Important: let the page fully dry! I’ve learned this lesson in the past, and it’s not fun to ruin a beautiful page.
If you have more patience than I do, you might want to check out these more official sounding methods at Home Science Tools.
If you create a page with leaves, please link to your blog post or image in my comments. I’d love to see them! Happy gathering!
Color Inspiration: Starlight Night by Georgia O’Keeffe
Georgia O’Keeffe’s “Starlight Night, 1917”
I found this image on Pinterest last night and was instantly drawn to it. It’s so different from her later work. This image is simple and striking. I love the deep dark hue.
While researching the image, I came across many articles about a counterfeit series of 28 watercolors called the Canyon Suite series that surfaced in 1988. They were originally attributed to Georgia O’Keeffe as having been created between 1916-1918 and were sold at $5 million. The original story of the watercolors was a romantic one, that O’Keeffe had given the watercolors to a friend/partner before he left for service in World War I, and that the works had been wrapped up for over 70 years. The works were inauthenticated in 1999, and the $5 million was refunded. A few years later an artist named Jacobo Suazo was granted the copyright to 16 of the 28 watercolors. His claim is that he and O’Keeffe collaborated on the remaining watercolors while he lived with her as a child.
I thought this story was so fascinating. It took a while to track down all of the articles, and it was like an art history mystery unfolding before my eyes. I also found this interesting article on artists copying artists, which mentions the Canyon Suite series. I believe this work is legitimate because an article in 2006 mentions the work being exhibited at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. It really did reinforce to me that works listed on Pinterest should always be researched before being attributed to an artist!
Sunday Seven
01. Sellwood Soap Company. It’s not hard to be drawn to local consumption here in Portland. I started using a brand new bar of lemon soap from Sellwood Soap Company this week. Very luxurious! So soft, and it smells like summer (I’m still hanging on). I have my eye on their Working Hands Soap for post-painting cleanup. Sellwood Soap on Facebook.
02. Pattern. It’s becoming very apparent that pattern/surface/textile design is the direction I should be headed right now. I’ve felt subtle nudges for about a year, but it is now turning into a steady pull. I’m happiest painting small intricate pieces. I am drawn to geometric works of art and patterns. If an artist has a section of patterns on their website, that is the first place I look. The image above is a section of a larger painting I completed last spring in a painting class. Someone in critique said that it looked like fabric. I’m not entirely it was meant it as a compliment, but I took it as one. I’m excited about learning as much as I can about pattern/texture and trying new techniques. This is going to be my focus for the week.
03. Pumpkin Quesadilla Recipe. I’m going to make this recipe this week. I’ll probably swap out the canned pumpkin for mashed up sweet potato.
04. Creative Courage. E-course starts tomorrow. I’ve been excited about this course for weeks. Looking forward to adding this class to my DIY school schedule.
05. Curious Comedy Theater. I saw the Neutrino project at Curious Comedy in NE Portland last night. I’ll mess it up if I try to describe the concept in full, but essentially the movie you are watching is filmed while you are watching it. The best part was that they filmed the last scene of the movie inside the theater, using the audience. I’m probably biased because my boyfriend is involved in the show, but I thought it was a very cool format. This show runs through mid-October.
06. After the Jump. This is my new favorite podcast. It’s by Grace Bonney of Design Sponge. I’m catching up on episodes, and enjoyed 13 (Work, Life and Balance) and 16 (Finding Your Voice). Listening to this podcast makes the physical therapy exercises more bearable.
07. Exactly. “I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.” ― Alice Walker, The Color Purple
Weekend Color: Belmont Food Carts
Bill and I had lunch this afternoon at the food carts on SE Belmont and 44th. Good fresh cut fries with parmesan from Farmer Joe’s Backyard Cornucopia, and Maple Bacon ice cream from Fifty Licks. I couldn’t help noticing the color similarities between Bill’s shirt and the Fifty Licks truck. It was a perfect sunny day. I’m hoping we get a couple more of these before the rain comes back.