Mount Hood Block Print

This week I have listed my little print of Mount Hood. 

Click HERE to see it in the shop

Every spring I go through the chamber and travel oregon websites to see what events and festivals will be happening throughout the summer. This is a habit I started when the girls were very small and it keeps us quite busy until school starts.

One of these festivals is the annual lavender festival up Mount Hood. It was lovely and I got to drive for the first time through the fruit tree orchards around the mountain. At one point I had Mark pull over so I could snap a pic. The daisy field was immense and such an unexpected surprise. 

Hope you enjoy my new doodle. I'm thinking of making this image into a greeting card. What do you think?

2014 November Events

I'm in a strange season of my life right now, as I am sure most women are. I still have a child at home, a family business, a bit of working outside the home and then there is my artwork. A clean house comes last on this list. That is why I have limited myself to only a couple outside market opportunities  this year.
I have been deeply involved in all of the above but now I am printing and framing my butt off in preparation for the upcoming shows.

Want to come?
November 1st: The Lady Bug Bazaar  located in the high school at 300 W Main St.in Battleground WA Shop from 9-4
November 29th: The Brush Prairie Yuletide Bazaar located in Prairie High School
11311 NE 119th St Brush Prairie, WA 98662 Shop from 9-4 This will be my first year here and I am so excited. They even have free on site childcare so you can look through over 200 vendors!

Why the Vancouver area you ask? Well, my oldest sister Angie of Dear Spring Green lives there and together we go in on a booth. Her sewn items are exquisite. Her bags are always lined with adorable fabric and detailed with beaded pulls. She doesn't just sew, she quilts and embellishes everything. Just her experiments are amazing!

In addition to having all of my lovely prints, I am including my new line of postcards; many of which are not available in my shop yet.

And with every purchase you get a few little free gifties and an exclusive coupon to my shop!

So, back to work and I hope to see you there!

Folk Birdies- Free Download

Click here for Folk Birdie Download

Among the lambing (we now have 12 little ones), cleaning, baking and wrapping we managed to spend a little time with family and celebrate Christmas twice! Yesterday Mark and I met up with friends at the coast and had a lovely brunch and walked the trails around Haceta Head Light House. It what I felt was a perfect place to spend the first day of the year. It was so invigorating!  On the way home we talked about our hopes for the new year. No resolutions for this girl!

Now I'm back into the studio to cook up a few more paintings and post a few more for sale in the shop that I sold out of at the last show.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Blue Sky Poppies

This weekend this original work will be available at a local auction.

Measures 5x7 with one of our handmade oak frames.

Click HERE for the time and location. 

Vintage Sale in Vancouver WA

This weekend I visited my sister Angie of Dear Spring Green and ran through the a sale in her neighborhood in Vancouver Washington.

Once a month during the summer Cottage Vintage Home puts on a big sale with a variety of booths in the parking lot. Since we only had a few minutes I only left with a few treasures. I suppose that was a safe way to shop in hindsight :)

Make sure to check them out if you are in the area next month!

Big Dandy is Now in Fine Consign

Exciting news! Many of my framed pieces of artwork will now be for sale in Fine Consign- an amazingly sweet shop I must gush to you about- and not just because my art is there.

If you have ever been to Coburg you may have noticed the historic Coburg Inn located in the center of the town. It is now filled to the brim with new and loved furniture, high end gifts and goodies along with work from local artists. My individual cards and gift tags (not available in my etsy shop) will also be there for purchase.

Every corner is packed with beautiful decor and oh the smell! As you walk in the scent is incredible.

The owner, Beth Frosland, is an Interior Decorator with exceptional taste, she is selling my work of course, and her shop is a reflection of it. In addition to the furniture on consignment there are so many other pieces that are new and available to order in just about any fabric you could imagine.

This gem is right along I5 so whether you are heading down to the sun or up to the rain there is now excuse to miss it. 

Located at 91108 N. Willamette Street, Coburg OR 97408

Hours are Mon-Sat 11-5 and Sunday Noon-4 though I believe they are always open longer for special events held in the town.

Like them on Facebook to see new arrivals 

Speaking of which, this town is filled with things to do year round but here is what will be happening this summer so you can mark your calendars: 

 May 18 City Wide Garage Sale- Oh how I love it when an entire CITY has a garage sale!

July 20-21 Golden Years Festival- This is a great events for kids with a parade kids rodeo, food and local artists.

July 27 Quilt Show. One day only!

August 3 Coburg Car Classic held at the Pavilion Park

September 8 Coburg Antique Fair- You may remember me blogging about this last year. It has been featured in many magazines and people come from all over. 

Click HERE to see the town calendar.

Birds of a feather

 

Still at a desk I can not paint at for the majority of this week so I thought I would send you a peak at what I was working on last week. I have been hording feathers from my little chickens and these are from the Welsummer breed. A very beautiful and colorful bird with a rotten temperament. The print (not the original) is available in the shop today.

 

 I love the new velvet fine art paper I am now working with for prints. It really captures the essence of the original watercolor painting.

 

This weekend the sun is shining and Eugene is buzzing with activities. I am hoping to go to the Friends of the Library Book Sale, The Home Builders Garage Sale, and Glory Bee will be hosting seminars and selling bees as well! Whew! I wish they spread them out over a few weekends.

Speaking of bees; Perhaps next week I'll invite you all into the side garden to see our little brood. We are down to only one hive but they are busy!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Make the most of it!

Away from my desk...

This week is going to be a weird one for sure. I am helping out some friends at my old job (it's been about 6 years) and will be away from my desk and sitting at another one.

 

Day two and it has been so fun to see old friends and meet new ones. Catching up makes me feel old. All of our kids who once hung out in the office, begging for candy out of the front office dish and feigning thirst so they could play with the water cooler, are now in college. Eak!

 

This is also the place I met Mark. Well, not here but through someone I work with. It was blind date about 11 years ago. She said " You're funny and he's funny...so I think your a good match" Turns out we were! Maybe some day I will share the entire story. OK, my side of the story at least. :)

 

 

I also promised a pic of the new printer stand but I guess this will have to do.  You can see the regular printer/scanner is on the bottom. This tray pulls out onfull etension slides while the upper fine art printer is stationary. It fills the corner so nicely with no wasted space. Mark is so cleaver.

 

Though my room looks over the side garden I still have to have flowers with me always. My favorite is this orange and red tulip that only sends up one or two each year.

 

Catch up with you all next week!

 

Sketchbook-Coast Trip

This spring break we were able to get away for a few days to the Oregon coast. Our friend's family beach house is in Garibaldi and they were kind enough to invite us for a couple of night. Needless to say I spent a lot of time filling  up my little moleskin as well as eating entirely way too much cheese from the Tillamook Cheese Factory around the corner. Oh how I love squeaky cheese..*sigh*

View from where my friend and I were bundled from the cold. 

The kids spent a lot of time playing in the sand. I of course was still bundled.

This was the view from the back porch. Though the fog was rolling in I was sunning myself on the porch. 

The final day we drove to Waldport where the sun was, and in 70+ degree weather we had a bbq with our small group. I can not remember the last time I had so much fun. It felt like I was leaving the Summer behind as we drove away.

Up the Mountain

This past weekend was a treat. We rarely make it up the mountain to see Mark's mother but were able to carve out some time and just relax. She lives just below Government Camp on Mt Hood here in Oregon; about a three hour drive for our home.

She is surrounded by majestic firs with a moss covered floor. This is seriously their view. Over the past few years they have been renovating their split level into a lodgy cabin in the woods. Under there recent addition they built in a small room for creating her pottery which I am so excited to use! 

One stop that we ALWAYS make is to Timberline Lodge. This is not just a local ski lodge. It is a monument. The work that has gone into the design and structure are noting short of amazing. 

Not many people know that this was the place where the interior hall scenes were filmed. Very scary. El wanted to know if she could watch it. I dont' think so. I watched it when I was 19 and it is still seared in my brain. And now I am a bit scared of axes. And people dressed as bears/bunnies. And this hallway.

Through the main level that you enter there are walls of photos from construction and the early years of patrons. There is even a room to watch the making of it! I'm a documentary nut so I watch it every time. 

You might also recognize this pic above from your high school peechee. The  skier is a model form the mountain. Just a fun fact :) 

After touring you must eat upstairs or at least have a drink. Sometimes we just get a hot chocolate but this time we all split fondu and I drank a Motlaporter beer. Yay for dark beer! My belief is if you can't see through it, it tastes better.
We have only stayed the night once and it was terrific. If you are unable to get a room with a fireplace just bring a book and snuggle up to the ones in the center of the lodge.

What a Weekend

The other weekend was quite big and I must preface this post by saying that not every weekend is like this for us.  Let us start with Saturday morning. My mother-in-law drove all the way from Mt Hood to see us this weekend and what better way to begin the day than to do a little shopping at the Saturday Market. As a gardener I prefer the Farmers Market side of the street and picked up a few loaves of fresh baked bread from Marche's, some delectible cheese from Fern's Edge Farms which is just around the corner from where we live. Their chevre is out of this world and I always grab some when I'm here. 

It was an interesting exercise; trying to take pictures of the sights, but every time I held up my camera it seemed people wanted to be in the picture! I gave up and gave them their own collage. 

Besides the women in tutus and prairie-like garb you could find a man dressed in all plastic bags looking like a fluffy white yeti, street performers and a  gentleman turning hot peppers over a fire pit. When I turned to my mom-in-law and ask her what she thinks she shrugs and says "it is exactly the same as when I was here 30 years ago"

Next we were joined by Mark at Koho Bistro for a fabulous dinner. Every bite is amazing. This time I had the pork chops with brandy glazed carrots. Num. I am salivating as I type this. The price is incredibly reasonable and the service is incredible. Seriously, if you are in town, GO! But be warned: Do not be fooled by the outside appearance. It's a book/cover sort of situation.

The following morning we hauled it over to Coburg for the annual Antique Fair. I am always late to it but leave with a steal. I practiced great reserve and left with only a few items: A narrow trough of sorts which I plan to float in the middle of the dining room table with candles for $10, a few wobbly frames that have since been tightened and fitted with glass for $1 each and an original oil painting marked $30 but I got for $10!

And since we had been gorging ourselves all weekend we decided to stop in at one of our favorite spots Chief's (another glorious little hole in the wall) owned by Rochelle and Matt Hogan.  It is quite a departure from our whole foods dinner from the night before but oh so worth the calories. Might I recommend the Coburger? Save room for dessert though or get it to go. You will thank me.

Yes, the second weekend in September is always a good one here in the valley. If you try out any of these places let us know. We'll meet you there!