Posted on June 24th, 2010
I had the pleasure of meeting Doug Zanger, an exceptional man, writer, involved in The Life Portlandic and Exceptional Women NW Presenter, pdx.fm fella, blogger, producer, voice actor, teacher, proud husband + dad. He’s involved in a fascinating project he launched, collecting and cataloguing the stories of exceptional women throughout the Pacific Northwest. The site says:
Exceptional Women NW is an exploration of achievement, led by women, in Portland, the state of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. We highlight leaders in business & social causes, entrepreneurs, writers, bloggers, artists, designers, free spirits — any woman — anywhere in our area, making a positive impact. These 30-minute conversations celebrate stories of hope, inspiration and success in all walks of life.
Doug interviewed me on pdx.fm and our conversation is posted on Exceptional Women Northwest. We had a great time recalling my path as an artist and where I am today. I love opportunities like this because it gives me a moment to pause and recognize how I’ve grown as an artist and where I’m headed now.
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Posted on June 22nd, 2010
About six weeks ago I sadly discovered that my first beehive was dying. We don’t know why. It took a while for the hive to totally die. I was really disappointed and called my dad last weekend to let him know that my hive was officially dead. Lo and behold! He just happened to have one of his hives swarm that very day.
A swarm is when one of the hives produces more than one queen. There is only room for one Queen Bee so one of them has to leave and she takes a bunch of supportive bees on her exodus.
 Here’s a brief clip as I survey the swarm. I have to admit…it was pretty intimidating. I was a little dubious about wrangling bees.
The ONLY day that I was grateful for a cold and grey June morning. As you can see, the bees were clumped together and pretty sleepy. We moved the swarm from a cherry tree to my empty bee hive.
My dad bravely climbed up the ladder and started sweeping bees into the bankers box. Then he handed me the box and I poured the bees into the hive box on the back of the gator. I wish the video camera was working to get the first pour because it’s very beautiful. All the bees just pour into the box like honey. Dad swept the branch three times before we had about 90% of the hive collected.
 Here’s a video of the the other two pours into the hive box. At about 6:14 you can see how the bees clump in the box before I dump them out.
I keep a beehive because I love bees and their honey but also because I paint a lot with beeswax. It’s my way of helping the bees that help me make beautiful art. My bees have been home for a week now and I’m very happy. They’re very happy, too, and starving! We found that the first hive had only made a teeny amount of honey – about the size of a quarter. I’ve been feeding this hive four quarts of sugar water a day. It’s live having a newborn!
Posted on June 22nd, 2010
Earlier this year, one of my former students from the late 90′s, resurfaced. I’m so delighted! Her name is Mari Purdie. She’s a lovely person and so dedicated to her art and teaching art. She wanted to learn encaustic so she could add another medium to her repertoire. So, we got started and spent a full day working with this new art form.
We talked about setting up a safe encaustic studio and economical ways to get started including resources for materials. Here Mari is preparing her board with a clay-based gesso to accept the wax (acrylic based gesso doesn’t really work).
We spent quite a bit of time exploring how different heat sources affect the wax. Here Mari is using a tacking iron to fuse the wax to the previous layer.
The whole day was dedicated to painting, exploring, scraping and fusing. This piece is an encaustic collage she made of an old painting. We cut up the painting, mounted the art to a board and then waxed the sides and top of the painting.
Here is another encaustic collage piece. This is a beautiful way to make new art without having to throw away a piece that isn’t working well.
When I first started working with Mari in 1998, we studied abstract painting in acrylics. She’s always been drawn to the lines and vibrant colors of Joan Miró and Alexander Calder. I just love the gesture and color she’s used and the innovative solution she came up with for the borders of the painting. This piece is painted on a cabinet door from Mr. Plywood (I love that place!) and the edges were a challenge. At the end, she swept a beautiful, light green à la Howard Hodgkin to frame the piece.
Yumm! I’m doing more Private Intensives with Mari and other students. Come join me!
Posted on March 28th, 2010
Last weekend, a neighbor gifted me with her beehive. My dad, who is a retired-doc-turned-beekeeper quickly dashed over with full regalia to help in my new venture. Now, I own a smoker, brushes, assorted tools, a lovely, fashionable suit and chapeau, a bunch of bees and boxes. It happened rather suddenly, but that’s okay with me. I love bees.
You see, it was actually my dad’s beekeeping that led me to encaustics. I was looking for a new painting medium that had little waste, could last close to indefinitely (some encaustic paintings are 3000 years old) and was tied closely to nature. You can read more here about how we extracted honey and cleaned the wax for painting medium a couple years ago.
So, back to the day my beehive and sundry items arrived. It was a cold day so the bees were sleepy. We suited up and moved these super heavy boxes (who knew all those teeny bees weighed so much!) one by one from my neighbor’s yard to the back of my field behind the apple and pear trees.
I learned how to smoke the bees (that’s sounds funny) so they stay mellow when I’m working with them and how to prepare a syrup solution for them to eat while waiting for the spring flowers.
The most amazing thing I learned though was how to be in slow-mo. I usually go through my day at the speed of light. I know it’s not very healthy but it’s my tendency. When I put on the bee suit though, I couldn’t move quickly. It’s big, made me clumsy and I couldn’t see or hear well with the muffled hat. The kid gloves are nice but they’re thick and go up to my elbows, making it hard to move fast. I was cocooned.
Combine that cocooning with the buzzing bees and smoke and I was not only forced to slow down but I experienced the zen of beekeeping. Now I know what my dad has been raving about all these years. It reminds me of when I paint and I get into that “space” where time doesn’t exist but creativity continues to flow. I love that space.
I’m now looking forward to hopefully harvesting my own honey and wax to use in my paintings (I use the unbleached wax to tint my colors). I like that I have another activity that is it’s own art form and is tied closely to nature and my art.
Posted on December 5th, 2009
The best night out of 2009 was during my best trip of 2009. My husband and I were finally alone. No computers, cell phones, tweets or children saying “mommy” for the thousandth time (that is not an exaggeration). We strolled around town, without saying a word, just holding hands in our own little quiet bubble of solitude. After a spectacular meal, we landed at the Coast Cabins fire pit where we toasted smores with the owners, Gary and Paul, wrapped in woolly, grey blankets. With our toes as close to the fire as possible without melting our shoes, we talked all things art from collecting to fund raising to simply enjoying the myriad of art forms out there. Then, my hubby and I strolled back to our cabin for a quiet sauna and a movie. Gawd…I SO need that right now!
I did have another night out that was at the other end of the enjoyment spectrum last spring when Jen Sincero flew in to speak to my entrepreneurial group about writing a non-fiction book proposal. We joined a few other gals at The Gilt Club, including Dana Corey, aka Spicy Princess. Turns out Jen and Dana are from the same region in NY and know a lot about sex. Jen wrote The Straight Girl’s Guide to Sleeping with Chicks among others and Dana is a top distributor for For Your Pleasure. The conversation quickly turned to sex ed, sex toys, sex books, sex, sex, sex. Now, it could have been the Idillic’s we were drinking (house infused serrano pepper & tangerine vodka, muddled fresh dill, fresh lemon, orange & a spritz of soda-yum!) or it could have been the pretty fun company – who knows…who cares – but it definitely was a “laugh till you pee in your pants” worthy outing.
Posted on May 13th, 2009
Really. What else is there to say? Sometimes nature is the perfect artist.
Posted on January 14th, 2009
I asked my dear friend, Cheryl Janis, over at Planet Pink N Green if I could use her blog post What the Heck is RSS? She graciously agreed and I’m so happy because she explains RSS perfectly.
In fact, because of Cheryl and her post, I’ve been able to simplify my email in-box and am now using Google Reader to keep track of the blogs that are important to me. Some of my favorite blogs I scan daily for inspiration and information (in no particular order of importance):
Now that I have a way to manage all the blogs I love, I know I’ll be adding to the list. So, without further ado, here is Cheryl’s post about RSS:
How many of you have been stumped, confused when landing on someone’s blog or web page and reading (usually located somewhere at the top of the page) the words ‘Subscribe to RSS?’
If your answer is yes, don’t worry, you’re not alone. I used to actively avoid ‘Subscribe to RSS’ buttons after one time clicking on it and not knowing what the heck it was or what to do.
Instead I’d opt to receive updates in my e-mail box (when that choice was available.) It was kind of like signing up for newsletter updates and yes, that was something my brain could wrap itself around.
When I finally decided to face my fear of RSS (a.k.a. the unknown) and ask my boyfriend to explain it to me, I couldn’t believe what I was missing and how much easier and more fluid my web-surfing life became.
Okay, so what is RSS?
Here’s my twelve-year-old description. It’s much easier to understand.
RSS is a simple program that has a list of your favorite web sites. When you open this program, called an RSS reader, you see which of your favorite web sites have new content. I use Google Reader (shown above).
Right inside the RSS reader window you can see which sites have new content and even get a full preview of the new content (including photos).
If you want to read more, you can click in the RSS reader and it will take you to the new content on that site, or you can skip down to the next site’s new content. You can tell your RSS reader to hide sites that don’t have new content. That way, you only spend your time looking at sites with something new to say.
There are lots of free RSS readers. Here are a few:
If you’re on a site that you’d like to add to your RSS reader, it’s easy. Just click the “Subscribe to RSS” link on that site, and follow the instructions to add it to your RSS reader.
Thanks Cheryl at Planet Pink N Green! And, if you’d like to subscribe to my RSS feed, just click on the funny, little orange box in the upper right hand navigation bar on this blog…and awaaay you go!
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