The Road to Asilomar

I love road trips. Yes, flying gets you there so much faster, but what would life be without the side trips - you know, the left turn that takes you to the world's biggest ball of twine or the half-man, half-alligator show. So I decided to drive from Portland to Asilomar. And what a perfect first day - the weather could not have been better - high 70's, clear blue skies and a light breeze to keep things just right. Driving is a meditation to me - a study of color, nature and staying in the moment. And I was not dissapointed.

I began on I-5, driving south through the pasture lands that surround Salem and Eugene. The hills were covered with sheep and newborn lambs, looking like fluffy pieces of lint cast off by a cotton gin. And every shade, tint and hue of green found in nature - so good to see after the drabber browns and grays of winter.

I left the freeway in Drain, Oregon - Oregon has some of the most unusual place names I have ever encountered - it always leaves me wondering how the name came to be. This was a small quaint town with several historical buildings.

I took Highway 38 and drove along the beautiful Umqua river that was such a deep and luscious color of green that I wanted to dip my paintbrush in the water and paint a pastoral scene. The crows and hawks along the way rode the thermals rising from the road and almost seemed to stand still in mid air with only a ruffle of wingtips to remind you they were flying.

When I reached Reedsport, I entered the sand dune world of the southern Oregon coast. Sand everywhere. The lower half of the fir trees are buried in the sand with only their Christmas tree tops peeking out, looking like kids playing in the sandbox.

After several twists and turns in the road, the ocean finally came into sight -a deep blue sea with huge breaking waves against the coastal sea stacks. I stopped in Gold Beach to comb the beach for beach pebbles for my class in Hampton and pieces of driftwood to share with friends. And for awhile, just laid back against the rocks and watched the seagulls wheel through the sky overhead.

I headed south again on Highway 101 and entered the Redwoods. I always feel like I am entering nature's cathedral when I enter this grove of ancient trees. They tower far above , forming a dense canopy that only a few rays of sunlight can penetrate. The hushed air and beams of light through trees that were alive before the first European set foot on this continent leave me in awe. I watched the sun set over the ocean through a stand of redwoods as the day came to a close, painting the sky and the ocean with a rainbow of color.

As I headed to Eureka for the night, I watched the first evening star appear and the twilight reflected in the Humboldt estuaries. Words seem so inadequate to describe the emotion of landscape that colors the heart. But when combined with art and music, the beauty of nature can heal the soul.

Elizabeth Gilbert

Tonight I attended a lecture by the author of Eat, Pray, Love at the Schnitzer Theater in Portland, OR. I am always a bit intimidated when I cross the river into downtown Portland and try to find my way through the jumble of construction and one way streets, but I so wanted to hear her speak after finding such inspiration in her book. I was not sure what to expect or what she would speak about, so I was very pleased that she spent the evening speaking on creativity and art.

Her question was why is fear attached to the act of creativity? Why do so many of us fear failure when we create art, or, having created a work of art, fear we will never be able to match our past efforts. Her view was that we in Western Civilization began viewing art differently at the time of the Renaissance and began viewing artists as sort of a breed apart - afflicted people whose creativity is accompanied by pain and who were born with their talents and expected to suffer for having them.

The truth is that art is not the artist - we are the vessel that provides the tools and labor but something outside of us provides the inspiration and the voice. If I understood her correctly, we are the musical instrument but the music is a gift from an outside force. She felt we put too much emphasis on the need to always come up with something new and ourdoing ourselves each time we create art - that doing our art well should be enough.

I can't count how much time I spend in the fear of failing to produce the perfect piece of art and how afraid I am of not meeting the approval of others. Her lecture really hit home for me.

We are so blessed to be gifted with creativity and the ability to create. Why not rejoice in the creation of our art and leave our fear of failure behind? After all, we all share this love of creativity - why not band together and sing each others' praises and thank the muses for our art.

Birds on Fabric

Early in March I took a class from Tracie Lyn and Mary Lin Huskamp. I could not resist this class. I love all things about birds and this class was all about painting birds on fabric. And what a great class it turned out to be! Tracie and Mary Lin are the most gracious and patient of teachers. You feel at home with them immediately and they impart their knowledge with humor and diligence to their subject. They demonstrated the use of several mediums on fabric and were very generous with their materials. Everything they brought was decorated and wrapped like a present and it was clear their students were important to them. Everyone left their class with a great piece of art. They showed us how to cut out the piece and use it in a collage, as well, but I just couldn't bear to cut mine up. I hope to use it in a quilt or piece of altered clothing to wear. I have posted two of the pieces I completed. Be sure to check their blogs (linked above). Take a peek at Tracie's ongoing journal project. It is inspiring.

I leave for Asilomar soon and can hardly wait. I'll be taking classes from Albie Smith and Dan Essig while I am there and hope to wander the beaches and come back with photos and sketches. But best of all , I will be able to meet up with my sister afterwards, who I haven't seen in six years and spend some time catching up on our lives.

May you all have sunny spring days to warm your bones and the scent of flowers and first cut grass to inpire your continued journey in art in the month ahead.

Best of Show

I entered my "Bird on a Wire" piece that I will be teaching at Portland Art and Soul in October 2008 in the Battle Ground, Washington Art Alliance show over the weekend. It is a juried show with a multitude of prizes and I was hoping to maybe snag one of the insignificant ones - a free massage, a day at the spa - you know, those things you long to do on a cloudy, rainy day that you can't always afford to do. When I dropped off my piece, I looked around and saw the quantity and high quality of the other pieces entered in the show and gave up any hope of winning - in fact, completely forgot about it I was so engrossed at looking at the other entries. So imagine my surprise and total amazement when I received a call that I had won "Best of Show"!! I attended the awards ceremony last night and had my photo taken with the mayor and everything. What was even better was sharing that moment with other members of the gallery I belong to, who also attended the ceremony. It made my year....and maybe then some.

Daffodils and Rainbows

What a beautiful day for March to begin on ! Rain, followed by rainbows, fluffy white clouds and sunshine. Who could ask for more? And right after I asked myself that I saw a big bunch of daffodils in full bloom alongside the freeway - perfect! We are blessed to be surrounded by and walk in such beauty.

I spent the evening trying out L.K. Ludwig's gelating printing method she describes in her book, Mixed Media Nature Journals. I have never tried this before. You buy unflavored gelatin, mix it to make fruit cubes using water instead of fruit juice and wait for the gelatin to set. Then you can ink the gelatin, put natural objects on the paint and press the paper on top of both to make a print. You can also make additional prints by printing the object, after lifting it off the painted gelatin and pushing it into another piece of paper, as well as making a second print on the gelatin. I found when printing feathers, the second print was better than the first. It's a fun technique and I hope to embellish the prints with pen and ink to emphasize the object I printed or to just use it as background paper. The photos give you an idea of how the prints look, with a close up of a feather print. I used Golden fluid acrylics to do these prints. I also tried watercolor on the gelatin, but the resulting print did not keep an edge, although the color mix was beautiful. I'll be doing more of this!

Spring is Coming At Last

Hooray!! For the last week I have listened to the increasing variety of bird songs in the trees around my house. Chickadees and robins are busy staking out their territories and today I heard a red-wing blackbird calling, always a harbinger of spring. This has been a hard winter for me with so many gray days and I could use some sun in my bones. I so look forward to the longer days when I can move my walks from the treadmill to the trails. On February 1st I dutifully sent in my request for another permit to climb Mt. Whitney - I am hoping that I will finally get an overnight pass so I can make it to the top this time. I purchased a multi-day backpack at REI today, both for Whitney as well as my goal to hike around the circumference of Mt. Hood. I am determined to keep up my level of fitness and not regain any of the weight I've lost. It's been eighteen months now - I've never managed to maintain my healthy lifestyle this long before and I want it to be a lifelong habit. I look forward to heading for the beach soon to pick up shells and pebbles for my class in May and wish you all a Happy Spring to come.

Upcoming Classes

I am very excited to be teaching classes at Art and Soul Retreat in both Virginia and Portland in 2008. I will be teaching a variation of my beaded bracelet as an evening class in Virginia on Sunday, May 4, 2008. This bracelet, in keeping with the Art and Soul by the Sea theme, will be a Beachcomber bracelet, incorporating bits of beach pebbles and shell fragments, as well as etched copper charms, colored and resined to resemble faux copper enamel. This class will also be offered in Portland in October 2008.

In addition to the bracelet class, I will be offering another evening class in Portland working with gourds. Gourds are a fun medium to work with - you can burn, paint, collage, dye and use color pencils to decorate the exterior and turn them into almost anything you can imagine since they come in all shapes and sizes. Here is a sample of a gourd I woodburned, dyed with watercolor pigment then wove fiber into spaces cut from the gourd to represent water.

I will also be teaching an evening and a full day class in wire weaving baskets and forms. This is a new class for me, but I know you will enjoy learning to make these fun woven wire baskets and/or a woven wire bird. I can't wait to see what new shapes and forms will be created in the class. This medium can be used in many ways from sculpture, to basketry and jewelry and beyond. Wood, glass and beads can be incorporated in the finished piece of art.

In addition to these classes I will also be teaching a beginning class in copper etching and a coptic stitch journal class at Sixth Street Gallery, where I was just invited to be a member. The link to the gallery is: http://www.sixthstreetgallery.com/. Please email me at janharris@purplebirdart.com if you have any questions regarding the classes.

Celebration of Color

Today I took a class at the Sitka Center of Art and Ecology located at Cascade Head Beach, in Otis, Oregon. It is a beautiful setting in the hills over the beach, heavily forested, with trails down to the beach and tidepools. The classrooms are small and cozy and the classes are lead by quality instructors.

The class I took was called Celebration of Color taught by Sarah Rabkin, a writer-in-residence at Sitka who recently retired as a professor of writing at University of California at Santa Cruz. She does wonderful nature journals using colored pencils as her medium. There were six students in the class. We worked in a studio with windows overlooking the forest to the sound of rain falling softly on the skylights.

The first third of the class was learning to use colored pencils and completing a 12 spot color wheel by blending the primary colors of cyan, magenta and yellow. We then tried using the pencils to exactly match the colors of an object - I tried a pine cone, fern leave and my hand and it's harder than you would think to match a color precisely. If you want to give it a try online go to http://www.exploratorium.edu/exhibits/mix_n_match/ .

The second third of the class we pulled paint chips without looking from a bag and used the paint chips to inspire creative writing, letting the color influence our thoughts and emotions to create words on paper. The results were amazing with students using both prose and poetry to reflect the color they chose. There was a wonderful German woman in the class whose color reminded her of the chocolate given to her as a child by the U.S. soldiers posted in her home in Germany after WW II and she wrote of experiencing the war from her perspective of occupation, giving us new insight on the aftermath of war.

The last third of the class, we tore/cut pieces of photographs from magazines to make a collage that showed the movement of color on a page - while most of us did include specific items, we did not cut figures or objects to form the collage - only enhance the movement of color. This turned out to be a challenging exercise - and I was pleased with what I accomplished in only and hour and a half. And I liked the end result better than a collage that featured cutouts and purposefully following a "theme".

I will definitely use what I learned in the class and look forward to taking a class from this instructor again, as well as returning to Sitka Center when I can enjoy the trails and the beach.

Merry Christmas everyone! I so miss the snowy Christmases of my childhood. Sitting by the window watching the flakes fall while sipping a cup of hot chocolate - the moonlight reflecting off the snow as it accumulates in wind-sculpted drifts - the occasional showshoe hare that would hop across the yard when I lived in Montana. So last night I was thinking how much I wish it would snow for Christmas Day. And an hour ago I got my wish ... it's even sticking a bit, unusual for Portland. As the flakes fall in my backyard, I am watching the squirrels and jays scurry to fill themselves with peanuts and corn and hurrying back to shelter. The little Oregon Junkos that are scurrying through the yard, stopping at my feeder, with their feathers blown about by the wind, seem the least perterbed about the change in weather. So I think I will make myself a cup of tea and enjoy my unexpected gift from Mother Nature.

An End and a Beginning

As the solstice grows near and the new year looms ahead, it is time to say goodbye to 2007 and make plans for 2008. I read that in all winter rituals and religious observations that there is a common thread of musings that are acknowledged in each. First, to remember and recognize all that has been accomplished over the last year. Secondly, to forgive yourself and leave behind all that has saddened or hurt you over the last year and finally, to decide the direction you wish to take for the new year.

I have had an incredible year. I am so grateful for the support and guidance provided or shared with me over the past year by so many wonderful people as I have traveled from a depressed, overweight and defeated individual to a healthy person excited by each new day of life and the prospects it brings. I am grateful to all who helped, supported and encouraged me as I lost weight, got fit, traveled to new places and grew in my art. You all know who you are and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I will attempt to let go of my need for perfectionism and recognize that despite my upbringing, it is not possible for a human to be perfect and continue to learn to accept myself as I am: not all that I want to be, not able to please everyone, but a human with value, all the same. I ask for forgiveness from those who I have hurt over the past year - know that I would never do so deliberately, but need to be accountable for my behavior all the same. I am truly sorry.

As I grow older and no longer have the energy I once had to focus on many things at once, I will use the upcoming year to determine what is most important to me in life and learn to let less meaningful things go. To realize that my resources need to be focused on that which fulfills me and makes me a better person, not wasted on what brings only momentary happiness or gives me the illusion of being more acceptable in the eyes of others. Most importantly, I want to see more how I fit in this world and where my actions can do the most good rather than on demanding that the world accomodate me. I know it can be done - I have friends who are already there.

So to everyone out there, I hope you are able to lay the old year at rest and wish you all the best with your dreams and wishes for 2007.

A Few New Bracelets

These will be in the Sixth Street Gallery show, as well. The Home and Garden bracelet is the class I taught at Art and Soul and the other two bracelets are a variation on that theme.

A Woven Gourd

Since teaching my gourd class at Art and Soul I have been fascinated with the versatility of this craft. You can cut them, carve them, color them with a variety of media and add an assortment of embellishments. Here is my latest effort at creating gourd art. I drew the mountain and

fish design, used a woodburner to draw in detail and then cut out open spaces in the gourd, where I wove layers of yarn scraps to represent water. I used alcohol inks and watercolor mixed with alcohol to color the gourd. The gourd was accepted for show in the Sixth Street Gallery in Vancouver for their December Mosaic Art Alliance show. I look forward to creating more pieces in this versatile medium.

Life is Good

I volunteered to be an Art Walk guide for the Vancouver First Friday gallery tours and had a great time showing folks the growing art community in our town. For so long, we have turned to Portland, OR across the river for our arts, but in the last few years we have gone from one gallery to seven in our little downtown and judging by last nights crowds, people are excited to be a part of it. One of the other guides who represents the Sixth Street Gallery and is a very talented artist was leading a group when she heard a woman discussing the bracelet she had just seen at the gallery and had purchased. It turned out to be my bracelet for the "Day of the Dead" show - it sold the first night! She brought the lady over to meet me and after we talked, I agreed to make it into a necklace for her. I am just so amazed!

Tonight I had a wonderful conversation with an 80 year old gentleman I met at Border's Book Store - he came over to comment on my silver house necklace that I always wear. He was an amazing man. He was in WWII, has traveled all over the globe, worked a great variety of jobs, been in the Peace Corp and traveled New Zealand, one place I have always wanted to visit. We talked about his travels and his philosophy that God will always provide a way for him to live. I have always wanted to be more like that and have the courage to act without wanting a safety net under me and it was inspiring to talk to him. We talked for two hours - unbelievable when you consider I usually shy away from strangers, being the confirmed introvert that I am. I was very touched by him, though I am not sure why.

He left me with his belief that we are all born with talents and abilities and we are misusing life if we don't take the time to explore them. He told me a story of a piece of oak that he was turning on a lathe as a young man and when he exposed the layers of wood, the oak had yellow and red tones to it he had not seen before. He said the piece flowed from somewhere inside him as he turned it on the lathe and the end result was so much a part of him, he could not part with it and carried it with him for many, many years through his travels. He asked me then had I ever created something that was so much a part of me I could not part with it? And that would be the house charm I wear everywhere. Do you all have a piece of art you created that you have not been able to part with? Have you ever had a serendiptous meeting with someone that resonated in your soul? Life is good.

Dias de las Muerta

Just thought I would post a photo of the bracelet I submitted for the Day of the Dead show at Sixth Street Gallery in Vancouver, WA

Art and Soul

I am so sad that Art and Soul in Portland is over for another year. What a wonderful retreat Glenny has created for everyone. I took classes from Jane Wynn, Robert Dancik, Daniel Essig and Donna Crispin and they were all exceptional instructors and I learned so much from all of them. But I learned a great deal from fellow attendees, as well. Who could ask for a better group of people!! It just reaffirms I made the right decision to pursue a life filled with art and creativity.

I taught three evening classes - a gourd class, a bracelet class and a needle felting class. I was blessed with wonderful students and had a great time teaching each class. Each student turned out beautiful pieces of art. Even though they used the same techniques, each piece they created was unique and wonderful and the variety amazed and delighted me. What a privilege it is to watch such creativity at work. Thank you all for taking my classes.

I am energized by all I've learn and dizzy with new ideas - now I am off to organize my garage studio and start producing jewelry using my new found skills. Hopefully, I will be able to hook up my big kiln and install an exhaust fan before winter really sets in and then I can have friends over to play with metal and clay. I will be off to Sisters, OR this weekend to take in the Harvest Faire with 200 art vendors. I have my fingers crossed it will not rain!!

Summer Vacation and the Climb

Well, I left you last about to climb Mt. Whitney but got so busy upon my return that I never got back to how I did. I had a fabulous trip - I spent the first night and day in Mt. Lassen National Park. I climbed to the top of Mt. Lassen on the peak trail in a driving wind and rainstorm. When I got to the top at 10,000 plus feet, I couldn't see a thing - I was in the clouds, but I made it. After I hiked back down, a total of five miles, I headed directly for the store in the parking area and ordered a bowl of chili, I was so cold. I drove a couple miles down the road and hiked the Bumpass Hell trail to the most amazing collection of mudpots, hot springs and fumaroles. There was a boardwalk through the area so you could see everything upclose and personnel. It was amazing. I left the park and spent the night in Carson, Nevada and left early the next day for Mt. Whitney. I stopped in Mono Lake on the way and was so happy to see that now that Los Angeles only takes a third of the water they used to take, that the islands are back and the alkali flats are gone and the birds get to nest again without being eaten by the coyotes. Proof that a grass roots campaign can succeed.

When I arrived in Lone Pine, California, I picked up my permit at the ranger station and drove up the Whitney Portal Road to the campground. I drove through the Alabama Hills, where so many westerns have been filmed. The valley was full of haze from the nearby fires. I found my campsite easily enough and it was right on the creek. After putting my food in the bear box, I took a short hike up to the store and found the trailhead where I would begin my hike the next day. I went to sleep early and woke at 3 AM to begin the hike. I thought I would be spooked by the darkness, but it was not scary at all. I watched the sun rise while on the trail and the colors were beautiful. Initially, the going was pretty easy, but as the day wore on, the trail became rockier and oxygen more scarce, especially since I come from sea level. I stopped to feed a blue jay and admired the creeks and lakes as I went, stopping to talk to folks on the way.

After several hours, I reached Trail Camp at 12,033 feet and stopped. I could have continued, but it was hot, there was no shade and I would have had to come back for several hours in the dark. So I made a decision to return, having accomplished my goal of doing something I could not have done a year ago when I was fat and out of shape. I hope to return next year with a two day permit that will allow me to reach the top as I will camp one night at Trail Camp rather than trying the climb in 24 hours.

I climbed down the mountain and ate dinner at the Whitney Portal Store and went back to the campsite where I was asleep in minutes. Left the next day and drove through Yosemite National Park on my way to Sacramento. Still beautiful, but so crowded that I did not stop to enjoy the sites. You could not take photos for all the people there. I spent the night in Sacramento and got up early the next day and drove out in the Sacramento River Delta to buy gourds at Leiser Farm for my Art and Soul class. What a wonderful lady and so willing to share her knowledge about gourds and her fantastic gourd collection.

From Sacramento, I crossed to the coast from Redding, CA to Eureka, CA and visited a couple of bead stores in Eureka, still picking up class supplies. I spent that night in Gold Beach, Oregon after driving through the Redwoods National Park and found a wonderful two story book store there full of art and old used books - a treasure I will remember to go back to. The next day, I visited a delightful older lady who sold pine needle baskets from her home on the side of the highway, before finally heading for home. A great trip with many lasting good memories

Mt. Whitney

Those of you that know me are aware I have been on a year long journey to create and live a healthy lifestyle. It has not been easy to end old habits, learn to limit the foods I love (and there is very little food I don't love) and actually use my gym membership and exercise. Over the past year I have lost 63 lbs., lowered my cholesterol to 146, my triglycerides to 67 and my resting heart beat to 48 - all at almost 54 years of age. A year ago, I didn't believe it possible. But taking it one day at a time and never letting the bad days end my efforts, as they did before, I am almost to my goal of a healthy BMI - 12 more pounds. To celebrate my anniversary of a new life, I obtained a permit to hike to the top of Mt. Whitney, California - the highest spot in the lower 48 states. Imagine going from a coach potato to climbing to the top of a mountain!! I have no idea if I will make it, especially as I was only able to get a one day permit, but I am going to give it my best shot. In addition, I am participating in the Washington Trail Association Hike-a-thon and my miles on Mt. Whitney will count towards raising monies to repair the storm damage to Washington trails that occured last fall. A worthy charity since the National Park Systems budget is set to be slashed again this year (if you are interested in donating please let me know) So please send me good thoughts on August 21 as I head to the top of the mountain. I will need all the support I can get.

Time can fly when you don't pay attention

I can't believe it has been just short of a year since I posted. Life has a way of getting complicate at times and before you know it, you have lost track of time and purpose and need to re-center. I have continued with my art and travels, taking a beautiful trip on Halloween week through Northern California from Mt. Shasta to Mt. Lassen, through Reno, up to Boise and back to Vancouver, WA taking in the beautiful fall colors and awesome scenery. I have trips to Virginia and Idaho coming up and have a trip planned to climb Mt. Whitney in California in August. I was accepted to teach three evening classes at Art and Soul Retreat in Portland this fall (see above). Art and Soul has a vast assortment of great classes to take - here is a link (http://www.artandsoulretreat.com ). Life is busy, but good and I will be more diligent in keeping everyone up to date

EDM CHallenge #77

This is my posting for "Something Cool" - the ice cubes were a real challenge - I've never really looked closely at them before to see all of the different angles and shadows they contain. Yesterday, I tried goauch paint for the first time and liked the opacity of the paint (you can cover mistakes rather easily as opposed to watercolor) and hope to post some of those in the future.

EDM Challenge #76

I joined a wonderful Yahoo group called Everyday Matters to get me jump started in doing regular sketching - it's a great group and the art produced by the members very inspiring. There are weekly assignments to complete and this is my posting of flowers. It's not elaborate - at 104 degrees outside, I had to get it done quickly this morning before the heat of the day hit.