The Mountains and Hills….
November 10th, 2009
A rain/hail storm just started out of nowhere as the sun set, no better time than to chill with my cat and write up a post about the art show! The show was called “The Mountains and Hills Will Burst Into Song”, curated by Rebecca and showing art by Rebecca, Julianna, Sarah and myself! All of the originals are available online here if you want to buy any of them! I’m also going to make prints soon. I know I keep saying that, but I finally have my printer downstairs on my awesome new desk and things are coming together.
Unfortunately for me, I didn’t give myself much time to prepare for this show and ended up doing all of my paintings in a week. That’s reason #49580 why I am not a good artist- I don’t have something that I’m constantly working on, so when the show came up I had to zoom into action and come up with ideas and get it all finished in time. I’m never prepared! I want to spend more time on drawings and paintings, so that I will feel better about my work in the future. Not tryin’ to be a baby about it or anything, but I’m still finding my comfort zone and trying to figure out what I like to paint, so I have a hard time feeling happy with what I make because I’m never really sure if it feels “right”. That might not make any sense, but I’d rather spend more time working out the kinks in my style and ideas instead of having to go from inspiration to art show within a short amoutn of time. Anyway, I spent plenty of time stressin’ and then decided to zen out at the end and enjoy the opening. After all, it was my birthday (I’m 26 now!), Together Gallery is awesome and everyone was so nice, and I knew I’d get to have an awesome dinner and stuff later. It was really fun! I saw all my favorite friends and was showered with gifts and cake and flowers. Birthdays!!
The pieces for the show were supposed to be loosely based around the idea of mountains, so I jotted down a bunch of ideas (mountain under glass, old photobooth style photos, berries & mushrooms, etc) and realized that I could paint all that stuff by imagining some kind of private school, a girl’s academy way up in the mountains where they would learn about foraging, plant identification, rocks, all that kind of stuff! And that’s how Mountain View Academy came to be. Here are all the paintings- you can see bigger, individual scans if you want in my flickr set for the show.
Next, lots of images from start to finish from the installation process. We were fueled by burritos and glitter. We built a sweater mountain and I used branches from my yard (there was a big wind a while back that busted some stuff off my tree!) here and there. Also, feathers from my chickens! Oh, and the famous fox shoes that were a birthday gift from last year, which worked perfectly as part of the installation with my paintings- school uniforms, anyone? I didn’t take any photos at the actual event because I was too busy enjoying myself and forgot, but Julianna got a couple! You can see part of my face peeking out from a circle of my friends, my favorite place to be. Since I didn’t take any outfit photo, let me tell you what I wore! My black & white striped top with a black bow tie, my Fletcher by Lyell silk tap shorts, black tights and lace-up boots. We went out for a fantastic dinner afterwards at Toro Bravo, a really cool and delicious tapas place. I had a “Sage Seville” to drink, which was like a mojito (gin) but with sage instead of mint! I really loved it. I think herbal cocktails are pretty special things. I also got to eat some chanterelle mushrooms in a great sauce on big toasty bread, which made my night. Anytime I get to eat wild mushrooms is a good time. Ok, enough rambling- enjoy the photos!
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10 Comments
Add your own1. leila wylie | November 10th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
I love your paintings! The mountain under the glass jar is really cute. Portland has so many great artists. I’m obsessed with Julianna’s work and I am going to get a tattoo of one of her drawings.
2. Erin | November 10th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
so i must admit, i already peeked at all your photos on flickr, but i want to say this is all so lovely! it looks like a wonderful time and your art is beautiful! the set up in the gallery is especially nice, too!
3. Little Lovables | November 10th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Oh, it turned out lovely, I love the squirrel print and the knit ‘rocks;!!! I hope you didn’t come down with a case of glitter lung
(you can google it)
4. Elise | November 10th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Oh, I love your style! and your idea! I’ll admit I was waiting (impatiently) for pictures of this show.
5. Leilani | November 10th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
It came together quite well, you have a great illustrative style. I especially love the mountain under glass & the portrait of the teacher.
6. Elizabeth | November 11th, 2009 at 4:03 am
Well as an artist to a fellow artist, I don’t know when you ever are really happy with your own work, lol; I think its a constant learning process!! But, I love your style, very illustrative – and my fave is the squirrel girl with her “go squirrel” pendant. Well done!!
7. anne | November 11th, 2009 at 11:25 am
i think everything turned out beautiful! my favorite is the squirrel. and the sweater mountain is quite creative.
way to go!!!
i think over time you just end up with your own special style that’s just “you”. it’s interesting how we may be attracted to a paticular style, but when we paint/draw/whatever it always has your own unique look to it, which may be totally different than the art we’re inspired by.
anyway, it’s so exciting and awesome to have people viewing your work. that in itself is an accomplishment in my book
p.s.- i’m having a giveaway on my blog. stop by and enter if you get a chance
8. Brandy Von Doeren | November 11th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
stuff like this just kills me that i dont yet live in Portland. I’m in the process of convincing my husband that we NEED to move there in the next year or two.
9. wix | November 11th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
Congratulations! The show looks great, and of course I just want to live in/on the sweater mountain
I absolutely hear what you’re saying about inspiration, the practice of being an artist, etc, although I come at it from a different perspective. I’m in a masters program for landscape architecture, and basically have spent the last 2.5 years struggling with the fact that there really are no right answers in any of the disciplines I either find interesting or have demonstrated any affinity for. And, what with finals coming up real soon, it’s been on my mind lately.
It’s hard to let go of the idea of “rightness,” at least so far as it concerns the work you produce for specific purposes–we call them deliverables
I tend to work until I don’t get to work anymore, whether I feel the project has reached some kind of resolution or no. There are so many ways of dealing with externally enforced deadlines, rules, principles, whatever, that it’s hard to find one that works for you better than the others. There’s always this sense of another, better solution lurking somewhere nearby…
Also, what’s right for you is most likely always changing anyway, therefore extra difficult to pin down. That’s not meant personally–I think most people are this way.
So all this word-vomit is just to say, keep moving and working! Don’t even worry about where you’ll end up if that entire train of thought is stressful. Just figure out what’s next, and when you get there what’s next after that, and so on. You know
10. catherine_sr | November 12th, 2009 at 9:03 am
I really enjoy seeing your work and the glimpses into your creative process! I’m not an artist, but I feel the same way about my reporting and writing as a journalist — I’m still trying to figure out what direction I want to take with my writing and the things I cover. I agree with wix… just keep moving and working and things will develop organically.
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