Color in Portland

 

 

* inspired by, and to rival, the lovely Amy Komar's Color in Fairbanks   ;)

9:53 am, Sunday

Sunday is my favorite day, and I'll tell you why.  It inherently has a sense of calm, rest, ease, and stillness-a natural 'pause'.  It allows us all to take in the moment we exist in now, and sit with it for a millisecond longer...to sip tea with a book, don sweaters and go on wandering walks, partake in something a little less ordinary or rushed, and not too far planned or ambitious.  It encourages us to converse with others, eat substantially and to fill bellies and souls with nourishment. On Sundays we remember time that has passed-both recent and archeological, more grandiose- and anticipate time that is approaching.  Sunny Sundays feel like possibility, rainy ones are comforting and familiar, and evoke saudades.  Sunday has no agenda or expectation.  Sunday just is.

one of my original minis, now in the hands of a lovely patron

 Today I will enjoy this blustery fall Sunday with a bit of easiness and flexibility- a lightness and calm reflective of this day of pause.  And I hope you will too.

Arty Party

Announcing my latest show in the coffee shop circuit, Cup & Saucer, Kenton!  As is customary of all  neighborhoods to celebrate their neighborhood-y glitz & glory with an art walk on a random night that becomes 'no-longer-random-but-special-and-unique-in-its-randomness-of-selection-and-tradition' (an attribute that really gets to the heart of things...makes Portland what it is) Kenton, i.e. downtown North Portland, shines on with "Third Thursday" in the style of the more common "First Fridays" known the nation-over.  Yes, most of the other Thursdays in the month are taken by the Pearl District, and the Alberta Arts District, and Monday just doesn't have that certain je ne sais quoi.  Third Thursday it is.

So, there will be a lovely reception on the Thursday coming (October 21) from 5-8 pm where I will be holding down the fort in the company of wine and cheese and waiting for onlookers, patrons, and obligated loved ones to partake with me and celebrate how well the rust-orange walls and sea-foam booth seats go with the palette of my work:

 

....right??  

I hope to see you there~  8237 N Denver Ave, Portland, OR 97217.

Back to the Drawing Board

It's no secret,
I'm hoping to lose my nine-to-five.
It doesn't fuel my creative fire
It rather leaves but burned out embers.

But in the meantime,
I am trying hard to problem solve
A tunnel through to the other side.

There are a myriad of limited solutions (ha!)
 Each day its back to the drawing board

I try some other constructive means to get to three p.m.

But today
I decided to stick with a plan to sketch my way in and out of days:

ryan

shaniqua

10.10.10

"X" (10)

The shushing of the rain, the low hum of housemates' voices wakens me.  The lingering low din of the train's horn in the distance too.  Everything is submerged in a gray-cloud shroud.  Today is a stay-in-bed day, or a paint-my-heart-out day, once I get the Sunday motivation. 
Sunday motivation is different from other days.  It is gentler, more forgiving, flexible, willing to negotiate, compromise.   My handwriting today looks different than usual.  It suggests a touch of madness, creative frenzy.  It begs to keep filling the page frantically, poetically- or at least more poetically than usual.   The air is heavy, hot...almost saturated-wet, thick.  Last night over dark-and-stormies old songs from formative years summoned saudade.  Missing-moments.  That is, moments of missing.
These are signs of feeling fall: the shroud, the wet, the moments of missing.  Best go paint it out.

Last Thursday

I just discovered my favorite new gallery on Alberta street:

Together Gallery..

photo courtesy of together gallery

...a quaint unassuming little rockin' space, it was unbeknown-st to me for far too long.  They have some great local artists' digs in the store, like prints by two I like- Yellena James, Jay Howell- and others.  Zines, handmade books and cards, jewelry and other "merch" by local artists. Bravo Together Gallery~


Here's my Last Thursday experience (as part of the early evening crowd):

my wares

caravan?

provisions

vegan goodies

it is customary to call one's pilgrimage

I remember how 

in their sleep

all my dreams 

would come to life,

would stand almost on tiptoe,

to reach their glory, 

and

whispering from that place

to the half-artist me quietly climbing

affirm that I was capable of higher things.

a small clearing in an otherwise clouded window.

ekh, assembled from text fragments 9/13/2010

___________________________________________________________________________________

I thought it most appropriate to christen this space with a little "call" to order.  One of my favorite travel writers, Phil Cousineau, describes his practice, to "call" his journey closer [to him] by finding myths, stories, poetry, and sacred writing for the land he is about to visit.  In my case I am cataloging an abstract journey to a land of fulfilled living, one that supports my creative dreams.  Assembling poetry tends to be a psyche study, as I construct a meaningful form from a literal pile of tiny words.  The words develop into a phrase as my paintings do, without preplanning or expectation, and unsurprisingly they are a reflection of my state of mind or emotion at the moment of their creation.

Art is alchemy.   Art calls my pilgrimage.


*To find out more about my working style check out this interview with one of my favorite artists and dear friend, Amy Komar.  Her blog space is filled with colorful everyday photos to inspire the artist in all of us!