Showcasing Oregon's Beauty for Mexican Guest

Of course, we had to show off to Efren, our visiting Mexican artist, the amazing beauty of Southern Oregon. First on the list, of course, is heading to Crater Lake. But some of our favorite spots are sprinkled along the route - so naturally, we stop there too. The Rogue Gorge is breath-taking even though the two rivers merging before the deep ravine are less than at their peak this time of year. Finally, after remarks from Efren like, "it's so green", we arrive at the brilliant blue waters of Crater Lake. It truly is a wonder! Then, on the return drive we hike into Takelma Gorge, another magnificent natural site. Here, Efren and I took out our paints and worked on capturing the image.

We lunched overlooking the Rogue River at Miguel's in Shady Cove, preparing our energies for the busy upcoming evening. Efren was showing slides and a narration of his works at the Ashland Art Center. Here you see a shot of the Art Center from my second floor studio, looking down to the main floor. I was lucky to coax from Efren, this notes for the talk - - I love that it is in Spanish and flavors my journal with the elements present during Efren's visit!!!

On the adjacent page in my journal we wake to the following, more relaxed day. After a leisurely morn, we artists head out to the wide-open arms of the Applegate Valley. I totally by mishap, land us at the lovely Red Lily Winery where we spend most of the day sketching and painting. Serendipitously, Efren strikes up a conversation there with workers who actually are from the same area in which he currently lives. And in the time I get this sweet sketch completed, Efren has completed two oil paintings. Yep, he's fast and talented! Amazing!

We return home to a rich, well appreciated meal, once more magically whipped up by my dear Roland. And we settle in the living room to chatter and relax. Til tomorrow . . .

Positive Perspective

The ole' saying, "Happy New Year" is what I'm 'sposed to say!?! Right?!? Well, I'm headed hopefully into the next year while shining a positive light on the ending of December.

Two of the "happy children" from my relationship, brief as it may have been, with my recent gallery partnership are these two small pieces. They came to birth from a yearning to express "in small" two Winter-y images that have been in my head for awhile.

This first one, "Winter Cardinal", is on stretched canvas, actually watercolor paper, sized 5 by 5 inches by 1 1/2 deep. We have a new bird feeder just outside our kitchen window and have fallen so in love with watching the wee-ones feed, dance in the snow and even nestle under the eaves while gorging on seed. It took us awhile to learn about the proper seed to attract the smaller birds: finches, titmice, siskins and chickadees. But now we have the sweetest lil feathery creatures visiting us. So this ole image I had of this chubby cardinal has drawn more appreciation due to my new feathered friends. I'm pleased with his fluff and his reflections in hot reds & pinks against the cooler foliage. But the greenery echoed back some cheery, red berries to balance the color.

The second small piece measuring 4 by 11 inches by 1 1/2 deep, "Autumn Glow", is a vision shared when a dear friend was visiting. We had spent the day up at an exhilarating snow storm at Crater Lake and when returning to the warm Rogue Valley, we caught site of this glowing rainbow halo above the snow peaked mountain ridge. It was magical . . . and for a couple years I've had the design all drawn out . . . waiting to be painted. So when I wanted to paint quickly, a small, long piece, this image came to mind. And it flowed out and onto the watercolor paper so quickly I was surprised. Since the piece wraps around the sides and over the top, you can not see the rainbow unless you peer at the top of the piece. But the fall colors and the dramatic impact of the clouds against the velvety green mountains emphasized the glow of the moment.

This one is dedicated to my friend, Ron, who shared the scene that day. It's a rather fitting dedication as I spoke to Ron today and, although both of us have moved several times in different directions - our friendship has moved only closer, deeper and of m-o-o-o-o-r-e value than ever.

Seems in the writing of this post, I have come down to the two items I most treasure - last year, next year and into the vast future - 1) the vision us artists are able to hold in our mind's eye that must be expressed and 2) the heart link maintained by friends that can revive and save our spirits.

Perhaps for the start of this new year . . . one might take a moment to evaluate what matters most in your life . . . it does bring things into a positive perspective. Happy New Year!

Journal Catchup

There have been many fun distractions here in life - one was a visit from a longtime friend of my husband's with whom he used to go to elementary school! So several days focused on play and touring.

The first evening of their visit we spent in Ashland experiencing their "Quick Draw". Local artists have volunteered to sketch, paint, mat and frame up an original painting in their favorite media to be auctioned off to raise money for local a art association - all in about an hour. Our guests seemed to savor the process and wondered why any artist in their sane mind would volunteer for that. But, now that I've seen the process, I just may be one of the insane volunteers next year!

The next day we traveled to Crater Lake, a must on all tourists lists. Amazingly, there was still up to 15 feet of snow surrounding the lake. We had to hike up a snowbank to peer over into the lovely blue water. Now Gaye and I got adventurous, and another spectator joined us, in hiking across the snowbank to see an infamous tree I wanted to share. My journal entry here shows that twosome smiling and sinking into the snow at various points. They were both great sports. The outing ended with sandwiches in the new cafe recently completed at Crater Lake. It was definately a story for their travelblog.

Now, I'm doing more sketches and paintings that are recent happenings in my life and will add the text to those here in the next few days. I relish this catchup time when I flip back through the pages and wonder at how full and good life is. More soon!