September 2011
2 posts
7 tags
New Zone Gallery
Another show I entered around the same time as the Eugene Celebration is the Salon de Peuple at New Zone Gallery. In this show, one can enter up to 3 pieces and pay $10 for each piece submitted. The dates of the exhibit are August 25-October 7, 2011.
New Zone Gallery is a great place for an artist to get started showing one’s work. My husband Walter does noise shows there under the name...
5 tags
Object Afterlife Art Challenge
On the artist section of Eugene Craigslist, I noticed a call to artists. It was an art contest called Object Afterlife Art Challenge. MECCA gives the challenger a bag of materials to incorporate into their piece and they encourage the artists to work outside their usual medium.
So I took the challenge and entered. The bag of materials I received was paint samples and long pieces of cut cardboard...
August 2011
1 post
6 tags
Mayor's Art Show 2011
In looking for art shows to enter this summer, I discovered the Mayor’s Art Show. With barely enough time to enter, I snapped a photo of a recent piece and submitted it within the last hour of the deadline. I don’t recommend or intend to ever wait until the last minute to enter an art show. Sadly, I didn’t make the cut but feel good that at least I tried. This is the piece I...
July 2011
3 posts
11 tags
West Eugene Wetlands
The area I live in is on the edge of farms and wetlands. I’ve heard it called midwest suburbia hell before. I can’t say it’s very well-planned. It truly is sprawling and creeping in on every corner that was once natural.
Luckily, we have some great preserved areas that bike paths meander through, following the west Amazon Creek. This open area is fairly quiet and a great place...
8 tags
Down By The River
Doing plein-air at the rose garden every Friday of the summer led me to venture out from there and find many other locations. In Eugene, we have many great bike paths and some are along the Willamette River. So on a few occasions, I stopped and painted some river scenes.
Greenway Bike Bridge Size: 4” x 6” Date: 25 June 2011 Medium: Watercolor on Strathmore watercolor postcard
...
11 tags
Rose Garden
The experience of my first plein-air in Owen Rose Garden just made me want more. So I made Friday my day to go to the Rose Garden to paint plein-air. I don’t have a car as of April 2011, so getting from the far edge of West Eugene all the way to the Rose Garden wasn’t easy. As aforementioned, my husband hooked me up with a garden cart that attaches to my bike. It was hard getting used...
June 2011
3 posts
17 tags
The Fine Art Of Sketching
Back in March, my husband Walter Lapchynski and I had the fine idea to go to the First Friday Art Walk. It led us to the DIVA to view Italian Landscapes: Sketchbook Drawings, a reception and booksigning of Kenneth O’Connell.
What a happy surprise to find an ex-coworker of Walter’s from Bike Friday, Hugh Larkin, and his wife Sandy Larkin, a fellow fine artist, there as well. Chatting...
6 tags
ATCs
On one of my shopping trips to buy art supplies at Michael’s, I discovered some 2.5” x 3.5” art paper of various kinds in little packs. Thinking this was a great way to try out different paper without spending a lot, I grabbed some. At home, upon further inspection, I found out their true purpose.
They are for a movement called Artist Trading Cards. What is that? ATCs are...
12 tags
Plein-air
Master Painter Monet is my all time favorite Impressionist. The way he puts paint on the canvas and makes the colors come to life is magic. His paintings vibrate and look different with every visit.
I felt a deep desire to follow Monet’s footsteps and head outdoors to paint. My youth was spent growing up in the rural Rogue Valley on the outskirts of Wimer, Oregon. It was my grandfather...
May 2011
1 post
4 tags
Still Living
With a few beers in us, some friends decided to pull ideas out of a basket to do a thematic art project (see Daniel Balter’s piece here). As soon as I saw the word “DEATH,” I knew what my piece would be, a vanitas.
In art history, I learned of the symbolic still life from 16-17th century Europe. The Latin word is translated as vanity, but can mean emptiness, worthlessness,...
March 2011
4 posts
3 tags
cardboard chair
For our final project in 3D design, we were to make a cardboard chair. Naturally, our materials were restricted to only cardboard and a single color of tape. I chose to continue my black magic shapes. This time, I made an X out of an upside down triangle balanced on top of another triangle. To do this, I had to cut the same shape 90 times. After that laborious task, I taped it all together in...
4 tags
tangelo update
Here’s an update on the tangelo after it’s been fired and glazed. I frankly liked it the way it was before, but my husband sure made a nice picture out of it.
2 tags
featured scupltures
Steve Reinmuth of Eugene, Oregon:
“Suspended Animation”
“Industrial Revolution”
Walter Netsch, Chicago:
Air Force Academy Chapel, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 1956-1962.
Stephen White, Eugene, Oregon. Luminescence series:
“Flying Dragon”
“Maiden Voyage”
“From The Source II”
Charles Ray, Los Angeles, California:
...
3 tags
black magic
Project number five involved finding an object and making a sculpture replica at least 12 inches big out of cardboard, paper, and tape. When we were first assigned the project, we were told it was to be a series, but we weren’t given the details on the subsequent pieces. So I got started on the first. Again, the requirement was to use only one color. I chose a chopstick rest:
After...
February 2011
2 posts
4 tags
tangelo
The forth project involved working with clay. I was excited about this opportunity until I actually got involved in it. Let’s just say I did not feel this medium come to me. We were to pick an organic object, make it bigger, and make it look exactly the same. I’m not sure why, but I chose a tangelo:
I decided I would also show the inside of the fruit, and cut a piece out of it. I...
4 tags
cucumber roll
For our third project, we were asked to find an object and make a sculpture replica of the object out of paper, cardboard, and masking tape. I chose an object made of organic matter, a piece of sushi, namely the cucumber roll. We had to make this object exactly like the original. It had to be in one color. The teacher expressed the importance of capturing every detail.
I soon discovered that...
4 tags
flying
For our second project in 3D Design, we were asked to create a sculpture out of wire using line and giving the piece motion.
Once again, I reached for my sketchbook. While I look around and others are taking off with their wire projects, as if they’ve been doing this for a million years, I scramble to come up with ideas.
I kept getting the feeling like I really wanted to do something...
January 2011
2 posts
3 tags
personal icon
In my 3D Design class (taught by Andreas Salzman), our first project was to create a personal icon. Andy went around the room and dumped a paper bag in front of everybody and said, “using everything in this bag, including the bag, create your personal icon. Now go.” With that, off we went. I have to say, I was horrified dumping my bag onto the desk and finding 23 green-tipped...
December 2010
1 post
4 tags
Basic Design Color
To my surprise, I had the pleasure of having Gabriella Soraci as an instructor again this time for Basic Design Color. She taught the class differently than other instructors in that she made it more of a beginning painting class.
We studied palette, preparing surfaces, colour theory, tonal value, form, perspective, composition and balance, how light changes, looking at masters, and so much...
July 2010
1 post
4 tags
Mother's Tree
Medium: Copic pen on canvas Date: 18 July 2010 Size: 20” x 24”
In my Basic Design Black & White class, my instructor Ann Godrey introduced me to Copic pens. I’ve always loved drawing in pens, so this was a fantastic discovery. The way the pens glide on paper is like skates on ice. They can be used to airbrush and can be refilled. They come in many different tips and...
June 2010
1 post
10 tags
Intro To Drawing
I had the pleasure of having Gabriella Soraci as an instructor for Intro To Drawing, ART 131 at Lane Community College for my first art class since high school (20 years!). It was a marvelous experience for getting back into art. Here are some things I did:
Self-portrait In Cubism Medium: Pen and charcoal on Stratmore drawing paper
Blue Heron Medium: India ink on rice paper
After Gabriella...