Tagged - I'm it!

I've been tagged by TWO of my plein air painting pals. Thanks you two!

Here are the rules for being tagged:

A. In your own blog, place a link to your tagger's weblog. Check out the blogs of my taggers Celeste Bergin and Brenda Boylan.
B. Mention the rules
C. List 6 or 7 unusual things about yourself, or quirky but boring, unspectacular details about yourself
D. Tag 6 or 7 other bloggers at the end of your post and make a comment on their blogs to let them know that they too have been tagged. This is a great way to let others know about you and your work through blogging.

I don't know if these are considered unusual but here are a few things about me...

I've always thought of myself as an artist, even when very young, although I didn't always have the nerve to mention it.

While in high school, I received my first commission. It was a portrait for a family friend. I cringe now to think back on how bad it must have been because I was working from a photograph with a heavy shadow over much of the face. I thought shadows had to be a grey made from black and white. Yikes.

For a couple of years I thought I wanted to be an interpreter and work at the United Nations. But that idea went away when I learned I could become a graphic designer.

During college I spent one summer as a forest fire look-out on Grass Mountain in Washington, in the Cascade mountain range. What a view I had of Mount Rainier!

My future husband-to-be and I met while scuba diving out of Port Angeles, Washington. Well, we actually met on the dive boat, not while under water.

After driving my beloved 1968 Mustang for 22 years, I sold it and moved up to the world of the 90's to a car that had seat belts with shoulder straps, TWO outside mirrors, rear window defroster, and air conditioning!

I am proud of my Swedish heritage and have embraced it in many ways such as participating in a Scandinavian performing dance group for 18 years, painting in the traditional Swedish dalamålning or kurbits style, and traveling to Scandinavia.

To begin, I am tagging the following with more names to come:


Craig Stephens

Karen Phipps

Recent Works at Aurora Gallery

Fellow pastellist Barb Szkutnik and I have a show of pastel art at Aurora Gallery at 1004 Main Street in Vancouver, Washington. It'll be up until November 29th and we invite you to stop by to see it while you can. Included in the show are a couple of new waterfall pieces painted this summer en plein air, or on location.

Thanks to our collectors, friends and other artist buddies who turned out for the First Friday Artists' Reception. It was great to see all of you.

'Best Use of Color' Award

I missed the Artist Reception of the Paint-Out Group's October show "In Living Color" at the ArtReach Gallery as I was at Camille Przewodek's workshop. However I received a message that my painting "Frankly Scarlet" won the award for Best Use of Color. That made up for missing the party with my painting buddies!

Workshop in Petaluma

I had a great time last month with fellow artist Barb Szkutnik at Camille Przewodek's workshop in Petaluma, California. On day one we painted the effect of light falling on colored blocks and colored cloths. On day two we added a round object to the block study. Days three and four found us painting on location using the techniques we learned at the beginning of the week. On the last day we had a live model and painted "mudheads". Camille kept us hopping as she stressed getting the paint on quickly and painting the shapes while indicating light and shadow. Keep in mind that these rough-looking pictures are "starts" and not finished paintings. It was time well spent. And evenings were fun as Barb and I sampled the fare from several fabulous restaurants.

First Post!

Currently I'm painting new works for two shows this autumn. You'll be able to see my oil paintings at the Paint-Out Group's show October 2-31 at ArtReach Gallery in Portland, Oregon. And my pastels will be displayed during November at Aurora Gallery in Vancouver, Washington.

Back to the easel.