My New Studio!

I have such exciting news guys! My studio, which we have been working on since April 2020, is finally done! We bought a prebuilt shed and had it dropped on a gravel pad (which we graded and packed) at the far side of our driveway from the garage. We struggled the whole summer of 2020 getting the building insulated with various products-there were problems with the spray insulation and, of course, finding materials what with Covid. Finally we got the place insulated, had electrical run to the building, and then attached the vapor barrier and began dry walling.

I had never done a construction project before and I am completely in awe of how much work it takes!

Slowly working on fitting dry wall around the building.

The ceiling was terrifying even with the drywall lift. My husband and his brother were holding drywall boards over their heads, trying to slot them around the rafters because I wanted to attach my lights to them.

Dry wall is up and now we’re working on the mudding and sanding, which was very tedious and took forever.

Got a closet door at Habitat for Humanity!

We finished mudding and sanding the drywall (or more accurately gave up) and primed the walls.

Our first attempt at paint was WAY too dark (though this photo is darker than it was in real life) and the solid color made it clear that our mudding and sanding was very subpar.

Faux texture to the rescue! We experimented with sponges and rollers and generally made a big mess. The gray paint color was picked to be a neutral background color to help with setting up still life and photographing, but I might end up painting a wall or two white later. We’ll see how I do this winter.

Window sills in, lights installed, and most of the floor is done!

We just have a couple gaps to fill around the edge of the floor in the closet and by the front door, but I am moving in! Absolutely thrilled! Now to figure out how to set everything up so I can paint happily away in here this winter and I hope to have an open house this spring or summer. I’d love to see you all!

Artist's Eye 2022 Calendar

Due to many requests, I am doing a calendar! Here’s a flip through of it below. I decided to do a vertical orientation rather than horizontal like last time because I’ve been doing a lot of vertical paintings lately, but it is the same size as my previous calendar (about 9” x 6”). It is $17 and available at the From Here store in the downtown Spokane Mall and at Pottery Place Plus (in the same building as Auntie’s). I will get it up on the website shop soon, but you can also email me to order it as well. It makes a great Christmas gift! The last time I did calendars, people frequently bought multiples to give away.

I’ve also included larger photos of each of the paintings that I chose. It was so fun picking which ones went with each month (no gray paintings in February!) and trying to plan the experience of flipping through the calendar.

Enjoy!

Painting at La Push

A couple weeks back I went on my annual summer camping trip with my friend Danielle. Last year we went to Mt. Rainier. This year we headed to the coast to the La Push area, which was beautiful. We laughed because she would put on a swimsuit and go swim in the ocean and I would sit on the beach in my long pants and long sleeve shirt, jacket, and big hat because I’ve acclimated to living in 90 degree temperatures. not the low 70’s and high 60’s that we experienced. I told her, “These are night time temperatures where I live!” It was so refreshing and a wonderful break from the heat over here in Eastern Washington.

First Beach was closest to our campsite so we visited it often, including watching the sun set behind these rocks one evening in an absolutely incredible gradient of color.

This is First Beach facing the other way. We frequently saw surfers, especially later in the day. They wore wet suits, sometimes even with hoods over the head to help them stand the cold of the ocean.

All of the beaches had these incredible ancient trees washed up on their high tide lines. Some still had the webbing of their root balls still intact, creating fascinating shapes. People and perhaps waves put stones in their crevices and “shelves”.

The Washington Coast almost always has a breeze and that makes it great for kite flying. I love kites. They are magical and almost alive in a way. I especially love kites that are unusual shapes (koi, birds, fish, airplanes).

We hiked the 1.5 trail down to Third Beach which had the atmosphere of a secluded cove, except for the fact that it was FULL of people camping in tents on the sands, nestled in among the driftwood logs. The tide must not come up all that high this time of year. I would definitely want a tide chart if I camped down there. It would not be fun to wake up to find the ocean coming to visit me in my tent in the middle of the night.

We walked down Rialto Beach to "Hole-In-The-Wall” a literal hole, now an arch, in one of the rock outcroppings . The tide was in enough that we couldn’t walk into it so I painted this instead. It was early in the morning when the air was still full of mist with the sun just starting to break through.

This is the “Tree of Life” at Kalaloch Beach. It stands on the high wall that abuts the beach and the soil is eroding out from under it. It won’t be able to hold itself up for much longer. While I painted, people walked by and took selfies with the tree. Some people jumped up and hung from the roots, which made me groan in sympathy for the tree.

We spent an entire day at Ruby Beach and I painted constantly. There was so much to see!

A lighthouse in the distance.

There were many rock outcroppings and there was some drama when a teenage boy climbed to the top of one and got stuck and couldn’t get down again. Luckily a passerby who had rock climbing experience was walking by and he went up the rock and talked the kid down. It was his 18th birthday! Happy Birthday to him! (And his poor mother who was watching with her hand over her mouth the whole time.)

The beaches were very popular and we saw out of state license plates in the parking lot, which startled both of us because we sort of think of this area as a “Washington Place” not something that people outside of the PNW know about but there were license plates from the Midwest and East Coast as well. What a long drive!

I’d like to come back to the coast during a shoulder season (fall or spring) and paint because I bet the atmosphere and weather that happen during those more turbulent times would be so dramatic! I would need to pack my all weather gear though and there would be no camping for sure. I’d have to find a cabin or Airbnb. Still-a fun idea!

Have you gone anywhere fun this summer? Do you have any places you think I should explore to paint in the PNW region?

Painting & Sweating!

I’ve been busy the past month and a half. Sweating in the heat wave as I draw, working on drywall in my new studio, keeping the garden watered, and family things.

My husband’s grandfather passed away at the end of May and Grandmom followed him a month later so I painted a portrait of the two of them together. It was nice to get to “spend time” with them again.

I painted this to accompany Mark Anderson’s poem in the June issue of Spokane Coeur D’Alene Magazine. It has been a fun challenge to try to illustrate poetry!

A quick sketch while picking strawberries in Green Bluff before the 100 degree + heat wave. It was only 87 degrees when I painted this at 10 am.

I sketched the Monroe Street Bridge between meetings from the new plaza near the downtown library and City Hall. I’ll definitely be coming back to paint here when the weather cools down.

I enjoy car shows. I’m always so impressed by the creativity and style on display in the form of cars-this Metropolitan 4 x 4 has an eagle from a flagpole as its hood ornament.

A very GREEN commission of a house and pets that was a present from children to parents commemorating their home.

A demo for my Zoom watercolor class at the Spokane Art School of a path in Hamblen Park.

Another demo for class of a field of blooming vetch.

This is a recently completed commission of a historic restaurant painted for the family who used to own it. The building is still standing in Hillyard, but it is a a very different business now and has had buildings added on to the left side (which hold a VR studio!).

Hope that you are all doing well and staying cool!

July Events

Hi Guys! Things are finally starting to open up and here are some fun activities I’m taking part in this month. I hope you are all managing to stay cool and I’ll be sending out an update of what painting projects I’ve been working on soon.

I’m doing a Zoom lecture with the Friends of Manito on July 17th, 11 am-12:30 pm. Click here to sign up.

PAINTINGS OF MANITO AND OTHER SPOKANE SCENES

Join local artist Megan Perkins as she discusses the subject of her paintings with particular focus on ones done at Manito, as well as other Spokane scenes. She will talk about painting en plein air (or “in the open air”) and how listeners can paint in their own gardens or at the gardens in beautiful Manito Park.

Brush on the Bluff is a new event this year. I’ll be painting from 10-1 at location 8 on the map (to be released).

Here’s some more information and check out their website to see the other artists involved!

Watch Artists Paint the Bluff's Scenery

Several artists will be setting up in different locations on the bluff (all within half a mile of Polly Judd Park) to paint the scenery around them. Friends of the Bluff will provide maps to their locations so visitors can take a short stroll, stopping to meet each artist and observe their work. At the end of the event, all of the paintings will be auctioned off and the proceeds will be split between the artists and Friends of the Bluff.

Add Some Color to the Polly Judd Park Sidewalks!

Friends of the Bluff will be providing sidewalk chalk to anyone that wants to help us brighten up the park. Professional chalk artist Stacie Boyer will also be on-hand to answer questions and create her own masterpiece!

Nature-Inspired Art Workshop

The Botanical Alchemists create large-scale nature designs around Spokane for weddings, festivals, memorials, and more. They will be leading a free community workshop all day for anyone who wants to create their own nature-inspired masterpiece.

Art Hike for Families

Take a short walk into the woods with Marit Fischer before settling in on your blankets for a grounding and mindfulness exercise. This will be followed by a brief lesson on the basic principles of drawing and an opportunity for the children to share their work. There are limited spots available, so please visit our Bluff Walks page to register.

Sketching the Palouse

Boy, the month of April (and most of May, I guess!) sure got away from me. My Seasons in Spokane show at the Spokane Art School went great and thank you to everyone who stopped by to see it. Three paintings from that show have now sold and I’m very grateful!

I went on a road trip adventure down to Palouse Falls for a day a couple weeks back and did a bunch of sketching.

This is known as the graffiti bus and can be found along the road just before Washtucna. While I sketched, two people came and tagged it with spray cans and several more came to take pictures!

Palouse Falls! There actually was a rainbow as the sun hit the waterfall in the afternoon.

This is the opposite view down the gorge. As I painted this two small planes circled over head, taking in the view and coming down super low to the falls.

I drove home via Colfax and decided to stop at Steptoe Butte. I’d never been so I was startled by how abruptly it rises from the landscape and then spent the spiraling drive up it sweating and feeling a little nauseous due to the constant left turns, the narrow road and complete lack of guardrail. It is going to be closed for 6 weeks this spring and I hope they install some guardrails! The view was worth it however and I struggled to capture the immense view. I’ll have to return and try again.

We’re making good progress on my studio. My husband took a week off and managed to get most of the dry wall up, including cutting holes in the pieces going on the ceiling to fit around the rafters which was quite the process! Wish us luck on the taping, mudding and sanding. I hear that is challenging!

What have you guys been up to? Are you putting in a garden or planning summer road trips?

Wonder Building Pop Up

Good news guys! I’ve been asking to join a small group of artists, bakers, and local creators for the Saturday Wonder Building Pop Up Market this Saturday, April 10th, 12-3. There will be beignets and High Tide Lobster Rolls and my art. Check out @luckyladybread on Instagram and the Wonder Building Facebook as we get closer to learn more about who is going to be there. I’m excited to get out and show art again and a little apprehensive about how long I’m going to last before I snap and buy a bunch of carbs!

Wonder Building:

835 N. Post Street

Spokane, WA

New Show: Seasons in Spokane

Hello everyone! I have exciting news! I have been hard at work during the past month making new paintings for my show at the Spokane Art School. I decided to go with the theme, “Seasons in Spokane” because we are so lucky to have four full distinct seasons here in Spokane and I wanted to celebrate them.

The show opens April 1st and closes on the 30th. The Spokane Art School is open 10-2. We won’t be having a First Friday reception, but I’d be happy to meet anyone who wanted a personal tour of the work to chat about it, just email me!

I think it will be really fun for people to look at the paintings and decide which season a painting “belongs” to. There’s a couple that I think could go either way (though I, of course, have a preference) and I am always interested to hear what other people think.

What season do you think these paintings belong to?

Stop by the Spokane Art School to see these guys and the rest of the paintings in person!

Take A Class With Me!

Northwest Museum of Art and Culture

Sketch Your Story Date(s):3/25 Time: 5:30p - 8:00p Ages Allowed: 16 - 99

Sketch Your Story

Instructor: Megan Perkins

Thursday, March 25, 2020, 5:30 - 8 pm

Limit: 15

Location: Offered most likely off campus as a live Zoom webinar, or in person at the museum if COVID - 19 restrictions are lifted.*Once you register through the Zoom link that will be provided to you via email upon your registration, Zoom will inform you how to join the program.

Cost: $20, members, $22.50, non-members. *There could well be a small amount of additional costs for art related class supplies if you do not have them available. A complete list of supplies you will need to participate will be provided to you via email at least a week before the class date.

Class Description: This program draws inspiration from two of the museum’s current WWII exhibits that focus on the men, women and children who experienced the Second World War firsthand. Led by Spokane artist Megan Perkins, you’ll begin by learning about sketching techniques and generate ideas for your own sketch of a special place, object, building, family member or heirloom that represents the WWII period for you. You’ll share your sketch and the story behind it in a follow-up virtual session - or in person at the museum if possible - on an agreed to date if you choose to participate.

Sign up HERE

Corbin Art Center

Drawing on Gratitude 4 weeks | Ages 16+ | Megan Perkins

We are surrounded by wondrous beauty in our everyday lives, but are frequently too busy to fully appreciate what we have. Use drawing and sketching to meditate on the things, places, moments, and people that you are grateful for. Beginners welcome! Supply list included upon confirmation of registration. Class held at the Corbin Art Center, 507 W 7th Avenue. $65 6771 Tues. 4/20-5/11 5-7pm

Intro to Watercolor Painting & Beyond 4 Weeks | Ages 16+ | Megan Perkins

Come and learn the basics of watercolor, mixing colors, choosing the right paper, brushes to use, and how to transform a value sketch into a watercolor painting. If you have already taken a watercolor class before, the instructor will help you go on with what you want to accomplish. Please feel free to bring your own photos to paint from. Supply list included upon confirmation of registration. Class held at the Corbin Art Center, 507 W 7th Avenue. $65 6775 Thu. 4/8-4/29 5-7pm

Spokane Art School

Intermediate Watercolor Online with Megan Perkins

For high school and adult students

$80

Wednesdays, 5 – 7

May 5, 12, 19 & 26, 2021

Taken one of my classes or dabbled in watercolor before? This class will help you build on previously learned skills such as color mixing, making a wash, working wet in wet to help you capture subjects in an expressive, personal way.

Intermediate Watercolor with Megan Perkins

*Pre-registration is required for Art School classes; classes will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Students will be registered ONLY on receipt of payment. Enrollment requirements: 3 students minimum, 12 students maximum (in most cases). Classes with low enrollment are cancelled 48 hours before the class is scheduled to begin.

Refunds and Cancellation Policies: If a class is cancelled due to low enrollment, a full refund will be issued. Otherwise, no refunds will be issued.

Daily Sketchbook Online with Megan Perkins

For high school to adult students

$80

Tuesday, 5 – 7

May 18, 25 and June 1 & 8, 2021

 Want to have more creativity in your life? Learn tips and tricks for incorporating a daily sketchbook habit into your life. We’ll learn to compose on the page; draw from everyday objects and then paint in watercolors.

Megan Perkins Daily Sketchbook Supply List

*Pre-registration is required for Art School classes; classes will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Students will be registered ONLY on receipt of payment. Enrollment requirements: 3 students minimum, 12 students maximum (in most cases). Classes with low enrollment are cancelled 48 hours before the class is scheduled to begin.

Refunds and Cancellation Policies: If a class is cancelled due to low enrollment, a full refund will be issued. Otherwise, no refunds will be issued.

Palouse Fields and Belated Christmas

I’m continuing to enjoy painting with gouache. It allows me to do things that watercolors do not and creates a different mood. I’ve been keeping an eye out for inspiration-mostly pictures taken by local photographers as I’m not leaving the house much. I’m so looking forward to warmer weather and getting to paint outside!

This gouache painting of the Palouse was inspired by a photo taken by John Clement photography. We have so many talented and adventurous photographers in here in the Inland Northwest. It was featured in the Spokane Coeur D’Alene Living Magazine.

Having seen John (and other’s) inspiration, I decided to do a couple small gouache paintings of Palouse landscapes-focusing the the ability of snow to highlight the rows of wheat stubble.

Moonrise.

More gouache, this time to capture the Duncan Gardens in the snow, which I feel makes this formal garden magical even without the abundance of flowers for which it is famous. This was also featured in my Artist’s Eye on Spokane column with Spokane Coeur D’Alene Living Magazine.

This time of year, I like to work on Christmas related projects. It is still cold and there’s frequently snow (though not much this year) so that helps me get in the mood. I find it really hard to work on Christmas stuff when the weather is warm but when the weather cools in fall and things start ramping up toward the holiday season it gets so crazy for me it is hard to find the time to be in the Christmas spirit, never mind paint Christmas scenes, so doing it now works really well for my schedule and simultaneously helps me feel a bit festive about the weather when I might otherwise be frustrated that it is still cold and dark.

Final version of this painting, sketch in the photo above. This image is based on a photo taken by Paige Gullickson. I love how she caught the Pavilion in the background and the snow was so much fun to paint. This will be a Christmas card for next year.

Every year I buy an amaryllis bulb so I have the flowers to watch in the dead of winter. They are dramatic as they unfurl and stay in bloom for quite some time, bringing cheer to my studio.

They are even quite pretty when they are fading!

How are you all coping these days? Buying flowers? Reading good books or going for walks? I’m doing all of those things (Plus painting the living room wall and selling the couch and other home improvement flurries!) and looking forward to the slowly returning light!