Happy Holidays!

Hello again everyone! I hope you are doing well. I write this on the shortest day of the year as a constant rain slowly washes the snow off our lawn, but by the time you receive this, we’ll be on the other side, heading toward lengthening daylight. I wanted to wish you all well and thank you for coming along with me on my adventures. While it has been a wild ride out in the world, in my little sphere, I’ve gotten along quite well with lots of time spent in the garden and out painting on location and learning to use gouache. Loss of income due to the cancellation of art festivals and store and school closures was offset by people reaching out for private commissions so I feel very fortunate. My studio-to-be arrived in its raw state in late April and is still a mess inside, but I have hopes of getting in there before its 1 year anniversary-ah, home improvement projects. I’ve been talking with the Northwest Museum of Art and Culture and the Spokane Art School and we have plans to teach online via Zoom starting around March and I hope to also do Zoom classes out of my studio once it is finished. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what kind of classes you’d like to take from me on Zoom-a Paint & Sip class? Painting skies? Color theory?

Here’s a painting of the Gaiser Conservatory from two years ago, all aglow. This year there is a drive through holiday display that seems to be very popular.

Last year I visited the display and then walked the Duncan gardens in the dark so I could look back and really feel the impact of the light in the dark (a lesson in contrasts and perhaps a metaphor?).

A gouache painting of the Duncan Gardens in the daylight with a light coating of snow. The garden is most popular in the summer but I think winter is an underrated time to visit!

A gouache painting of a light dusting of snow on wheat fields.

This painting is from 2 years ago when I took a ride on the Wheatland Bank Carriage Rides. You can tell because the sky walk across main is still the vintage yellow one in this painting rather than the modern glass one that is there today. I think I need to retackle this subject. Maybe my Christmas card for next year?

Wishing you well in 2021. I hope I’ll be able to invite you all to visit my new studio in the coming year. Fingers Crossed!

Winter is Here!

Hoo boy guys, we haven’t seen much snow yet, but last night, the high at my house was 15 degrees! As I write this on Sunday afternoon, the furnace keeps kicking on to keep us warm!

Other signs of winter and the holidays? Amaryllis for sale at all the grocery stores! I love these flowers. They are so dramatic. I like to track the unfolding of their blooms in my sketchbooks every year. I’ve got all of mine stashed in a dark closet, trying to prep them to bloom sometime in January and I have high hopes that I’ll get at least a couple of flowers out of them, but it is still hard to resist buying an already blooming plant at the store when I pass by!

I did this demo at my last watercolor class to demonstrate how to make something look further away when we were working on landscape and reflections. More water, less color intensity, and softer edges are key!

Here’s another demo from this class, this time also addressing sky. The sky is typically a darker and redder blue up high and gets lighter and yellower toward the horizon (all the dust and dirt and particles in the air). Clouds are way softer than you think and definitely not just white! The colors from the ground below reflect up into cloud bottoms! For reflections, dark objects usually reflect a little bit lighter than they actually are and light objects a little bit darker! There you go! A quick lesson. Have fun!

Now here are my last two holiday shows of the season (You can always find my stuff at Pottery Place Plus and the From Here Store all year round!):

Urban Art Coop’s Holiday Market which is THIS weekend. They have an paid preview night on Friday where you can meet the artists and get delicious nibbles and are open for free Saturday and Sunday. The show is managed by the co-op so if you want to chat with me in person, your best bet is my next show: BRRZAAR, Saturday December 14th at RiverPark Square Mall! Yes, the MALL. Now this was a great show last year with lots of amazing stuff (I bought a print of a giant marmot rampaging through the Monroe Street Bridge whipping the gondolas over his head.) so you should definitely brave the crowds and come!

Urban Art Co-op 3209 N Monroe St, Spokane, WA 99205

Friday- opening night 6-9pm light food 5.00 suggested donation at the door
Saturday- 10am to 6pm
Sunday- 10am to 4pm

RiverPark Square Mall in downtown Spokane!

Spokane Christmas Scenes

Happy Holidays everyone! This week on Artist's Eye on Spokane, I spent some time wandering around the city, taking in the holiday sights. What do you do for fun around the holidays? Do you have any favorite family traditions?

On these dark and wintery nights, holiday lights are a welcome addition. Frankly, I'd like it if they went up after Halloween and stayed till Valentine's Day! This is the Holiday Light show at the Gaiser Conservatory at Manito Park. Sadly, I think they might be done for the year, but get out and savor all the other lights that can be seen around town.

This epic Christmas tree was found in River Park Square Mall. It is SO TALL! Santa was busy with quite a line of children excited to see him and his cheer and kindness warmed my heart. I sketched this sitting next to the escalator in the entryway and for a while, my view was blocked by a high school band group waiting to perform Christmas music. It's a busy season!

I also sketched the same tree last year, using a combination of watercolors, markers, and metallic Sharpies. It is always fun to revisit a subject and try to capture a different element of it. As you can see from my notes, I had musical accompaniment to my drawing this time as well, a choir instead of a band!

Wheatland Bank has been doing free carriage rides around downtown for the past couple of weeks. Festive and fun! I hitched a ride on the tailgate and enjoyed a horse paced tour of downtown while the kids in the wagon sang Jingle Bells. Have a lovely holiday weekend everyone!