Color Class & 33 Artists

Hi guys!

Just popping in quick to let you know about two things I’m up to this month.

There’s still some spaces available in my two session class about color with the Spokane Art School if you’d like to come paint with me and my first market of the year is on the 23rd at the Wonder Building if you’d like to come do some shopping. I’ll have prints of many of the paintings that I had on display at my Terrain Group Show-Listening for an Echo for the first time!

Running errands around town yesterday, I ran into construction on 4 streets, all in different neighborhoods-so I guess it’s spring!

Color Beyond the Color Wheel-Spokane Art School

For students 14 years old and up

$48

Wednesdays, March 20 & 27, 2024

6 – 8 p.m.

Learn practical color theory-how do you mix colors to warm, cool, dull or brighten your painting? Learn about working your way around the color wheel to make color decisions as well as how to pick a unified color scheme and modify it intuitively on the fly.

This is one of the references we’ll be painting from for the color class!

Art Here, There & Everywhere

I’ve been cozied up in my studio for all of February, staying warm and dry and painting away. This time of year is quieter for me and I relish the chance to catch up on inspiration from past years’s adventures. Below are a selection of paintings inspired by trip to the west side of the state (where I grew up).

A few years back a friend and I hiked Naches Trail on Mt. Rainier during the wildflower season and it blew our minds. The day started out misty and ominous but ended with gorgeous blue skies. The wildflowers were incredible!

When I visited the tulip fields up in Skagit a few years back with my parents, it was an absolutely frigid day with lots of wind, but the gorgeous color of the tulips made it worth it. That and going to get soup in a bread bowl in La Conner afterward!

Ferries are a big part of life on the Puget Sound. My parents’s house has a view of the Sound and my childhood is full of memories of seeing the moon shine above the dark water as ferries and cargo containers sail by.

Incredible sunsets are another memory of childhood. Someday I’d like to live on the water.

I’ve got paintings hanging in galleries all over the place currently. This painting is up at Trail’s End Gallery in Chewelah for a couple more weeks.

“Boating Bounty” will be up with a bevy of glorious art at Barrister Winery for the month of March. The opening is today for First Friday! Stop by and check it out. Barrister on a First Friday is always a great time.

“Heaven’s Icy Splendor” went on a long drive with me to Twisp, WA to the Confluence Gallery where it will be until mid-April. The show info is below and looks amazing! Have any of you been to Twisp? It’s a cute town and the whole Methow Valley is beautiful.

Fall into the Arts !

October is Arts Month in Spokane and there is so much going on! I’m in two shows! I’ll be at Terrain’s Artist Preview Night (ticketed, the free event is on Friday) and at the Gonzaga Urban Art Center (on Washington, parking in the back) for the Watercolor Invitational Opening 4-7 on Friday! Where are you guys going for First Friday? There are so many good shows-I’m making a list so I can visit through the rest of the month!

I have one piece in this giant show-something unusual for me-see below!

This is Dr Ph Martin’s watercolors with collage and inspired by the little greenhouse my in-laws have that my father-in-law has turned into a tool shed. Walking by it at night is fun!

Have you been to the Gonzaga Urban Arts Center? It is really cool! An old brick building on Washington, it over looks the elevated train track so you’re eye level with the trains-really neat!

This is one of the five paintings I will have at the GUAC show.

Thank you to everyone who came out to see me at the Little Spokane River Artist Studio Tour! It was so great to see you all and share the many starry night paintings I made!

Govan Schoolhouse

Finally, I have just two more art classes on my schedule, both in October, before I go on my winter break. I’ll start teaching classes again in early spring in 2024.

Next Monday, my Landmarks Accordion Book class at the Corbin Art Center starts. It is the first time I’ve offered this class. If you’d like to join, but are worried about your drawing skills, I’ll have templates to help with drawing the architecture as seen above!

For more information on what I’m up to, check out my Events page.

Sunflowers & Sketcherfest

If you’ve been following my work for a while, you’ve probably figured out that I’m obsessed with sunflowers. I always have been. They are such charismatic and fabulous plants. I grow them every year in my garden and after the first two years of planting seeds, they all come up as volunteers from last year’s plants. This means they don’t always come up in the most convenient places (like the middle of a path), but they are everywhere!

You know what else is everywhere this year? Grasshoppers. We have grasshoppers every year but this summer they are like locusts-eating flowers to the ground and shooting across our field like fireworks when I walk to the garden. They are chewing, chewing, chewing on everything!

Hence, this series of sunflower paintings which I have titled, “Tattered But Still Glowing”. They flowers have been chewed on till their leaves are in tatters, but they are still blooming beautifully and bringing me joy.

Whatever’s chewing on you, keep glowing my friends!

The other major activity of this month was my trip over to Edmonds to participate in Sketcherfest, the world’s first sketchbook based festival. Sketcherfest is a part of the Urban Sketchers movement which you can read more about here. I’ve been following the Urban Sketchers for over a decade and always love to go to their events if I can. Artists from all around the world and the PNW came to show their sketchbooks and sell their wares. I went into raptures of delight flipping through their sketchbooks-glorious, glorious inspiration!

These sketches were done during the free sketchcrawls that happened on Sunday. Over 100 people participated in each of the sketchcrawls and sketchers were spread up and down the waterfront painting and drawing. The general public, just out to enjoy the water, were surprised and delighted, tripping over sketchers at every turn.

It was so much fun-such a great sense of camaraderie among all of us sketchers and it was a joy to get to look at other participants’s sketchbooks. Plus, as you can see, the weather was killer-blue sky, Mt. Baker, and the Edmonds-Kingston Ferry!

Speaking of Sketchcrawls-this is my demo from my most recent Riverfront Park Sketch Crawl class. It was a great class of lovely people and I’m really looking forward to our August class. You can sign up for that here!

This is coming up Sunday-my last art festival of the summer. Come out and say hi! We’ll be in the Wonder Building, so you know what that means-SHADE!!

Stay cool out there friends!

Jumping June-Art Festivals, Classes & a Throwback!

June is a busy month! I have two art shows right in a row-First the Manito Park Art Festival on Saturday June 10th and then Bazaar in downtown Spokane on Main on the 17th. I’ll be bringing my puzzles and several new paintings and I’d love to see you!

This is the view of the Pavilion as seen with my back to the Pavilion Art Space. My art is on display at the Pavilion Art Space until August. Right now there are two framed paintings and 3 framed sketchbooks (unusual for me!). I’m hoping to add sketches from my students once my Riverfront Park sketch crawl classes start happening. I really enjoyed having my sketchbooks up on the wall. I’d like to do an exhibit of my sketchbooks someday. Is that something you guys would be interested in?

I have painted the Rockwood Boulevard Towers before, but someone asked me to do a winter version as well so here it is-just in time for the Manito Art Festival!

I’ve taught at the Corbin Art Center for 10 years which I was shocked to realize recently. It is also the 125th anniversary of the Corbin House’s construction-so I guess, the house is probably even more shocked about how fast the time has gone than I am! Have you ever taken a class at Corbin?

This painting is at Craftsman Cellars for the Little Spokane River Artist Studio Tour Preview Show this month if you want a peek at what the artists will be at LSRAST this September.

Now for a fun throwback! My mom sent me this photo recently-its me in our hotel room in Hawaii. I think I’m around 12-13.

This is me in 2017 sketching in the UK, photo also taken by my mom. Clearly not much has changed! I still love to travel and to make art!

One last thing!

I’ve got sketchcrawl classes at Riverfront Park and Manito Park coming up in July and August. If you’d like to sign up for one of them here’s the link to my shop!

I was also thinking it’d be nice to do a sketching class in June. Email me back if you’re interested and let me know if weekday or weekend would be better and I’ll bang together a class sign up link to send out. We’d be aiming for either morning or evening so we don’t fry in the heat!

Hope to see you soon!

Holy Jolly Everywhere!

Happy Almost Thanksgiving, Friends!

I am thankful for pumpkin bread, good books, handknit socks and you-my newsletter friends! May your homes be full of love and plenty in these coming weeks.

Speaking of plenty, I have plenty on my schedule for the next two months and I wanted to get that information out to you all in case you wanted to join me for a class, talk or holiday art show! If you don’t care about any of that, scroll all the way to the end and you can see three recent paintings from the Oregon Coast that I’m working on! Two of which will be hanging at Helix Winery for the month of December.

First off my last class of the year: “Memory and Landscape” at the Hive where I am an artist in residence! Info below!

“Memory and Landscape” Class at the Hive

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

5:00 PM 7:00 PM

Place has such a huge impact on our memories, especially places that we return to again and again over the years. Join Megan for this drawing/painting class where you will learn how to create a piece of art that reflects your feelings about a beloved place.

Next a Holiday show!

Urban Art Co-op Show

Holiday Market held at Five Mile Prairie Grange, Saturday and Sunday December 10 & 11. My work will be at this show, but it is run by the Co-op members so I will not be there in person.

9-5 Saturday

11-4 Sunday!

Followed by a talk at the Hive!

Inland Northwest Landscape and Legends

December 14th

Time: 5-7

Place: The Hive (map)

Artist-In-Residence, Megan Perkins is spending her residency working on a project exploring the history, mythology, geology and majesty of the Inland Northwest landscape via her paintings. The region is full of such incredible drama in the form of the Missoula Flood landscape, the scablands and Palouse as well as the stories of the people who inhabited this place. She is soliciting family legends, “tall tales”, and stories of beloved places from the public in the hopes of finding inspiration to incorporate in her work.

And then, my final show of the year!

Brrrzaar Holiday Art Show

Saturday, December 17, 2022

10:00 AM 8:00 PM

Location River Park Square (the downtown mall) in Spokane! I’ll be on the third floor!

This painting and the following Haystack Rock painting are both little minis-right around 4.25” x 4.25” that I made as part of my show at Helix Winery for December.

This is a snippet of a recently finished painting that is 12” x 18” of Arch Cape on the Oregon Coast.

Awards, Sales, Shows, oh my!

Hi there guys! Hang on to your hats, I’ve got a whirlwind of fun things to share with you! First up: 33 Artist’s Market at the Hive on November 5th! This is going to be a great art market-I’m going to have to do some shopping myself!

I’ve moved into the Hive and I’m excited to really get dug in on my special project about Spokane mythology, geology and history! I’m collecting stories about people’s experiences with the landscape and family “tall tales” so if you have any or know anyone who does, please get in touch!

Location: The Hive®, 2904 E Sprague Ave Spokane, WA

Saturday November 5th, 10-6

The best kind of holiday gift is a local one! Check out this one-of-a-kind local art market featuring a variety of items including jewelry, original paintings, prints, clothing, book arts, & more. Artists will demo techniques at their tables.

This art market will feature 33 different local artists with affordable works that'd make the perfect gift for someone you know this holiday season.

The inspiration behind this event was sparked by one of our Artists-In-Residence at The Hive®, Gwyn Pevonka, who wanted to bring artists together to show and sell their work. This show is a perfect time to check out The Hive®, meet and learn from artists, and purchase artwork in a setting where 100% of the purchase price goes to the artist! The participating artists benefit much more this way since no showing commission or fee is required.

Find out which artists will be participating: https://events.spokanelibrary.org/event/723026

Next up! Awards and fun sales!

Very honored that this painting, “Haystack Sparkle,” has been accepted into the Northwest Watercolor Society’s 2022 82nd Annual International Open Show. It was chosen by Juror Andy Evansen as one of 75 paintings shown in this exhibition. It’s really incredible to be picked because over 330 artists submitted over 650 paintings, from all around the world!

“You Gonna Eat That” was shown in Terrain 13, which was a WILD one day show put by Terrain during October’s First Friday and I’m so pleased that it SOLD!

Had a ton of fun at the NW Museum of Art and Culture, showing people how to make this painting for a Paint & Sip last week. It was a great group with a few familiar faces-I’m always honored when someone wants to take a class with me more than once. It’s a big compliment! I enjoy doing this demos-they are a reminder to loosen up and have fun as I’m painting on a vertical board (watercolor is usually painted flat or at a slight angle, unlike oils or acrylics) and I go for it directly in pen, no pencil lines underneath so however things turn out, I just have to roll with it, which I hope is a good example for my students!

Recent Work!

I’m continuing working on paintings inspired by my two trips to the coast last year and I’ll have these pieces with me at the 33 Artists Market at the Hive.

I love the light in this painting. it was a struggle to get here. This is my third try!

The way stormy weather moves in and out at the Oregon Coast is endlessly inspiring!

Paint Watercolor Flowers Class!

Last Minute Class Alert! This is the last class I’ll be doing in 2022 (except for a 2 hour class with the Hive in December TBA). It is my class on painting Watercolor Flowers with the Corbin Art Center. It starts November 1st and runs till the 22nd and runs 1-3 pm. Check out it out and sign up here.

Hope you are all doing well! Happy Fall!

Little Spokane River Studio Tour 9/24/22 & Sketch Adventures!

Thank you to everyone who came out to my Open Studio last month. it was a fabulous day and it was so great to see you all and show you my studio! I am so grateful for all of you.!

I’ve been a busy bee and teaching a lot of classes. This painting was completed during my first class with the Children’s Center for Book Arts. A group of children and adults walked from the Center down to the park, sketching along the way.

We stopped to sketch on one of the bridges!

A marker, pen and colored pencil sketch on top of a pre-painted page made as a demo for the my Spokane Art School Sketchcrawl class.

And the big news! I’ll be at the Little Spokane River Artist Studio Tour this upcoming Saturday. I’ll be at Collista Kreb’s Studio-#1 on the list, which also happens to be the furthest north-so come visit me first and work your way back south!

Hope you are all doing well during this transition from summer into fall! May your homegrown tomatoes be many and the smoke stay light!

Open Studio Invite!

Hello Everyone!

I wanted to get this invite out to you sooner rather than later since I know summer is a busy time and days fill up fast. I’d love to get on your calendar so you can come visit me in my studio! I’ll have delicious nibbles, cold drinks, and art for sale. Peek in my flat files at unshown paintings and see my creative space. You know I love painting on location, so if you feel up to it, bring your paints and paint in my rambunctious garden. This is going to be a big creative party and a thank you to all who have supported me these first 5 years of my art career.

Please RSVP to meganperkinsartstudio@gmail.com if you can! It’ll help me plan how much food to have! Looking forward to seeing you all there!

In other news, I got to go up to my aunt’s place at Priest Lake for the 4th of July and it was fabulous. We had this very expressive visitor who talked with his hands, so I had to draw him!

This is the view from the dock. I was very pleased that despite the bouncing around I didn’t lose any brushes overboard!

Now for a nice cold breeze! I’ve been putting together my 2023 calendar and I needed a December image. Our beloved garbage goat is going to star on that page!

Hope you’re all enjoying these glorious sunny days and see you in August!

June Happenings!

Despite all the rain and cold weather, summer is definitely underway with two art festivals in June. I’ll be at the Manito Art Festival June 11th 10-8, followed by Bazaar in downtown Spokane which takes place across from River Park Square on Saturday June 18th, also 10-8. I’d love to see you, so come on by!

June 18th, 10-8 in downtown Spokane!

Last Tuesday we had our first Garland Sketchcrawl of the season and the sun finally came out for us! Want to sketch Garland with me? Your next chance is June 8th 5-7. To see what other classes I have planned for the summer, check out my Events Page.

I’ve been having fun in the studio revisiting my April trip to the Skagit Valley for the Tulip Festival.

The color and diversity of the tulips blew me away!

I’ve also been revisiting sketchbooks from various other summer trips and reveling in the memories, especially of trips to the coast. I bet most of you know where this is!

This magical moment actually happened. All that was needed was for me to click the shutter on my phone camera and then try to make a painting that lived up to it.

I spent some time at Ecola State Park which had gorgeous views. When I was there, I did some painting on location but had to retreat occasionally to the car to wait out the rain. Ah, the Oregon Coast.

Now for some additional exciting news! I promised you all that once I was done with the studio, I’d have an Open Studio Day so you could all come and visit! I haven’t forgotten! We’re adding a little deck to the front of the studio to make the footing better and shoveling snow in the winter easier, but we should be done soon and I’m hoping to do a celebratory party in August-drinks, nibbles, art and fabulous company (aka YOU!). I’ll keep you posted as soon as we have a date!

See you soon!

Megan

Little Spokane River Artist Studio Tour

Hello everyone!

I just returned from a solo painting trip on the Oregon coast to discover that fall has arrived in force here in the Inland NW. I spent last night frantically harvest tomatoes and peppers, trying to save them from the frost alert. Most things I didn’t manage to cover last night are a little crispy but we might be able to hobble along a little longer (fingers crossed! I have so many green tomatoes!). I canned what I hope will be the last of the pickles this morning and I’m gearing up to do jalapeno jelly tomorrow. If you have recipes you love for green peppers (or veggies in general!) please send them my way! I need all the help I can get!

I checked my calendar and realized to my great surprise that the Little Spokane River Artist Studio Tour is coming up! I’ll be at my friend Collista’s house, which is a new location and a bit further north than the others but well worth the effort (Her yard is beautiful!). Come see if I remembered how to set up my booth! I’d love to see you all. Masks please and no pets.

Wishing you all a happy fall!

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!

Little Spokane River Artist Studio Tour ONLINE

Hi Everyone!

I’ll be posting updates of what I’ve been up to since we last talked soon, but I wanted to get this out quick. We’re coming up on the Annual Littler Spokane River Artist Studio Tour which has gone online for this year. If you love local art, you should definitely check out the website and all the artists participating. Me included! I knew this would be a good excuse to finally try to get a website up and going, especially with the holiday season approaching (I can hardly believe it!). Feel free to poke around in the shop. I’d appreciate any feedback you can give me about it since this online selling process is sure a learning process and if you feel moved to buy something, I’d love that too!

Hope that you are all well and breathing clean air during these beautiful fall days!

Artist's Eye Book Sneak Peek & Final Holiday Show

I got my first book proof back last Friday! It was such a thrill to hold it in my hands for the first time after so long dreaming about it. I might have squealed with excitement. :)

Here’s a quick video of me flipping through the first part of the book. I can’t wait to get the book out into the world and share my love of Spokane with everyone!

Fox Theater Spread!

Tall Towers down town!

Enjoyed seeing similar stone colors on two separate buildings downtown.

Browne’s Addition

My adventures at Avista Stadium

My last Holiday Show of the Year with Terrain’s BrrrZaar! 11 am-10PM at Riverfront Park. I’ll have a small handful of books if you didn’t grab one during the Kickstarter. I’ve looked at the list of vendors participating and it is going to be such an awesome show! I may have to do a bit of shopping myself. I hope to see you there!

Shows & Sketch Outs with Megan!

July First Friday in the City Hall Lobby 5-8 pm

I'll be in the newly remodeled lobby at City Hall with a selection of paintings from my Artist's Eye on Spokane series Friday 6th 5-8 pm. Stop in and take a look. I'd love to chat with you.  

Sketch Out July 13th at Huntington Park 5-8 pm

I will be hosting a sketch out at Huntington Park on July 13th 5-8pm. FREE! Bring your own supplies. I recommend a sketchbook or paper with a board to back it, watercolors, brushes, pens, water brushes. I'll be at the water feature on the steps at the top of the park at 5, but drop in at any time to come paint. This is your chance to sketch and paint Spokane too!

Note: This is not an instructional class, but if you get stuck and want to ask a question, I'd be happy to help you!

Perry Street Fair July 21st 10 am-6 pm

Come see me at the Perry Street Fair! The Festival goes from 10 am - 10 pm, but vendors will start closing down after 6. Last year was a ton of fun. I'll have prints, cards, and originals! See you there!

Sketch Out July 24th at Riverfront Park 9 am-12 pm

I will be hosting a sketch out at Riverfront Park 9 am-12 pm. FREE! Bring your own supplies. I recommend a sketchbook or paper with a board to back it, watercolors, brushes, pens, water brushes. I'll be at the Rotary Fountain at 9, but drop in at any time to come paint. I'd love to see you!

Note: This is not an instructional class. But if you get stuck and want to ask a question, I'm happy to help.

Megan Perkins Art at Pottery Place Plus

Hi guys! This past February, I became a member of Pottery Place Plus, a local artist's co-op here in Spokane. This year they are celebrating their 40th anniversary, making them one of the oldest artist co-ops on the West Coast. Pottery Place Plus is located at 203 N Washington St. in the Liberty Building (the same building as Auntie's, Sante's and Uncle's Games). I thought it would be nice to have a constant, regular place to have my art available so that people could come by to see it (or buy it!) at any time of year, whether I'm at an art show or not. Pottery Place Plus has a wonderful variety of handmade items, pottery obviously, but also candles, soaps, ecoprinted scarves, paintings, jewelry, wood working, and more. I'm going to be down there working 10-3 or so on Friday the 13th and I'd love visitors! But no worries if that doesn't work for you. Pottery Place Plus is open 7 days a week, 10 am-9 pm Tuesday-Saturday and 11 am-6 pm Sunday and 10 am-6 pm on Monday. Come on down sometime and take a look! Also, Pottery Place Plus is right near the park so you can get a look at the progress they are making on the new carousel building and see everyone roller skating on the new skate ribbon. I think that plus maybe a quick bite to eat would make for a lovely outing!

My art wall!

I have cards of lots of my paintings and well as prints!

See My Art at Bellwether Brewing

Hi Guys!

I'm the featured artist at Bellwether Brewing for the month of March. I'll be there this Friday the 2nd 5-7 pm if you want to drop by to see the art and chat! I will have a lot of watercolors from my Artist's Eye on Spokane Series up and hanging and Bellwether has some great beers to enjoy as well. The art will be up all month so feel free to stop by!

Bellwether Brewing: 2019 N Monroe Spokane, WA