Poetry Postcard Zine: February and March 2024
Hi! This is Walking By.
I was walking home from the grocery store, through the wooded neighborhood, past the old craftsman’s & bungalows, Past the mossy winter trees & unruly gardens when I saw a poem attached to a fence in a special wooden box with a glass face. I stopped to read it. And it was beautiful & also awkwardly poetic. “Good for you,” I thought, “write from your own heart Fence Poet! Don’t worry about judgy folks like myself, just walking by, no courage to post their own poems out on the street.
At home I sit down on the burgundy leather couch that was long-ago wrecked by cats and search for this poet on-line. I’m going all-in now: supporting my neighborhood poets even if they’re a bit heavy-handed. Perhaps she has a blog to follow or a chapbook to buy. I find this is actually an accomplished poet. Who doesn’t own that particular fence. Whose words only sound over-done now because of all who came after who employed the phrase, the attitude, the trick. But either way our opinions are just shirts that keep us warm and make us feel a certain way.”
New poem next month! Sign-up here!
Winter 2023-24
February Studio Chat: The Simple Art Journal
Here is my first Studio Chat! Now that I am going gray I want to share what I have learned about creativity but I don’t want teaching classes or making instructional videos to compete with my art practice for time. I decided informal studio chats about creative practices would be the way to go. This first one is about how to keep a simple art journal. It also discusses how to tailor your art journal practice to your own needs and inspirations. I hope you enjoy it!
Simple and Spontaneous Book Illustration Technique.
This isn’t a tutorial, it’s just a video of me making a book by starting with a large sheet of paper. I loosely paint elements from my story or poem, divide the paper up into folios and then I have pages with the illustrations started already. I add more painting and then the text. I learned this in a workshop by the renowned book artist Timothy Ely. I used it a lot when I first started illustrating books and was intimidated by the process. I still use it sometimes to generate new and unique composition ideas. Enjoy!
Postcard Poetry Zine
My postcard newsletter has inspired me to publish an illustrated postcard zine. I’ve always wanted to publish an illustrated magazine but it’s a big project for one artist who wants to publish a lot of content regularly. My best attempt was Lovejoy News, a micro-news report I blogged when I lived near Lovejoy street in NW Portland. I was always in a rush to meet my deadlines so my illustrations were questionable. When I made the first printed copy I felt a little embarrassed. Also I had no idea how to gather any sort of following so I moved on to other art projects. I’m very excited now to return to this dream via a scaled down version: Just one postcard a month. Above is January’s postcard image made into two parts, I’m not sending it out as issues since my audience has already seen it, this is just the inspirational template. You’ll have to subscribe or tune in to this blog in February to see the first issue! Here’s the poem from the postcards!
Stretch
All the leaves are on the ground now.
The beautiful crow swoops out of the bare branches
toward my window then past.
Spiky brown seed pods dot the otherwise bare brush.
Rain begins to hit the window as crows
fly though the back yards below the roof lines
to perch in a fir.
I used to worry that one day
I wouldn’t be able to walk in the woods
And I have stretched
ever since
to hold each of the moments;
To plant them inside like trees.
Fall 2023
I had a wonderful time at Newport Autumn Fest. I appreciate everyone who came to my booth and enjoyed my books. I finished Rust this season and was happy to share it at a show. Thanks to everyone who took a copy home!
Here are the moments I captured in pictures this season. I’ve been cleaning out my studio to make room for new work while also making lots of watercolor experiments.
This winter I’ll be working on Landscape Diaries and illustrating a compilation of poems too small to be their own books. Sign up for my newsletter if you would like to get updates, thanks!
Summer 2023
A year ago I started selling at Portland Saturday Market and moved in with my boyfriend. It was a lot of change at once for a hermit but all very welcome. I had wanted to do the market in my 20s and at age 48 I finally got around to it. I had the best time. I wanted it to replace my day job and at the end of the market season I had to reflect on that goal. (cont. below)
It seemed the things I needed to do to make the market my living were moving me in the opposite direction of what I wanted artistically. My books are my greatest passion and they were only a tiny slice of the income I brought in. Also while all the market prep was fun it took up most of the time I used to have to paint. I decided to spend the coming year working on my books, getting deep into my abstract paintings and drawings, and hopefully finding a few indoor art sales that would be a good home for my work.
It’s been a busy and fulfilling year making 2 new books, working on 3 more new books, enjoying family life, traveling with my fellow to Greece and England, getting COVID, starting a new job that is a better fit for me than the old one, planting flowers and ferns. I found a couple new art sales I’m excited to apply to but would like to find more bookish events.
Even though I miss the market I am glad I decided to let it go for a while to collect my thoughts and feelings about art and money. I am all-for artists making money but for me the art needs to come first. In retrospect I wish I had gone there without needing to make money. To just show up with my books and a few original paintings and talk to people about how beautiful nature is. How beautiful humans are even though we don’t always act like it. I may still have taken this last year off, maybe I would have lost interest sooner but I think it would have moved me more in the right direction. I am contemplating whether I could have a re-do next year. I’ll keep you posted of course. Thanks so much for reading!
New Work
Fronds 24 by 30 acrylic on watercolor on watercolor paper $1000
Here is my latest painting Fronds. It is an attempt to mesh my illustration with my abstract work. I did not have a specific idea before painting this. I did look through my workbook for elements to inspire the piece though. It is a medley of natural elements with a central figure to bring in the human presence. Clothing is a favorite way for me to tie the patterns of nature into human representation. I began the painting in watercolor which i sealed with clear acrylic then I painted over things that needed more detail or color with fluid acrylic.
