Ribbons at the Fair!

Fern Lake won 1st in Mixed Media class.

Foggy Fall Morning won 1st in Acrylics class.

Canyon Night won 4th in Mixed Media.

My paintings got three ribbons at the Clackamas County Fair! Two of my watercolorist friends also got prizes this year, one with three and one with four. I was just glad that they had air conditioning units in several places in the building. I bailed out at 11:30 when it was 95º and came home to cool off and start watering the garden.

All the displays will be up through this Sunday. There are hundreds of paintings and photographs, plus many other beautifully made art and craft items.

Thank you, unknown judge at the Fair! And thanks to all the volunteers who staff the exhibits and make the whole event possible. What a fun event!

Villa Catalana Cellars Paint-Out this Saturday, August 22nd

The August Paint-Out at Villa Catalana Cellars is this Saturday, and I'll be there. It will open to the public at 5:30, and there will be live jazz music again, and catered suppers and their award-winning wines to purchase, and a new treat this year, ice cream creations. Admission is $10 per person, and you can reserve your spot online here.

For you gardeners, this is also the home of Rare Plant Research, and you can see many hardy tropical plantings on the grounds.

I've picked out the compositions I'll be working on there, and there will be a lot of different artists working this year. The weather predictions are for sun and mid-to-upper 80's, and probably a light breeze. Watching the sunset from the patio there is tough to beat by itself, but add in a glass of wine,  the lovely strains of talented musicians drifting over the lotus pond, and the chance to watch and talk to a couple dozen local artists, and you've got a memorable evening.

Showing at the Clackamas County Fairgrounds

I'll have five paintings on display at the County Fair in Canby, OR, August 18-23—two mixed media paintings and three acrylic paintings. Some friends who are great watercolorists inspired me to enter. It's a fun fair with an amazing range of art, craft, and hobby displays.

Painting Greeting Cards are now for sale on Etsy!

I make the colors as brilliant as I can

I've just released sixteen of my paintings as 5x7" photo greeting cards on my Etsy web site! These are the same cards I've been selling at art fairs for several years. They include many of my old and new paintings, sold and unsold. I do plan to release more as I get the cards in stock and ready to ship.

Sample Card in an 8x10 Ikea "Ribba" frame

I've been contemplating this action for a while now, as the cards have become more and more popular. But before I went ahead, I wanted to make sure the images are copyrighted. So I submitted forty-four of my original paintings on Copyright dot gov. That took me a few days because I'd never submitted works of visual art before, or submitted work as a collection. But once I figured out their terminology, it really wasn't hard, just a bit arduous getting everything ready. It does feel really good to have them legally protected now.

Our US Copyright service is one of the best things this country has to offer to creators, and the people who do it are doing a great job. I'm sure there are those who would like to eliminate it from government, but I sincerely hope that never happens. It's one of the few art services that artists on fixed or small incomes can actually afford. I'm sure if it were privatized, it wouldn't be nearly as affordable. Those 44 images only cost me $55 (and a few days' work). How much art supplies can you get for $55? Now I can publish the images in any format as long as I live and they'll still be protected.

And speaking of frames, I talked to the floor manager at Ikea two weeks ago, and she said that Ikea is very gradually adding US-sizes to their frames; the 8x10 frame above is actually 8"x10", but it was the only smaller-than-poster-size one (use their handy measuring tapes before you buy). Otherwise, they're great for matted paper works, but not for standard panels. She said the reason it's happening so slowly is that the US market is such a small percentage of their total sales. When expensive frames are so easily damaged in handling and showing, having an inexpensive display option is a really great thing.