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Hello and happy Thursday! Oops…I did it again. You’d think I’d have this down by now but…I accidentally ordered these postcards with a different paperweight than all my postcards. It’s 100# weight, still thick-ish, average postcard paper weight but not the ultra heavy stock I usually order. Soooo…I’m giving them away!
With any retail order, any amount, I’m including three of these postcards (and you know I like to send extra extra freebies with my orders…) so if you’re thinking of ordering any of the new cards (or anything…lol), these and more will be included while supplies last.
Hi friends! Happy Friday! March is marching along and it’s been a busy prolific creative month. I’ve got several collaborations going that have been a nice change and fun to work on. First up is…FRUIT! An orchard’s worth of fruit!! I love all things natural history and botanical illustration so this was an enthusiastic yes to do a series. I’ve got oranges, apples, lemons, peaches and more. I’m on a roll and see some figs and strawberries coming soon. Cute for a kitchen!?
Onwards and upwards. Heading to the studio today…I’ll let you know what I plant and what grows.
By Anna Elkins, 175 contributed posts
View all Anna Elkins's posts. About the author: art + word + spirit: A painter and poet, I play in the crossroads of art & spirit. My paintings are visual stanzas of a poem I will spend my life writing - with brush & pen. I've had the honor to create and exhibit art in the United States, Europe & Micronesia. "As with poetry, painting is either a battle or a dance. Given the choice between music & a sword, I choose music." See Anna's listing at the Southern Oregon Artists Resource.
It’s National Pi Day…the mathematical variety but I like to take every opportunity to remember and celebrate that none of my alegebra, calculus or high school math classes mattered after all.
By Southern Oregon Artists Resource, 1965 contributed posts
View all Southern Oregon Artists Resource's posts. About the author: SOAR: The Southern Oregon Artist's Resource is a directory of Southern Oregon artists, artisans and those who serve them and calendar of their art events, and Art Matters!, our blog posting Southern Oregon art events and matters of interest to artists, enthusiasts and patrons of the arts near and far. SOAR was created and is maintained by art advocate and web designer Hannah West in Jacksonville, Oregon to promote our diverse and talented arts community to our visitors and the rest of the world.
Anne recently signed off as Executive Director of the Art Presence Art Center and Gallery in Jacksonville. That has opened up her time and she now offers classes and workshops, often in collaboration with another respected artist, and always at an affordable price.
Here’s what Anne has for you in April 2023:
Life Drawing with Professional Models
April 3–May 2, 2–4pm each Monday: Practice your life drawing skills with Anne Brooke and Ilene Gienger-Stanfield. Instruction is available but Anne and Ilene honor your time to see and draw without interruption.
Origami Boxes
April 8, 1–4pm each day: Anne Brooke presents a 3-hour origami workshop with Jay Leighton. $25, all supplies provided.
Hello from New York. This has been a much needed punch in the arm, taxi honking, wind whipping, sore feet from walking, art food architecture joyous cacophony New York getaway. The Met, MoMa (twice!), New York Public Library, Central Park, Rockefeller Center and so much more have filled my inspiration cup full. I’m absorbing it all and tired in that best kind of way.
“I look out the window and I see the lights and the skyline and the people on the street rushing around looking for action, love, and the world’s greatest chocolate chip cookie, and my heart does a little dance.” Nora Ephron
More as I digest but for now, feeling Nora Ephron’s heart happy dance.
(NYC Yellow Taxi available here and no doubt more NYC images to come soon!)
By Art Presence, 397 contributed posts
View all Art Presence's posts. About the author: Art Presence is a nonprofit art organization which has grown from a small group of Jacksonville artists with our board meeting at the GoodBean Cafe to an art center and gallery in the historic core of our charming town. For contact information and web links, please visit our listing at the Southern Oregon Artists Resource
Awen Winecraft showcases the large and vibrant paintings by Brenda Mills Brannan and spectacular images by Vivian McAleavey. This is the final month for this show.
Awen Winecraft is located at 3939 West Main Street, Medford OR 97501
We’ve had a couple of pseudo snow days here (pseudo in that it does melt but cold and snowy enough most people give it a snow day pass). Not sure what it is about looking out at the snowy valley, but citrusy oranges and spring blossoms appear on the canvas! I tried to paint a wintery scene! Twice! Nope. It was all branches and florals and tropical parrots that may or may not be hot pink in real life. I’ll call it artistic license.
I’m reminded this week (again) that showing up at the easel is more than half the work. I have orders to pack. Paperwork to tend to. Supplies to put away. An office that’s in desperate need of a reorg. Pets. Laundry. House. Yard. Cooking. Errands. Emails. Life. Life. Life. All of them, perfectly good excuses to not paint. And a snow day? Fuggedaboutit! That’s a Netflix couch pass if I’ve ever heard of one! And yet…I also know that famous Picasso quote is true, “Inspiration exists but it has to find you working.”
I muddled through several attempts of wintery themed pieces with not much gusto until the click. That knowing in your head or brush or fingers or whatever the muse has hold of and says, nope, not today. I’ve got a pink parrot for you so meet me half way! Who am I to question? I followed the art bread crumbs, made some tea and stopped fighting against the painting I wanted to show up and went with the painting that was forming in my imagination.
And am I imagining floral crowns and parakeets while I drive around town? No. Ok, sometimes I am. But normally no. But I am pulling on all the pieces of my past and present artistic influences and interests and so when I am ready to paint, I’ve been warming up. The good news is that every magazine, book, instagram feed, art gallery, museum, art supply store, restaurant, boutique, farmer’s market is research!
These are the post pandemic snow days of being an artist, working from home, running a small business, trying to stay creative and remembering (and forgetting) that even after a decade of doing this…showing up to your art is the hardest and most rewarding work of all.
By Anna Elkins, 175 contributed posts
View all Anna Elkins's posts. About the author: art + word + spirit: A painter and poet, I play in the crossroads of art & spirit. My paintings are visual stanzas of a poem I will spend my life writing - with brush & pen. I've had the honor to create and exhibit art in the United States, Europe & Micronesia. "As with poetry, painting is either a battle or a dance. Given the choice between music & a sword, I choose music." See Anna's listing at the Southern Oregon Artists Resource.
I have been diving into creative solitude this winter by writing, reading, and watching trees. One of my many book companions was May Sarton’s luminous Journal of a Solitude. Her wisdom on poetry alone astounds me. But so does her more general wisdom, some of which I decided to share on this first day of Lent:
“Under the light of eternity things, the daily trivia, the daily frustrations, fall away.” (54)
“It is only when we can believe that we are creating the soul that life has any meaning, but when we can believe it—and I do and always have—then there is nothing we do that is without meaning and nothing that we suffer that does not hold the seed of creation in it.” (67)
“[S]olitude is one of the ways toward communion.” (73)
“I have said elsewhere that we have to make myths of our lives, the point being that if we do, then every grief or inexplicable seizure by weather, woe, or work can—if we discipline ourselves and think hard enough—be turned to account, be made to yield further insight into what it is to be alive, to be a human being, what the hazards are of a fairly usual, everyday kind.” (108)
“[R]eal joy. It is becoming exceedingly rare among artists of any kind. And I have an idea that those who can and do communicate it are always people who have had a hard time. Then the joy has no smugness or self-righteousness, it is inclusive not exclusive, and comes close to prayer.” (182)
May Sarton, Journal of a Solitude. W. W. Norton & Company, 1977.
Real or imaginary, I adore the charm of all things bakery, sweet treats, pastries and more. I could paint these delicacies forever. And the best part? I don’t have to bake or make to enjoy! Today’s inspiration continues from a fabulous citrus season that keeps on keeping on.
That’s it. Short and sweet. A reminder that inspiration can come from something as simple as your produce aisle or bakery counter at local grocery store. Happy Monday! xo
