this weekend was boise’s open studio tour, presented by boise open studios aka BOSCO, a local arts organization that juries members in for the express purpose of sharing studios with the public. we had 36 participating artists this year, providing a great cross section of media and studio spaces.

just in case you weren’t able to join me, here’s the tour:

i enjoy doing this so much. people are nice- they’re doing this because they are interested in art, and (usually) even more specifically, my art, so it’s a much warmer & fuzzier experience than doing (some) art shows. it’s good for me to talk about my art and how and why i do it, and it’s interesting to find out what other people see in it.

other artists come through and get and share ideas. neighbors stop by and i get to meet more folks from the ‘hood. it’s really fun when people tell me that someone else told them to stop by. even when things are slow i get to spend time in the studio painting. what’s not to love?

yes, i do have art out for sale. last year, it was pouring on sunday morning and i entertained the thought of just opening the studio & not messing with putting out art. but i realized that it’s much easier to talk about what i do if i can show people, and having a body of finished work to talk about beats just started, that horrible middle it’ll never work phase or almost done. and it’s nice to send art to a new home!

but it isn’t about the sale. it’s about remembering that art makes a connection and seeing what that connection is up close. it’s a fun weekend. thanks to everyone who came out- i can’t wait til next year!

The summer came and went without much art being created. Not sure what happened- life gets that way sometimes. Now that things have slowed down and I have a little time, I am not inspired. I feel like I’ve been spinning my wheels in the studio.

In June, my husband and I signed up for a wildlife photography class in Yellowstone held by The Yellowstone Association Institue and taught by Meg Sommers. The Park is an amazing place, and I was hoping to have my creativity jump started by spending time outdoors honing my photography skills.

I feel like I am pretty good compositionally and I can see light but I am lacking in the technical ability to translate all of that into a fabulous image. Sometimes I get lucky, but more often I end up with a reference photo for a painting or something to insert into a mixed media piece. Both of which are fine, but I want to get to the next level, so the prospect of 4 days in the park with camera doing just that was very appealing.

(click on photos to enlarge)

What great experience! There were 13 people in the class, from all over- Virginia, Oklahoma, Oregon, Colorado. More women than men, many retired or close to. Everyone was easy to get along with (very important when you’re on a small bus for 12 hours a day together) and laid back. Even when the key to the bus was lost & the spare wasn’t where it was supposed to be there was no complaining or whining.

Meg is a great teacher. We started with 1/2 day of classroom on technique- reminded me of all of that stuff I used to do on auto pilot with my manual film camera. Then out to look for wildlife. They were somewhat elusive, as happens, but we did get to hear elk bugle and see buffalo moving through a field of hoar frost. And I got comfortable with my camera and tripod, which was my goal.

I was juried in to the gallery to show photography a few months ago, and I may even have a few that are good enough to put in!

i am getting ready to return to the gallery in september after 3 months off. i envisioned having all sorts of art done and stockpiled for future tight spots. 3 months off after all!

didn’t happen. my traffic box got done, and it looks really great- it’s quite something to see my art that big in a public place. it was a wonderful experience and i’m grateful to live in a city that places a priority on public art and that offers opportunities to local artists.

otherwise the 3 months were taken up with- life i guess. travel, work, vacation, concerts- time just flies. i am back in the studio now waiting to see what emerges from my hiatus. i have been shooting photos, and am trying to get juried in to sell photography in the gallery too. if that doesn’t work i have plenty of reference images to paint from!

there will be more posts as i get back to work- stay tuned!

since the last post i have no new completed art to share- except the traffic box, which i will write about when it is installed a few weeks from now.

i have been in the foothills, to chicago (twice), phoenix, montana, fairfield & mccall.

in the minimal studio time i’ve managed i have gotten some backgrounds prepped. i had a great time making banners for my friend’s 50th (2 for her, 2 for me ).

the banner making got my mind going on textile art- between that & the tie dye i did a while ago the wheels are turning. i have lots of needlepoint yarn, there are lots of ways to do image transfer onto fabric and it would even be fun to paint on a tie dyed background. (note to self- order some raw canvas).

i should be freaked out that i haven’t completed a piece of art in months. i’m not. i’m confident that everything that i am experiencing and playing with and thinking about will come gushing out at some point. and i can’t wait to see what comes next!