Meeting New Artists

Yesterday and today I attended the BizArt conference in Everett. I was a presenter today on a panel discussing cooperative galleries. The best part of attending the conference was the opportunity to see old friends and meet new ones. I had the opportunity to spend some time with Meredith Arnold and get to know her a little better. We usually do not have time to talk much when we see each other. It was great to spend some time with Jules Anslow too. The cooperative panel was well received, and I suggested to the organizer that next year we do a panel on opportunities to show art and networking with other artists. There was as much interest in those topics today as in cooperative galleries.

Experimental Painting Group

Yesterday I had the privilege of meeting at ArtWorks with three other experimental painters to spend the afternoon creating. The artists that attended were Meredith Arnold, Lynn Garka and Wendy Lynds. We also had visitors--Nancy Thompson, Linda Bontecou and Tracy Fraker all dropped by to say hello and see what we were up to. There was a perspective class going on next door, and a couple of those artists stopped by to check us out as well. I love meeting with these artists and with the other experimental group I attend because it is the only place where there are other people who get excited by a small piece of paper that they found or the wrapping in a shipment from Thailand. We can all find a use for whatever treasure we find.

Fun New Painting

Clay Thingies

While attending a meeting of the Edmonds Art Studio Tour today, I entertained myself by making little clay thingies to incorporate into my mixed media paintings. We met at Barb Childs' house and she was kind enough to let us play with some of her clay. She is going to fire all the little thingies that we made, and then we will go back to glaze them. Since she knows how impatient I am, she allowed me to pick a bunch from a group that she had already made. I can start to put them in my paintings tomorrow. Hooray! Well, maybe not tomorrow since I won't be able to paint tomorrow. Soon though.

Experimental Painting Group

Yesterday was Experimental Painting Group day at my studio. It is always one of the high points of my month. There are 7 artists, including me, and we all work on whatever is inspiring us at the moment. Everyone brings something to share for lunch, and it is always a wonderful feast with great company. The members are Mona Smiley-Fairbanks, Tracy Fraker, Lynn Garka, Lynn Scott, Nancy Thompson and Dawn Rieck. The show I recently mentioned that is currently up at Sunset Bay Gallery is this same group of painters. It is a great show, so if you haven't seen it yet, come to the reception on February 14 from 5:00-8:00 p.m.