Come see my work at the Pittock Mansion

Every year at Christmas, volunteers deck the halls of the Pittock Mansion with holiday finery. This year, you can also see artwork done by seven specially invited artists hanging in the Social Room show "A Northwest Christmas: The Natural Beauty and Bounty of Oregon."

Participating artists: Celeste Bergin, Michael Fisher, Pam Flanders, Carrie Holst, Brooks Hickerson, Jim King, and Katherine van Schoonhoven.

I hope that you will come and see the mansion lit with thousands of lights and filled with historic Christmas decorations. There is a charge to tour the mansion, you can read more about hours and details here.

Start the day with sketching

This morning, after our regular breakfast meeting, a few of the group members (Portland Plein Air and Studio Painters) stayed to sketch. The neighborhood is called Multnomah Village and it features a one-way street lined with many old buildings. Their architecture doesn't all match and the surfaces change from wood to brick to metal to raw construction. Light poles and wires clutter the upper visages, sandwich boards and pipes clutter the lower ones. It is an absolute delight!

Too bad it was cool and sprinkling on us. I could only manage one outdoor sketch (at the bottom of this post) and still rushed my way through it.

Our kind-hearted waitress, Cherie, let us sit in the annex next door where we could sketch in comfort. The annex was filled with curiosities, and some surprising bouquets of fresh flowers.

Catch the glimmer

Wader
18 x 12
Dakota Board

The Eight+ have a new show hanging at O'Connor's Restaurant in Multnomah Village. Come in for the art, stay for the food. Or come for the food and stay for the art.

You'll see new by Celeste Bergin, Mary Luzinski, Marge Rood, Eileen Nelson, Carrie Holst, Kitty Wallis, Carolyn Rondthaler, Michael Fisher, Kimberly Kent, and me.

I used some iridescent paints in the underpainting for "Wader." You can get up close and see the shimmer along the bird's belly and head and in the water. It's a subtle look and not one I would want to overdo, lest my painting start to resemble a glitter-laden Valentine. Let me know what you think when you see it!