May Rhodies

 

We visited friends and family last May up near Seattle, where I sketched the rhododendrons outside the window. 

 

They seemed to be illuminated from inside, a trick of nature that I assume comes from the deep fir forest background.  Later I was commissioned to do this painting, a combination of acrylic and inks.

Call and Response Explained

A few years back, my friend Alice Ann suggested a unique kind of "round robin" for a group of eight artists in various media.  She dubbed it "Call and Response", like a jazz music exchange - you play one note, I respond with the next.  Each artist created a "Call piece", based on an agreed-upon theme.  The first one I participated in was color - we each pulled a color out of a hat, and made our piece around that as a starting point.  Then each Call piece was passed to each artist in turn, one a month, until at the end of eight months, I had seen all of the other calls, and made a piece in response.  A picture helps - these are the "responses" to my "call":

The theme was shapes, and I was lucky enough to pick "spiral" out of the hat (see the previous post for a closeup).  There were seven other clusters, one for each call and the associated responses.  Media includes photography, textiles, weaving, ceramics, glass, paintings, lino cuts... you name it.  This format makes for a great exhibition (we've been invited back every year to exhibit at the Giustina Gallery of the LaSells Stewart Center), and the time constraints keep us very productive.

Getting Ready for C & R 2013: Looking Back at Call and Response 2012

I am just finishing up my paintings for the 2013 Exhibition of "Call and Response"... but we have a pact not to let anyone see them until our "reveal", which isn't scheduled for a couple of months - so as a "placeholder" for my new blog, here is my Call from 2012.