IntoThe Muck, Mud and Thorns With Birds,Voles and Beavers

Well, having consulted with colleagues about gallery stuff and having completed my professional work for the day, I preceded to go through my photos and order some prints. I’m eager to see how those look enlarged and framed. I was in a real Orange mood I guess as orange was common if not dominant theme in these  photos some being abstract and others not. Having done this it was time to go out on a photo safari.

I decided to go to the Entiat Fire Breaks hiking (walking) trail as this is supposed to be a good place for birding. And, so with camera in hand it was off to Entiat. Once I walking around the trail I marveled at how much more foliage, flowers and trees there is there than I had ever noticed in the one thousand and one times I have driven past the Fire Breaks Trail area on the highway.

Once out of site of the road there were lots of trees, mostly Ponderosa Pine I believe, and lots of natural stuff to enjoy. I was so engrossed with it all that I was slow to get my camera to the ready and missed a perfect shot at what must have been the biggest Magpie I have ever seen. I did get some pics of some other little birds and some voles, but I missed the big prize to be had there today.

Walking around I couldn’t help but think what a great place it would be for any plein-air artist with trusty easel, paints and canvas or photographer with camera and tripod to spend an afternoon or a whole day for that matter.

Having done the trail I headed back home, but kept my eye out for any photo opps. Not too far south of there I stopped to take some photos of Canada Geese in an open field.

Continuing on I stopped at the estuary where the Entiat River meets the Columbia. This is where I got the best pics of the day. I got some good pics right off the bat at the side of the road. Some of those I may print and frame. But, but not being satisfied with that, I preceded to hike down the slope and traipse off into the thicket. While I was down in the muck, brush and thorns, I could see that the beavers have been quite active down there, though I didn’t see any myself. Even so; it was great fun getting pictures of Great Blue Heron in flight and in the water as well as ducks, geese and those wonderful little black birds with the brilliant red tuft on their side even if I did get my feet wet and a lot of debris in my clothes.  Any birders out there please feel free to comment if you know the proper name of those black and red birds. All-in-all it was a fine artistic and creative day.

Tweet

Meetings, Spray Chalk and the Bear Chested Potter

Meetings, meetings, meetings. Yesterday and today have been full of art related meetings and planning sessions. In the morning yesterday, it was a meeting of the Wenatchee First Friday planning group at 8:30.  It was great to get together with a great bunch of artists and art supporters and community minded folks. There is no budget for anything so all printings and supplies be paper, ink chalk for the streets or just time is all donated by those wanting Wenatchee’s First Friday art walk events to be a success. We were fortunate to have someone from the coast Hotels who has worked with art walks elsewhere – like Portland’s massively successful Pearl District First Thursday art walk. The numbers he quoted as to how many people attend First Thursdays there were just incredible. We would be a great success at just a fraction of those numbers of participants. Having checked out the Portland Oregon First Thursday web site http://www.firstthursdayportland.com/ , I can say that if I’m ever in Portland during one of their First Thursdays, that’s where you will find me.

As to our own planning it was all coming together as to design of the new brochure and maps and there were clearly more  venues coming on board all the time. I can see this getting really big. One of the members will be creating stencils that when sprayed with spray chalk on the sidewalks of downtown Wenatchee, will direct folks to the various venues. More individualized chalk art can be done by participating site personnel or clientele. Sounds like a fun and unique way to get the people moving around to the various First Friday sites.

 Mc Dee’s Art Center will be doing both printing and supplying the red balloons that each site will fly outside their gallery or storefront. And, Pak-it-Rite offered to sell wine to any of the venues serving wine for First Fridays at wholesale…NICE!

 Some time spent discussing how to get people to end at the sites that will provide live music. In the end it was found best not to try too hard to make people think of a particular beginning or ending place –that it’s best to let people be random and determine where and when they end their adventure.

After the meeting I learned that the book I had listed for Two Rivers Gallery on Amazon.com had sold. Of course I had forgotten the password and such and had to spend time between other obligations around town getting that and then getting book off to its destination. Success all the way around on the amazon.com thing. It looks like more books will be listed now that Two Rivers knows that that is a viable way to sell.

Today it was another meeting this time with the planning group for the Two Rivers Gallery subcommittee on the possibility of a Saddle Rock plein-air paint off event. We all had a good time watching the video of the bare- chested potter, Terry Johnson making raku pottery online at http://www.tinynet.com/terrysigns.html . Also, the idea of a Two Rivers Gallery Face Book page was brought up. So; I started working on one http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Two-Rivers-Gallery/202718556425459  , but didn’t have any artwork on a thumb drive with me to finish it up right; so I’ll have to get back to that later. All-in-all a busy couple of days and that’s not all of it but, that is all I’m going to write about for now.

Tweet

Stars and Stripes, Beaver Pants and Coyote Prance

Well, yesterday was a real mix of the humorous, joyful, hopeful and frustrating. In the morning, I went first thing over to the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center to help Bill and Cindy Rietvelt put on their giant puppet outfits for the’ Kids Art Day’ at the museum.  Bill was so happy to share with me that he just got word that the story about the Giant Puppet Project was picked up by Stars and Stripes and has been a hit with service personnel in Afghanistan and I would assume Iraq as well. It was pretty hilarious watching and helping the two of them get into these contraptions.  And, then when Cindy started putting on her Beaver Pants and doing a little beaver pants dance, it was a bit too much. Then walking outside in the alley behind the building and around to the street in front of the museum was a hoot as well. The giant coyote is so tall that it was a bit precarious for Bill waking near trees and signs. The two of them acting it up on the sidewalk was priceless. Inside the museum kids were already taking part in the art activities offered for the’ Kids Art Day’. I really enjoyed meeting up with Sherry Schreck, founder and director of the Short Shakespearians, and a recent recipient of one of Wenatchee’s highest awards for all the years she has devoted to kids and the performing arts here in Wenatchee.  She and a couple of her young actors were down in the giant puppet workroom when I met up with them. They were there to look at the puppets in progress down there, as they are looking to use some of the puppets later as stage monsters and gargoyles…now that’s going to be a site and a performance I am really going to want to see. I had other commitment so; I wasn’t going to be able to stay for the Ugandan Orphans Choir which was to perform at 1pm.  After visiting with Sherry and taking more pictures, it was off to buy a new laptop as my five year old machine is about to die and I sure don’t want to lose all the great photos and blogs and such I have stored there. Having accomplished the computer task it was off to the Cashmere Arts and Activities Center to docent for the afternoon. There were only a few visitors in the hours I was there, so I was able to configure my new laptop, get it onto the wireless network at the gallery and other such things, and still have time to take a few pics with my camera. Now, I need to get all the art related materials off the old beast and onto this new fangled machine and It’s off to the races. Well, off to Lowes to get what I need to plant my Cabernet cuttings which are screaming out to be planted today… yahoo!!!

Tweet

Check out my new photo. http://ping.fm/wrJc9


Tweet

'We're Just Lumberjacks' Working with High School Girls and Creamy White Stuff

Well it’s been a busy and full filling last few days for Rod and Martha’s Art. Over the weekend…Sunday to be precise, I drove over to Seattle to meet with our good friends Daniel and Xine, who have been holding Martha’s Painting titled “Women Screaming” that was exhibited in the foyer of the Off Jackson Theater awhile back. They have been so helpful in picking it up from the theater wrapping it so nice and keeping it for us. They both thought the painting was so ‘important’ but it gave Xine nightmares. It’s a piece that speaks powerfully to some and really isn’t what most people would want in their living room day after day, but would go more in a themed exhibition or museum. Having met up with these good friends, we went off to Tacoma for the Dive and Travel show at the Convention Center there. While there I got some really good new ideas of what to do with my Dive photos and artwork. More shall be revealed about this later.

Having my sleep schedule thrown off by getting up early to go over the pass to Seattle and staying up late after returning with having drank so much coffee while driving, I was up at 3 am yesterday and so on a whim created a Livestreaming channel that I titled Art News Network, that will present livestraming of our First Friday and Second Saturday and other art events here in Washington as well as the Hip Hop dance scene in Fullerton, CA and thereabouts for those talented Kelly dancers.

Yesterday, I spoke with an artist who is currently showing at a gallery locally about being the featured artist for the CAAC gallery in Cashmere. He was very interested and I gave him the contact info for Artie Bowman about that. His work is excellent and I look forward to seeing him exhibit there. I also spoke with a Geography professor in Oregon, who had set up the web site that features the ceramics of Terry Johnson and took the video of Terry making raku pots that is on Youtube. He is an old friend of Terry’s having grown up in this area. He is an artist himself, though it sounds as if being a professor is taking up a bit of his time right now and likely keeping him from doing as much art as I’m betting he would like to be doing. An interesting fellow, I am looking forward to meeting him the next time he is in town. Together I think we can help Terry get his artwork better known as Terry doesn’t do computer let alone the internet… or cell phone/email for that matter… he’s just a crazy artist… gotta love that about him though.

Yesterday I went through many many photos on my computer to find the ones I want to print and ordered a bunch of large prints…gotta have something to put in all those frames I picked up in CA last month –right? After that it was designing postcards to promote Terry’s Art and Ceramics. That was fun and they look great and I hope will do well for him locally for it will be a limited mailing. After that is was quick run over to the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center to work on Giant Puppets with Bill and Cindy Reitvelt, Bill Laymen and a bunch of high school girls. We were all getting that creamy white goopy stuff all over us as we paper mache’d the large heads and hands of the puppets. They are really coming along and with working on them twice a week now I’m sure they’ll be done in time for the Grand Parade. And as we took note of how well the Lumberjack is coming, Bill R. and I couldn’t help but to TRY to sing a verse of “We're just lumberjacks and that’s just fine…” I emphasize the word TRY… Oh well…singers we are not. All in good fun though.

Tweet

Giant Puppets, The Wall Street Journal and Kids art Day

Tonight was a productive night at the Museum. Bill and Cindy Reitvelt were accompanied by Bill Layman and a number of Wenatchee’s fine youth who were all there to work on the Giant Puppet Project for the upcoming Apple Blossom Grand Parade. The heads and hands are all getting there second and third and in some cases fourth layer of paper mache.  Cindy who came to work on the puppets straight from the  Board Meeting in which they were making plans for this years Icicle Prize up in Leavenworth. This year all the art for the Icicle prize is to be created from some sort of recycled material….hmmm what kind of stuff do I have lying around that I could make something out of.  Well there is time to think on that. The submissions will be sometime this summer and the prizes awarded in September from what Cindy could tell us.

Bill Reitvelt was proud of the fact that the Wall Street Journal has picked up on our little project here of making very big puppets. And, all the museum staff from what he said were very pleased with turnout for the Awards Gala and Silent auction that happened Saurday night. As of course we all are very happy for Community Activist/Artist Ruth Allan who received the Wenatchee Valley Living treasure Award.

And, on another note, this Saturday will be the first ever Kids Arts Day at the Museum. Kids will have ten different activities from which to choose from making a fruit sculpture to a Picasso cubist mask. Sherry Schreck will lead kids in other games and activities as well. At 1:pm there will be a performance by the Ugandan Orphans Choir. What a unique musical and cultural experience that will be. The whole event runs from 10am to 4pm. What a great all around experience for the kids, and adults for that matter, who get to the museum this Saturday.

Tweet

Coyote Wine Crawl

Well, it was and artful and enjoyable evening in Cashmere at the  Cashmere Arts and Activities Center Second Saturday Event.  The wine was excellent – provided by Crayelle Cellars, Waterville Winery and the Horan Estates Winery. People came, they enjoyed the art and some folks bought pictures of coyotes and the hillsides above Wenatchee. The new art was exquisite. Cashmere is really turning into an enjoyable and happening place to spend and evening.  There was talk of getting Scott Allen who is presently showing at the Robert Graves Gallery at Wenatchee Valley Community College to show at the CAAC Gallery perhaps over the summer. We shall see if that comes about. That would be quite a coo for the CAAC gallery and really help to put it on the artistic map of central Washington. Let’s hope that that comes off as hoped for.

Tweet