Sara Everett's Blog Relocated - Please Update Links

You may or may not have caught the news back in May that I moved my blog!

Please update your links to follow my studio work and artist life progress over here at:

http://saemay.blogspot.com/

Reception Tonight

The Homebody
Originally uploaded by Sara Everett

From 6pm to 9pm tonight is the gallery reception for Petshop. I can't believe it is here already!
Kellie Talbot, Jeanette Jones & I will be hosting with wine, cheese & grape leaves. Yum!
Stop on by if you can because it is sure to be a good party

Arts Walk Video!

This wonderful video by Scared of Genre Films is up on You Tube & Art Access. For those of you who couldn't make it out for the evening this is a nice little sample of the art, the energy & even a brief snapshot of Choro Trio & my friend Rosalyn playing!

Not to mention a brief little interview by yours truly where I learn that my hair did not look quite as hot as I thought that night...hehe Enjoy!



Reminder - if you haven't already please update your Reader to my NEW blog at
saemay.blogspot.com.

Fellow Artist Love

I have had the pleasure these last few weeks to get to know two fellow artists. We are all showing together at La Familia this month so we used it as an excuse to join each other for a happy hour planning session awhile back.

Artist Kellie Talbot is someone whose work I've seen and taken notice of before. When I found out we were showing in the same month at La Familia I went "squeee!" literally. How could I not with paintings this gorgeous? I was a little star struck just by her stars alone but then I met her for real met her (over a drink is a time honored way to meet someone methinks) and she is just a lovely person. Someone I am greatly looking forward to talking with more. There are rumors of a plan to see her converted butcher shop studio and meet her pet duck in the very near future!

Through the work of Jeanette Jones I have been introduced to a whole new series of historical stories I previously knew nothing about. Jeanette has exquisetly painted seriously intriguing portraits of some of Picasso's women in her series "I Feel Bad for You?". If you do not know of these dear artists then you should read Picasso's Weeping Women.
I gallery sat on Friday and could not stop staring at Jeanette's paintings - finding more and more intrigue of these women's stories within her winding layers. She has her two smaller works priced for a steal at only $150. I highly recommend getting lost in them.

Petshop Opens Tomorrow - really!

Oh Brain oh Brain - where have you been? Two days ago I started this post:

"PETSHOP is trucking on the downhill slope! All the pieces are wrapped up and ready to make their way to the gallery. I'm a little sad that I have to say farewell to my menagerie of pets! I've gotten so used to them crowding me out of my studio these last few weeks. 29 pieces take up a lot of floorspace..."

In the wee hours this morning my brain suddenly realized I never actually posted the above post. My oh my.
The show is officially up as of today. All these characters are sitting pretty on the gallery walls.

Come join me for the First Thursday Arts Walk Opening tomorrow night will you? I'll be dressed to the springtime nines and thrilled to see each and every one of you!

Pet Shop Contest & a New Blog

Sneaky Peek at works in Progress!

Preparations for my show Pet Shop are fully underway. The paintings are piling up and yet there is still so much I want to do! 

In conjunction with this show I've taken a good hard look at my art and where I want to go and I've finally decided to let my little brand name of Rekoj go. I no longer have any interest in doing the hand painted textiles that I had been. In fact, I haven't touched anything to do with my Rekoj Clothing line in nearly 2 years. It is far from time. Sometimes, moving fully on to the next step is exactly what needs to be done.

Since my blog has been directly connected to my shop name I feel it is necessary to switch over to a new blog: www.saemay.blogspot.com

Please update your feeds & bookmarks to here: http://saemay.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

I will continue to post here for a little while to *hopefully* allow everyone a chance to catch up and update their feeds & bookmarks etc. I'd hate to loose anyone in the shuffle which is probably why I've waited so long to do this! But I've committed to it by having the new address printed on my new biz cards so there you have it!

And as an incentive to get you to hop on over to my new diggs I have just posted a CONTEST as my first official Saemay post. Check it out right here...

Been Busy as a Bumble

Indeed indeed this busy bee has been busy!

Since we last spoke I have:

Fully updated my website www.SaraEverett.com

Got my postcards delivered from the printer for my show in May and they turned out gorgeous --- see?

Been painting like a mad woman. (I even traveled to Vancouver to visit with my folks and subsequently took over my Mom's entire dining room) Currently there are 12 wet pieces in progress sitting around the studio and the only one finished is the one you see here. Yikes! Back to the studio with me!

Hopefully you can get out there and enjoy this lovely April sunshine Seattle is having on my behalf okay? =)
Happy Weekending Everyone!

Springtime Cheer

 I know it's springtime when I'm walking through the Pike Place Market, minding my own business on my way to my favorite vegetable stand for supper sundries and I have to stop in my tracks. Cannot. Resist. Pussywillows! Love these little fuzzies dearly. This bouquet has been gracing my studio table these past few days as I painted up a frenzy. I've got works in progress EVERYWHERE - all in various stages of not yet done-ness.  Cept for one that barely made it just in time to get the show cards ordered.

My oh my - where has this month gone off to so quickly?

In other interesting news I just posted a little tour of my homestead over on Imaginary Commune. I've really been enjoying the daydreams over there. Check it out for some alternative living musings!

Back in the Saddle

Yep indeed - after nearly two weeks away this artist finally got herself back in the studio this weekend. And quite a full studio weekend it was!

Call me an oddball, but I LOVE love the sight of new works in progress all over my space. I'm working towards the Petshop show in May here in Seattle - which has my hands quite full. After 3 full days of painting I now have 14 nearly completed budgies. Yes, budgies.













I also got to spend a little time feeling avant garde by getting together with some of my gallery artists to curate our show next month together.  Imagine a large room with a floor space sectioned off pretending to be walls. Then imagine a group of artists moving pieces this way and that. I imagine it'd look something like this:

Why'd we have to fake the walls for this show? Well because the upcoming show is far far away - Monaco to be exact. Yep, THE Monaco. It's been quite a lot of fun and an interesting process. Suddenly this whole Monaco show is real. La Familia really is going to show internationally this time next month. Wacky...

http://artemonaco.com/eng-0.html

Vacations Come, Vacatations Go

Ah Borrego - how I miss your skies already.
I started to write this vacation re-cap post on Sunday but ended up waylaid by getting sick. Horribly sick. I'm better now but still not quite tolerating solid foods. Let's just leave it at that.

Our week in the desert was, as always, too short. Our gracious hosts, George & Lucy (Andy's folks) not only opened up their home to us, but adventured with us on jeep trips and kept us well fed with fresh avocados, dates & tangerines hand picked off their trees. Sometimes I think I could see myself living in this desert. This vast, harsh badland.

The desert in springtime hardly looks harsh at all when the vastness fills with a carpet of soft little flowers - lupin & sand verbena washing your eyes in purple. Even the prickly things will send out their blooms embracing the change of season.

It was a beautiful time to visit and many great hikes were had despite the cool weather. The coolness made for some high desert fashion though I must say:

Yes scarves can be worn in the desert - especially when one is sitting on a giant boulder tucked in a hidden canyon oasis.
~~~
And now it is time to knuckle down and get seriously to work. This lady's got paintings to paint! 6 weeks and counting till showtime. Oh. My.

Playing a bit of Catch up

And so the days go drifting by and here we are already fully into March. The two large panels I'm working on have not escaped the inspiration that spring time brings as seen by the addition of some floating petals.

I have piles of paintings coming along quite nicely but all too soon I will be setting them down to travel south for a week of desert hiking. Oh Borrego how my heart yearns to return! Two more days and this is where you'll find me equipped with watercolors and dates:

In the meantime today is a full on Seattle artist Friday. Having escaped (thus far) the wretched plague of the flu knocking down half my household I was able to spend the morning painting. Followed by a little art related business and soon to be capped off by a ferry boat ride on this gorgeous day to visit the lovely Miss Betsy. Yes - a get together with an Artist friend totally counts as part of a studio day ; )
The show I'm working towards in May is beginning to take shape and I can't wait to show you!
This much I can tell you though because it is now official: The name of the show is going to be "Pet Shop".
Loving it!

Out Old In New

Oh how it goes the time the time!
The last little shreds of pages are filled in my little journal. I enjoyed stitching in and playing on this old photo that I had gotten for another project.

I also spent a little time trying to work out some ideas for my new series. Yep - my love of crows just can't be let go of!

I enjoyed the process so much that I decided to make another just the same size. I got out my sewing machine and played with threads and stitches for a slightly quilted cover. Fun!

Here is the inside cover and my first doodle in the new book! I find it's good for me to now start putting the start date & end date in my journals because they are starting to become pretty numerous and I don't want to forget. Speaking of my numerous books I may be teaching another bookbinding workshop here in Seattle real soon - I'll let you know the details as soon as I know.

And speaking of workshops I just heard of a great new e-course I'd love to attend but my E-course budget has already been spoken for.
(Together & In the Fishbowl with Marisa!)

Artist Amelia Critchlow is offering a super fun sounding e-course titled "Experimental Art" - basically a whole course geared towards art play! Just what I've been doing with these journal pages only more so. Amelia is a collage and textile artist whose work always seems to push the boundaries of media and expectation.
Check out Amelia's work here: www.ameliacritchlow.co.uk

Frustrating Joys

How to Paint on super pretty red oak panels (A.k.a., how I spent my weekend)
Step 1: Sand super pretty red oak... a lot.
Step 2: Sketch super fun portraits then prime over with GAC100 (clear gesso)
Step 3: Paint the underpainting with great joy! That is, until after 3 coats you realize the faces STILL look zebra striped from the wood. Matter of fact... it seems to only be getting worse with each coat. Huh.
Step 4: Deliberate your zebra faced dilemia.
Step 5: Get over it and wipe off all 3 layers of oil.
Step 6: Drink to drown your sorrow.
Step 7: Spend the following day layering 3 heavy coats of gesso, redrawing the hard earned facial features with every coat.
Heavy sigh. Heavy sigh.

Looking forward to spreading bright oils back onto these ghosty faces! Just got to wait for all that gesso to dry. Goodness gracious. Needless to say I think I'll be taking a second thought before embarking on oak again. Yeehaw!

Kelly Clark's Venation

Up this month at La Familia Gallery is a marvelous solo show by the fabulous Kelly Clark. Her show Venation totally blew me away with the breadth of work that purely captures the heart and soul of this mossy green place we call home.

She had well over 30 oil paintings spanning the walls each with it's own pulse of color and NW life. I fell in love with absolutely every piece - no joke. Not only is this lass an amazing painter but she's a total sweetheart to boot!

Check out some more of her work here: KellyClarkStudios.com
And check out this video from her opening at First Thursday -- Also showing this month is Rick Simpson & the juried group show Circles. Great month La Familia!

Yes LOVE Sweet

"Both the Robin and me have the whole wide world to sing about" says February's first journal pages. I hadn't even made the connection with the red & white hearts to the impending Valentine's day this weekend - I promise! I really was just springtime-robin-singing-sunshiney-bursting that day. Really!

Gotta grab hold of those moments when you can. Now you - yes you! Go out and grab hold of some springtime-robin-singing-bursting for yourself.
Me, I've got some puddles to go stomp in...

Happy Weekend to You!!

Dreaming Aquatic

Well my little January journal is pretty much full and I'm off tonight to make a new one. Because seriously - all that art play was FUN! The last week kept me well rested and lazy lazed due to coming down with a cold that was going around. I ended up without much energy for several days. Bugger! Plenty of arting still got done though. But oddly enough it was mostly introspection, planning and dreaming.

Where I have found my thoughts lately center around my "career" and my life. This has been prompted by several things including some upcoming opportunities through my gallery, along with my head over heels fall for this class by the author of Creative Thursday.

I have been trying to look to the root of what really truly motivates me to do what I do. It comes down to the spark of joy while in the "sweet spot" of a painting. You know - that moment of being absolutely lost. And that is why I do what I do. Sure - it would be nice to have those moments support my finances... but if that doesn't work out it's not like that means I will stop seeking those moments.
Deliciousness. That is what I'm after.

And oddly enough these thoughts must be going around such as in this post by Christine of Swirly. Yep... deliciousness indeed.

Following Paths of Inspiration

Jessica & Virgil
Originally uploaded by Awkward Boy Hero

It's funny where your muse can lead if you listen and follow.

Yesterday, while on a hunt for some image references for the new series I'm working on, I came across this image of "Jessica and Virgil" taken by Awkward Boy Hero for the 100 Stranger project.

This image alone changed the idea of the painting I was researching for. In pure excitement, I emailed the photographer and asked for permission to reference the ferret and body language of the girl. I normally use images purely as a sketching point - a marker for realism but the images I reference hardly ever makes it into the actual painting.

I'll be forging ahead with permission this weekend - finally getting started on one of the larger pieces for my show in May. And since we're starting right here with the inspiration source I've decide to blog this painting in progress. Stay tuned for what comes of it!

January Journal Nearly Full

To say the least it's been an interesting week. Kind of all over the place like this journal page! More journal play and lots of use of the color blue:

Last week I rode Seattle's Link Light Rail for the first time (highly recommended form of transport) and I kept my little blue ticket as the kick off for this page. Along with a torn sheet of black origami paper. I've really been digging the blue & black with the white & gold writing!

This page was based upon a friend of mine telling me I needed to embrace the spirit of Mick. Mick was an old friend of ours who was highly skilled at living a double life for his love. (She was referring to my constant back & forth to Olympia). The image that came to mind were these Gemini type ladies. Hmmm... Neverending Story influences perhaps?

Then I spent both Monday & Tuesday this week having fun with this map page spread. Monday's entry began from a wonderful life drawing session at the Canoe Social Club. 3 hours with a model for $5 is pretty hard to argue with. Also highly recommended!

Stew Stew Studio

After today it's official - I'm all set up and working in my new studio. After 3 years of working solely in my bedroom it's a luxury to be able to spread out over 3 tables. A luxury I say - a luxury!

Today in the studio I made a mobile! A very simple and economical project. To make an origami mobile like this one you will need:

2 pairs of chopsticks
2 pipe cleaners
Ribbon to tie the top
Fishing line
Origami paper

This was a project for a friend. Each of the little origami envelopes has a secret note!

It's all part of a bigger art project going on in my household this weekend. Following a tradition that falls somewhere in between Thanksgiving and a Valentine we each write little notes or doodles for each other. Then each person draws the name of another to create an assembly of those notes. The last couple years I've made a little book since I do enjoy bookbinding but this year I wanted to do something more off the wall (or ceiling so to speak). Can't wait to unveil this tomorrow - obviously, since I'm letting the cat (mobile?) outta the bag right now!


I had just as much fun this year writing my comments. Since I've been on this kick of art journaling and play I decided to extend the play into this homework assignment. An art card for each person! Afterwards I included little notes for each but I loved how they looked at this stage - all laid out and each so different. I seriously had a ton of fun with the whole thing this year.

Wilderness

"Wilderness"
Pen & ink & Watercolor pencil

Illustration Friday helped me with one of my January Journal pages this week. It's been awhile since I participated but the this week's prompt just set me off. I LOVE how this came out! My favorite illustration of 2010! (Okay - so it's one of the only so far... but still)

This last week was pretty hectic busy for me due to having helped relocate my day job office. But despite it all I still have some more journal pages from the week for you to enjoy:

Playing with colored inks against my usual steady black.
But then here's where I finally broke through and just had crazy fun:

I am SERIOUSLY LOVING this new way of art play. It's kinda like yoga for my muse. And just like yoga - the more you do it the better it gets.