Seeing the Light

How long will it take to produce this current painting from start to finish?  The answer to that keeps changing.   I put a lot more time into these than I used to.  As nature teaches me more in how to see, I try more and more to take those lessons and apply them with paint. The more I see, the more detail I want to portray.  I want to learn to paint faster, but for now I am content with learning to interpret the light I see

More time with a point-and-click camera in the Pacific Northwest's majestic wilderness.  Wake up in the middle of the night, hurry, must be at Reflection Lake before dawn. That hour before dawn in the summer comes very early indeed.  Being there before dawn means we are treated with the first rays of sunlight brushing the face of Mount Rainier.  An entire day wandering this vast national park yields so many lessons, so many opportunities to see natural light illuminating nature's beauty. The best times, of course, are when those rays of light are at a low angle... early morning and late in the evening.

I am not a photographer by any stretch, I am just a painter armed with a point-and-click determined to capture what I see, to preserve it, to help me remember the colors, the light, the details.

The following images are collected from a couple of trips up Rainier, my favorite mountain. A 3rd-degree ankle sprain had kept me away from the mountain for far too long, but I was fortunate in capturing many photos (despite the sprain!).  This year I will get back up there. Roll on Spring, I'm ready for another mountain trek.

Old Year Out, New Year In, and a Blog Resurrection

How embarrassing!  This blog has been completely neglected for more than a year!  Well this simply won't do, it's time to take it back out into the sunlight, shake the dust off, and put some new life into it!

Annas Hummingbirds with
Butterfly Bush. Commissioned
for Christmas.

2012 was an odd year, as election years usually are. In my neck of the woods, success at art shows and festivals during an election year can be sketchy at best.  I backed out of shows almost completely last year and instead devoted my energy to improving my technique and doing commissioned work.

Largely because of hobby photography during my hikes and whatnot last year and the year prior, I found myself almost subconsciously drawn to light - unusual light, dramatic light, back-light, the way that light streams through broken clouds and plays on a mountainside, the dazzling sparkle of early morning sunlight when it strikes only a few surfaces in a place still mostly steeped in night-shadow.  This has led to study and practice and attempts to portray such light in feather paintings, and in comparing the newer paintings to paintings of years past, I can see a gradual improvement in technique and quality. The attempts are not always successful of course, but it is a continual learning process.  That's what we all shoot for, isn't it? To try to make our work a little bit better than it was the year before?

With this incoming New Year, there will be ample opportunity for much more practice in this and several other areas I think are lacking.  And speaking of getting better,  I've set some pretty ambitious goals for myself for 2013. I will post about such goals later, but for now let me say that marketing is one of the things to be worked on. This blog falls under that.  Blog posts are going to be on Thursdays and on Mondays.  If I fall short, please - give me a nudge, hold me to it!  Habits need hard work in the beginning in order for them to take.  Writing needs to become a regular habit and the blog must have consistent updates if it's to be of any use.

Wishing you all the best in 2013!  Bliadhna mhath ur!! (Scottish Gaelic for Happy New Year, something else I've been learning lately)

Website renovation

The work has begun! And it's terribly overdue.  My website is receiving a much-needed overhaul, as its appearance has been sitting in the 90's and it needs an updated look.  You're going to see some new pages when it's all done, and new media as well - canvas, fabric art, and prints offered too.

You'll find the new format already on the index page as well as the calendar page.  I'll be working through the rest of it bit by bit and getting the newest paintings on the site.

"Crossing Guards" (c) Julie Thompson 2011, sold.

Speaking of paintings, I've much to get done on that front.  There are currently ZERO completed paintings in-studio. Fusions Gallery just sold the last one they had in stock. Lucas Art currently has five -- er, scratch that they sold the Loons on Tuesday -- they have four paintings.  Now I do have a few started in-studio, just receiving final details and framing.  The goal of having the galleries fully stocked and also having 30 paintings in-studio feels a bit out of reach right now!  That's okay, I've got the winter to rebuild... and also rebuild that website!

I Love Teaching!

Over the last several years as I demonstrate the process of feather-painting from my booth at shows, I have encountered more and more folks who express an active interest in wanting to learn and try this unique art for themselves.  While I had taught kids through the Scouting program, I admittedly felt a little nervous about teaching adults.  Anything unfamiliar makes us a little nervous.


Last Summer I taught feather-painting to a great group of kids at the Fred Oldfield Western Heritage Center. During this instruction, several of the adult teachers and volunteers also jumped in to learn the art. We all had great fun! I'm oh so looking forward to teaching this again at this year's American Indian Day Camp at the Center.

This Spring I decided to teach workshops in feather-painting at Lucas Art Gallery in Graham.  Still a little uncomfortable about it, but determined to do it as so many have been wanting to learn.  The experience was fantastic! The class was completely full. We painted wolves in a night scene with birch trees and snow, and everyone left happily carrying their completed feathers. 

Our next workshop went just as well - we worked on Goldfinches and Thistles.  This coming Saturday's workshop will be eagles. We still have a few openings, if you'd like to come join the fun!  Call Karen Lucas at Lucas Art Gallery in Graham WA at 253-847-0858

Soon, I hope to be taking these workshops on the road. I've begun making queries down in Centralia Washington, as there are quite a few down there who would like to learn.  Where next? Time will tell... but I'm looking forward to the trip!

ACEO winner

I'm a day late with this, but have put two names in a hat and pulled out one. Adele, you've won the ACEO original painting!  As there were only two participants with last Sunday's card, I've scanned in a second card and Adele may choose between the two posted here. Scott will receive the remaining card.  I'll be in touch with both of you for mailing addresses. :-)

As things are getting much busier in the studio, and rather suddenly too, I may not be doing another ACEO card giveaway for a couple of weeks. 

January is history, and the days are getting noticeably longer.  The cherry trees and flowering currants in my yard are beginning to stir, putting forth leaf buds in anticipation of Spring.  Both Puxutawney Phil the Groundhog and Jabari the Hedgehog are calling for an early Spring.  With Spring come the annual parade of art festivals and exhibitions.  Are you ready??  I'm not! But I'm working on it!

I'm working harder than ever in the studio in an effort to make up for lost time.  Last year saw me pulling back drastically from shows, but this year I shall be entering a couple of new ones.

Next Monday I'll be doing feather-painting demonstrations and speaking at an art club. At the end of the month I'll be speaking with another local arts organization about Facebook, social media for artists, and inbound marketing.  March holds an adult feather painting workshop, and April begins the first show of the season. It will progressively get busier and more active right through til Autumn, so now is the time to prepare!

And prepare, I must - for next year I'll take my next journey to Scotland.  This time I won't be alone though, I'll be bringing my teenaged son with me.  What an experience he will have!  I'm glad he is a camper, for a lot of our adventure will be spent doing exactly that.  I'm also preparing to pursue some art goals while over in that magnificent country.  It's very encouraging to constantly keep new goals in sight.  To continually have something to aim for is a real driving force that keeps you active and in motion, always moving forward. Ther is so much to look forward to, both this year and next - onward to the next adventure! 

ACEO Card Giveaway

Last Sunday's giveaway was so much fun I thought we'd do it again.  This week's ACEO is very new, and created out of music's inspiration. As before, simply leave a comment to enter the drawing. I will pull a name from my hat on Wednesday and notify the winner and request a mailing address to which this is to be mailed.

This little guy came into my head whilst listening to Rory Campbell's CD, "Intrepid".  I thought (hoped) it was an original idea, but it's not... I've found a couple of versions of Kokopelli with bagpipes online. None were consistent in style, though - while Kokopelli was done in the traditional manner, his pipes were shown with a great deal more detail, and in some cases accented with extra color to show even more detail. To me, I thought the instrument should be represented as primitively as the character. Here that concept is carried even further by placing him as a pictograph amongst others on a rock face flecked with mica. This has been created on heavy watercolor paper with acrylics and colored pencil, and is signed on the front and details provided on the back.

When I showed this on Facebook, one friend immediately dubbed him Koko MacPelli.  Michael, that was just too good not to keep!  This was fun, and I will likely try Koko MacPelli on a t-shirt later on.  But for now, the original little ACEO painting will soon go to one lucky person on Wednesday.

What got you started?

When did you decide to 'go big' and really seek to make a go of art as a career? Who inspired you? Were you striving to drop the day job and throw everything you had into your art?

This hit me recently as I was rummaging through old binders in the studio.  I came across one dusty old green binder that I had not opened in quite a long time... several years, in fact.  It's interesting to say the least when you discover a time capsule of sorts from when you first got really serious about growing your art and taking it beyond "enjoyable sideline" and making it your career.

The bulk of these documents, all neatly categorized with dividers, wore the date of June, 2002. This truly was when I was really seeking to grow and expand.  There wasn't a whole lot on the internet for art business then. I'm not positive but I don't think that even Alyson Stanfield had her weekly art biz newsletters then. At least, I hadn't found her yet. I was a subscriber of Robert Genn and his twice-weekly emails, but beyond that I spent hours and hours searching and compiling and making lists from the internet.

Most of the material in my trusty old research binder was written by Geoffrey Gorman. He had produced articles under Art Matters and a really nice art business development packet under Tailwind. Sadly, I cannot find any of this online now.  Thank goodness I printed out hard copies of all that and put it in a binder! Note to self (and all of you!) Never trust that the good and useful information you find online will remain where it is.  If it's that useful to you, save it!

For someone who was just starting out, and more than a bit fearful, this stuff was a goldmine. Although I was showing in galleries and gift shops, and had been for 12 years at that point, I knew I wanted to do more.  By running Google searches for art shows in Western Washington, I soon found that we had a wealth of such opportunities in this region.  It wasn't long before I had a good-sized list of potential shows to try and enter.  What I still lacked at that point was courage.  It was easy to see that lack of knowledge was the cause of that and I began seeking the what and the how.  Geoff Gorman provided many detailed answers to this beginner's questions, as did Alyson Stanfield when I found her valuable information online, and soon I was attempting the local shows.  It was terrifying to make that plunge, but the rewards were big. I won some ribbons, I made some sales. And I gained confidence. 

As I tried more and more shows, soon trying larger ones that I never dreamed I would be able to participate in, I continued to seek more and more information online.  That art biz information was increasing in availability, as it still is.  I knew I had to build a better online presence and left Geocities for better options. I got busy participating in lots of online art forums.  It soon became apparent that the more places one could be seen online, the better. And if you're doing more than merely showing your work but actually participating, all the better.

It's been a long and continual learning experience, and I am still learning... at times learning as fast as I can.  I'm going to go back through that binder more slowly and see what's changed and what still applies.  There's not much call anymore for slide submissions for shows, but I do have that info in the binder.  One bit that was very interesting to revisit was the section in Tailwind that asks ""Where Do You Want To Be In Five Years"?  Now THAT was interesting, especially considering how much of that had actually been achieved in five years' time!  I wanted to be in print, to drop the day job, to be selling in shows and galleries, to have a nice studio,  to be well known for my work...

You hear stories of this happening when someone gets very specific about goals and intentions, but it really is something to see for yourself that it really does work!  It may well be time to draft another five year plan. ;-)
Happy Weekend! :-)