Tag: Dayna J. Collins

A Painting Intensive With Pat Wheeler

I was invited to join six seasoned artists at Stacey’s fantastic studio in North Portland painting alongside Pat Wheeler. I thought about it for about 30 seconds before replying with a big juicy YES. Pat is the artist I learned the plaster process from at Oregon College of Art and Craft in 2010; I continued to take her five-day workshop for the opportunity to be in her presence and soak up her process and positive energy. When I stopped taking her workshop, I still visited Pat whenever she was teaching in Oregon, either at OCAC or at Sitka Center for Art and Ecology and I view this lovely woman as one of my mentors.

The invited artists had all taken Pat’s class several times and we were all experienced working with the materials. The goal of this painting intensive was not only to work alongside Pat, but to also share our own techniques and how we had morphed the process to make it our own.

We started off by painting our boards. I like to activate my boards initially with writing and marks as a way to begin and to fight the blank canvas.

 

 

The next step is applying plaster, aka joint compound, or the fancy terminology: limestone clay. It is applied with putty knives and allows all kinds of marks, patterns, and texture to be incorporated as it is being applied.

Once the plaster is dry, it is time to sand.

And then the fun begins, applying washes of color. More drying. More sanding. More paint. GO.

And always more writing and mark making.

This was the process throughout the week, repeated again and again, everyone going at their own pace.

Of course, there was lots of sharing of ideas and techniques.

Here is one of the boards that was deemed completed, so I sealed it with a layer of cold wax, buffed it, and called it finished: “Cracks in the Sidewalk,” 30×30 inches. The beautiful little bundle in the niche was created as gift from Pat.

 

The Book: “Cold Wax Medium-Techniques, Concepts & Conversations”

It’s finally in my hands: my copy of the newly published and released book Cold Wax Medium – Techniques, Concepts, and Conversations by Rebecca Crowell and Jerry McLaughlin. I was invited in mid 2015 to submit photos of my art for possible inclusion in Rebecca and Jerry’s book project. A contract was signed in July, 2015, and now the book has arrived. It contains 319 gorgeous pages – full color, dreamy heavy paper, and chock full of beautiful art, techniques, and ideas. (Preorders have ended, but general sales begin May 12 and you can place your order by going here.)

These are the two pieces of my art that appear in the book (pages 68 and 229):

“Insatiably Curious,” 16×16 inches, plaster, oil, and cold wax, 2015, from my Ricochet series. SOLD.

 

“Things Still Remembered,” 24×24 inches, plaster, oil, and cold wax, 2014. SOLD

The two images included in the book were both pieces that had incorporated niches into the substrate and subsequent composition. Here are the pages as they appear in Rebecca and Jerry’s book.

A bit of the text:

I can’t wait to sit down and begin reading through this compendium of everything oil and cold wax. And more.

Waterlines: The Opening Reception

Last night was the opening reception for my Waterlines show at Guardino Gallery. It was a magical evening with a steady flow of people stopping by to see my show in the Feature Gallery and Mar’s show in the Main Gallery. Words? Not so much. But photos? Yes, please.

Guardino Gallery is located at 2939 NE Alberta and the show runs through May 21.

Quarterly Open Studios

The artists at the Art Studios at Mission Mill decided at the end of last year that they wanted to host quarterly Open Studios rather than monthly events. I personally liked having them monthly, but they did seem to roll around rather quickly. Our quarterly event, under the umbrella of Art After Dark, will be held this Thursday, April 13, from 6-8 pm (a change from our old time of 5-7 pm). Studio A, where I hang out, has been converted to my Special Project Studio, where I am working on a big mixed media and collage project titled: What’s Your Story, Real or Imagined: Telling Stories through Black and White Photos. I started this project last year, but it has been evolving and morphing into something bigger than I earlier anticipated. I still have my two walls of black and white photos, which have expanded and taken over more real estate. 

I recently had the opportunity to sort through a couple dozen boxes and three chests of family photos and ephemera and somehow I managed to find room in my compact corner space for piles and mounds of paper, 3-D bits, and photos.

 

I’ll be doing an Artist in Residence at the Salem Art Association Annex in the fall, so for now, my ideas are percolating as I spend time in this special studio. I’ll be sharing more about my fall project a bit later, but it includes a panel discussion, two weeks of working in a spacious light-filled studio, and will culminate in a one-day workshop I’ll be teaching. In the meantime, come see my newest acquisitions and hear more about my project on Thursday night.

 

ART AFTER DARK

The Art Studios at Mission Mill are located at the Willamette Heritage Center, across from Willamette University on 12th Street and across from the Amtrak Train Station on Mill Street. All of the second floor studios will be open, Carol Green will be demonstrating a Polaroid emulsion lift process (“The World Through Polaroid Imagining”), and Bonnie Hull is bringing her instant camera and will be taking curated photos ($1, please bring exact change). There will be new art on the communal walls and all of the artists will be serving refreshments. On the first floor, Max Marbles, the bookbinder, will be open, the Eco Hub is featuring student artwork honoring nature, and you can meet the newest tenants: award-winning photographer Frank Barnett and his wife, 3D artist and writer, Mart Soloman. It’s going to be a splendid night!

Waterlines Art Show: Making Headway

“Where the Blue is Deep and Soft and Silent,” 24×24 inches, plaster, oil, and cold wax.

I am happy to share the news that I’m having a show at Guardino Gallery in NE Portland. My show is titled Waterlines and I’ve been painting and preparing for almost a year, although I’ve been experimenting and painting waterlines for the past three years. My fascination with waterlines began as a child. Growing up as the daughter of a river rat on the Columbia River, plus time spent at my grandparent’s beach cabin on the Oregon Coast, I learned to love waterlines at an early age. In the summer of 2014, as I was floating in the Columbia River, I noticed the waterline on a boat. I was captivated by the beautiful colors and imagined it as an abstract painting.

“The Wind Stilled Itself,” 10x10x2 inches, plaster, oil, and cold wax.

I like to describe waterlines as: Where water meets an edge. A shoreline. The hull of a ship. The sand. Riverbanks. Sky. In exploring various forms of waterlines, I am especially interested in experimenting with the intersections, where water meets the land. I ask myself, “What’s happening at the horizon line? Turbulence or ripples. Calmness or agitation. What’s above, or, what’s below.

“The Turmoil of Raging Tides,” 12×12 inches, plaster, oil, and cold wax.

Drawing upon the flexibility of working with oil paint mixed with cold wax medium and sometimes R and F Pigment Sticks, I am able to create layers of color using palette and putty knives to apply, push, pull, and scrape the layers of paint to reveal and explore the rick complexity of water, land, and sky.

“Sweet Blue Rhythm,” 8×8 inches, plaster, oil, and cold wax.

The show opens Thursday, April 27 and runs through May 21st. The opening reception is Thursday, April 27th from 6-9 pm.

“Heat Waves Buckling the Air,” 11×14 inches, plaster, oil, and cold wax.

 

Art Comes in Many Forms

I believe there are many ways to express creativity and make art besides painting, sculpting, and collaging: gardening, sewing, cooking, and decorating are just a few. We recently completed a four-month art renovation project in our basement, transforming it from a rather dark and dated space into a brighter, more contemporary one. Somewhere along the line, previous owners had added a small kitchen and rented the room out as an apartment. We hardly ever used the kitchen and had no plans to become basement landlords or hoteliers, so the kitchen was on the chopping block. But before that happened, Howard came home for lunch one day and started in on the knotty pine walls.

 

Next, we took down the yellowed and stained acoustic ceiling tiles.

I even got in on the action by helping remove hundreds of staples.

Next, Howard removed the old kitchen.

And took out a window that was no longer functional due to an outside deck covering it completely.

Next was new wiring and lighting, sheet rock, priming, and painting.

The old rug was pulled up and replaced with new.

Finally, we were ready to put the space back together. Here is what the sleeping area looked like: before and after.

We had ordered a new sectional in January, and it was delivered on Valentine’s Day. Best gift ever. And we immediately put the new room to use since Major Lefty was hanging out with us for a couple of days.

This project is now complete. Ummmm, I wonder what our next “art project” will be.

I Spy . . . . .

 

 

I spy . . . . a propeller, a watch, false teeth, and keys.

I spy . . . . handcuffs, a comb, boats, and a ladder.

I spy . . . . a brush, an eraser, numbers, and a whistle.

I spy . . . . wheels, a fish hook, curlers, and a doorbell.

I spy . . . . a luggage tag, pencils, a knife, and perfume.

I spy . . . . hands, a mouse trap, a harmonica, and rulers.

I spy . . . . a clothespin, mirrors, a diaper pin, and a ladder.

I spy . . . . flowers, a shovel, stars, an anchor, and a clown.

I spy . . . . dishes, a wing, bells, and a car.

I was invited to create a piece of art in response to the Salem Reads: One Book, One Community project. The book chosen for the project is Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream, by Joshua Davis.

Since the four teenagers built an underwater robot using spare and scavenged parts, I created my piece using my favorite found and scavenged objects. The title of my piece is Everything Accounted For, and here is my artist statement:

I’m a collector, energized by hunting for worn out and discarded objects. When I see a beat up vintage tin or discover a rusty piece of metal, I hyperventilate a bit. I’m excited about the opportunity to give new life to these cast off, expendable objects.  Everything Accounted For represents some of the best pieces from my collection, each one a sacred scrap. In creating this piece, I was inspired by the resourcefulness, vision, and creativity of Oscar, Cristian, Luis, and Lorenzo.

The exhibit will be at the Salem Public Library from January 31 – February 26, 2017. The opening reception is Tuesday, January 31st at 5:30 pm.

When my piece returns home, this is where it will hang:

 

Janet’s Old Cedar Chest

I walked right by the old chest dozens of times over the years. Most likely it had things stacked on top of it and I never realized what was holding up all the stacks of magazines and old boxes. About a year ago, my father-in-law had a stroke and while he was recuperating in a rehab facility, Howard and I went to the basement of Howard’s childhood home in NE Portland. We’d been downstairs many times over the past forty years, but usually just to drop some stuff off for storage. This time, the chest caught my eye, probably because there was nothing stacked on top of it. I lifted the lid and my breath caught; it was filled with things Howard’s mom had saved. Janet passed away 13 years ago, but even all the years she was alive, we never realized she had saved her treasures in this old trunk. I didn’t pull much out, other than a few things on the top, but quickly realized this was an excavation to be savored.

Several months ago when our adult kids were home, we visited Grandpa Tom. I pulled Howard aside and said, “I’d sure like to get that old chest loaded into the car while we have healthy backs to help carry it up the stairs.” Howard told his dad we were taking the chest and lickety split it was in the car. We got it home and put it in the garage. For some reason I didn’t immediately tear into it. I wanted to wait for the right time, when I could enjoy the process of peeling back the layers.

That day happened a couple months ago when my friend Tory had dropped me off after one of our outings. She knew I had the chest, she wasn’t in a hurry, and it felt like the right time. We slowly began to remove the pieces that were important to Janet. A wedding dress that belonged to Janet’s mother, bundles of letters, an old shower curtain(!), baby outfits, photographs, newspaper clippings . . . . the detritus of a life well-lived.

As we neared the bottom of the chest, I spied a pair of eyes peeking out of loosely bound tissue paper. Could it be? Janet’s childhood doll? I could barely contain myself. I was so excited, I just climbed right into the chest and unwrapped the doll. She was stuffed with straw and had no hair and marked the perfect ending to a chest full of clues of how Janet lived and loved.

Later, after leisurely going through the stacks of ephemera, Howard pulled out what he wanted to keep and I took what was left to my art studio at Mission Mill to use in my mixed media project, What’s Your Story: Real or Imagined.

Up, Down, and All Around

I am working on three different projects right now, in three different studios. Come on, I’ll take you on a quick tour.

This is a look at my second floor studio located at the Willamette Heritage Center and part of The Art Studios at Mission Mill. I have converted my studio from an all purpose space to an area devoted to working on my What’s Your Story mixed media/collage project.

Here’s a sample of my project.

 

At my central Salem home, I use the basement of my 1926 house as my assemblage studio. Currently, I’m putting the finishing touches on a piece for the Salem Reads: One Book, One Community Project. Salem is hosting their first ever community reads event and several artists were invited to create a piece of art in response to the book Spare Parts.

My piece, Everything Accounted For, will be hung in the Salem Library Spare Parts art exhibit at the end of this month. I’ll share my completed piece once I have put the finishing touches on it.

Finally, my painting studio is in a big airy space upstairs at my house. Right now, I’m immersed in oil and cold wax in preparation for two upcoming shows in 2017.

Here’s a piece I’ve been working on this week for my Waterlines show at Guardino Gallery in May.

 

I’ll be sharing more about all of these projects in the future.

 

Art After Dark Open Studios: January 12

Our December Art After Dark was cancelled last month due to snow and ice, so I’m happy to announce that it has been rescheduled for Thursday, January 12, 2017, 5-7 pm. The artists at the Art Studios at Mission Mill voted to go to quarterly Open Studios, so please join us as our next event won’t be for a few months. As you can see from the flier, we have a full line up of art and activities on the first and second floors.

In my studio (Studio A), I’ll be sharing the progress I’ve made with my newest mixed media project: What’s Your Story – Real or Imagined: Telling Stories Through Black and White Photos.

And as always, there will be appetizers and drinks being served in all of the open studios.