The Crowgirl 2016 Calendar

The 2016 Crowgirl Studio calendar is just about ready to fly! This is a spiral-bound wall calendar on heavy, glossy paper; 11" wide. Prepayment is greatly appreciated.

If you're interested in placing a pre-order, it's $20 per calendar*, which will include shipping for those pre-ordering. I'll be placing the order sometime between now and early December, with delivery in time for Christmas. Please drop an email to crowgirlstudio (at) gmail (d o t) com for payment info. And my thanks to everyone who has asked about it!

* I may or may not have extras. Extras will show up in my Etsy shop, but shipping will not be included. 

The Show Goes On

My work is up at the Azure Gallery in Corvallis, Oregon! Come see it through October 10, 2015.

Deb, the amazing gallery owner, suggested that we arrange one wall as a collage of images, which I think turned out wonderfully. I got locked into a design viewpoint where I wanted to make (and break) a grid and that made me rather freeze up, but Deb just started placing things at random. She created this amazing arrangement, which suits the nature of my work so very well.

The other wall has a more formal arrangement. I added the soft netting drape to help to capture the ethereal nature of my collage work. Sometimes I picture all of it hanging in a mist of clouds and starlight.

I added a few things throughout the gallery's lounge as artifacts from the world where my artwork lives and comes from. As I ramble through the world, I tend to pick up rocks and feathers. Sometimes, I find it so comforting to cradle a good river rock in my hands, with its smoothness and solidness.

Visible Light, one of my favorite pieces and a highlight of the show.

Her Journey, another favorite, my love-letter to the new year.

The Painter Dreams of Spring, in print for the first time! I reworked the piece a bit to show more of his wings, which is why I love working digitally – that ability to go back and make the piece grow or change without fear of destroying the work. 

Me! With Visible Light. It was such a great event. I must have spoken with at least a hundred people. As a natural introvert, it was a bit of a challenge, but everyone was so kind, and so fun to chat with. Barret (my other half), Deb, and the artist with whom I'm sharing the space, Rinnee Merritt (a really nifty glass artist and graphic designer, so you can imagine we had a lot to talk about!), made the evening so pleasant that I almost wish I could do it again next month.  Ah, but in the next months, there will be other things coming up, and I'm looking forward to them.

Just Two More Sleeps

Alone With Her Egrets on the cover of The Corvallis Advocate!

What an eventful summer it's been! Camping, bike rides, Worldcon (which I'll talk more about later). And as it draws to a close, I have one more big event coming up: my first ever art gallery show! That's my artwork on the cover of a local newspaper!!!

A collection of some of my best collages will be featured at the Azure Fine Art Gallery in Corvallis, Oregon, with the opening on Thursday, September 17 from 4-8:00pm. I'll be there with bells on! Ok, not literally bells, but my heart is ringing for sure. I'll be ready to chat about my artwork, influences, and to answer any question people have. The show will be up through mid-October, so if you have the chance, please stop by to take a look.

The Lighthouse, a piece made in collaboration with Jessica Smith-Carlock's stunning photography.

Also, I finally decided to join the 21st century and created a Facebook page, where I'm going to share both artwork and inspiration, as well as the work of other artists who inspire me. Please follow me!

Before June Ends

Our display at the Purple Cow Winery

Where on earth is this month going? June is one of my favorite months and it's already more than half gone. Among the nifty things I've been meaning to blog about, my friend Vandy and I are the featured artists this month at the Purple Cow Winery in Newberg, Oregon.

Vandy's glorious mixed-media

Vandy is so multi-talented, I can't even begin to tell you all the wonderful things she does. Glasswork and mixed media are way up there, though. I should have gotten a closer shot of the two Mongolian eagle hunter pieces on the upper right – they are encaustics and pictures just don't do them justice. 

My mixed-media and digital collages

For this show, I wanted to mix my digital collages with my paper collages, something I haven't done before. I was really pleased with how well they go together – how clearly my creative voice comes through whether I'm working with ephemera, original artwork and paint, or on a digital canvas.

If you happen to be in Newberg before their next First Friday event in July, drop by and enjoy the art with a glass of wine. I particularly enjoyed the muscat.

Blues And Purples Are The Colors Of My Spring

Blue and purple, kind of like a bruise. I've been having a hard time getting through the cloudy, rainy days of spring this year, when all I really want is sun and warm and bright, dewy mornings. Depression isn't this big, romantically tragic artistic thing for me – it's a set of weights on my ankles, a fog standing between me and my drive to create. But it's almost summer, the sun is coming more regularly, and I'm working on finding inspiration, refilling my creative well, and then BLOOMING.

I am loving blue and purples flowers like never before. Sweet rosemary blossoms with their vivid blues, flowering sage with its dusky purple, against ten thousand shades of green. I'll go for a walk and stop every few blocks to capture something of the colors of the season. It's like a compulsion. But what a glorious compulsion! I try to get a ladybug's eye view, and the results are so rewarding. Looking at these photos warms me like sunshine.