Olympic Coast

5 days ago I returned from a 7 day backpack adventure along the Olympic Coast in Washington State. 6 of us hiked 41 miles carrying all our gear and food over sandy beaches, wet seaweed covered rocks, and up and down ladders and ropes to the rain forest surrounding the ocean. We saw bald eagles everyday like you would a sparrow or crow. We saw many different colors of Starfish, anemones, and crabs. We saw sea lions swimming back and forth in front of our camp on the beach and sunning themselves on the rocks. It was scenery and wildlife like I have never experienced before. It was a physically strenuous trip but fun and very rewarding.


Because of weight issues I did not carry any art supplies but as we got closer to the end I started picking up little bits of things that could be used in future projects and even made a piece of art to be found by someone else on the beach.


We saw vestiges of others people art projects...we called this "The Christmas Tree" and then when we made our camp in the rain forest that night, we decorated the trees around the campfire with floats and one of our friends even made a hammock out of sea trash.


And last but not least I made an 8X8 collage of bits of maps and things from the trip.

Collage Mania

The collage above is an 8" X 8" square using the map, wilderness pass and trip information from last Saturday's hike in the Sawtooths.

Made 10 more ATC's last night and finished them up today.

Received an email that one of my ATC's was found at a workplace "coffee station" I have made 10 more and am placing them randomly around town as I go about my daily routine...bank...copy shop...restaurants...etc. This has been fun and my husband is even getting into it suggesting places to leave them.

Recession Jewelry Box

You may remember this piece from a few posts back, it is now complete. I added some glitter and a piece of rhinestone jewelry to the top and glued the two pieces together using liquid nails. It can stand on it's own or it can be hung from the cut out heart or just under the diamond shape with the flower. It is so over the top, I decided a good name for it would be "Recession Jewelry Box" When you have had to sell all the nouveau bling, this small chest will hold the few treasured heirloom pieces you will always keep.

Exciting News

I applied to be included in the Landfill art project an artist reclamation project and got accepted today! Below is the email I just received. 3 of my artist friends are also included in the project, Marianne, Nancy and Zella.

Hi Pam,
Thank you for your interest in the Landfillart Project. I think your art work is fantastic. I'm happy to have you participate in this exciting global artist initiative. I will ship you a hubcap Monday. Welcome aboard !

Sincerely,

Ken Marquis www.landfillart.org

Lots and Lots of fun

Last night was fun at the studio making more Artist Trading cards to put around town for people to find as publicity for our upcoming show August 6th. Getting into the spirit of the "trading" part, I asked Marianne if she wanted to make a trade. I already knew which one I wanted of hers but she wanted a custom one, so I created her one on the spot. Here is the one I received, the one I gave her is on her blog.

Then this afternoon Marianne, Nancy and I walked around downtown and hid them in various stores and restaurants, and even hung a few from trees and benches. This is getting to be so much fun we are going to make more and leave them were ever we can for people to find.

"Peace Be With You"

This is a piece I am entering in the Sun Valley Spiritual Film Festival. It is a juried silent auction and I won't know if it is accepted for at least another month.

The day before I read about the show I found this plastic Jesus at a thrift store and picked him up and said to Nancy "He should be good for something" I wanted my piece of art to reflect my thoughts or Rodney Kings thoughts "why can't we all just get along" A friend told me about a bumper sticker that read "Jesus, protect us from your followers" I looked it up and it has already been widely used as well as "God, protect us from your followers." And besides, I really don't want to offend anyone.

After looking up the origins of "Peace Be With You" I found out that not only was this a phrase that Jesus used but it is used in almost every religion. The "stained glass" panel shows 10 icons depicting various world religions. Printed on the base is "Peace be with you" in English, Hebrew and Arabic. Collaged in the very bottom is Michelangelo's depiction of hell which is painted on the wall in the Sistine Chapel.

Tuesday at the Studio

It had been a few weeks since I had hung out at the studio with Marianne and Nancy. We had fun catching up on each others lives, painting, doodling and sorting through the artist trading cards (ATC's) that Marianne is going to deliver to the newspapers for publicity for our next show.

Pictured above is what I painted last night. The cool carving was just plain unfinished wood I found at the Idaho Youth Ranch Thrift Store and the chest was also just plain wood but someone had marked each drawer with a sharpie in some bad lettering.

I painted and collaged the chest with a cut up brochure from one of my favorite museums- "The Cloisters" in New York City. It is the medieval branch of the Metropolitan but is situated way north of the main museum. I had visited it as a child on a field trip, and had always wanted to return as an adult. I finally got my chance 2 years ago when I attened my last National Art Ed Conference which was held in NYC. I hiked all the way up there in the snow. Pretty cool.

Next step is to finish the chest and then figure out how to attach the two pieces, it will then be able to either sit on a shelf or hang on the wall.