FREE CLASS GIVEAWAY!!!

Here's a big, Big, BIG giveaway in celebration of Spring!

If you have been interested in my Sketchbook Play class,

then this is the opportunity of the season for you!

I am offering one free spot in my next session of Sketchbook Play.

Class begins on April 15th and runs every Wednesday until May 20th,

 from 6-8:30pm here at Bird's Eye View Studio in inner NE Portland.

How do we win you say???

See all the details below!

To enter you must do two very easy steps.

One: Join the Bird's Eye View Mailing List here.

Two: Comment on this blog post saying why you would love to join in on the fun!

The nitty gritty rules: 

One entry per person. 

Enter only if you can attend the 6 week class.

There is a small supply list that is not included in the free giveaway.

Winner will be drawn on Wednesday, April 8th at 10am.

Here is a description of class, if you don't win, there are still a few spots left,

we would love for you to join in the fun!

Sketchbook Play : The Art of Keeping a Visual Journal

Come learn to play, sketch, paint and record your daily life in a handmade book.

This class is geared for the sketch-phobic, the ultimate beginner,

 the "I always meant to," the "when I retire", the imperfectly perfect Artist in all of us.

No experience needed, no magical talents requested,

just bring your own wonderful self.

In this class we will spend the first week creating our very own long stitch bound

 sketchbook using vintage book covers, hot press watercolor paper, and waxed linen thread.

This simple bookbinding method is delightful because our books will open flat

 giving us full access to all of our pages. 

Weeks two through six we will learn the basics of contour drawing using everyday

 objects as our models. We will continue on learning about watercolor techniques, 

hand-lettering, fancy borders and more!

Classes will begin with a demonstration and are followed up with plenty of work time

which includes, coaching, and creative cheerleading from Suki.

We will study and draw botanicals, vintage household curiosities, gifts from the sea

 and forest, and anything else that strikes our fancy. We will embrace recording

our daily lives and objects in a visual format, which is such a treat to

look back through and treasure.

Dates: Wednesday's, April 15th-May 20th

Time: 6-8:30pm

Location: Bird's Eye View Studio, 

3934 NE 16th Ave. Portland, OR 97212

Cost: $175 plus a $25 material fee. 

Your material fee covers the cost of your handmade sketchbook

and an 02 micron pen. There is an additional small supply

list of a few brushes, and inexpensive set of watercolors

and a few pens.

Fingers and toes crossed for everyone!

Let Yourself Be Inspired.

It's so easy in this day and age to turn off our senses. 

We are all surrounded by so much noise, telephones, talking, traffic. 

We are encompassed in smells, sights, sounds, tastes.

But often we are so overwhelmed by all of this that we shut it out, tune it out, 

and skim along our lives with our bumper bubbles protecting us from the world.

I urge you once a day to practice the art of bringing to LIFE one of your senses.

It's easy to do in spring, there is so much color to witness, blossoms to sniff,

fresh greens to munch, birds calls to listen out for, and gradual warmth to feel.

Some folks find it easier to witness and tune into their senses sitting still,

others find they are more attune during a walk.

Where ever you find your sensory inspiration, take it in!

Let yourself be inspired.

Recently on a spring walk I came across this ravishingly beautiful tulip magnolia tree.

My great grandfather was a painter, and this was one of his constant subjects.

So I took a moment to stand beneath it, to gaze back in time to a man I never knew.

I let myself feel the intrinsic connection. And it inspired me.

So many shades of pink, golden-green tips of branch and leaf.

You never know where a sensation will take you...

then later in the studio this pink pattern wonder burst from my paint brush.

What is inspiring you creative friends?

Sketchbookery Class with the FABULOUS Mary Ann Moss.

I am having the BEST summer adventure taking Mary Ann Moss' Sketchbookery Class.

It's terrifically fun to be sketching daily, not caring HOW it turns out, just PLAYING!

Such a great break from the production work of making art to sell. Additionally,

it is inspiring to be on the other end of the teaching table, I'm learning new tricks!

We are exploring contour drawing, color mixing, bookmaking and now lettering.

I stitched up this sweet little sketchbook repurposing a very worn leather book,

I love thinking about who Robert Griffen is, and what he would think of me cutting

apart his lovely book. I think he might be tickled. I'm obsessed with color mixing,

so of course the first page of my journal became a little color mixing chart.

Supplies I have been experimenting with are: Microns (who can live without them!),

Pentel Color Brush pens, Aqua Pens, Staedtler Lumocolor pens, Cotman watercolors,

and a variety of gouache paints. I am mostly working on Fabriano hot press paper, LOVE it!