Author: Yelena Shabrova
Damascus Open Studios 2022
Visit artists’ studios in and around Damascus on May 20, 21 & 22, from 10 am till 5 pm each day!
Once again, I will be a guest artist at Brenda Scott‘s Muddy Fish Studio with another guest artist being Cheri Bosserman of Jewelry Art 4 U. Brenda makes wonderful wood-fired pottery, and Cheri creates unique jewelry with gemstones and silver.
Brenda’s studio is #1. See the map with all 6 open studios on the Damascus Open Studios website or on Google Maps.
Visit all six studios to win a $100 gift certificate to be used to purchase art from any of this year’s participating artists. You can see all artists and their creations at damascusopenstudios.com.
See you there!
30th Annual CPSA DC 201 Colored Pencil Art Exhibition
I’m very excited to be a part of the annual exhibit organized by my District Chapter 201 of Colored Pencil Society of America. The show will be held June 3 – July 16, 2022, at the Benton County Historical Society in Philomath, Oregon.
Show dates
30th Annual CPSA DC 201 Colored Pencil Art Exhibition opens June 3 and runs through July 16.
Artists Reception and Awards Ceremony will be held on Saturday, June 4, 1-3 p.m. Masks are encouraged but not required. Refreshments will not be provided; however, you may bring your own snacks and beverage. A raffle will be held; raffle tickets will be $1 each or 6 for $5.
Show Location and Hours
Benton County Historical Society Philomath Museum, 1101 Main Street, Philomath, Oregon
Phone: 541-929-6230
Website: www.bentoncountymuseum.org
Gallery hours: Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m. (Closed Sunday through Tuesday)
The building has a wheelchair accessible ramp available at NE corner of building near the bicycle rack.
Spring Fling Art Festival 2022 at Oregon City Golf Club
My first time at this show, should be pretty good! There will be over 20 artists, all members of Three Rivers Artist Guild, with arts and crafts for every taste.
Spring Fling will be Friday, May 6th, from 12 – 5 p.m. and Saturday, May 7th, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Oregon City Golf Club (20124 S Beavercreek Rd, Oregon City, OR 97045)
Updated May 6th, 2022
Updated May 9th, 2022
The Perfect Piece – Gallery & Gifts – soft opening
So happy that I made time to visit the Perfect Piece – Gallery & Gifts for their soft opening today. Beautiful space, such a nice variety of art, and everything is laid out just beautifully. Glad to be in this gallery, glad another local gallery became a reality!
The Stress-Free Way to Hang Art
Why does hanging art make many of us so nervous? If you follow a few simple rules, it’s easy.
“The big thing to get over is the intimidation factor. It’s not rocket science.”
~ David Kassel, the owner of ILevel, a professional art installation company in New York
Art installers and advisers recently shared a few of their secrets.
Got Juried into Beaverton Arts Mix! 2021
Piecing It All Together I ~ mixed media, 12″ x 12″ 
Explorer ~ mixed media on canvas panel, 8″ x 10″ 
Piecing It All Together II ~ mixed media, 12″ x 12″
These three have been juried into the 2021 BAM! Art Show & Sale. COVID struck again, and the show is going to be virtual at https://www.beavertonoregon.gov/1269/Beaverton-Arts-Mix-Art-Show-Sale. The BAM! Art Show & Sale will be live for a little over 2 weeks, October 1-17.
There was real hope to do it live before Delta, but oh well! It’s still going to be pretty good, and I look forward to see new art by artists I already know and those whom I haven’t discovered yet.
“Improbable Dreams of a Tree” sold at Red Trillium Gallery
My art was just hung at the Red Trillium Gallery in Troutdale for the first time. Today I had my first sale – “Improbable Dreams of a Tree” found a new happy home. Thank you, Red Trillium Gallery!
“Running Free” sold
“Running Free” found a new home yesterday, and today I handed it over to a lovely person who bought it for their dear friend, an owner of 5 horses one of which is a mustang that she’s tamed herself.
“Outburst” at the Pretty Petal Exhibit
Dropped “Outburst” at the Valley Art Gallery today for the “Pretty Petals” exhibit which will be up April 23 – May 22, Mon-Sat, 11 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Valley Art Gallery is located at 2022 Main Street, Forest Grove, OR.
Stop by if you can, it’s a wonderful place!
Also on Social Media
Magnolias for Twitter Art Exhibit 2021
Got a word yesterday that my 12 x 16 cm drawing made it to the 10th Twitter Art Exhibit that this year is helping Horry County Disabilities & Special Needs.
The show was going to be held in Myrtle Beach, SC but is now in limbo due to the COVID-19 outbreak. I do hope that there still be an option to buy the cards online like in previous years, no matter what the fate of the live show. Then we still do good and all is as well as it can be.
Every volunteer who helped with the show is very much appreciated, as are many artists who sent in their little creations.
Also on Social Media
Updated July 13th, 2021
My card for the Twitter Art Exhibit 2021 has been sold! The live one-day show happened later than originally placed, it happened the Cheltenham Racecourse and was a big success. There are still cards available at https://www.twitterartexhibit.org/shop. 100% of proceeds from TAE21 Postcards goes to The Leukaemia and Intensive Chemotherapy Fund – LINC. (http://www.lincfund.org/)
Juried into Water Media Spring Juried Show at OSA
My two drawing have been juried into the latest art show at the Oregon Society of Artists. I know, neither one looks like it should be in this kind of a show, but any media that could be diluted with water was eligible, and my ink was 🙂
The show can be appreciated in person and online at https://www.osagallery.org/water-media-juried, whatever is more convenient to you!
Now, looking at all the amazing art in this show online, I feel like maybe I should pick up a brush and get lost in many shades of black ink again!
The online version of the show can be found here: https://www.osagallery.org/water-media-juried
Show dates:
March 4 – 24, 2021
Gallery location: 2185 SW Park Place, Portland, Oregon 97205 (directions)
Open: Monday – Friday, 1 – 4 p.m.
Also on Social Media
Colored Pencil Bouquet
Excuse me while I gloat real quick over here. These are 287 lightly used Koh-I-Noor Hardtmuth Polycolor pencils I’ve got today from the ever awesome I’ve Been Framed store in East Portland (https://www.ivebeenframedpdx.com/, @ivebnframed), lovingly packed and adorned with a ribbon. Prairie, the store owner, is this wonderful, and the tin was free because reasons. It’s literally a colored pencil bouquet. The cost per pencil is a small fraction of a brand new one practically anywhere, so it’s a birthday and a Christmas rolled into one and such an awesome hoard that I still cant’ believe my luck.
It started at a very reasonable $1/pencil public announcement, then I found out nobody has snatched the whole lot yet which is unbelievable as I am always late to the party, then because I was taking everything the price became a joke. I tried to give the store more money. They declined on the grounds of me being a loyal customer. Go figure. Deep down I feel like I’ve committed a daylight robbery, but my grabby hands are so very happy!
End of Day series – how it was created
“End of Day” is a short series of three 6″ x 6″ drawings on clear gessoed wood created for the 6x6x6 Community Art Show at the Alberta Street Gallery. As it often happens, small format lends itself nicely to experiments, and the main thing I wanted to find out here was how well multiple layers of colored pencil on a primed wooden panel would accept ink.
The answer is: not really well if it is a felt tip pen, better if the tip is a soft brush, but an actual brush dipped into India ink is the easiest way. Really, should’ve used a brush or at least a brush pen from the beginning, but I wanted to exhaust all available pen options first. And no, this is not an exaggeration: I went through dozens of different pen brands before one finally sort of worked.
It may be that I didn’t sand the clear gesso enough and that made the texture get in the way of pens. I am going to try the same combination of colored pencils and black pen on clear wood to be sure.
New Trees for the 6x6x6 art show at the Alberta Street Gallery
Dropped my new little trees at the Alberta Street Gallery today. They will be in the 6x6x6 Community Art Show along with many other 2D and 3D artworks by talented local artists.
Come and enjoy the show if you are in or close enough to the East Portland, there will be many little treasures to see and maybe take something home with you!
Show dates:
March 1 – 25, 2021
Gallery location: 1829 NE Alberta Street, Portland, Oregon (directions)
Open: daily, 11 am – 7 pm
Also on Social Media
New Rhythms at Art Elements Gallery
Susan Greenbaum’s abstracts and Don and Cindy Hoskisson’s pottery at Art Elements Gallery in Newberg. Amazing show. I kept coming back to some pieces again and again, and it made up for the entire week that consisted of one Monday after another. Art fixes almost everything.
Dream Beyond COVID Exhibition
“Piecing It All Together” I and II have been juried into the “Dream Beyond COVID Exhibition” organized by the Wilsonville Arts & Culture Council. The exhibition will be held online at https://www.wilsonvillearts.org/current-exhibition.
All artworks are available for sale at https://www.wilsonvillearts.org/shop.
It’s a very nice collection of local art, see if something speaks to you!
“On the Way III” in the “Portraits, Figures, and Selfies” show
“On the Way III” will be a part of the “Portraits, Figures, and Selfies” art show in the Oregon Society of Artists gallery.
The show will be held both in the gallery and online for those who don’t feel comfortable getting out during the pandemic.
Show dates:
February 4 – February 24, 2021 (February 4 – April 1 online)
Gallery location: 2185 SW Park Place, Portland, Oregon 97205 (directions)
Open: Monday – Friday 10 am – 4 pm, Saturday 1 – 4 pm
Stop by if you can, either in person or virtually!
Updated February 3rd, 2021
Online show is now up at https://www.osagallery.org/portrait-show
Also on Social Media
Bye 2020! at the Blind Insect Multicultural Art Gallery & Shop
So happy that “Gathering II” and “Gathering III” have been selected for the Bye 2020! exhibition at Blind Insect Gallery! The show will be up December 11th, 2020 – Friday, January 15th, 2021. Blind Insect is an amazing little gallery on Alberta Street, Portland, it’s always full of wonderful artsy gems, and I can’t wait to see what the show will look like.
Show dates:
December 10, 2020 – January 15, 2021
Gallery location: 2841 NE Alberta St, Portland OR 97211 (directions)
Open: Wednesday – Sunday, 11 am – 4 pm
There are so many amazing small artworks by 36 local and national artists, come enjoy them!
All three of “Delicate Beginnings” series sold
The series of foals that I’ve created for the Art for the Heart show has been sold. The show benefited The Arts Center in Corvallis, OR.
A lovely lady bought all three as a gift for a former endurance rider who has her own horses. Happy to contribute and glad that all three drawings will stay together.
Last Traces of Fog – sold at #TAE20
My little drawing has been sold at the Twitter Art Exhibit’s opening night in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The wonderful curator for #TAE20, Debanjana Bhattacharjee, gave it a permanent happy home!
The 10th Twitter Art Exhibit that this year is helping Horry County Disabilities & Special Needs. Watch the opening ceremony here: https://www.twitterartexhibit.org/live.
It’s always takes a lot of work to organize a big art show, but this year is extra challenging because of the pandemic and many uncertainties that came with it. I am very grateful for everyone who volunteered their time and talent to help with #TAE20.
The 2021 call for artists just opened, and a new cycle of creating and helping has began! I can’t wait to be a part of it again.
Art for the Heart 8×8 Gallery 2020
Dropped my contribution to the Art Gallery for Art for the Heart that benefits Center for the Arts in Corvallis. I am not sure if the show will be an actual physical one or online only like many others. I haven’t been to the place since way before the pandemic, and it was so nice to walk in and enjoy the current show and new things in their gift shop. It was almost normal. Almost.
Three 5” x 5” drawings make the “Delicate Beginnings” little series. It would be four, but the forth one became a casualty of forgetting to cover the ink drawing with final fixative before attempting to mount it on top of the tissue paper with pastels and powdered bone. It will require heavy touch-up and maybe adding some color to the foal. I am not sure about color yet, but it’s a possibility. Maybe all four would benefit from some color.
More details about the show: https://theartscenter.net/call-for-artists-8×8-art-gallery-for-art-for-the-heart/
Updated September 25th, 2020
The Art for the Heart 8×8 Gallery is going up in the Corrine Woodman Gallery tomorrow.
The show will be up from September 26th till October 8th, 2020.
The current hours of The Arts Center are Thursday – Saturday, 12 pm – 5 pm.
Masks and Social Distancing Required
Virtual Reception
The 8×8 Gallery reception will be held on October 1, 2020 at 6 pm online. It will be the first chance to purchase any artwork in this gallery.
Register for Art for the Heart by clicking here. Registration is free. Also visit The Arts Center’s Facebook page by clicking here for more info.
2020 BAM! Virtual Show & Sale
“Improbable Dreams of a Tree” has been juried into the 2020 BAM! Virtual Show & Sale. COVID-19 pushed this one online too, and it’s good news considering that it could be just canceled.
There were 544 submissions this year, and the show has been made bigger than usual because there are no physical space constrains. I am so excited to see others’ creations, even though it will not be an in person experience!
The show will run for the entire month of October, 1-31, 2020.