The saga continues with a new author...

I hope you have been reading Jacqueline Newbold's recent blogposts about our painting trip to France and Portugal. It is my turn (Helen Brown) to blog for the High Desert Art League, so I thought I'd piggy back on some of Jacqueline's enthusiasm for travel and painting!  I do love traveling with my husband, but he doesn't paint. And as patient and supportive as he is, I hate to keep him waiting on trips while I sit and paint. So traveling with another painter as I did on this trip was a very fun change of pace and one I highly recommend!!
I worked mostly in my little accordian fold sketchbook (see photo), while Jacqueline was enjoying creating wonderful postcards to send home to friends and family.

First stop was southern France where my good friend Agnes has a vacation home in Basque country. She was a fantasic host to us!! If you are reading this, Agnes, merci encore une fois!!!!

Jacqueline and Agnes in front of the port at St. Jean de Luz. 

I tried to recreate these wonderful Basque homes without painting every window and door. The Basque words in the lower left were on a napkin that I kept and pasted into the book before painting. No idea what they mean but I wanted a sample of this mysterious language in my sketchbook.

After three days in Ciboure, the little town near St. Jean de Luz (which is near Biarritz), we were sorry to say goodbye to Agnes. Her knowledge and enthusiasm for the region made this portion of the trip a real highlight for Jacqueline and me. She was a generous and incredibly hospitable host! A great ambassador for the French people. And my very good friend!

For our last night she took us to a beachfront bar where we watched the sunset and ate tapas.

Next stop...the Dordogne.

Helen Brown

More Fun with Fun

Next on our journey, Helen, our friend, Agnes and I went to Spain for happy hour.  Agnes drove us to the tiny French border town, Hendaye, deep in Basque country.  Here we caught a ferry for 5 euros that took us on a very short ride into Spain.  We arrived in time to walk around the charming town of Fonterrabia, complete with cobble stone streets and a beautiful church at the top of a hill.  As the sun set, we drank sangria in the old town square, painting in our journals.  I loved all the different colored doors in the old town square.  I also loved that we could buy a drink of sangria and the bar didn't mind that we took it out into the square where we were sitting, drinking and painting and enjoying the church bells ringing as the setting sunlight glowed in the town square.

Mixing Fun with Fun!

Helen and I traveled to France, Spain and Portugal to paint and do a bike tour.  We took our watercolor art journals along with us and found fun places to relax and paint.  One of our first stops was Saint Jean-du-Luz, a cute fishing village in the southwestern part of France.  This area is known for it's Basque influence, sea food and beautiful sandy beaches.  We painted postcards to send home to family and friends.

Postcards from Saint Jean-du-Luz

Helen's postcard of boats in the port.

HDAL An Artists' Show for Fall

'Interlude'- an Exhibit at Broken Top Club

  Broken Top Club featured an art exhibit called “INTERLUDE” by three talented artists of the High Desert Art League (HDAL) from September 16 to October 15. The artists and their artwork included: Dramatic and colorful watercolors by Vivian Olsen of detailed wildlife, a variety of figures and animals created with warm wax, called encaustics, by Janice Rhodes, and up close and personal oil portraits of tame animals and still-lifes by Barbara Slater.  

Here two of the artists are shown with their artwork at their Reception during the Club’s Art Walk with Live Music and Wine Tasting. Barbara was unable to attend but all three HDAL artists’ paintings may be viewed on their website:  www.highdesertartleague.com.

Vivian Olsen with her Swans in pastel

Janice Rhodes with her Encaustics

HDAL Summer Exhibit

                   Members At the Sunriver Show in August

Front to Back, L - R:    Vivian Olsen,  Janice Rhodes,  Jacqueline Newbold,  

Cindy Briggs,  Barbara Slater,  Cameron Kaseberg,  and Joren Traveller

These members,  plus David Kinker and Helen Brown,  displayed a variety of creative paintings in an exhibit of watercolors, oils, acrylics, encaustics and solvent transfer art in their show named 'Rhythm in Visions' during August and September.

Bend has GREAT First Fridays!!!

First Friday Art Walk in Bend, Oregon is a big party. But in addition to the social happenings, there is some really good art to see! Here is what I would do.....

4pm- TUMALO ART CO.
Start in Bend's Old Mill District. The Tumalo Art Company starts Art Walk at 4pm. Parking is easy! In July, Annie Ferder's incredible watercolors are in a display called "East Meets West." See tumaloartco.com.  Also featured at this gallery are High Desert Art League members, Helen Brown and David Kinker and many other unique and talented artists. See highdesertartleague.com.

LUBBESMEYER STUDIO
Then I would go upstairs to Lisa and Lori's fabric art studio to see and talk to these two amazing identical twins and see what they are up to. It's always something interesting!

ATELIER 6000
Before heading downtown, I have to make a stop at A6. There you can see original prints by OSU faculty member Yuji Hiratsuka, and a juried exhibit of bike-inspired prints by local artists.

6pm- FRANKLIN CROSSING
This is where the Watercolor Society of Oregon's travelling show is on display. Billye Turner presents the show downtown at the Franklin Crossing building on Franklin and Bond streets. The WSO has two shows per year with 80 of the best watercolor paintings in the state. Twenty of those are chosen to travel to different Oregon galleries for six months. We are lucky to have this in Bend this month. Don't miss it. Featured in this show is local artist Chris Keylock-Williams with an award of distinction.

RED CHAIR GALLERY 

Then walk over to this co-op gallery on Oregon and Bond to see the encaustic paintings of HDAL member Janice Rhodes! She'll have new works this month as the featured artist. Also showing their work there are HDAL members Jacqueline Newbold, Joren Traveller, Shelly Wierzba, 

Now I'd be hungry for dinner, so I'd have to decide which wonderful restaurant to go to in Bend. This is not a restaurant guide, so I'll skip to after dinner.....

SOTHEBY'S is a real estate office on Wall Street in downtown Bend. There, Vivian Olsen and Barbara Slater are showing their new work, mostly animals, both domestic and wild.

So much to do and see! There are more galleries and exhibits in Bend than I have mentioned. And the exhibits are generally up all month, so if you miss this Friday, you can catch the art later. I hope to see you all at one or another of these wonderful exhibits!

Plein Air and Award Winners at Roberts Field

The paintings are framed, the jury process complete and the artwork has been hung at the Redmond Municipal Airport/Roberts Field as the Smith Rock Paint Out transitions from plein-air painting to exhibition. Twenty-five original plein-air paintings created during the 3^rd annual Smith Rock Paint Out are on exhibit and available for purchase June 23 through August 23.

Award winners from left to right: Joanne Kollman, Kathleen Keliher, Denise Rich, Kim Smith, and Tracy Leagjeld. Eric Jacobsen not pictured. 

 The artists arrived at Smith Rock State Park at eight in the morning and had only five hours to create an original work of art. Beginning with blank canvases the artists spread out over the park finding just the right vantage point and began creating. Working in oils, pastels, watercolor and acrylics the artists worked as park visitors looked on and asked questions. By the one-o’clock deadline the artists had completed their work including framing and submitted for the jury process. A jury of five High Desert Art League members selected twenty-five pieces of work from all submissions to be exhibited in the exhibition. From those twenty-five works of art, five were singled out for awards. Tracy Leagjeld of Portland, Oregon was awarded Best of Show for her oil painting titled Hot Rocks. Eric Jacobsen of Prineville, Oregon took home second-place for his work in oil titled Morning Light at Smith Rock. Kim Smith’s watercolor titled Rocks earned third-place in the competition. Awards of achievement were presented to Central Oregon’s Kathleen Keliher for Hot Rocks, Joanne Kollman for Majestic Morning and Denise Rich for Among the Rocks.

The Smith Rock Paint Out Exhibition runs June 23 through August 23 in the Roberts Field (flyRDM.com) terminal, which is located at 2522 SE Jesse Butler Circle in Redmond, Oregon. The artwork is available for purchase by visiting the administration office in the terminal near the main entrance. Created by Smith Rock State Park and the High Desert Art League as a way to introduce new people to the park and the arts, the plein-air paint out is an annual event. The organizers would like to thank this years sponsors and ask you so support them; Roberts Field/Redmond Municipal Airport, Cascade A&E, PleinAir Magazine, Deschutes Brewery, Sage Custom Picture Framing, Pacific Art and Framing, Red Point Climbers Supply and the Redmond Committee for Art in Public Places.

Visit http://www.smithrockpaintout.com for more information on the Smith Rock Paint Out and news on next year’s event. Be sure to visit Smith Rock State Park every chance you get, one of Oregon’s Seven Wonders! For more photos of the event please visit our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SmithRockPaintOut.