MY JOURNAL

PORTER'S CELEBRATES 

THE MEDFORD RAILWAY DEPOT - 100 YEARS

Watercolor:  Impressions of the Depot II

An invitational exhibition of paintings by 54 local artists are on display at Porter's Restaurant in Downtown Medford.   The exhibit was scheduled for the month of November but proved so popular that Brian Porter, the owner, has extended the show to include the month of December as well.  He has, in fact, requested that the artists allow their pieces to remain at Porter's for all of 2011 too.  He is planning to repeat this show with another invitational next year at this time.

Acrylic:  1st painting

My acrylic painting (LEFT) was sold after being on display for only three days!   To honor that sales agreement, I have offered a new painting to the  couple who purchased the first one.  They have chosen the second painting. I will present the first painting to Porter's as a gift. 

This is such a fun show!  All of the paintings are done as a 12" x 12" unframed piece.  What each artist created to show their personal "Impressions of the Medford Depot" is wonderful to see!  

MY JOURNAL

"Hanley's Wheat In The Field"  Watercolor/Pastel     SOLD

I have been in love with the Hanley Farm since I served on the Southern Oregon Historical Society Board of Directors.  I was introduced to the farm when we decided to use the site for a plein air paint-out fundraising project in about 2001.  We invited 100 artists from Southern Oregon to the farm for a one-day paint out and lunch.  52 painters accepted the invitation and arrived early to paint.  They spread out over the farm and selected views to paint.  Their charge was to paint something historical.  The artists were all generous enough to donate a completed painting to an auction.  After a lovely lunch we all returned to our easels to complete the paintings.  Nancy Fox of the Frame Shop was generous enough to frame the paintings that came to us unframed.   The auction was  also held at Hanley Farm under an elegant white canopy.  Dinner was catered and the auction guests were entertained by music before the auction began. We raised more than $20,000 that evening!

MY JOURNAL: "ON THE ROGUE AGAIN"

Rogue River at Takelma Park

This is one of my latest plein air paintings done on location just below Shady Cove, Oregon.

The Rogue River was running high due to the excessive rain we had experienced in Southern Oregon during the entire month of June.  Now that Lost Creek Dam is full there is plenty of water to release.  Fishing is great and lots of boats and fishermen can be seen wherever the fish are spawning.

MY JOURNAL: DANCING WITH THE MUSE MEMBER EXHIBIT

Friday, July 16th marked the First Annual Membership Art Exhibit, "Dancing With The Muse" at the Rogue Gallery and Art Center.  This is my contribution to the exhibit below.  This is a "must see" show!  As Liz Robinson wrote in these poems especially for this occasion:

Impressions of

Pat Blair's Hayfield 

by Liz Robinson

Six hay bales

rolling over the gold grass hills

rounded hay bales

leaping their own shadows

down and pounding

in watercolor movements

scattered by the benevolent hand of the goddess of harvest hay

rolling leaping rounding down the midsummer day

ROGUE GALLERY MEMBER'S EXHIBIT 2010 by Liz Robinson

Gallery members

hung on the walls

painted, printed, sculpted, sewn,

glazed, jeweled, woven, blown.

Not the usual minimal,

maximum cheers,

media shoulder to shoulder

crowding the space,

realized on white-washed walls

where art's hung out for fifty years.

Community on display--

new lives that join us,

decades--old lives, proud of the site

and insight gained in this gifted place.

The friendliest night,

greetings warm as smiles

and sun ripe tomatoes.  "How are you?

How are the kids?"

An Opening,

Rogue Valley style.

Liz Robinson

ART JOURNALS

 This Spring I tried out a new class offering in Creating Art Journals.   It was a challenge to me although I have done journals for myself for many years.  Teaching a person to create something that they would be pleased with is difficult since we all come from a different mold. What I would want to feature is most definitely not what another creative person wants to do. At best the instructor becomes a coach and not a teacher.  It is a matter of discussing ideas and techniques that will assist an individual in becoming successful.  Sometimes the progress is slow but in the long run well worth the effort!

My theory is that art journals are a personal picture book that you may or may not want to share with other people.  If a person were to take photographs and place them in a photo album... that picture book is only seen once or twice because you must be with that book in order for the photos to be fully interpreted.   When you do an art journal... you will write something about the photo...something that describes where you took the photo... how that scene made you feel... and you may even include a diagram, a hand drawn map, or a small sketch to enhance that scene.  Voila!  A story book!  

My student, Lorrie, worked on an art journal of her trip to the Galapagos Islands. Her journal pages take the viewer along the cruise route and hiking paths  where she and her husband took many photos of wildlife found only on these islands.  I think she was quite successful!

I concentrated on My family beach excursions on the Oregon Coast.  I used my photos and simple drawings as page development examples.  My pages featured ocean views, family photos taken on the beach and the more common wildlife which can be seen any day on an Oregon beach.   The family, however, is unique and amazing!!

Newly created Fine Arts Web pages -- Click here!

This past month I have worked on uploading my paintings to a new commercial website called Fine Art Studio On Line.  I found this website by looking at several artist sites that I admired from my Plein Air Painters Of Oregon membership.   It is so easy to use and I am able to keep it up daily if I prefer to do so.   I have designed the page links to include all of my other art links in order to make this a "one-stop looking site".  Do check it out!

MY JOURNAL: ... Then and Now

Three Hens And A Rooster     Acrylic  

I was reminded after my last blog entry about The Black Necked Stilts that once before one of my sold paintings had "come home to roost"!    The tale goes like this:

My good friends, The Duncans, who used to fly a small private plane quite a bit were out for a day trip to Florence, Oregon.  Once they landed they went to a popular local eatery in town called, "The Blue Hen".   When they were seated,  Ann looked up on the wall at the large painting just above their table.    The artist signature on the painting was mine, Pat Blair!   When they returned to Medford, Ann called and asked if I had ever done a painting of chickens for a restaurant in Florence.    The answer of course was yes I had done chickens but not for a restaurant.  I, in fact, had painted several different paintings with chickens (which was a popular thing to do in the mid-seventies! )  When I tried to determine which painting it might have been Ann could not remember the details of the painting... just the artist's signature on the piece.   The next time I visited Florence, Oregon was about 6 months later.  I made a point of having lunch at The Blue Hen so that I could see the painting.  It was not anywhere to be seen!  I asked the hostess about the painting and she did remember it and said "Oh that sold right off the wall!"   So I decided that I could not solve the mystery.   I told my ex next door neighbor about this story and asked if she still had the painting I had traded her for a kitchen range.  She did.  I asked another friend who now lives in California about the painting her mother-in-law  had purchased.  She told me that her in-laws had moved from Medford to Florence and that she sold the painting she had in a big moving sale when they down-sized for retirement.  Case solved.  Except I still don't know what painting it was... just that it must have been that one.    All was fine with my not knowing anything more and I let it go.   Then...my ex-neighbor, Fran, came into our Hot Pots! shop Anne Duncan, Arlene Kramer and I owned  with the large acrylic painting of Three Hens and a Rooster shown above.  She wanted me to have it back since she has no room for it now that she has down-sized in her retirement years!    

That is the way the chickens came home to roost!  The painting is happily hanging in the home of my youngest daughter who loves it!

SEE MY NEW ArtSlant INTERNET SITE -- CLICK HERE!

I am constantly looking for a better venue for exhibiting my paintings on the Internet. I believe I have found a really fine one. Please look at this site. It is so very simple to navigate and certainly good looking as well.

SIGN UP NOW TO TAKE ONE OF MY CLASSES OR TAKE ONE OR ALL OF MY PLEIN AIR EXCURSIONS WITH ME!

CLICK ON THE WEBSITE BELOW TO CONNECT TO MY CLASSES

http://patlblair.webs.com/

YOU WILL FIND:

Class Fees Calendar of Classes 

Plein Air Painting Schedule 

Painter's Supply lists

Do check this out! If this isn't the right time, 

be sure to let me know you are interested 

in an up-coming class!

NOTE:

I just recently responded to a request to answer interview questions about art. It took some thinking on my part but I found it helpful in determining just what I do think about art.

Interested? Just cut and paste this http address in your browser. http://www.whohub.com/en/patlblai

MY JOURNAL: ... Then and Now

Black Neck Stilts  - Acrylic 

Amazing things happen all the time but rarely do they happen to me!  This is a short story, really, but I'll just make a condensed version here:

I painted this acrylic painting of Black Neck Stilts in 1968.  At that time I was still painting on very large canvases.  Several of my paintings sold during an art show/sale that was a part of Westminster Presbyterian Church's Annual Fall Festival.  Many artists who belonged to that church brought their paintings to the festival and displayed them there.  The festival was always well attended and sales were brisk.  I sold several paintings, prints and pen and ink drawings that day.    A couple from Grants Pass purchased this piece.  They were very excited to purchase this one and hang it in their newly acquired home.    

In October, 2009, (exactly 41 years later)  I received a telephone call from a woman living in Winston, Oregon.  She asked if I were the Pat Blair in Medford who painted and had I ever painted  a clutch of black and white birds with long legs.  When I answered yes, she explained that she had inherited the painting from a dear friend who had passed away recently.  The woman said she had no room on her walls for a painting this large (30" x 34") and that the colors nor subject matter would match her decor.  She wanted it to return to the original artist. She dropped the painting off just this past December 20th and asked that I take a photo of the painting with me and my three daughters sitting in front of the painting. 

Below is an original photo of me and my three daughters taken in 1968 and also the photo and my three daughters taken in December 2009.

MY JOURNAL: -- Running Water

Running Water       Watercolor    11" x 14"   (Available)

This is one of my latest paintings which was completed while I was teaching a watercolor painting class.  I used it as a step-by-step instruction piece.  The students watched me as I painted (and framed) the entire painting - start to finish during the 8 week course.

MY JOURNAL: Fall Classes Students

We have just completed my Fall class schedule.  These artists were hard working, ready to tackle every assignment given and challenged this instructor!  I was so pleased to spend this time with great friends!

                                                             

Bonnie Miller, Mary Hanenburg,  Anne Duncan,
Rob Duncan and Judy Mooster,

MY JOURNAL - July 18th Studio Art Reception

Seven paintings sold today during my Wine & Cheese Reception. How nice that they have found good homes!

The major activity I have had in the past week and a half is to prepare for my Bi-Annual Art Reception and Studio Sale. For this show I sent out about 50 on-line invitations to my family and friends primarily. Usually about 20 or so people come by for Wine, Cheese and conversation. At the same time I hoped to sell some of my paintings. This time I have over 30 framed paintings and my studio, hallway living room and dining room walls have been taken over by these paintings. Selling seven doesn't even make a dent but I am happy! Thank yous go to the new owners! I'm so happy you liked one of my paintings! There were many good and faithful friends who were unable to come today for one reason or another... but there were many, many good and faithful friends who did come and we were able to have some wine and conversation together. I was so pleased to see some of my favorite paintings become favorites of someone else! That is true validation for a painter! My darling daughters, Leigh (& her friend, Kenneth) and Marcia, were so kind to help me set up the studio show and also to serve the wine and appetizers. My granddaughter Caienna was also a tremendouis help as were her sisters, Sascha and Maia! I have a lovely family!

MY JOURNAL

Journal page I did at Marti Peet's workshop

Already it is Mid-July and I have only painted once! I spent a half day last Friday painting with an artist friend , Elizabeth M. who lives in San Francisco. Glenda C. was supposed to join us but was ill that day. and she was missed! We painted The Antique Furniture Barn in Jacksonville and Glenda would have loved that! Elizabeth is a watercolor painter turned journalist painter. We met a few years back in a Journaling workshop and struck up a friendship immediately. At that time Elizabeth was living in Jacksonville. We enjoyed that first journaling workshop so much that we repeated the workshop the following summer! I believe it was the instructor, Marti Peet of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and the other seven artist in the group that made it so special. Everyone came back for the second workshop that was held at The Willows, a Bed & Breakfast Inn just outside of Jacksonville. I have not pursued my journaling in the same manner as Elizabeth (who is very accomplished) but have managed to keep up my journaling since then too. Mine have taken on the form of illustrated record-keeping. I use drawings, colored sketches and photographs to keep my blogs, that is my main journal and another one about painting in plein air : 
http://paitblair.blogspot.com/ &
two blogs for The Children's Festival:
http://blair67.blogspot.com/and
http://blairsfredspot.blogspot.com.
I also keep my artist sketch journals I use when I go out to paint En Plein Air!

MY JOURNAL -- 4TH OF JULY IS PAST

TABLE ROCK FROM TAYLOR ROAD

Although I had thought I would take the summer off -- I have an unexpected opportunity to begin a new series of watercolor classes for a select group! My dear friends, Anne and Rob Duncan and my new dear friend, Judy Mooster came over this past Thursday for a 3 hour painting lesson. They all agreed that they wanted to continue with the "whole enchilada" so I will begin a class for them on July 28th! We will have a great time since they are all already experienced artists and just need to work in watercolor! I am definitely looking forward to this class! We will begin with the rules of painting and work from there! It will be a challenge for me to keep ahead of them!

MY JOURNAL - It's the end of June already!

MacKenzie, Caitlin and Caienna sketching Butler-Petrozzie Fountain in Lithia Park MacKenzie, Caitlin and Charlie painting in my studio

For the past two Fridays and again today I have made a concentrated effort to get my grandchildren involved in doing their art. Each one of these teens have exceptional talent as artists! I enjoy their different approaches to art! MacKenzie wants to become a designer. Caienna is interested in abstract art and is quite accomplished! Caitlin has exceptional drawing and painting skills and Charlie is becoming quite the painter too! I am so fortunate to have all of my grandchildren living either in Medford or Ashland and very pleased that they enjoy spending time with me in my studio! I have two additional granddaughters who are also very interested in art. Sascha and Maia were both away at camp when the "olders" were doing their thing!

MY JOURNAL - A Wet June!

Beth and Breeze with Alyssa Jumar of Dunbarfarms.com

I have been so looking forward to the summer months! The outdoors calls me! Unfortunately this June, so far, has been "iffy" as far as being able to paint outdoors as much as I want to! On May 29th I did get to go up on the Rogue River near Gold Hill, Oregon to paint en plein air with my dear friend, Glenda Cossette. It was sunny but cool and wonderful that morning! We both worked on a painting of the Rogue and the trees on the bank. Since then the only time I've been outdoors to do artwork was last Friday, June 12th. That day I had made a date for a group of my past students to accompany me to Dunbar Farms just off Hillcrest Road. There we sketched their newly acquired American Belgium Draft Horses, Beth and Breeze. Their owner/trainer, Alyssa Jumar, kept the horses in a cooperative spirit long enough for the group of seven to do lots of photos and many quick sketches. My sketches will someday become a painting but for now I am satisfied to have a great photo!

MY JOURNAL

BUTTE CREEK MILL, Eagle Point, OR

Maintaining my New Year's Resolution to paint en plein air every week is more difficult than I first thought. Some weeks the weather has been too wet and cold and at other times other commitments have gotten in the way. All in all, however, I have been going out to paint as often as I can. Although I always try to have a painting partner when I go out and it is more fun than going out alone. I suppose this is because I am basically a very social person but I will go by myself if no one is ready to go! This past Friday my painter friend, Glenda and I drove over to Eagle Point, Oregon to do a plein air painting of the Butte Creek Mill which is a historical site. It is an actual working flour mill and they have a delightful country store with everything you might want. Candy sticks, ice cream bars, their own flour bagged for sale in large or small quantities, maple syrup in the log cabin tins we all remember, and much more! After painting all morning we rewarded ourselves with a shopping spree in the store! This Friday three of us, Glenda, Judy and myself will be driving up past Roxy Ann for another beautiful view of the valley. Judy has picked the spot which requires traveling up a rocky road for a distance but she promises a wonderful rewarding view at the end of the road! I am ready and the weather promises to cooperate! We'll take our straw hats and sunscreen!

MY JOURNAL

Drawing and Sketching Classes

Teaching drawing and sketching classes is something I have added to my schedule of class offerings just this year. I am loving it! So far I have had two students finish an 8 week course and the second class is halfway through. It is challenging for me! Luckily I have had very motivated students who are ready to work for 2.5 hours straight and willing to do homework assignments! I can barely get the social greeting portions completed before these eager and talented students are doing "show and tell"! My lesson plans include perspective, proportions of the human figure, values - contrasts and shading and composition. We have done still life, human portraits, landscape with pen and ink and also charcoal drawing. In each of the eight week sessions we do an in-class project, stop long enough for a sip of tea, then we do a second drawing project. It is amazing how quickly that two and a half hour session goes by!

MY JOURNAL

My photograph of Mount Thielsen, Oregon . . . should I paint it in my studio or just go there and paint en plein air?

My first love is the out of doors and painting en plein air, but since the weather here isn't always perfect even in the summer, the studio is a logical respite. I have spent a lot of time in my studio this year, too much time. But, the reality is that studio work is an integral part of this artist's life.

I am committed to working from life, either in the studio with still life setups or outside on location. I take a lot of reference photos which I use in my studio when composing a new studio painting. The thing that I must learn to do in my studio paintings is to paint in the same manner as the plein air pieces. That is, with a lot of paint and spontaneity.

Watercolor is a seductive medium with a will of its own and I work constantly towards conquering it or at least feeling somewhat successful! I spend many hours working on composition, values and technique. When I achieve perfection I will let you know!

Oil painting is a constant challenge and a medium that I feel is more conducive to working en plein air. My goal is to spend more time outdoors painting either in oil or watercolor this year and perhaps encourage others to join me for a plein air class in this Spring and Summer. I intend to push myself "out there"!

Teaching is a wonderful learning experience, since it requires that the instructor be ‘brushed up’ on her knowledge, and having to verbalize that knowledge reinforces it. It’s also amazing how much students give in return.

MY JOURNAL ~~ Rainy Day Painting

My latest composition watercolor painting

I prefer going out to paint en plein air but in Oregon there are days in the Winter and Early Spring that just do not work well with watercolor painting or with sketching. On such days (sometimes a week at a time) it is just very necessary to stay indoors! Complaining and grumbling does not help. On these days I read, watch television movies and art instruction CD's (such as Richard McKinley's great workshop on painting in pastel) or spend hours in my studio working on composition paintings. I have spent the past two weeks working on a composition painting. I began a new Drawing and Sketching class on March 10th. Only two students this time too but they are great! both are highly motivated and ready to learn whatever I can teach them. It is so much fun to have eager learners! I have to work to keep ahead of them. It is amazing how much you can learn when you have students with so much potential! I am getting spoiled because the previous two students I had in the January/February class were also great!

MY JOURNAL

Pen & Ink of Jacksonville from the Cemetery

February has come and gone! How did that happen? I suppose I shouldn't complain but last year I at least had one more day before the month ended! Somehow Oregon winters come and go before we have any really bad weather! Now I am thinking. . . did it really snow? Here we are in March and I am looking forward to lots of nice sunny days (in between the rainy days) to go outdoors for more Plein Air painting! On the 27th of February one of my painter friends went out with me for an afternoon of painting from the Jacksonville Cemetery. The cemetery is located on a hillside right in town and it is a lovely spot to see! Karen chose a view looking East over the rooftops towards Medford and I chose the rooftop view of downtown Jacksonville. It was a very peaceful afternoon, no noise, very little distractions except for a couple of hikers out for an afternoon stroll. We stayed until about 3:30 pm when the chill came in with the hillside shade. We promised to bring our sketches or painting to show when we meet this week and this time we will have three people to go unless we encounter bad weather. It is such a great experience and one that should be shared with other painters! I wish you could join us!

MY JOURNAL

Roxy Ann Across The Vineyard Pastel en Plein Air

Today I had time to do many things that I love to do and somehow this time each one thing led to another in a rather fluid motion.

First I slept late! It must have been after 8:00 when I first opened my eyes. Of course I had been in a semi-awake state when I dream in living color. I never want to leave those dreams unfinished! I made a great cup of coffee and sat sipping it while I read a poem by Lily A. Long entitled "The Singing Place". I loved the poem because it gave such a joyous optimistic tone.

I made myself a salad for lunch and readied my painting equipment for a plein air outing with my dear friend Karen Foster. She came at 1:00 and the sun was out, it was warm and we drove just a short distance over to Foothills Road and Roxy Ann Vineyards. We stopped in a parking space adjacent to the Carpenter Vineyard driveway, set up our equipment and started work immediately before the clouds took away our sun! By 3:00 PM it was getting windy and colder so we packed up. I had enough of my painting done so that I knew what I needed to do once I returned to my studio. Karen had done sketches and was ready to leave too. We get a lot of talking in while we paint since we don't get to see each other that often. We made a date to meet again next week for another outing and to share today's work if it is completed by then. Hopefully we can convince others to join us!

I immediately went to work in my studio. I took out my pastels and began altering what I first thought would be a watercolor painting into a pastel painting. I was right! Moving quickly before I forgot the colors I wanted to include, I painted in the sky with great cloud formations and then the focal points. Now I am into the vineyard areas of the painting and must slow down and be patient. The scene will come easily if I can be patient! Tomorrow I will go back to it again. I worked tirelessly, inspired by the day, and realized when I looked up it was getting dark. What a day! This is why I love painting En Plein Air and I can see why so many artist choose pastels when doing plein air paintings!

Footnote: I had just viewed a DVD demonstration by Richard McKinley on pastel painting.

MY JOURNAL 2009

Rogue River Gorge Watercolor - SOLD

Here it is, 2009! It is already the second week of January and I am well into the new year! I had taken a hiatus from painting during an exceptionally busy Holiday Season and my home is the gathering place for my Clan. We had Thanksgiving and Christmas here and although it is quite noisy with 6 excited grand kids and a crowded dinner table at times we all enjoy being together "at Grammy's" I started up a new class the first week after New Year's in Drawing and Sketching. I only have two students in this class which is good for all three of us! I enjoy being able to give instruction one-on-one when we can spend time working out each one's individual problems. I am looking forward to the next seven weeks since both students have a natural talent and are eager to learn! Friday I returned to my painting too. My good painter friend and I planned to do Plein Air painting but it seemed too cold and foggy so we elected to work in her studio. We each had projects on which to work and spent a half day doing studio paintings together. I wanted to paint The Rogue River Gorge (completed painting above) from a photograph I took about three summers ago. This was my chance! It is great to have immediate feedback sometimes from another artist while you are painting. At other times, however, I need to paint in solitude. We have committed to doing Plein Air painting on Fridays each week. Let's hope we can continue doing just that for this whole year! Hopefully we can include other "fair weather" painters as we move into warmer weather in about mid February or March!

MY JOURNAL

OLD CITY HALL, JACKSONVILLE, OREGON En Plein Air

It was cold and foggy yesterday when I woke up. " Go back to bed", I told myself, "it's going to stay this way all day"! But I had made a date with my painting partner to paint either en plein air or at her home. I drove to her home just outside of Jacksonville and my spirits rose! Daylight seemed brighter out there, but to me it always does! I love Jacksonville so much and the trees, even though it was foggy and gloomy looking, were beautiful! " Coffee" I begged when she met me at the door. We had coffee, discussed her latest paintings, framing issues, and before we knew it the sun was out. That meant we had no excuses! We agreed to just drive down into Jacksonville and paint right in town. She chose her Grandmother's house to paint which was a charming little cottage across Oregon Street from the old City Hall. I chose to paint the old City Hall. She sat in the sun but I wanted to paint the sunlight spreading shadows on the side of the old brick building so I sat in the shade. It was cold but enjoyable! Painting in town has it's distractions, however, automobiles interrupt the view, construction noises are heard, and also people pass by and stop to talk. It is not the same as painting en plein air out in the countryside with the birds, bees and cows! We had a great day and a great lunch afterwards at Pony Espresso too!