OCAC

I moved to Oregon years back in order to attend OCAC, Oregon College of Art & Craft, and it was a pivotal time in my life for so many reasons. So it was with intense dismay that I heard the recent announcement that they are going to stop granting degrees. A bunch of people rallied swiftly to see what could be done to save the day, and I've gathered the links here.

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Save OCAC
Edited February 28 to add--this is the current letter to sign; we're trying to get the Board to delay voting March 1 on bids to sell the campus so that other options can be considered--people are putting in a lot of effort to find a solution; until now, alumni and the community have been left out of the process.
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OCAC website
If you're in the Portland, OR area, check out the community workshops! I've taken as many as possible since I graduated, and there's a great lineup for the spring. Some workshops still have openings.

Friends of OCAC
Follow for information (also on Facebook) and sign this letter to show support--it is going to be presented to the OCAC Board again on February 21, 2019.

Two things that came up in last week's meeting of Friends of OCAC, alumni, and students:

* Friends of OCAC have also started a "Made at OCAC" campaign that we think would be great to keep promoting. Post pictures of your work, whether in a gallery, collaboration piece on youtube or portfolio photos with the tag line "Made at OCAC #SAVEOCAC" and describe the work, the influence of OCAC on your craft and how you carry it with you in your practice.

* Start writing about why OCAC matters to you. 1-2 paragraphs accompanied by a photo of your work, or a 1-3 minute video explaining what makes OCAC so special and worth preserving. Send to counciltosaveocac@gmail.com.

Feel free to share! It would be especially wonderful if you know patrons of the arts that would love to help financially.

Here is one of my favorite pieces done during my time at OCAC, in a class with Michelle Ross. This drawing was one of the pieces that won me an award from the Local 14.

August Greetings!

My friend Megan, who lives on a fixed income, is raising funds to move--her apartment is listed for sale, so time is of the essence. If you would please share and donate if you can, that would be lovely!

https://www.gofundme.com/j4zshm-getting-out-of-here

Gratuitous snuggle kitty photo:

Lengthy Hiatus ~ Spring Restart

I was reminded why I didn't post the other times I'd tried; tonight, I persisted through a myriad of login attempts (drat, just which e-mail and which password did I use! and no, I do not want to set up a Blogger profile).

Much has happened, but things are finally settling down. I never found a house, but rent went up so much that I couldn't afford to stay renting if I wanted the luxury of space, a safe location, AND my own washer to do laundry at home (which is a luxury I had at my last apartment for the first time in my adult life). With downpayment help from my mom, I was able to get a small condo which is way better than I thought I'd end up with, and not only does it have a washer, but it has a garage and a view over a little greenspace! So with that, and being able to stay in the vicinity of where I've lived for almost 15 years, and the resulting hope for more life stability, my artistic witchy woods-yearning heart feels better than it has for years. Decompression will still take a while.

My cat adjusted so quickly.

A selectively edited view of my makeshift studio surface--the room is, in reality, still so very full of boxes. I try to look only at the table and at the large cedar tree outside.

I have ideas for a weaving post to do fairly soon; in the interim, I've been sharing recent art over on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/laurathodeart/

Painting Challenge, Part 4: Conclusion

(Hah! I'd saved this draft months ago; apparently no new insights have come to me, so here it is. Happy spring!)

Any sort of art challenge ends up with...challenges. Lessons you learn. Some of those aren't surprising, like the resistance you have to push through to keep going, wanting/not wanting to do it, or wanting to do anything else but that.

One of the things I learned in art school was that if you make a lot of things, you end up with a few really good ones--this time, however, that kind of didn't happen. I'm disappointed, but in retrospect, not really surprised. This was all going on at the most stressful time of year work-wise, and many of these were painted at the, "I am so ready to go to sleep--but wait, I didn't paint yet" time of night.

Which leads to Hurdle Number Two (Number One being the resistance): technical issues!

I have dabbled with watercolor and gleaned some bits of insight, but...oh, the technical frustrations of trying to do a somewhat satisfactory watercolor painting in one sitting. That basically is impossible. I sort of pulled it off with a few of the more "sketchy" ones, but trying to do something that looked complete and had dark shadows--it doesn't happen. In order to add more paint, more darkness, the first layer has to be dry. I can't say how many times I was impatient, and ended up lifting ALL the color off! Or adding paint and having it run all through another area I was done with, and then having to try to fix it.

One completely different issue that hadn't occurred to me was scale--my normal drawings of faces probably average around one inch high, so increasing to close to six inches was drastic! Another time I would also collect reference photos ahead of time; I only used about three for this challenge, which is why the faces look so similar.

Days 23, 24, & 25

Days 26, 27, & 28

Days 29 & 30

Painting Challenge, Part 3

Next installment!

Days 14, 15, & 16

Days 17, 18, & 19

Days 20, 21, & 22

Painting Challenge, Part 2

I completed my 30 Faces in 30 Days challenge!

I got the idea from Galia Alena--here are her posts:
New Challenge
Part Two
Part Three

I didn't state the parameters last time:
* same size--they are all 4x6 inches, Strathmore 140 lb cold press watercolor paper
* must involve brush or paint [I didn't end up varying--except for using ink one time, they are all watercolor]
* share them even if they are really bad
* added this one part way through: share even if I don't like them.

Apparently it was enough to manage to get the paintings done, so now I am left to catch up with posting. Here is the next batch.

Days 5, 6, & 7

Days 8, 9, & 10

Days 11, 12, & 13

Reappearing [and Painting Challenge, Part 1]

Hmm, so much for posting regularly! I have been sharing some on the insidious Facebook, but that is really not ideal. There are plans in the works, some of which were unplanned--I did not plan to start hunting for a house again, for example. I'm starting to get my feet back under me, and hope to get better at balancing things.

In the meantime, here are some photos of bits & pieces of things that I've made this year. One of advantage of blogging regularly (I tell myself) is that it gives me a record of accomplishment better than digital photos tucked away in virtual folders.

My most recent project is a challenge to paint 30 faces in 30 days, an idea I got from Galia Alena. Days 1-4 are below.

A taste of what has been going on--more appealing than packing boxes, yes? I'm not as close to having a regular creative practice as I'd like, but despite everything, I do feel like I'm starting to make progress. If I can nurture it through the next six months or so, I hope to be able to root it firmly once the housing situation is under control.