YOU KNOW IT'S HOT WHEN...

Hey blog friends,
How are you doing today? If you're in the Pacific Northwest, I hope you are surviving the heat. Today we were grocery shopping in a local store which was very air-conditioned and all of the sudden the lights started flickering, recovering, flickering, and then...lights out. I am so glad I stopped at the deli counter first, it would have taken forever to hand slice that lunch meat! Yes, too many air-conditioners running at the same time and the little old transformer just couldn't take it any more. It said "I think I can...I think I can...oh darn, I can't". Shortly after that the voice of the store came over the intercom and asked all customers to finish shopping immediately and head to the cashiers in the front to buy their purchases and then exit the store. They weren't sure if there would be enough back up power to check everyone out but there was and they did. We were happy not to have spent time shopping just to leave it all behind. Way to go cashiers!!! We were even happier to get home and see that we still had air-conditioning. What a blessing, lunch meat and air conditioning! Let's never forget to be thankful for the small things in life.

LONG DAYS...SHORT NIGHTS

Hello blogger friends!

Been a little busy here with lots of fun summer activities. Last weekend my SIL Holly came down for a visit along with her hubby and she and I went to visit Liz at the Seabold Vintage Market show.

(This is Liz and my SIL Holly)


(Holly filling out a card for a drawing to get that cool fan!)

(Notice the H and M (Holly and Meagan) so cute!)

(my friend Joan in her cute hat)

It was a lot of fun and my friends Joan from September Tea was there with her booth selling lots of cool stuff. It was such a beautiful day and we had a great time. A few days before SVM, I got a phone call from my friend Todd who owns a great shop in Edmonds, WA. called Bountiful Home. He was having his first Vintage Summer Garden Market and inviting six different vendors to be at the show and asked me to be one of them! Yes, me...little old me who hasn't done a show yet but is working feverishly to get ready for my first show at the Bainbridge Island Studio Tour in three weeks and will now work even harder for my new first show in just one week at Bountiful Home. Tell me I'm crazy!!! Well, seven long days and short nights later Hubby and I got on the Kingston ferry with our van packed full of my stuff and headed over to Edmonds for the Vintage Summer Garden Market at Bountiful Home. It was such a great time. We were able to meet so many wonderful people and get a chance to see what it was like to set up shop. It all set up great and without a hitch.

(notice who is doing all the work! Thanks Hubby!)

(I did help a little!)

Some of the great vendors we met were Kimi Hansen (who is an acrylic painter also and her Mom Sandy who is a watercolor artist and makes other cool stuff),

(Patricia with Todd)

Patricia Mackey with Tippy Stockton and Tippy's Textiles 'n Stuff and Beth and Lisa with The Salvage Studio.

( Patricia's booth was so cute!)

(Todd watering the fabulous garden)

Thanks to my friend Todd at Bountiful Home for such a great day! If you are ever in Edmonds you have to stop by Bountiful Home. It is such a treat and you will go back again and again...it's just that kind of place.

So now I will continue fine tuning for my second show at the Bainbridge Island Studio Tour but until then I thing I will sit back and enjoy an ice-cold glass of lemonade.
Talk to you soon!

Meagan

The creative process...

Hello Blogger friends,
I have been painting from the series of pictures I took in Eastern Washington and thought that you may be interested in my creative process. You know that I work from photos I have taken throughout Washington State and some from Illinois where we lived for several years.



I then take a new canvas and paint it completely black with black Gesso.

On tracing paper I draw out the size of my canvas so that I will have the right size image for the next step.

Then I take a copy of my photo and use my enlarger to transfer the image onto the tracing paper making sure it stays withing the boundaries of my canvas size.

After the image is drawn onto the tracing paper I use a white transfer paper called Saral and put it under the image I just copied and on top of the canvas and then retrace it leaving a white outline of the image. Then it's time to paint!

I love painting on black. The color just explodes off the canvas and allows me to create a depth and texture that I can't seem to achieve on a white background.

Hope you enjoy the new painting!

Oh! By the way, today will be a really fun event on Bainbridge Island. My Sister In Law (SIL) Holly, is coming down to go with me to Seabold Vintage Market. It should be tons of fun. I guess they only do it once a year. There are several vendors that Liz from Seabold Vintage Market has put together for a show. It starts at 2:00 this afternoon. So if your in the area you should check it out.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope your weekend is great.

Meagan

New Inspiration

It's quiet in my house this morning. I woke up before the rest of the family and thought I would look through some of my photos for inspiration on my next series of paintings. These photos were from a few years ago when we lived in Illinois and had come back to Washington for a visit. We went to Eastern Washington to visit family and had so much fun one evening driving through the wheat fields taking pictures of old barns and the beautiful landscape. I have loved these photos because the landscape is so very different from Western Washington. We were there right before the wheat harvest and the fields were so beautiful. Time to paint!

Have a great weekend :)

Restored order.

Last night was a sleepless night. I got up early with Hubby to catch the ferry to Seattle for a shopping trip. It was all about getting ready for the Studio Tour. We went to a store that sells display goods and one that sells paper goods and one that sells packaging etc...etc...etc. Tonight Hubby and the family helped to set up the booth (tent) for the studio tour. Feeling so much better about things. Feels so great to have a plan. Does anyone else do that thing where when there is so much to do you do nothing because you can't think straight? Man...I'm the worst about that! May explain why I couldn't sleep last night. But now all the planets have aligned and there is restored order in my life. I HAVE A PLAN!!! This is very good. Almost as good as chocolate. Which has been missing from my diet today...hum...need to fix that. Maybe tomorrow, I'm tired.

SIT AND STAY AWHILE

Hello again!

So here is my latest work of art. It's called "sit and stay awhile". I have been painting a series of Adirondack chairs for the art show I'm in on August 7-9th. You can check out the show at http://www.bistudiotour.com/ . It's one month from today...YIKES!!! "Stay calm" ...that's what I keep saying to myself. I have one more month to paint, print, fold, price, purchase, set up a booth and I'm sure a million other things. But I'm really looking forward to this show. It will be the first time I have done anything like this and I don't know what kind of feedback I will get. That's the part that makes me a little nervous. I know many of you artists out there have done this kind of thing before. Any tips or advice? Would love to hear your tricks of the trade if you're willing to share.

Take care and I'll be in touch soon!

Meagan

Visiting Seattle?...Gum Wall...a must see

Hey there,
Sunday morning...last nights fireworks were great...all kinds of junk in the front yard to pick up (those fireworks are messy!). So I was thinking about the great city of Seattle, WA. Yesterday, during the big 4th of July parade in town, I was realizing how many tourists were here visiting our little island just a short ferry ride away from the city. It struck me how great the city of Seattle is to visit. So much to do there. But there is one tourist spot that I don't believe is very well known and it's right smack dab in the center of Pike Place Market! It's Gum Wall. Yes, you heard me right, GUM WALL...as in chewing gum...maybe should be known as ABC Wall...Already Been Chewed Wall. It is possibly the most amazing display of public art that I have seen. So, so...unexpected!

When you visit the PPM (Pike Place Market) you'll see the famous fish throwers, right by the pig sculpture, and off to the left you'll see a small, discrete staircase going down to Post Alley. Once you get to the bottom of the stairs and turn left, you'll be there! Have fun...maybe add to the already incredible work of art (I do believe it's a work in progress).

Talk to you soon!

Meagan

Happy 4th of July!!!

I'm back from my trip and happy to be home again to get going on my long list of things to do. It was so fun to reconnect with friends from Illinois. Thanks Phil and Cheri! Today will be spent celebrating the 4th of July. We start out helping out with a fund raising booth for our son's crew team. We will be selling smoothies and popcorn. Then off to the parade...the Grand Ol' Parade! And later tonight a spectacular display of fireworks. Hope your 4th of July is wonderful!...

(several hours later)...

Hi again...so we went to help out with the smoothies for the crew team. Little did we know that it would be the most popular booth at the parade! I think I maybe made 200-300 smoothies. SMOOTHIE MARATHON! The person that was supposed to take over at 1:30 didn't show and the line for smoothies was L...O...N...G , so we stayed and kept cranking out the fruit smoothies. Freaking out I was....don't look at the line of people...just keep making smoothies. Hubby was cool and collected. Making people laugh and what not. People can be down right mean when they are waiting for their smoothie and it's hot out. oh well, on to the next event! talk to you later!