A couple of my pieces that found new homes at the Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts. I’m happy to know that buyers will be enjoying “You Light Up My Life” and “Octavian” in their homes.
Riis Griffen, Octavian, mixed media on 16×20″ canvas.
Sold work
Category Archives: Uncategorized
It’s available!
I’m so excited to hold a copy of Whimsicalia in my hands! This selection of animal characters is 72 pages long and full color. And it’s available on Amazon!
Journeys art show
Westside ArtShare group exhibition, Hillsboro Brookwood Library, May-June 2018
Ten members of Westside ArtShare hung art at the Hillsboro Brookwood library gallery. Each explored the theme of “journeys” in a different way. I focused on the idea of personal, emotional journeys and used torn journal pages and lots of texture to create two 36 x 36″ pieces.
With my painting, “Introspect,” at the Journeys show, Hillsboro Brookwood Library, June 2018
The show is on view until June 30.
Humphrey
Lisa Griffen, Humphrey, mixed media on 8×8″ wood.
This is one of my paintings that sold at the Big 500 show at People’s Art in Portland. The show ran from mid-December to mid-January and eight of my ten paintings sold. I heard from several artist friends who had similar results, so it seems like it was a very successful show this year!
Snow Days
Nandina berries encased in ice. Photo by Lisa Griffen.
Family visitors have left after the holidays and today was going to be my first day of getting back to my routine, but nature had other plans. We had snow yesterday. It was beautiful when it was falling and I love the way it transforms the landscape. It was also quite an adventure driving over to Village Gallery to hang the January show. As often happens in this area, the snow quickly turned to ice and today the entire area was shut down as it was too dangerous to drive. That meant a free day for my family and a postponement of my plans, but I don’t even mind.
The ice is bad for driving but possibly even more magical than the snow.
Buds are just starting on the lilac bush but they’re currently encased in ice. Photo by Lisa Griffen.
Outsider artist Andrew Blythe
I became aware of the work of New Zealander Andrew Blythe through the Outsider Art Facebook page. After looking through an album of his art, which uses pattern and a limited palette, I clicked on the Youtube video of him talking about his work.
He said, “I try to beautify my beasts.” That floored me. You know when you read or hear the perfect phrase and think, “I wish I’d thought of that”? With that line, Andrew Blythe nailed something I’ve been trying to say about my art for the past few years.
Detail of a painting in progress
This is a section of a large painting (30×24″) I’ve been working on. Sometimes a small section can almost be an abstract in its own right.
Affordable Art for Everyone
For over six months I’ve been meeting with my friend Christine Martell to plan a big project. We wanted to organize a show of art priced under $100 to help artists find new homes for their work and to bring in buyers who might not usually think of themselves as art collectors.
The show is called Affordable Art for Everyone and it’s all coming together beautifully. We opened up the application on Zapp about ten days ago. It’s so exciting to see applications coming in!
The application deadline is April 17 and the application is here. We also have a Facebook page where we’ll be posting info about the show and examples of the artists’ work.
Portlandia time
Facing the Blues, mixed media on stretched canvas, 24×20 inches. $300.
The new season of Portlandia starts tomorrow and it looks like it’s going to be a good one. I’ll be keeping an eye out for my painting in the background.
It’s the little things
You may have noticed that my site now has a favicon. If you hadn’t noticed, check it out! The favicon is the tiny icon that appears as part of the browser tab. For mine I used the silhouette of one of my rabbits. I’m ridiculously excited about this. It’s such a small thing but it makes me feel like the site is more mine.