Lisa Griffen, Red Scarf, mixed media on 8×8″ wood.
Baby, it’s cold outside. She’s all dressed up in her scarf but her nose is still red.
This is the third of my ten paintings for the 8th annual Big 500 show at Peoples Art in Portland. It opens Saturday, Dec 12 with a high-energy reception and runs through mid-January.
Lisa Griffen, Pajama Party for One, mixed media on 8×8″ wood.
This little piggy has his PJ’s on and he’s ready for fun! My second painting finished for the Big 500 show at Peoples Art in Portland, which opens December 12 at 2 pm with a huge reception.
Lisa Griffen, Wise Beyond Your Years, mixed media on 8×8″ wood.
This is my first painting finished for the Big 500 show at Peoples Art in Portland. This is my third time participating. Every year I get my boards and plan to finish my paintings before Thanksgiving…and every year I’m still working on them at the start of December! One down and nine to go!
The show opens with a huge reception on December 12 at 2 pm, with music, snacks, a canned food drive for the Oregon Food Bank, and thousands of pieces of original art priced at $40 each. It’s always a good time and I’m looking forward to being a part of it again.
Handful of Stars, mixed media outsider art painting on 18×24″ canvas. $270.
This is one of those paintings that didn’t want to come together for ages, until it suddenly did. I’d like to figure out what it is that sparks that resolution, because it would make my painting process a lot faster! And then this little lady lingered on the easel all summer because I’ve been so busy I didn’t have time to put the finishing touches on her. It was great to get back into the studio last week and finally finish her. This isn’t a very good photo, because I snapped it hastily before she went off to People’s Art in Portland for their So Many Days, So Many Dead show that opens on October 17. The show hangs until November 15, so stop by to see her and three more of my paintings in person!
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.
Wishbone. Original mixed media outsider art painting on 16×20″ canvas. $200.
I’ve had a bad cold since returning from vacation, but made it out of bed this morning to hang my solo show at the Cedar Hills New Seasons cafe with lots of help from my sweet husband. Wishbone and 12 other animal-themed paintings will be there until the end of September.
Art Fest is coming soon! This Saturday, July 11, members of the The Green Cab artists’ group will be showing art, talking art and making art at the studio of Helvi Smith in Forest Grove.
We’ll be there from 10 am to 4 pm, counting our blessings that the temperature is only supposed to be 81 instead of the 90+ temperatures we’ve had for the past couple of weeks.
I hear the Artosaur, my friend Christine’s latest project (because who doesn’t need a 6 foot sculpture of a T Rex to scope out art events around town?!) will be there too.
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.
…the heat is making the paint bottles pop open! The Portland area is having a heat wave like nothing I can remember in my 24 years here. I don’t have air conditioning in the studio, so paint is drying too fast even in the late morning. Paintings are coming along very slowly and I’m keeping busy with other projects for now.
Lisa Griffen, Visitor from the Dreamtime, acrylic and ink on 18×24″ canvas.
I watched the movie Tracks on Netflix. It’s about Robin Davidson’s solo trek across the Australian desert in the 1970s. Then I read her book, which gave a lot more detail, especially about the Aboriginal people she met along her way. That got me interested in reading about the spirituality of indigenous Australians. I’m especially intrigued by the Creation stories about the Dreamtime.
A few days after I finished all that reading, this figure showed up in my painting, clearly emerging from those explorations.