I submitted five paintings to the open show at the Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts. The show has a long history, as this was the 55th one! This year there were more than 1200 artworks entered. I’m very proud to be awarded a blue ribbon for “Living on Hope.”
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!
For the past week I’ve been staying in a little cottage in Waldport all by myself, enjoying silence and creative time and walking on the beach twice a day. It’s been heavenly!
I bought a folding table to set up as my workspace in the dining room and spread out my supplies. It was great to have the whole day–the whole week!–to alternate working on paintings with taking breaks outside. The past few days it was so warm that I took my book about Henry Miller’s watercolors onto the deck and soaked up some sun.
I’m heading home refreshed and restored and with a stack of new work and many, many photos for future inspiration.
I’m proud to announce that two of my paintings were juried into Beaverton Arts Mix! I really enjoyed visiting the show last year and seeing the breadth of work, so it’s exciting that my work will hang in it this year.
Here is one of the pieces that will be in the show, which runs October 5-8 at the Beaverton City Library.
“Living on Hope,” mixed media painting by Riis Griffen.
Riis Griffen, Let It Be, mixed media on 20×20″ canvas.
This is a painting I finished in March. It’s now hanging at the Grand Opening exhibit at Tappen Studios in SE Portland along with several other paintings of mine and work by four other artists. The show is up until the end of July.
Are you following my Instagram? I post there several days a week with my latest paintings and photography, as well as works in progress and studio shots. I’m really starting to enjoy that format so I hope you’ll follow me there!
I’m honored to be invited to participate in the Grand Opening of Tappen Studios along with four other local artists (Shauna Meiri, Dawn Tappen, Pegguin Pfenniger Reed and Alexis Terry Bouchard). Join us on May 27 to celebrate the opening of this new gallery and workshop space in SE Portland!
“Inez” is one of my little characters for the Black + White + One show. Thanks to everyone who came out for the reception last night!
Riis Griffen, “Inez,” mixed media on 12×12″ canvas.
This collage shows only a tiny fraction of the wonderful art that will be available at Affordable Art for Everyone this Saturday, September 24, at the Washington County Fair Complex.
I’m honored to be working with these artists and to see the amazing reaction to the show–and it hasn’t even happened yet! I’m so excited I’ve been losing sleep, but it’s only two days away now. Hope to see you there!
It’s been a whirlwind around here as I get ready for the event. This has been such a learning experience. I’ve worked on graphic design, lined up sponsors, placed ads in local publications, promoted on social media, and probably dozens more things in addition to getting the artists situated.
All of the hard work is so worth it. As the day gets closer, I’m getting butterflies envisioning the booths all set up. Last year it was amazing to see the artists arrive and to see the variety of work that they brought, and I can hardly wait to see this year’s show!
Details are on our website and I’ve also been posting sneak previews of the art daily on our Facebook page.