Holiday Sale at OCAC This Weekend!!!

For those of you in the Portland, Oregon area, my jewelry will be at the Oregon College of Art and Craft Holiday Sale this weekend!  

There will also be LOTS of my Lemongrass Candles for sale, as well!  The sale starts on the evening of Friday, November 25, and runs through Sunday, November 27, 2011.  

Please stop by and have a look!  The proceeds from sales go back to the artists and to scholarships for students at OCAC, so not only are you supporting artists, you're supporting students who are attending or want to attend the Oregon College of Art and Craft!

For more information click HERE!

Learning to Draw Again...

 Self Portrait in Charcoal & Chalk, progression from left to right.

As some of you know, I am currently attending the Oregon College of Art and Craft as a BFA student.  Due to the nature of my Bachelor's degree from Australia, I am not qualified 'as is' to enter into a Master's program in the U.S., so I had to transfer my degree to OCAC and finish a degree here in order to move forward to a Master's.  

Still with me?  

I know, it's complicated.

Anyway, part of my curriculum is Drawing Foundations (wha?!  Yeah...think of my school in Australia as more of a trade school, I guess..).  

When I first entered the class in September, I thought "oh man, I am not going to like this.  I'm not good at drawing."  But, I consciously decided to be open to the process, and luckily, my teacher works in almost a mathematical way, which works perfectly with my learning process.  Yay!

And, as evidenced above, I'm not nearly as bad at drawing as I thought I was.  

Realizing this is very exciting for me, and gives me a renewed sense of confidence.  I'm definitely looking forward to next semester when we'll be able to get more creative--and since I am not a drawing artist by  nature, that will be an interesting challenge (and I do love a challenge).

My constant advice to people struggling with learning to draw, or learning a new process, is to forget what you think you know and be open.  It makes a world of difference.

And the winners are....

 First off, I want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who visited my blog, Facebook, Twitter, Etsy Shop, etc., this past week, and definitely to those who made purchases.  THANK YOU!!!  You make creating fun.  I love what I do, I LOVE what I create, and I definitely love sending those creations to new homes.

The Early Bird Sale is over, and last night, my lovely husband Dave helped me pick the winners out of a hat!  Here they are!

Jamieson, you won a pair of my The Dalles Mountain Buttercup Earrings!

And Katrina, Heather, and Sewitbe, you all won Lemongrass Candles!

So ladies, please email your addresses to me at chandler (dot) catherine (at) gmail (dot) com!

Cheers, and thank you for playing!!

Finding Inspiration...

I am finding inspiration...and in the strangest place...

Rain!

I love rain.

But living in Portland, I know that in April, after months of incessant rain (last year we had 50+ straight days of rain!), I will hate it. 

But for now, in the gorgeous cool of fall, I love it.  It is inspiring me.

What inspires you right now?

Collaboration and the Fantasy Coffin Maker

(Artist talk by Eric Adjetey Anang, Michael DeForest introducing him)

 We have a visiting artist here at the Oregon College of Art and Craft this week, and it has been incredible to watch him work.  

(Students working with Eric Adjetey Anang)

(Michael DeForest sanding the fish coffin)

His name is Eric Adjetey Anang, and he is a Fantasy Coffin maker from Ghana.  He did a presentation on his work and history on Monday, which was absolutely fascinating.  One of the Wood faculty, Michael DeForest, actually did a residency with him in Ghana at one point, and for the rest of the week they have been working together to make a smaller scale model of a Fish Coffin.  

(Eric Adjetey Anang carving details in the fish)

I cannot wait to see how it turns out!  It has been fascinating watching the process of how Eric builds these forms from planks of wood, and they become this gorgeous, painted sculpture.
I love that he has been collaborating with the faculty and students on this project.  Right now the tent is all enclosed, but hopefully there will be a more finished product on display soon!