Fare Thee Well...

The Flow Burns Strongest In Gaps
Jennifer G Cutshall

This last day of the Portland Open Studios was bittersweet. It was sweet to have so many artists and art lovers visit the studio, but I was sad that it was coming to an end.

I was filled with inspiration as visitors shared their musings and insights.  Portland is filled with creative, talented people and this showed up even more today as the studio filled with open, generous folks.  I am always surprised by the level of interest in the work, too.

A trio of young creatives (Eilish, Jessica, and TJ) pampered me with attention and interest.  They asked about the my process and the meaning behind the pieces.  When I started to explain how the above piece speaks to the chances we are given while we are in an in between phase (in between jobs, moves, marriages etc.)..that it's in these gaps, so to speak, where the greatest art is created and when we are closest to the flow (the creative flow)...

Jessica, quoted a line from Wendell Berry's poem, "The Real Work"
       "...the impeded stream is the one that sings."

I instantly felt so lucky to be among kindred spirits!

Fare thee well Portland Open Studios 2012...

we're in the gap until 2013...

our chance to make streams sing...

the real work begins again.

"It Lives and Dies In Cerrillos"
by Jennifer G Cutshall
(now @ Art On the Ridge in Setatle)

Posted by Jennifer G Cutshall

Less is More

I preach that less is more in art (and in life) and today this sentiment proved true again.

Rain -the scene this morning outside the studio

"Rain"
the painted scene inside the Studio on the wall

This mornings' Portland Open Studios' second opener brought buckets of rain to the studio door, but not even a trickling of visitors spilled in until...

Sun

...the sun poured in! And along with it- a great collector named Duane.  He came in like a ray of sunshine.
You can find out more about Duane Snyder through his blog:
http://www.theartcounselor.com/dsnider/wordpress/
or his website
http://theartcounselor.com/

  He was closely followed by a lovely family of burgeoning art critics...

Zeeman and Jayden taking a closer look at
"From Limb to Limb"

"This one looks like a bug's eye view and this other one looks like a dream tornado destroying the nightmare,"commented young Zeeman.

"Or an Ocean City," his liitle brother Jayden added.

A trio of lovely ladies bustled in with great energy and attentive ears for my art ramblings...

Liz, Jacqueline, and Mickey
in front of "PreOcuppied II and Surrounded"

I really enjoyed talking with these fellow artists and it was neat to have a cast member from "Portlandia" in my studio (Mickey Ronningen in the yellow jacket).  I loved meeting these ladies!

Then I had the great pleasure of meeting Halina and Charla (below)...they asked such great questions...they could host their own talk show.

I had so much fun talking with them, too!

It was a day with less visitors, but I felt so blessed to meet the ones that stopped by...
 I hope my Portland Open Studios'  mates had the pleasure of meeting these amazing folks too.
Visit Portland Open Studios website to learn more about this uniquely PDX experience and come out tomorrow to meet 100 artists...
http://www.portlandopenstudios.com/
http://www.portlandopenstudios.com/artists/cutshall/

Thanks to all the great studio visitors today...you made my day!

Post by Jennifer G Cutshall

Opening Day

A shot of studio, all gussied up for Portland Open Studios Tour

This is my first year participating in the Portland Open Studios tour.   Rich and I had to clear out some of our studios to showcase my work and make room for the tour goers.  It felt good to get out from under layers of charcoal dust and paint splatter that had accumulated since our move to Portland.  Now I'm not saying that we don't clean up regularly, but I'll admit that we hadn't done an every nook and cranny clearing out in a while.   After all, our studios are in a 3 car garage structure, so it was easy to have that garage standard (of clean)... until Portland Open Studios, that is.  One of the visitors today even expressed a little disappointment at the cleanliness of the studio (I felt a pang of pride).
"Where's the paint splatter, the mess, the dust?" she asked.  "All the studios we've been to are all cleaned up."
There were so many great visitors today.  Interested and curious people that love to look at art (my favorite kind of people).  I kept thinking, this is such a great city to live in....a great city for artists!
Thanks for coming out to visit the studio...there are 3 more days of over 100 studios to see...
Learn more at:
http://www.portlandopenstudios.com/

http://www.portlandopenstudios.com/artists/cutshall/

I hope to see you at the studio...

Our Favorite Art Supply Stores

Studio Cat 

It's no surprise that we love art supplies; all artists do.  The same way great chefs love fresh ingredients, artists seem to be drawn to the supplies that make their creative juices simmer!
 Here in Portland there's a virtual plethora of great independent art supply stores and we feel so lucky!  Sometimes we just browse the aisles and talk about how we could use different materials in the future.

We picked our top 3 favorite (all time) art supply stores below.  We encourage our readers to visit these independent beauties and leave the Chain Beasts behind for good...

In Portland we love
 "I've Been Framed"
4950 SE Foster Rd
Portland OR
503-775-2651
for Great prices, the best framing guys,  knowledgeable staff, and just the right amount of Hodge Podge Savoir-faire
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ive-Been-Framed-Discount-Art-Supplies/230942885624


In New Mexico
"Artisan-Santa Fe"
for great prices, community engagement, and proximity to great green chile!
http://www.artisan-santafe.com/
2601 Cerrillos Road
Santa, Fe, NM
505-954-4179

And the # 1 pick ...
is from my hometown (New York)
"Pearl Paint"
for its' creaky stairs, its'many levels...
an entire landing is dedicated to mostly pencils...enough said, right?
but there's so much more...its proximity to great dumplings and pork buns...

....to shop at Pearl Paint in New York is to imagine greatness...

http://www.pearlpaint.com/

We invite you to leave a comment and tell us about your favorite art supply store...
share the love for the little guy...