Isn't this just The Bee's knees?

I drove Tangereen to school this morning (two hours late because we had SNOW!!!), and was delighted when several of her friends stopped me in the hall to tell me they saw my artwork in The Bee, a community newspaper based in the Sellwood neighborhood of Portland, OR.

I was so excited I had to rush over to Starbucks to get a copy of the new February issue. There's an article about me, called "Duniway students put new spin on old vinyl records," on page 15.

Here's a link to the article online!

It's about some mandala classes I teach at an elementary school where the kids made clocks out of vinyl records and painted an awesome mandala mural on a wall. It also talks about my involvement with Trillium Artisans, and it's about Etsy too!

At Trillium, Claringbold also learned about Etsy.com, a website where handmade items are sold. "Etsy is the rage in the craft community," Claringbold said. "It's just ballooned."

Watch me on "That's Clever!" tomorrow - Friday 12/14 at 11 am ET/PT

I'll be on "That's Clever!" on HGTV tomorrow, Friday, December 14 at 11:00 am ET/PT. I will be making my Snowman Record Bowl.

You may also see some rock and roll happening in the Dartgun studios.

("While my record is in the oven, I'm gonna go jam with the band!" Yeah, right. They made me say that, although I would never do such a thing because after 5 minutes my record would be toast!)If you catch the show, please leave me a comment and let me know what you thought! It should be pretty silly.

"Psychedelic in Portland" at Elemental Arts

I have a solo show hanging right now at Elemental Arts, located near Antique Row in Portland's Sellwood district. The title of the show is "Psychedelic in Portland" (after the title of my HGTV segment), so of course I had to wear my most psychedelic dress. There was an opening reception on First Friday. It was even mentioned in the Oregonian!

Kat and Obadiah came.

I pulled out all the stops and brought everything, including painted guitars, typewriter cases, and canvases along with my painted record items.


We even set up a laptop and had some "screenings" of my HGTV segment on "Look What I Did!". I sold a few things and had a great time. If you are in the Portland area, stop in to Elemental Arts at 6035 SE Milwaukie Avenue, right across the street from the Iron Horse Restaurant. My show will be up through December 6, but I will continue to have selected works on consignment so stop in any time. They also have wonderful handmade jewelry, handblown glass, and other unique gifts.

Last night's Vinyl Killers show

Here's me and Chuck standing in front of the mandalas I contributed to the Vinyl Killers International Show of Painted Records last night. It was held at the Goodfoot which is a cool bar in SE Portland. It was so amazing to see the walls totally covered with more than 200 painted records from all over the world. Unfortunately it was really dark in there so it was hard to get any good pictures with my camera.
A couple of other local artists who participated were Chris Haberman and Beth Myrick. Check them out, they do very cool work.

Like a record, baby

I discovered some great slide show templates in Photobucket. Is this one not just absolutely perfect for my Mandala Records?

A couple of years ago I hung some of my work and led a mandala workshop for the Sustainable Community Convergence. They had a d.j. there who had a little fun spinning my records too.

Tonight's the night!

This is what one of my murals looked like when it was illuminated by a big fancy light for our HGTV shoot two years ago.

Finally, TONIGHT, I will get to watch the show!

Please tune in to HGTV's "Look What I Did" tonight (Sept. 19) at 5:00 pm ET/PT.

This is a show about "homeowners who break the design mold." My segment is all about my master bedroom which is also my studio and home office. The walls and ceiling are all adorned with my original painted mandala designs. You can see more pictures on my website.
Here's Chuck posing with a couple of the guys from the crew - the lighting guy and the "grip." They made my husband wear a tie to help counteract all his tattoos. I don't think the collar fully covered up the one around his neck, but we'll see.
Above is our director, Renato, getting the camera set up in order to interview me in the kitchen. Renato was also the director for my "That's Clever!" shoot, which will air on HGTV some time this holiday season.

So tune in to my show! It's not every day that I invite the world into my bedroom...

My awesome summer job

This summer I am working as a ceramics instructor at Art Adventures, the kids summer camp at Oregon College of Art and Craft.

I work in a tent in the midst of a beautiful orchard full of bunnies and blackberries.

The main projects I teach each week are pots and animals. The little kids do pinch pots and the older ones do coil pots. They all get to make clay animals (or imaginative creatures). They are all fired and glazed.

Below are some examples of their finished work. I am so impressed and delighted by the kids' creativity and the beautiful artwork they make. This is probably the most fun I've ever had at a job.

Look What I Missed

The Hollywood crew that spent 12 hours at my house in September 2005

I just got back from a week of camping in a Yurt at the Oregon Coast. Checking my emails, I found a message from my old friends Miss Trish and Miss Katy in Springfield, Missouri. They were so glad to have caught my segment on Look What I Did!

I am so bummed! I have been waiting two years for this, and I totally missed it. I have been checking the HGTV website (that's the Home & Garden Network) regularly to search for my episode, and never found anything. I just checked a couple of weeks ago! Well, it is listed NOW - check this link - and my segment, "Psychedelic in Portland" aired on Monday night, June 25! This episode is about my master bedroom/studio/home office and how I turned it into a mandala-filled wonderland of psychedelic undulations.

The show apparently will air again on September 19. I am thrilled that it's been grouped with a "Rock and Roll Kitchen" and an "Edgar Allen Poe Wine Cellar." Sounds like a great show. I can't believe I missed it!

Please tune in to HGTV on September 19, at 6:00 PM ET/PT, to catch the second airing of this show. And don't forget, there is yet another upcoming episode of Look What I Did! featuring my kitchen (this one is not listed on the website yet) AND an episode of That's Clever! which will air some time this holiday season (I'll be demonstrating my Snowman Record Bowl). As soon as I know the airdates, I will post them here!

So how was my vacation? Most excellent, thank you. In between swimming, picnicking, beach-combing, and hiking into the deep, dark forest, I had some major attacks of creativity. I drew four new mandalas on vinyl records, experimented with making my first batch of ACEO's, and I started painting my car!
I still have a way to go. It's kind of funny, when I think about how I was painting our old Galaxie 500 back when I was pregnant with Tangereen 13 years ago - I don't think I've really changed much. Here's the Galaxie, circa 1994: