"Grace", 8"x10" gouache on paper © 2010 Lesley Atlansky

Grace is available on Artfire, and a whole host of print options can be had at RedBubble.

You can see past label artwork here. What an honor!

This year Deschutes chose artist Natasha Bacca. I was intrigued by the description on the New School post:

Bacca works in complete darkness, using beams of light with a tool she invented. By manipulating the color and the intensity of the light onto light sensitive paper, she literally paints with light.

I think her art for the label is just beautiful! It evokes a cold, crisp, starry Winter’s night and the glowing warmth of a crackling fire (perfect to drink a Jubel by!). Here is a nice close up, and a bunch of photos on Bacca’s Facebook page. How fun it would be to see your art on all those six packs!! I can’t wait to get some Jubel for myself.

You can read about Natasha’s unique process on her website. As it turns out, some of her work can be seen alongside mine at the Splendorporium 6′6″ Show, through September 24th. She is also in the Art in Hand: Portland Project deck - hers is the pretty little Four of Hearts.

In high school it was Black Celebration by Depeche Mode. In college I fell in love with Peter Gabriel and listened to Sixteen Golden Greats on repeat while I tediously stippled a picture of a sand dollar in my dorm room. There was the summer I delivered flowers all over Los Angeles and listened only to Yes. Fully Completely by The Tragically Hip, Gordon by Barenaked Ladies, Lost and Gone Forever by Guster… I’m the kind of person that finds themselves drawn to an album or an artist and for a few months that becomes all I listen to.

My husband introduced me to Neutral Milk Hotel, and for the past year I have listened to In the Aeroplane Over the Sea more times than I can count. The lyrics and mood of the songs has shaped many of my recent paintings.

"Feel As You Fly" © 2009 Lesley Atlansky

Ghost, ghost, I know you live within me, I feel you as you fly

"Pouring From the Sky" © 2009 Lesley Atlansky

All drenched in milk, in holy water, pouring from the sky

"Hold it Close" © 2010 Lesley Atlansky

What a beautiful dream that could flash on the screen in a blink of an eye and be gone from me, soft and sweet, let me hold it close and keep it here with me

Last night I was so fortunate to see Neutral Uke Hotel at the tiny Mississippi Studios. Their mission statement is simple: “to unite obsessed fans of Neutral Milk Hotel for a live performance of their critically acclaimed “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” album, played in its entirety on ukulele by Shawn Fogel, with accompaniment from members of Golden Bloom and The Motion Sick.” It was so much fun! The crowd was so into it and everyone was singing along. Here is a video of one of my favorite songs off the album - Ghost -from one of the stops on the tour.

How does music affect your life?

Instead we watched the PBS Independent Lens feature Between the Folds. Man, what a difference in viewing! Between the Folds was magical. The sculptures and designs these origami artists create are breathtaking. Here is a clip of Eric Joisel, a French origami artist that was a breath of fresh air after watching two arrogant, awful, French brothers in Objectified. Check out his amazing Lord of the Rings figures!

If you haven’t seen Between the Folds, go do it! It is full of humor and life and math and science, much like the origami itself.

"Moon Glow", 4x6 paper on board © 2010 Lesley Atlansky

Faithful readers may remember my experiments with mounting paper on board and canvas. I completed the small 4″x6″ painting that I had mounted on the baroque panel. I love it!

There is a fair bit of discussion on the process of varnishing watermedia on the wetcanvas forums, so I followed the generally agreed upon process. First I sprayed the painting with three coats of Golden archival varnish w/UVLS (gloss), and then I brushed on four coats of Golden polymer varnish with UVLS (gloss).

The only thing I did different with both the board and the canvas was glue on the paper (with acrylic gel medium) before painting. I wanted to make sure the paper wouldn’t bubble and warp during painting and therefore be impossible to glue flat. I’ll admit that I was also a bit afraid of messing up somehow and ruining my painting with a botched glue job. I can now see some wisdom behind gluing it down at the end…it was quite tricky keeping the paint off the edges.

"Moon Glow", 4x6 paper on board, side view © 2010 Lesley Atlansky

At any rate, I am super happy with the way this turned out. Prints in all shapes and sizes can be had on RedBubble, and the original is available through ArtFire…only $30!

One of my early blog posts talks about the genesis of this painting. I taped this up in the living room last night for final inspection, and found that my eyes were repeatedly drawn to the moonlight on the trees. Yay!

"Moon Tree (Autumn)", 8"x10" gouache on paper © 2010 Lesley Atlansky

Snatch up the original on ArtFire, and get yourself a print for every room at RedBubble.

There was little info on the projector itself and we had no idea what model or make it was. With a little detective work, some sharp eyes that could read the tiny script on the glass that said “Beseler Co”, and some mad google skills on my husband’s part, we were able to narrow down what kind of bulb it needed. We found one on eBay for the low price of $3.50 (+$6 shipping), so we crossed our fingers and placed the order.

The bulb arrived quickly, and after we figured out how to install it we eagerly flipped the switch. Voila! We had light! I can’t wait to play around with it. I don’t have any set plans, but I’d love to take some of these patterns I’ve been photographing (leaves, rocks, shadows) and trace them onto large sheets of paper. Should be fun!

I absolutely love that they have a video to watch that is the minimum length of time you need to shake your spray can of varnish. It kinda makes me want to smush gobs of paint around…

I used acrylic gloss varnish medium to adhere the 140 lb. watercolor paper to the mounts. I then placed them face down with weights on the back while they dried. The small 4×6 paper on the wood panel worked great. Unfortunately the paper on canvas has several bubbles (you can sort of see them in the image. It was tough to capture, especially since the dog inserted his head into most of the shots). I think I had too much varnish, and I forgot to put any sort of weight against the back of the canvas itself. I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to do anything with it, but I’m going to take the time to do some more experimenting to see if I can flatten it out any more, or remove it and start again.

I’d like to try other things to mount the paper to, and I’m also going to see what it is like to mount a completed painting to the board. If this works (and I like the way the end result looks) I can possibly mount all my work and not have to worry about storing frames without scratching the wood or breaking the glass.

"Daybreak I" © 2009 Lesley Atlansky

I am excited to participate in Splendorporium’s 6′6″ show! I dropped off my series of four 4″x6″ paintings titled “Daybreak”,  which fit the criteria of being either under six inches, or over six feet.

Opening Reception is Friday August 6th from 7-9pm. The show runs through September 24th. If you miss the opening, the gallery is open Monday - Friday from 11am-5pm. Hope to see you there!