Category: art

2025 Roundup – Art and Music!

On By stefrobrtsIn art, guitar, musicLeave a comment

I had a really fun year exploring art. I loved art as a kid, but it is not something I could really pursue with my chaotic upbringing. So it has been really nice to have room to get back to it. With my art/music room setup, I finally have space to spread out and do things, and then shut the door to keep the pets out of there.

At the end of last year I started a daily art journal, and I have kept it up pretty much all year with only a missed day here and there. Sometimes I make little pictures in it, sometimes I make full page spreads. I haven’t had the guts to try a full two-page spread yet, but maybe I will before it’s filled up.

I’ve really enjoyed using the journal to try new techniques and new mediums – watercolor, acrylic inks, colored pencils, watercolor pencils, gel pens. I’ve really felt good about the regular practice, and it’s a nice time to settle down before bed and draw something.

I did a few pieces outside of the journal as well, mostly following tutorials on YouTube. I really enjoy learning new things.

So the painting was going pretty well, I’m really happy with my progress. I also started doing some polymer clay figures. I started out with YouTube tutorials and moved on from there.

As I got to feeling more confident, things started escalating

And this latest guy is a bobblehead with a spring for a neck. He just sits on my desk, bobbing his head along while I type! I wanted his feet to bobble too, but the springs are a little stiff.

Lastly, since the Art Room is also a Music Room, there has been some nice progress in that area as well. Where I previously had to dig everything out and setup to practice, now I have a space that is ready to use all the time – I can walk in anytime, grab an instrument, and play. I’ve been doing online guitar lessons and really improved my rhythm guitar skills.

Earlier this year I went with my friend Michele to the used guitar shop downtown to look at guitars, and instead we found this beautiful Breedlove Concert Uke made of Oregon Myrtlewood. Michele tried it first and it sounded great, but she wasn’t looking for a new uke. I found myself saying ‘if you don’t buy it I will’, and I did! It has been a lovely addition to my collection. I love just grabbing it during the workday and knocking out a little tune. I even took it camping and played it during quiet time at camp. It’s perfect, and it sounds oh so sweet.

And finally, at the end of the year I went back to the used guitar shop to check out some electrics I was curious about. I bought a Telecaster at the end of last year, and it’s fine. I think maybe I don’t know enough yet to really appreciate it, since I’m still learning. Well, I tried out a bunch of guitars, but the first one I tried kept calling back to me, and I ended up bringing it home. It’s a beautiful Korean-made Les Paul from the early 2000’s, in a lovely blue. It just fit me, it felt right in my hands. I also bought a 12″ old amp from the 70s that had a lovely rich sound, so much better than my modern 10″ Fender practice amp which seemed tinny in comparison. The new amp makes both the Tele and the Les Paul sound amazing.

I joke about finding the guitar that has the music in it, but in reality I think I’m just going to have to keep practicing to get the music out. That’s just life. Anything good you want to do – painting or clay or music – you have to put in the work to get there. I have had a fantastic year getting there!

Winter Artwork

On By stefrobrtsIn art, barclay, cars, navi, pets, photography, snow, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Wow, it has been a long, cold, boring winter. I don’t remember a winter that has been this cold, or snowed so many times. We usually barely get any snow, and usually get none at all. But this winter…well, at least the dogs enjoyed it!

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Not sports car weather!

 

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I do love it when the trees look like this, especially against a bright blue sky.

 

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And I love the dramatic shadows cast by the low winter sun.

 

Tree Shadow

So I cleaned it up in photoshop and made a piece of art of it. That is actually a pretty nice way to pass the time when trapped inside by winter cold.

 

Mount Navi

Winter Navi.

We also went to a Winter Woolies horse show and took some photos. I love doing horse photos.

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And then for something completely different:

boats in the bay

This piece was made from a screenshot from Red Dead Redemption 2. I added the textures to make the sky-glow and painted it. I was really happy with how it turned out.

So that’s how I’ve been fighting the winter doldrums! Luckily it is almost over, and spring is on its way.

Art around The Rancho

On By stefrobrtsIn art, barclay, navi, photography, TheRancho3 Comments

 

We have been having so much fun picking up art for our new home, decorating it with little fun things that make us happy. Really, to me even the furniture seems like art, since it’s all old and unique – it’s unlikely to find similar pieces to the ones we’ve found.

 

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Let’s start with the centerpiece of the bedroom – the geese painting. We found this at an antique store in Portland, but I went home and thought about it for a day before going back to buy it. It wasn’t expensive, I just wasn’t sure about it. I’m glad we got it though, the colors are great for the bedroom, and it started giving us a nature theme to decorate around.

I like the style of it – it feels 70s to me. The way the clouds are just shapes with no definition but the geese look more realistic. The trees and brown grass and reflections in the water, well, that all reminded me of our home in the country and our visits to the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge.

 

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It appears to be an actual painting, not just a print. That’s kind of cool to know we have something which someone actually created with their own hands. Good job, ‘Jane’, whoever you are!

Now we have a goose/nature theme going on in the bedroom. We were buying our couches at another antique store when I spotted these wall plaques, and had to have them:

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A closer look:

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These were probably part of a triptych, with the center piece being a clock, but the clock is gone. I saw a very similar set with flowers instead of geese on them. But I’m happy to have these, they look great on the wall behind the TV.

There are more bedroom geese coming, but I have one more wall to paint before I show those off. Maybe this weekend.

In the front room we have the Japanese silk paintings, which I’ve shown off before, and the picture of Barclay, and I just added a matching picture of Navi, so these two make a cute set on the wall.

 

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And then there’s the Matador…

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Every 70s home needs a Matador! Dave grew up with a Matador painting over the fireplace in his parent’s house. We saw this one on CL for $40, but it was about an hour away. Eventually we saw it in an antique store for $100 and we thought, well, they must have bought it and marked it up and now it was way out of our price range, which was too bad because it was pretty impressive in person. It’s a print with painted highlights. Then we saw it on CL again the next week! There were two of them in town! So we ran out to the folks selling it for $40 and bought it. As the lady handed it to us she gave us a funny look and said ‘Are you sure this fits into your décor?’, in a way that indicated she didn’t think it could possibly fit into ANYONE’S décor! Oh yes, we assured her. And it fits very nicely into the living room, particularly with the yellow couches. We LOVE the Matador!

 

My latest acquisition was a Goodwill find. This afternoon after volunteering at the barn, I went back up to Battle Ground to order food at our favorite Thai place and bring it home. I had a little time to kill so I went to Goodwill to look for frames I could buy and put my own photography in, and spotted this:

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Hmmm, I thought, that’s pretty groovy. It says John Eastman, 1973 on it. I couldn’t decide if I should buy it or not though – fully framed and behind glass, it was a whole $4. Maybe I am a little cheap!

So I called Dave after I picked up our food and asked him what he thought, and he was like ‘duh, for $4? GO GET IT!’ So I went back, and poking around found another one! (the lines down the middle are reflections)

 

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And yeah, they are pretty groovy. I hung them in the kitchen, which is the only place we still have some bare walls!

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So that’s it for now. We’re having so much fun decorating our vintage house. Just wait until you see what I have planned to finish off the bedroom!

 

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Framed at last!

On By stefrobrtsIn art, TheRancho2 Comments

In 2009 I posted a picture of my Grandfather’s silk painting, and the silk painting we had recently found in an antique shop for $20.

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Well, here it is a few years later and we finally got the second painting framed, and hung them both in the front room where we can enjoy looking at them. We had the framing done at the local frame shop, and I was really impressed with the way the new frame made the silk painting look so much better than the ratty old frame it had been mounted in. The matt really makes the colors pop! It’s gorgeous now!

I don’t care for all the shadows from the lamp below them, but eventually there will be a couch against that wall, and the lamp will move to an endtable.

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Silk Paintings

On By stefrobrtsIn art1 Comment

Sorry for the bad picture, it’s hard to take a picture of a picture.

We don’t have a lot of artwork around the house. One of the few pieces that really means something to me is this beautiful Japanese silk painting, at least I think that’s what it is. I know it’s on silk. It was my great grandfather’s, and then my grandfather had it in his room, and then after he passed I asked Grandma if I could have it. I had always loved it, and could spend hours gazing into it and wondering who lived in the houses and where the boats were going.

It had spent many years in a cheap wooden frame, pressed up against the glass, and a few years ago I noticed the paint was sticking to the glass in spots. So I took it to a frame shop and had it archive framed with acid free paper and all that.

Today we spent our day off downtown, had lunch, and then went to the antique stores, and I saw this:

Another vintage silk painting! It’s not as colorful or detailed as mine, but for $20 I had to have it. There is something about paint on silk, it is beautiful, it almost glows. Someday I’ll have to have this one re-framed to match the other and display them side by side. I was just so surprised to see another old silk painting. I love it!