Tag Archives: wall art

Holiday Show at Studio 262 – Diangles!

Fir Diangles, mixed media by Kerry McFall

Fir Diangles, mixed media by Kerry McFall, beginning at $45

I’m very excited to announce that Studio 262 has opened their Holiday Market here in Corvallis, and they are selling my Diangles!  If you’re not familiar with diangles, click  here for an explanation and examples of this interactive wall art, then drop by Studio 262  which is in the Starbucks building downtown at 4th and Madison, you can enter from either street.

“Quilters will find Diangles especially fun – they’re never stitched down, you can always change your mind and re-arrange them!”

They are also selling Coloring Cards made from my Diangle designs, so if you haven’t worked up the nerve to try the new Coloring Books for Adults  which are all the rage, you can start small with a card!  There really is a “Zen” to just coloring in a design, it’s worth digging out the old crayolas!

We're Not Dead Yet, mixed media by Kerry McFall, starting at $45

We’re Not Dead Yet, mixed media by Kerry McFall, starting at $45

P.S.  The “We’re Not Dead Yet” zombie OSU Beaver Diangles would be the perfect gift for all you “diehard fans”.

Vicarious Road Trip, Anyone?

Come on along!  The Wine Vault in Philomath is now showing my first-ever Sketchbook Exhibit!

montage of sketches and maps

Road Trip and Wine Tasting!

My sketchbooks/journals and my “art bag” have become my traveling studio as my husband and I have converted to a minimalist lifestyle.  We downsized in a big way, and have visited far-flung friends and family on several continents.  Now you can flip through four of my most recent sketchbooks at your leisure as you taste fine wines and relax at the Wine Vault.  The exhibit includes wine-related and travel-related wall art, and individual sketches illustrating some of our adventures.  Archival prints and greeting cards of my sketches are also available.  My work will be on display through June, 2015.

PLUS:  The Wine Vault has announced the release of a very special new vintage – check it out at https://www.gallerynouveau.biz/index.php/2015/05/bff-more-than-just-an-abbreviation/.

Wine Vault  www.winevault.biz/
hours: Saturdays and Sundays only 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m.
1301 Main Street, Philomath, OR 97370

Need a Little Blue Sky in Your Home? New Pieces Available

The Call and Response show is over, and several paintings from the exhibit are now available for purchase.  I know plenty of folks around the country who have Cabin Fever and could use some blue sky, so here’s your chance!  The first two above are actually one piece: the square is a closeup of the center canvas.  The sassy parakeet is strictly for fun, and would make a cheery addition to a child’s room.

Free Shipping and Handling!  Available through PayPal payments only – or personal check if I know who you are.  Email kmcfall@gallerynouveau.biz

August Sunset

sketch of sunflower

"August Sunset", mixed media sketch by Kerry McFall

Once Oregon finally gets up to speed with summer weather, it is so lovely to walk just before sunset.  Even on the hottest evenings, usually the cool breeze drifts over from the coast, and it’s the perfect time to stroll through the neighborhood admiring gardens.  I snapped a quick photo a few days ago of a backlit sunflower, one of the new breeds with rusty orange petals and tiny seeds (which I have tried to grow but the sow bugs defeat me every time).  The Resident Art Critic pointed out, “There’s a petal missing,” – his usual short and to the point critique.  To which I reply – “Duh!  Of course there is.  The flower is just slightly beyond it’s peak, the sun is setting, day is done, summer will be coming to a close before we are ready… it’s a metaphor for another birthday, Sillly!”

Here is the progression from pencil sketch to watercolor washes, with a last minute decision to paint over the smaller blooms and just focus on the big one, followed quickly by the addition of the stripes in the background, which I really like as a technique.  I did a similar background on the dahlia piece last week, sort of looked like wallpaper there.  It’s a nod to my textile background, I suppose, and my love for pattern and texture.  The seeds at the bottom are a way to focus on not just the whole but all its many parts, symbolic of the future being part of the fading bloom, and I think they make a unique but simple border also.

 

Vote for Your Favorite!

"Festival Flyover", mixed media by Kerry McFall

I had fun doing this piece to submit for the Fall Festival poster competition.  I got to use some of the new techniques I experimented with over the last year on my travels, and it’s pretty far afield from my usual style(s).  I didn’t make the final six, but if you go here you’ll see why – there are some incredible talents in this region!  (And when you click the link, you’ll be able to vote for your favorite, which enters you to win a T-shirt with the winning art on it.)  One of the most difficult parts of calling myself an Artist (note capital A) is that I have to risk rejection daily, hourly, weekly, constantly… if you don’t put yourself out there, you don’t grow, and, well – it’s been said before: “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” My personal revision of that is , “What’s the worst that can happen?  I can spend several hours or days enjoying the creative process, and I wind up adding another image to my body of work, another style to my repertoire.”  It’s important to remember that it is your work being judged, not you, and it’s often rewarding to see who you are being compared to.  My son just recommended a very short video to me, Ira Glass talking about the creative process – it’s well worth the two minutes.

Tooth of the Lion

dandelion sketch

"Coming Soon to a Garden Near You", mixed media sketch by Kerry McFall

Much-maligned, nutritious, and gorgeous, the weeds are beginning to smile up from the soggy lawns in Corvallis.  Dandelions are the brightest: petals like a yellow mane, toothy points on the leaves, and I love that little cushion right in the middle of the blossom.  I spent many hours dissecting dandelions as a little girl, sitting cross-legged on my grandmother’s lawn caught up in the sweet scent, amazed by the “milk” that appeared on the stems after picking… and the minute my mother saw my sticky hands, I spent many minutes scrubbing away the dandelion goo.  Simple pleasures.

Eight – -no, 4! –Days and Counting

I posted this digital montage the other night when I was so
tired that I managed to delete all the text that went with it.  Now, six days later, I’ve finally got the presence of mind to type it into a text editor, then paste into the blog so I
don’t delete it with the stroke of a tired heavy thumb!  I made this several years ago, watercolor meets August berries via photoshop – it seemed appropriate since I haven’t had time to sketch much, given the frenzy of packing, and the last-minute details
of arranging a 4-month leave of absence from Life in Corvallis.

The names of fabulous museums and institutions of art education and galleries and artists and designers are swimming in my head – Tate, Ruskin, Battersea, Oxford, Victoria and Albert… ohmigosh!  I am really going!   People I work with look at me with disbelief for the most part – FOUR MONTHS? Relatives and close friends raise their eyebrows … some actually say it – how the hell can you afford this?  We rented our house to people who are willing (bless their hearts) to take care of the cats, we’ll be staying with friends or family (bless their hearts), and … it’s complicated.  We live simply and small, because we live for adventure and the people we love who live far away.   This is our chance – we are both healthy, we are both ready for change, the nest is empty.  Yes, the stock market is flaky, the dollar is sliding, London has been burning, travel is risky, they’ll probably confiscate my toenail scissors, but I’d rather die in a London riot than rot in Corvallis!

To quote Buzz Lightyear, To Infinity and Beyond!

graphic mixed media

Berry Baskets

 

 

Sweet Peas and Cattails

sketch of pink sweet peas

Creamy Pink and Ink

Sweet peas fill the air with perfume as they struggle to get up the trellis.  It’s been a tough summer for everything, and most of my garden is stunted because of the late start.  I tried a few with my ink brush pen, then tried some more flamboyant blooms with colored pencil.

Sweet Pea Montage

 

And I found another way to use the “palette signature”!

cattails in front of tiles

Cattail Still Life

Goldfish for Breakfast

sketch of raccoon

"Goldfish for Breakfast", by Kerry McFall, colored pencil, watercolor, ink

Cool, cloudy mornings seem to make the local wildlife forget that, sooner or later, the sun WILL come up and it WILL be daylight.  Yesterday I was startled to see this guy finishing up his breakfast at the edge of my backyard pond, flossing his teeth with cattail leaves, washing up after a tasty breakfast of what I assume was the last of my goldfish…

Raccoons evidently have the same public relations firm as squirrels, i.e. it’s hard to be very angry with something that cute and fuzzy for long.  And he was kind enough to stick around long enough for me to track down my camera and get a quick portrait (my automatic flash actually went off, that’s how foggy and dark it was still at 8:00 a.m… is it really August?).  But it is SO annoying to have put wire over the pond and gone to all the trouble of covering the edges of the wire with moss and rocks, and to have carefully threaded the cattails and grasses through the wire, and to have placed a series of bricks and empty flowerpots for fish hiding places, only to have this joker show up once a week and wreak havoc!  Grr.

Thumbnail Sketches

More from Santa Rosa

vineyard sketch

"Ledson Vineyards" by Kerry McFall, colored pencil, ink, watercolor

Ledson vineyards has a huge “castle”, complete with classic fountain and white rose trees out front.  The castle is notable here for its absence – I didn’t sketch it because I couldn’t figure out how to get situated where a) I could see it and b) I wouldn’t roast in the sun.  So I opted for sitting on a picnic bench in the shade of a huge oak, and sketching the vines instead.  Good way to spend an hour before lunch.