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Showing posts from 2014

Eastside SDA and VALA

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Have you stopped by VALA at Redmond Town Center?  So cool!   VALA has various kinds of artwork in various stages available for viewing.  Often an artist (or 2 or 3) will be present to answer questions and demonstrate their craft. VALA's goal is: Connecting artists to artists, artists to the community, and the community to art.   They are offering some pretty great opportunities to artists!! Today was my first visit and I learned a LOT!  I enjoyed it so much, that I am seriously considering volunteering there!!  I visited VALA today, because the Eastside SDA ( Surface Design Association ) met there (another fine group!!).   The SDA mission is: To promote awareness and appreciation of textile-inspired art and design through member-supported benefits including publications, exhibitions and conferences.  What is surface design? Surface design encompasses the coloring, patterning and structuring of any fiber and fabric. This involves creative exploration of process

What do closet organizers, wire egg carriers, a baker's rack, closet doors, and bread boxes have in common?

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The beginning of the remodel What do closet organizers, wire egg carriers, a baker's rack, closet doors, and bread boxes have in common?  Well nothing really - but to me they are all the PERFECT (and inexpensive!) items to help me with remodeling my daughter's old toy room, into a lovely, new Arts & Crafts room! And all has been done with recycled, up-cycled, & re-purposed items!! The room is SMALL (like 9 & 1/2 feet by 8 & 1/4 feet) with a small amount of extra space next to built-out closet, so creating usable space and lots of storage was essential! I had little money to work with and for the most part, used things I had or things I found for cheap at thrift and salvage stores.  In the pictures above, you can see: A wooden hutch (to the left) I found at a garage sale 2 years ago for $20 (and had been part of the toy room).   A metal, rolling cart I found at goodwill for $10.    A mahogany chair from my dining room set (since I only have a din

Success at the 2014 Sammamish Arts Fair

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My booth at the 2014 Sammamish Arts Fair I had SUCH a good time at the 2014 Sammamish Arts Fair last weekend!! I sold several paintings, a bunch of cards, and a ton of bookmarks - which is thrilling... but I had even more fun letting people play with silk painting.  The kids (of course) loved it, and so did the adults!!  It was so much fun!  I've had quite a few people ask me if I offer classes and I've been seriously considering it for a while.  Sadly, my home is not large enough for classes.   However, I would be happy to bring the supplies to a different location. If you're interested, please email me at beckwacht@gmail.com.  Thanks to all who stopped by!!

2014 Sammamish Arts Fair Is Happening Soon!

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It's less than a week out - the 2014 Sammamish Arts Fair ! I'm so excited about this opportunity!!  I'm working on a new project of flower quads (a big flower broken into 4 quadrants which can hang together to make a big flower or separately as a single panel showing 1/4 of the flower).  I've finished 2 pieces and am working feverishly to finish the other 2 (or more).  I'm also hoping to get some holiday cards made, bookmarks, and a few other new paintings to show.  In the mean time, all of us artists have been busy creating our video selfies (omg I never thought I'd be doing that!) which are now posted on the Sammamish Arts Fair website and Youtube .  And we're all collaborating on an interactive percussion tube-set which will be hanging outside for everyone to play with during the fair.  It sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun!!   I hope you stop by and see me!  I'll be inside the main hallway by the entrance to city hall and will be

SOLD! Iris in Blue and lessons in shipping to Australia

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SOLD! Iris in Blue I am so thrilled - I've sold another silk painting!   This time it was through my new Etsy store - and to a lovely woman in Australia. She chose to purchase my Iris in Blue painting (which is one of my personal favorites).   This painting was done using Serti techniques combined with the MS (Magic Sizing) technique and is one of the first I had done combining the two techniques.  I really had fun playing with the colors and it's almost like having to let a favorite pet go --- part of me doesn't want to say goodbye!  But mostly I'm just so thrilled to have someone want my artwork!!!! I must say that shipping to Australia is quite an interesting process and I've learned quite a bit!  For those that are interested, shipping fees are cheapest through the United States Postal Service, and the most expensive through Fedex (although UPS is a close 2nd!).  Fedex was going to charge over $300 dollars JUST FOR SHIPPING!!  holey moley!  And UPS was c

Etsy Store Launch for Rebecca Wachtman Art

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I am excited to announce that I am launching an Etsy store to sell my artwork!  The store name will be:  RebeccaWachtmanArt In it, I will (of course) be listing my artwork - which are all original pieces of my artwork.  Digital prints will remain available on FineArtAmerica.com

Sammamish Nights

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My side of the booth I had a blast last night - thanks to all my friends and customers who stopped by my booth last night!! Last night was Sammamish Nights - which is a wine and food tasting event in Sammamish, Washington.  There were a variety of food and drink vendors there - plus artists from the Sammamish Art Fair were invited to attend and exhibit (including yours truly!). Some of the other artist booths Not only was there wine and food (which us lucky artists got to enjoy without cost!), but there was a fabulous band to listen to and after dark (and a lot of alcohol), many people got out on the floor and had a blast dancing. This event was a chance for the artists to show some of the work that will be seen at the Sammamish Art Fair in October (October 11th and 12th from 10am to 5pm).  It's going to be a lot of fun with a wide variety of gorgeous artwork!  Hope to see you there!!

Port Orchard Historic Home & Garden Tour with an Art Twist

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I'm so excited about this coming Saturday! I've been invited to participate as an artist "en plein air".  I will be displaying some of my artwork, cards, and bookmarks, as well as actively working on silk paintings.  I'll even have some silk scraps for people to try their own hand at silk painting if they want.   My understanding is that the historic homes and gardens will each have an exhibiting artist painting "en plein air" plus there will be art quilts on display at each location as well.  I'm excited to be participating but a bit jealous because I won't have time to actually do the tour myself! Tickets are available through the Sidney Museum and Art Galler y and are $25/person.  They can be purchased ahead of time - or the day of the event ...which is this coming Saturday the 26th from 10am - 4pm.   The tickets also include a tour of the historic downtown district on Sunday the 27th from Noon - 4pm ...and that also includes the Musta

July 11th Issaquah Artwalk is today! Plus Silk Bookmark Tutorial.

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Hi All!! I wanted to remind everyone that today is the Issaquah Artwalk from 6-9pm.  There will be live bands, a variety of foods and craft items to purchase - along with the art of course! Here is a small pile of the painted silk scraps I have I'm busy getting my paintings ready to show and I'm also experimenting with other ways to use my silk.  I end up with a lot of painted scraps which are quite pretty but very small.  Some I've turned into greeting cards (and I keep using them for gifts so I don't have any to sell), but I have a bunch of even smaller scraps and it's taken me a while, but I finally realized that I can make bookmarks out of them. The scraps cut into bookmark-width strips My scraps can be left over from edges of paintings, or torn up paintings that I didn't like, or even my test-strips where I paint samples of the dye to make sure my colors are correct before I put them on my actual paintings.  So my steps are

July 2014 Issaquah Art Walk and Other News

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My daughter getting ready to put the shot It's quite a week for me.  Just got back from the PNW Regional Junior Olympics held in Spokane where I got to watch my daughter throw in 3 different events.  So proud of my girl!  Sorry but I can't resist putting a picture of her in here!   LOVE YOU DAUGHTER!!!  Now that we're back, it's time for me to gear up for the various art functions I'm going to be a part of this summer and fall. A view from the ferry 1 This week, I will be in the Issaquah Artwalk (on July 11th, from 6-9pm) - so I'm busily finishing up a few more silk paintings to show.    I touched up the landscapes I did a while ago... now the mountains look more like I wanted them to.  Plus I mounted The Crocuses.  And I'm working on yet another 2 (or 3 or 4) silk paintings which I may or may not get done in time.  :) As if that's not enough fun, tomorrow is the first meeting for this year's Sammamish Art

2014 Sammamish Art Fair and 2014 Sammamish Nights

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And, I'm so pleased to be able to announce that I have been selected to participate in the 2014 Sammamish Art Fair (10am-5pm on Saturday the 11th of October and 10am-5pm on Sunday the 12th of October)    AND I am also going to be in the 2014 Sammamish Nights celebration (6-9:30pm on Saturday, August 9th)!  I'm honored and excited... and I hope to see you there as well! Both events  sound like they're going to be a lot of fun - and with some really great artists!

The first 2014 Issaquah Artwalk - follow-up

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My setup under my canopy - can you see the sloping grass? I had such a good time at last Friday's Issaquah Artwalk!!  It was GORGEOUS weather - sunny but not hot.  So nice!!!!   I had a great location - right out front - and even had room for my canopy (I just forgot to look at the ground before I chose a spot!... so it was more than a little sloped -oopsy) My wicker folding screen.  Perhaps a bit too busy for a backdrop? I had the chance to try out a new idea I had for displaying my art.  I found a fun, vintage wicker folding screen a few months ago.  It was a bit dirty and missing some paint.  I simply cleaned it off and spray-painted the heck out of it (4 cans and still could do more!).  But it was fun to use as a background for my artwork.  I'm not sure I'll use it next time, but it was definitely unique! My art easel and wooden crate  I also brought an easel and a wooden crate (which I used to carry my artwork as well as propping up my

2014 Northwest Folklife Festival Seattle

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If you haven't had the chance (and you're in the area), you should head over to the 2014 Northwest Folklife Festival at the Seattle Center!  Today we did a Fiber Arts flash mob and it was a blast! Some of the various Fiber Artists We sat up near the beer garden entrance on Fisher Green at 3pm and practiced our various Fiber Art forms until 3:45. A partial view of Fisher Green The music was great, the food was tasty, the artists had fun, and we had quite a few people take pictures and ask questions. Folk Life  continues on through Memorial Day Weekend... stop in if you get the chance (I'd take a bus though - parking was a pain, AND expensive!).  My setup -yes, I'm working on another set of dandelion puffs to make into cards later

Decisions about what to paint.

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Do you have challenges deciding what to paint?  I sure do! I have SOOOO many things I want to paint, it's hard for me to pick just one or two (because I certainly can't paint more than that at one time!).   This month I've been experimenting with technique while trying to get ready to show at the first Issaquah Artwalk on June 6th, 2014.  I'm hoping to get another 2-4 paintings done in the next 2 weeks, but I'm dithering about what to paint next...so I'll be lucky to get a couple done! My latest paintings include my Dandelion series and an Iris.  For the dandelions, I wanted to try doing some silhouettes so I could mainly play with background colors.. but ended up painting in the silhouettes rather than leaving them as a black or white image with color all around.  I like how they turned out - but the results are not what I was originally going for.  It will be interesting to see how they really look once they are steamed.   I've done 2 different paint

Honorable Mention Ribbon in the 2014 Helen Norris Open Art Show

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My Silk Painting - Goldfinch in Breeding Plumage ($135) I'm pleased to announce that my silk painting of  Goldfinch in Breeding Plumage received an honorable mention ribbon in the 2014 Helen Norris Open Art Show at the Sidney Museum and Art Gallery!   I had a fabulous time at the reception and met a bunch of wonderful artists!!  The artwork from the contest will be on display at the Sidney Museum and Art Gallery through the month of May.  If you get the chance, stop by and vote for your favorite entrant (trust me there are some incredibly talented artists showing their work!!). Thank you so much for all of your support, and I'm looking forward to seeing you at my next big event, the 2014 Issaquah Artwalk! (I'll post more about that, when I receive the final details!). Just a few of the entrants from the Helen Norris Open Art Show (this shows some of the Mixed Media group)

My Art Is Now On Fine Art America

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I am happy to announce that I now have an account on Fine Art America and will have a limited number of prints available for purchase through them.  They have an amazing variety of prints (not just mine) available for purchase.  They offer a wide variety of sizes and can create your desired print(s) on paper, canvas, metal, acrylic, cards, and even cell phone cases!  How fun is that? Ok back to work - my next project is an Iris.  Check back later to see the results!