my new art studio

I'm so excited: I finally have my art studio back!

Because of the various house projects this summer, I had to move my Attic Antics studio from a tiny room at the top of the stairs to my original graphic design studio next to our bedroom.

It feels great to be back in my old work space! It looks quite different now with the rough, paint-splattered fir floors and all my vintage treasures. Moving gave me a chance to get organized and now I can't wait to get to work creating some new trash-to-treasure mixed media pieces.

The shelves along the left side of the room are organized by grouping like items together. This way, I see at a glance what I might want to use for any given piece.


I also have a table filled with smaller items right next to my desk. I love being able to just grab little accents and play with the composition this way.

Now I just need to find the time to go play in my new studio!

art in the pearl – heather hargesheimer

I really enjoyed meeting Heather Hargesheimer at Art in the Pearl. She's an architect by trade and has recently started working with encaustic. I love her use of repetitive patterns and almost mono-chromatic color palette.

One of her pieces completely stopped me in my tracks – red overlapping circles on a creamy background. When I came back the next day to take a second look and possibly buy it, I discovered that someone else had already snatched it up, darn it!

Here are examples of some of her other pieces, all from her website:

Since Heather is local to Portland, I know our paths will cross again – next time I'll be sure to go with my gut and not hesitate to buy one of her pieces!

art in the pearl – two tone studios

I'm normally not a huge fan of blown glass work so I was surprised that I actually really liked the work of several glass artists at Art in the Pearl. I was especially impressed by Two Tone Studios, a collaboration between Boyd Sugiki and Lisa Zerkowitz from Seattle, WA.

Their work is intricate without being fussy, simple and modern while still highly functional.

All these images are from Two Tone Studio's website – click here to view more and read more about them.

art in the pearl – jacqueline hurlbert

As a long-time exhibitor at Art in the Pearl, Lake Oswego artist Jacqueline Hurlbert's booth was always jam-packed when we passed by.

Her modern pods are always huge crowd pleasers. I'd love to hang a series of 5 or 7 different sized pods in a staggered, random arrangement.

She had some larger pieces as well, similar to these I found on Jacqeline's website:

Although not represented on her website, our favorite at the show was her series of women's torsos. Most were frontal nudes, although she's started doing some gorgeous and sensuous back views as well. We picked up a blue torso that has found a perfect spot in our newly remodeled bathroom - every morning when I look up at it, I'm inspired!

All these images are from Jacqueline Hurlbert's website – click here to view more and read her bio.

art in the pearl – cheryl gail toh

I'm so glad we braved the rain and muddy grounds during Labor Day to visit Art in the Pearl, my favorite Portland art show. We had high hopes of seeing some inspiring art and were not disappointed!

One of my faves was Cheryl Gail Toh, an artist from Kansas City, MO, who works primarily with encoustic.


I love her color choices and patterns! It's a little hard to see on these images, but in real life you really notice the dreamy quality and depth that the many layers of wax create.



All these images are from Cheryl Gail Toh's website – click here to view more and read her bio.

visual inspiration

I'm currently working on a big project that involves illustration and lots of layering of textures (more on that later – you'll love it, I promise!) and I remembered this wonderful website I came across several months ago:

Harmonie Intérieure is a French shop that sells the most amazing vinyl decals plus gorgeously layered, textural posters.

Definitely adding this one to my wishlist:

Since I think ALL my clients are great, I MUST be a great designer, right?

Love the painterly aspects of this design, along with the rich colors:

Or this one:


You can find all their posters here and they will ship to the US! Plus while you're visiting their site, don't forget to check out their decals – a great way to dress up a drab wall or tired table top.