Create and Relate

Poetry Month at the Salem Library with Oregon Poet Laureate Paulann Petersen

2011-04-06T19:55:00.000-07:00

The Salem city Library is hosting a art show of poetry broadsides (printed pages of a poem that is sometimes paired with an image) as well as some interesting presentations including a day with Oregon's Poet Laureate, Paulann Petersen.

The day of Paulann's workshop you can see the images she and I worked on together. You can also see the image poet Cindy Williams Gutierrez and I worked on. It it beautiful (and for sale!!)
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Snow Red II, by Cristina Acosta and Paulann Petersen

A Day of Poetry with Oregon Poet Laureate Paulann Petersen
Poetry Workshop
(Pre-registration required for this session only.)
1-5 p.m. Tuesday, April 12 Anderson Rooms A & B

Third Thursday Poets, Salem’s longest-running poetry series, is thrilled to bring Oregon’s sixth Poet Laureate Paulann Petersen to the Salem Public Library for a day-long event featuring a workshop and a reading.

The afternoon workshop will provide an opportunity for poets to improve their work and foster creative expression. The workshop will give poets the opportunity to work one-on-one with Paulann Petersen. The workshop is free and open to the public, with pre-registration is required. The workshop size is limited and registration will be taken on a first-come, first-served basis. Registrations should be sent to Maureen Clifford at maureen@thirdthursdaypoets.org.
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Poetry Reading
7 p.m. Tuesday, April 12
Loucks Auditorium

Poet Laureate Paulann Petersen will finish her visit to Salem with an evening reading that is free and open to the public. Her work will be available for purchase after the presentation, courtesy of Brigadoon Books.

Paulann Petersen has given readings in hundreds of spots from Powell's in Portland to Omsania University in India, from Ross Ragland Theater in Klamath Falls to the Museum Hotel in Central Turkey. Her poetry is featured on TriMet public transportation in the Portland area as part of Poetry in Motion. She frequently teaches workshops for colleges, high schools, libraries, and writers' organizations.

More information about both events is available from Maureen Clifford at maureen@thirdthursdaypoets.org.
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Crowned in Song
Musical Settings of Emily Dickinson Poems
3 p.m. Sunday, April 17
Loucks Auditorium

Marva Duerksen, who teaches both music and women’s studies at Willamette University has a special interest in music by women composers and poets. Recently, she has pursued a fascination with musical settings of poems by the famous American poet, Emily Dickinson. She will turn that fascination into a special program of Dickinson’s work set to music, featured as part of the Salem Public Library celebration of National Poetry Month.

Although Dickinson lived in the 19th century, her short poems are fresh and modern sounding even to 21st century readers. It is no surprise that many modern composers have been drawn to her words as lyrics for their songs. A broad range of musical styles will be represented in this program, including by Ernest Bacon and Leo Smit. In a couple of instances, the program will contrast two different composers’ settings of the same poem.

Dr. Duerksen will be joined by fellow Willamette faculty member, Christine Welch Elder, and Portland singer Barbara Wester Skipworth to interpret these solo songs and duets. Duerksen and Dr. George Skipworth will accompany them on the piano.
The event is free on a first-come, first-seated basis. Doors will open at 2:30 p.m. More information is available from the Information/Reference Desk at 503-588-6052.

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La Voz de la Poesia/The Voice of Poetry
Bilingual Poetry Reading (Spanish and English)
7 p.m. Thursday, April 21
Anderson Room B

Published poets Efrain Diaz-Horna from Peru and Juan Marcos Cervantes from Mexico will each present a 20-minute bilingual poetry reading. Afterwards, audience members may participate in a question-and-answer period, followed by book sales and a reception.

Efrain Diaz-Horna is a native of Talara, Peru, who has been drawing, paiting, and writing since he was a child. His poetry has been published in Expreso, The Oregonian, The Hispanic News, the National Catholic Reporter, and several newsletters. He is the author of a collection of poems titled The Many Faces of Love (1983).

Juan Cervantes Morales is a writer, poet, and essayist from Oaxaca, Mexico. A writer from an early age, Cervantes was awarded the 2010 Proyeccion Latina 2010, for the first place in poetry. Cervantes has recently published El Jardin del Eden, a book of poetry (Spanish).

The Salem Family Literacy Program is sponsoring this event, which is free and open to the public. For additional information, contact Kelley Morehouse at kelley.morehouse@gmail.com.

Workshop is available to people who register.
for more information about reading at 7 pm april 12th.
503-588-6052

www.SalemLibrary.org

The Nature of Words: Paulann Petersen, Oregon Poet Laureate Collaborates with Artist Cristina Acosta

2010-11-03T09:56:00.000-07:00

Snow Red I, by Cristina Acosta and Paulann Petersen

This past year I have been fortunate to collaborate with artists working in different mediums. I've written about working with the artists Tolley Marney and Cindy Williams Guiterezz. Here I'm sharing with you the work I've done with the poet Paulann Petersen, Oregon's Poet Laureate.

The work is exhibited for sale at Atelier 6000 in Bend, Oregon and is conjunction with The Nature of Words, in Bend, Oregon.
Show Dates: NOVEMBER: First Friday, November 1, 5;30 – 8:30 pm “Broadsides” Hanging at the crossroads of art and literature, Atelier 6000 and Nature of Words present “Broadsides” artworks that include mixed media and two-dimensional works with emphasis on text and image. This juried show opens November 1 and continues through November 30, 2010.

How to Find Us

389 SW Scalehouse Ct.
Bend, Oregon 97702
(Off SW Wilson near the Old Mill District)
541.330.8759

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Artist Statement – Paulann Petersen, Oregon's Poet Laureate

On the page, poems assume lives of their own. They encounter readers and listeners. Once my poems are launched into this world, I realize I can no longer explain or defend or amend them. Separate from me, they unilaterally carry—in the arms of their lines—whatever music and meaning they can convey.

Snow Red II (ghost image)

I’ve known this—that a poem takes on a life of its own—for a long time. But in the process of collaborating with Cristina Acosta, I’ve recently learned that poetry can become part of a collaborative process in which the poem continues creating itself.

When Cristina gave me the monotype (and ghost image) she’d created in response to my poem “Snow Red,” she asked me to continue the artistic exchange by adding text or graphics to her work. Her striking, luminous images compelled me to write, in pencil onto the monotype’s surface, phrases I borrowed from my poem. And as I added those words to her images, I found them rearranging themselves into new combinations and permutations. As my eye followed Cristina’s color and line and form, the phrases juxtaposed and re-sequenced themselves in startling ways. My response to Cristina’s visual response to my poem gave that poem a new life. The poem assumed a life that included—one that actually welcomed—continual change.

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Artist Statement – Cristina Acosta

I came to this collaboration with poet Paulann Petersen through an invitation from her that has resulted in an artistic conversation unlike anything I’ve experienced. After meeting Paulann at an artist’s salon in Portland she sent me one of her poems, Bloodline. Reading that poem resulted in my first experience of a visceral response to a piece of poetry. In return, I sent her an image of a monotype painting I made reflecting that response and our collaborative conversation commenced.

Paulann then gave me her book, The Wild Awake and I dove into her poetry. The poems took shape for me like sculptures formed of flowing mass, hue and value. Experiences that existed for me outside of words now found shape and form within her poems. The monotypes in this exhibit are the result of working with the poems from The Wild Awake. I then gave those monotypes to Paulann so that she could choose to add additional work to the pieces (or not). Turning my pieces over to her for the next part of our conversation was a conscious surrender to the process of continual change. The result will take on new meaning to the viewer, continuing creation.

Paulann Petersen is Oregon’s sixth Poet Laureate, former Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, recipient of the 2006 Literary Arts Steward Holbrook Award for Outstanding Contributions to Oregon’s Literary Life. She is the author of four chapbooks, and two full-length collections of poems including, The Wild Awake and contributor to many publications.

Cristina Acosta is an artist, author and color and design expert. The author of Paint Happy, her art is in numerous collections nationwide. She is also a contributor to many art, design and home décor publications over the past two decades.

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“Broadsides” is Atelier 6000’s November exhibition. Artwork from Texas, Colorado, Washington, Iowa and Oregon are represented. Cristina Acosta's collaborative art with poets Paulann Petersen and Cindy Williams Gutierezz are exhibited in the Broadsides show.

Awards:
First Place: “Meditation” by Joseph and Marquita Green (see left)
Second Place: “Sleep Awakens” by Kris Tolmie
Third Place: “Phoebe in the Watermelon Boat” by John Simpkins
Honorable Mention: “Lamentation” by Barbara Payne Ward and Boston Tea Party by Danuta Muszynska

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Artist Collaboration: Sculptor Tolley Marney and Painter Printmaker Cristina Acosta

2010-10-31T10:33:00.000-07:00

Artist Statement

Artists: Cristina Acosta and Tolley Marney

Mixed Media Originals – are a combination of the classic artist printmaking process teamed with drawing and painting techniques. The art process begins with a drawing or painting that is made with intaglio-ink and placed on the bed of a hand-cranked printing press. Using 100% cotton or other natural paper, only one image is made at a time. Acosta and Marney then finish the art by hand-rubbing it with powdered pigments and/or drawing and painting on the piece.

Marney and Acosta collaborate on a series of original mixed media images based on the image of the horse. Marney says, “I’ve interacted with horses all of my life, so I understand the horse and feel a comfort working with its image. The horse is a kindred spirit. Horses are creatures that will do anything in the world for us as long as we ask in the right way. Heart and soul, they always amaze me.”

Acosta’s work blends spirit and physical energy, both creating a new vision of the horse as well as translating the images of the sculptural pieces into mixed media monotypes rich with surface and texture. Acosta says, “The image of the horse is symbolic with layers of meaning that I’ve echoed both actually and metaphorically in this series.”

Working as much as possible with environmental sensitivity, Marney works in reclaimed steel and Acosta works with enviro-safe printmaking materials. Both artists contribute to the other's imagery and often work together on the pieces. All art is signed by both artists.

Primarily a sculptor, Marney exhibits his sculptures in premier art galleries in New York, Palm Springs, Santa Barbara and San Francisco. His sculptures are in many private collections. Marney also won first prize in the New Jersey Equine Art Expo in 2003.

Primarily a painter and printmaker, Acosta’s art has been featured in many national venues including galleries, museums, print and internet media. Acosta is the author of the art book Paint Happy ©2002, 2004 and a contributor to art and design books and articles.

www.TolleyMarney.com

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Day of the Dead - Dia de los Muertos Art Exhibit at Onda Art Gallery

2010-10-26T14:45:00.000-07:00

Drawing and painting bones has been a lifelong interest for me. That interest is lately evident in my monotypes including both animal and human studies. My piece La Coneja / The Rabbit along with some other pieces of mine are on exhibit at Onda Gallery in the Alberta Street district of Portland, Oregon. Here's what Allan from Onda Gallery has to say about this November's show:

October 28, 6-9 PM, the run of the show will include Halloween and the two Days of the Dead, November 1 and 2. Note that the show ends on November 14
at Onda Gallery, 2215 NE Alberta Street, Portland, OR 97211
503.493.1909 http://www.ondagallery.com

Onda Arte Latina Gallery is marking Dia de los Muertos / the Day of the Dead with a show of art by Latino artists from Oregon and Washington - Analee Fuentes, Cristina Acosta, Gene Flores, Alejandro Ceballos, Susana Espino, Paulina Hermosillo, Roberto Herrera, Hampton Rodriguez, Armando Olveda and Pepe Moscoso - and other artists working within the genre, including Joan Darling, Nancy Watterson Scharf, Gregory Carrigan, Clay Hoffman, Sue Burnett and Kat Keating. Other highlights are an altar by Justine Avera and Vincent Ramirez, a shadow puppet play by Shiney Penny Productions and art from Zarco Guerrero of Mesa, Arizona.

The Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos in Spanish) is a holiday celebrated mainly in Mexico and by people of Mexican heritage living in the United States and Canada. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and relatives who have died. The celebration occurs on the 1st and 2nd of November, in connection with the holy days of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day which take place on those days. Traditions include building private altars honoring the deceased, using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these as gifts.

Allan and Pablo
Onda Gallery
2215 NE Alberta Street, Portland, OR 97211
503.493.1909 http://www.ondagallery.com

Artist Collaboration: Poet Cindy Williams Gutierrez and Printmaker Cristina Acosta

2010-09-21T11:11:00.000-07:00

This monoprint mixed media piece includes drawing and painting. It is a collaboration between the poet Cindy Williams Gutiérrez and me. After reading her poem many times, this image came to me. It is not a literal illustration of the poem but a response to Cindy's evocative, image-rich language. Collaborating like this has been a wonderful experience. I'm grateful to be working with such a beautiful poem.

Creating the monoprint is a sensual process that by its nature engages images. I begin with a glass plate that I then finger paint an image onto it. I refine the image with a variety of tools like sticks, wedges and other edge tools. When the image looks done, I put it on the steel bed of the printing press and turn the crank handle, pressing the image onto a sheet of paper. After that I hang the image to dry. Later I go back into the image with drawing tools to pick up lines, shapes and forms that enrich the image.

When I finished my part, I gave the image to Cindy and she refined areas important to her, and the piece became entirely different. Read what Cindy had to say about her part of the collaborative experience:

If I Were a Nahua Poet/ Si yo fuera poeta Nahua

This broadside is a collaborative project involving three artists:

poet Cindy Williams Gutiérrez, translator and poet Ángel Fuentes,

and printmaker Cristina Acosta.

The original poem was written by Gutiérrez in English with

Nahuatl code-switching in 2008. In January of 2010, the poem was

translated into Spanish by Yucatecan poet Fuentes (with the author)

in a translation workshop led by Professor Pedro Serrano of la

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). Both the

original and the translation were published online in UNAM’s

Periódico de poesía in April of this year.

This August, visual artist Acosta responded to the poem by creating a collage of two original monoprints encircled by the original poem and its translation (in her handwriting). In the spirit of collaboration, Acosta left the broadside with Gutiérrez, inviting her to alter it as she felt moved to do so.

Note: This project evolved from el Grupo de ’08, a collaborative artists’ salon

founded by Gutiérrez in 2008 to inspire collaboration among Northwest writers,

musicians, and visual artists. The salon is inspired by Federico García Lorca and

named for the multi-disciplinary group of Spanish artists to which Lorca belonged,

la Generación de ’27. Greg Simon, a noted Lorca translator, is a core member and

a continual source of inspiration for the Northwest group.

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Artist Statement
Cindy Williams Gutiérrez

Duality inspires my work. I write to wrestle with contradiction, to explore the connections among the disparate—to experience opposing ideas, emotions, people, places, even languages in close proximity.

In this piece, I was drawn to the copper leafing Cristina had applied, particularly the shapely moon. I found two copper coins in my jewelry box—one from Spain and one from Mexico. I used the Spanish coin to cover the top half of the skull near the heart image: for me, the power of history is evoked in the juxtaposition of a Spanish coin and a Nahua (or Aztec) skull. In this context, a contradiction is created: through the lens of the Spanish conquest, the nearby heart is evocative of human sacrifice rather than the human trembling we all share.

I placed the Mexican coin to the center of the flower near the deer image. Poetry, or “flower and song”(“floricanto” in Spanish or “in xochitl in cuica” in Nahuatl) was a valued currency in the life of the Nahua tribes of central Mexico. The Nahuas believed that poetry was the way to a pure heart, an emerald heart.

I write to see. I am impelled by what I might discover—if I dig deep enough, if I turn something over and over enough to subvert its face value.

In this piece, I was fascinated by the way Cristina interwove lines of the original poem (in English) with lines of the translation (in Spanish). I became curious about how the piece would be experienced if some of the poem were hidden. I overlaid strips of colored paper that matched Cristina’s palette until a single new hybrid poem emerged. The original and translation were no longer redundant. English, Spanish, and Nahuatl flowed freely into each other as all three languages felt of a whole.

My goal is to surrender to poetry and let it be my guide. I trust myself most when I write. In these moments, I am but a vessel. The poem is the thing that’s most alive.

Cindy's Website
www.CristinaAcosta.com

Original Works on Paper: Artist Pulled Handmade Monoprints with Drawing

2010-08-06T14:59:00.000-07:00

These monoprints are my most recent work. I love the sensual process of creating a monoprint. I begin with a glass plate that I then finger paint a image on to it. I refine the image with a variety of tools like sticks, wedges and other edge tools. When the image looks done, I put it on the steel bed of the printing press and turn the crank handle, pressing the image onto a sheet of paper. After that I hang the image to dry. Later I go back into the image with drawing tools to pickup lines, shapes and forms that enrich the image.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Artist Pulled Handmade Prints of Horses

2010-08-03T09:43:00.000-07:00

Horses have been an active part of my imagination since I was about 10 years old and rode my first Smoketree Ranch horse at the Moonridge Stables in Big Bear Lake, California. As an adult I even owned horses for about 6 or 7 years, taking dressage lessons and going trail riding with friends. Though I've dipped in and out of riding throughout my life, horses are always part of my imagery.

This year I've been collaborating with different artists. The result of those collaborations is now emerging. My friend Tolley Marney, a sculptor in Palm Springs (and a cowboy), creates beautiful sculptures of horses using recycled steel. Working from his images I created a series of original works on paper at A-6 (the printmaking studio I joined last year). Check out our collaborative work at this link http://store.incredibleartist.com/collections/tolley-marney

www.cristinaacosta.com

Printmaking Exchange with the Art House Co-Op in Brooklyn, New York

2010-06-21T07:58:00.000-07:00

I love going to Atelier 6000 and doing some printmaking. The vibe Pat has nurtured is creative, supportive and a lot of fun. One of the projects we artists came up with was to contribute prints to the Art House Coop print exchange in Brooklyn, New York (that's one way to exhibit in New York!!)

Going to their website, we got the rules on size and theme and let loose with images. About a dozen artists from A-6 got into the project and submitted art. Here's what the Art House is doing:

The exhibition for the Prints will be held on July 16th from 7-10pm. Sometime before that date you will receive 15 prints from other arts all over the world! Your 15 prints will be distributed to 15 other artists that also participated.

Sounds interesting. It's sort of a instant karma art experience. I love the randomness of what to expect. I used this opportunity to learn etching and sent in 17 prints of my first etching. It's a version of my drawing, Love Always / Siempre Amor. I printed the etching on Rives BFK cotton rag paper and finished the image with powdered pigments and charcoal.

I based this image of two skeletons embracing on the image of two friends I saw embracing on the beach. Their image was so tender it struck my heart and I've been drawing and painting versions of this for the past year. Though this printmaking image lives in the Latino art culture of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) art, I think of it as a year 'round image.

And now -- what will I get back????

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Figure Drawing Exhibit at Atelier 6000

2010-06-10T15:58:00.000-07:00

Many artists consider figure drawing (or life drawing) to be a crucial foundation skill for artists. Though you don't have to be able to figure draw to be an artist, drawing the figure from life (not photos) does engage your eye and heart in a different way than any other type of artwork.

From an early age, figures and faces were what first brought me to art. Though I've not made a career of drawing the figure (yet), I have regularly drawn from life for over two decades. Dipping into and out of the art of figure drawing over the years is like revisiting favorite classical music pieces. As I've changed with age and experience, my appreciation and enjoyment of figure drawing as deepened.

I put a few conte and charcoal figure sketches I've done over the years in this month's exhibit at Atelier 6000 in Bend, Oregon, June 2010. Be sure to check out the show of drawings. It is probably the most figure drawings to be exhibited in Bend, Oregon in a long time. Dawn Emerson curated the exhibit. Thanks so much Dawn!

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Douglas Jewelry and the Sara Fisher Breast Cancer Fundraising Event

2010-06-05T21:14:00.000-07:00

Art and special causes often go together. Artists often donate a piece of art or the portion of a sale of a piece to worthy community causes. Bend, Oregon is a community of generous people and recently the Tower Theater was the venue for the Sara's Project, a fundraiser for breast cancer. Participating in this event were several jewelry stores in town, including Douglas Jewelry.

Steve and Elyse Douglas are true jewelry artists steeped in both the artistry and science of contemporary jewelry making. They make custom made jewelry from start to finish. 95% of their merchandise is produced by them (and their staff). Nothing leaves their shop for other jewelry artisans to complete. Elyse is also a certified gemologist.

This year's fundraiser was themed on the movie Sex and the City. Elyse asked a few of her fans and friends to model some of her finer pieces for the event. So... as one of her fans and a friend I also became a model. I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to break out of my comfort zone and wear this gorgeous necklace while mingling with the crowd.

Thanks to everyone who was part of this wonderful event.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

New Monoprints - Bare Bones and Feet

2010-06-03T21:18:00.000-07:00

Working at Atelier 6000 for the past half of a year has been such a wonderful experience. Learning the variety of printing processes (and there is much more to learn) has enabled me to blend drawing and painting in a way I've never been able to achieve with drawing or painting alone.

The techniques of mono-printing that I used to create these images involve painting with my hands on glass plates and drawing into the surface with my fingers, sticks, and more. The process is very sensual and enables me to feel as though I'm building each image with my hands from the stuff of my dreams. For me this is a very mystical and satisfying way to create art images.

I prefer studio time in the morning when the visions from my dreams and subconscious are most accessible. Here are two images I've recently finished.

Broken Pairing - Geese Feet Study 14: Rives BFK paper 9" x 20".
A close friend of mine is a hunter and owner of Women's Hunting Journal. Not only is she a responsible hunter and steward of the land, she's one of the few people I know who knows exactly where most of her meat has come from and she doesn't shy from her part in the life cycle of animals that humans harvest for meat. She gave me some of these feet after a successful hunt.

Ancestral Claim - Vertebrae Study #36, Rives BFK paper 16" x 16"
I am regularly in the forest and desert of the High Plateau around my home in Bend, Oregon. For many years I've picked up bones (I lived on a old homestead ranch for most of my first decade in Oregon). I especially love how the vertebrae echos some of the shapes of the DNA helix. I've worked with bones in my imagery since I first became an artist in the 1980's.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Every Cowgirl Closet Needs Painted Cowboy Boots

2010-05-27T11:06:00.000-07:00

Have you ever taken a load of old clothes to a thrift store and made yourself a little ill when you tallied up the money you paid for them? Well, fashion trends come and go, but the best fashion investment I've made is my cowgirl clothes. Though the presence of horses in my life has ebbed and flowed. I still have some Stewart boots that are 30 years old, belts, and even some shirts that are certainly in the vintage category by now (An age category thing that's a bit tough to take when I'm the original owner!)

Recently I took a pair of old Tony Lama cowboy boots I bought at a garage sale and painted them. It's a fun way to play with your inner cowgirl and get something new for your cowgirl closet. Here's a few tips I came up with to paint leather boots.

Use oil paints.
Very lightly sand the entire boot with a 100 grit sandpaper to open the surface of the leather. Don't sand over stitching as it will tear.
With a rag, wipe the boot down with paint thinner to prepare the surface.
Let the paints dry for months as recommended with oils, then protect the surface of the boot with a natural oil finish.
Have fun!

Note: I painted these boots with thin washes of Cadmium Red Dark and Quinacridone Red on the foot area. On the boot shaft, I painted the gold calligraphic floral pattern with a laquer-thinner based 14kt. gold pigmented paint.
www.CristinaAcosta.com

Sister's Folk Festival Donation Time - Balloons Over Bend, Oregon

2010-04-07T13:57:00.000-07:00

Balloons Over Bend — Cristina Acosta
This parade of balloons and other flying machines was inspired by Balloons Over Bend. A longtime Bend, Oregon artist, Cristina always adds a bright and cheerful piece to the auction.Pastel and Acrylic on 100% rag paper (30" x 22"). "Balloons Over Bend" is sponsored by Farmers Insurance of Sisters, and will be on display at High Desert Gallery
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It's that time of year again -- Time to Donate to the Sister's Folk Festival - My Own Two Hands Fundraiser 2010
"Traveling Light" My Own Two Hands is a fun-filled community arts event in and for the community of Sisters, Oregon. Sponsored by the Sisters Folk Festival for the benefit of the Sisters Americana Project.

Friday, April 9: Community Parade, Art Stroll, Chili Feed & Performing Arts Evening 4-4:30 — Community Parade on Hood Avenue from Pine St. to Spruce St.
4:30-6:30 — Art Stroll (get a map here).
6:30-8:30 — Chili Feed & Performing Arts Evening at Bronco Billy's. Saturday, April 10: Art Auction & Party at Ponderosa Forge & Ironworks Doors open at 6 pm

Online ticket sales have been discontinued, but there are still some left.
Please call the Festival office at 541-549-4979. Call them for instructions to bid by telephone on a piece of art.

My Own Two Hands began in 2001 as a fundraiser for the Sisters Americana Project, the educational outreach component of the Sisters Folk Festival.

For the past nine years, My Own Two Hands has celebrated how one individual can change their community for the better by using their own skills in a positive way. The two-day event is a community celebration of the arts; from performance to visual to the written word. My Own Two Hands has it all.
View Art Auction Donations Online.

Thanks to Life - Gracias a la Vida - April Exhibit at Onda Gallery in Portland, Oregon

2010-03-17T10:45:00.000-07:00

Violetta Parra was a gifted singer and songwriter who's iconic piece, Gracias a la Vida has inspired and entertained people since she wrote it in the 1960's.

Gallery curator, Allan Oliver at Onda Arte Gallery in Portland, Oregon invited a group of Latino artists to create work in response to the lyrics from the song for an exhibit in April. He choose these two originals from my recent work. These are original one-of-a-kind pieces called Monoprints. Monoprints are the result of painting on a printing plate, then running it through a printing press, a magical process that always results in the unexpected. I like this form of painting, the gentle surprises at the end of the pressing are juicy, artistic challenges.

Purchase these original monoprints at Onda this April 2010 in Portland, Oregon:
Allan Oliver (Director)

2215 NE Alberta St Portland, OR 97211

Phone: (503) 493-1909 Fax: (503) 493-1909       alberta@ondagallery.com

Here are the lyrics to Gracias a la Vida:
Poem by Violeta Parra

Gracias a la vida, que me ha dado tanto.             Thanks to life, which has given me so much.
Me dió dos luceros, que cuando los abro.            It gave me two bright eyes, that when opened,
Perfecto distingo lo negro del blanco                Can perfectly distinguish black from white
Y en el alto cielo su fondo estrellado,                  And in the sky above, her starry backdrop,
Y en las multitudes el hombre que yo amo.         And from within the multitude, The man I love.

Gracias a la vida, que me ha dado tanto.              Thanks to life, which has given me so much.
Me ha dado el oído que en todo su ancho              It gave me an ear that, in all of its breadth
Graba noche y día grillos y canarios                    Records— night and day- crickets and canaries,
Martillos, turbinas, ladrillos, chubascos               Hammers and turbines and bricks and storms,
Y la voz tan tierna de mi bien amado.                   And the tender voice of my beloved.

Gracias a la vida, que me ha dado tanto.              Thanks to life, which has given me so much.
Me ha dado el sonido y el abecedario.                It gave me sound and the alphabet.
Con él las palabras que pienso y declaro,            With them the words that I think and declare:
“Madre,” “amigo,”hermano,” y luz alumbrando “Mother,” “Friend,” “Brother”and the light
La ruta del alma del que estoy amando.                   which illuminates The path of the soul I love.

Gracias a la vida, que me ha dado tanto.             Thanks to life, which has given me so much.
Me ha dado la marcha de mis pies cansados.       It gave me the ability to walk with my tired feet.
Con ellos anduve ciudades y charcos,                  With them I have traversed cities and puddles
Valles y desiertos, montañas y llanos,                   Valleys and deserts, mountains and plains.
Y la casa tuya, tu calle y tu patio.                         And your house, your street and your patio.

Gracias a la vida, que me ha dado tanto.             Thanks to life, which has given me so much.
Me dió el corazón, que agita su marco.                It gave me a heart, that causes my frame to shudder,
Cuando miro el fruto del cerebro humano,         When I see the fruit of the human brain,
Cuando miro al bueno tan lejos del malo.            When I see good so far from bad,
Cuando miro el fondo de tus ojos claros.              When I look into the depths of your blue eyes…

Gracias a la vida, que me ha dado tanto.               Thanks to life, which has given me so much.
Me ha dado la risa, me ha dado el llanto.            It gave me laughter and it gave me tears.
Así yo distingo dicha de quebranto,                       With them I distinguish happiness and pain—
Los dos materiales que forman mi canto,              The two materials from which my songs are formed,
Y el canto de ustedes que es el mismo canto.         And your song, as well, which is the same song
Y el canto de todos que es mi propio canto           And everyone’s song, which is my own song.

New Monoprints Layered with Drawing and Painting

2010-03-08T16:30:00.000-08:00

Blending spirit with physical energy is a direction in my original art work that is now surfacing in different images for me. Working with the art form of the monotype at Atelier 6000 printmaking studio has opened new ways for me to translate creative inspiration to image and surface.

Learning About Printmaking at Atelier 6000

2010-03-02T07:32:00.000-08:00

In a world beset with problems and challenges, there is more than one way to give back. Pat Clark, owner of the printmaking studio Atelier 6000 (aka A6) in Bend, Oregon, is not only a master print maker and artist, she's a master at giving back.

Pat retired from the UC system and moved to Bend a few years ago and opened her printmaking studio. Artists of all levels are encouraged to join A6. There are classes offered in addition to the free membership class once per month. And often, many of the artists are more than happy to share a few tips to get you started. They are a generous crowd. Here's an excerpt from the website introducing Atelier 6000:

Patricia Clark, owner/manager, is an established Master Printmaker Artist Teacher. She is the former executive director of Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts (ISOMATA) and has held full professorships at USC, CSU Long Beach and the University of Wisconsin, River Falls. Clark also directed numerous summer arts programs for teachers through the University of Southern California and California State University, Long Beach. She is a graduate of Cranbrook Academy of Art.

In an increasingly digital art world, Atelier 6000 provides space, instruction, tools and materials for artist teachers and students to make and develop works of art exclusively by hand.

A6 is foremost a place for learning. It embodies the spirit of the traditional atelier, or studio-workshop, where students learn directly from master artist teachers. Master Printmaker Patricia Clark and numerous gust artist teachers offer all levels of classes and workshops in printmaking, drawing, design, the book arts and art collecting. All of our classes are offered. . . . . READ MORE
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I've been printmaking there for about 3 months now and am just starting to feel like I am getting some flow into my process. Thanks to Pat and the generosity of my fellow artists at the studio, I'm beginning to make progress. I've learned that creating hand made prints can range from exacting to free-form, and that the process encourages me to see and feel images differently. I love it! If you're at all interested in learning something new in the arts, whether you're a beginner or somewhere else in your artistic life, I encourage you to visit Atelier 6000 (visit this link for membership fees) and take a class or if you're in Bend for a while to join.

Photos: These monoprints are part of my series of work I title Siempre Amor, Love Always. Two monoprints -- one is the "ghost" of the other. These mark a breakthrough for me in understanding the medium. I'm excited to continue exploring.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Charcoal and Chalk Drawings of Chili Peppers and a Goose Foot

2010-02-27T17:35:00.000-08:00

Pulling from my creative well when I'm painting or creating with any of the other art forms I do seems to be much easier when I remember to fill that well. Drawing is one of those things I do for myself. I like to explore both the mediums and the image. Regardless of how many times I've looked at something or made a drawing of something, each time, there is something new I discover.

Chili peppers from the plant growing in my bedroom window are in a shape that reminds me of a hand. I didn't consciously draw them that way, but I've been spending some time drawing the human hand skeleton (at the local college science lab), so I'm not surprised to see that influence in this charcoal drawing.

The goose foot was a gift from my friend, Terry Scoville. She's a hunter who shoots only for food. She seems to use everything when she harvests an animal. The foot was shockingly beautiful. It looks so much like a water plant. Terry told me about the circulatory system in the birds feet. What amazing structures.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Tolley Marney's Metal Sculptures of the American Western Horse

2010-02-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

This past year I reconnected with an old friend, Tolley Marney and learned that during the years we'd lost touch, he'd become an artist. He's a cowboy and farrier who's turned his lifetime love of the cowboy life and horses into a passion for creating gorgeous sculptures of the American western horse. True to his roots, he sometimes incorporates used horseshoes from his shoeing work into his western horse sculptures.

Take a moment to check out Tolley Marney's metal sculptures on his website www.TolleyMarney.com
Here's an excerpt from Marney's Artist Statement:

"Art is a constant – it never leaves my mind. I don’t think about creativity as much as I always feel its presence blooming and developing into something new.

I create horse sculptures because I’ve interacted with horses all of my life, so I understand the horse and feel a comfort working with its image. The horse is a kindred spirit. Horses are creatures that will do anything in the world for us as long as we ask in the right way.

Heart and soul, they always amaze me. The horse is a reflection of our actions. They are pure and don’t lie. They tell us when we are doing something right and when we aren’t. The process of creating each sculpture has the same truth. . . READ MORE"

Clearing out Old Energy: Creating Something New from Something Old

2010-02-09T19:24:00.000-08:00

I get attached to things -- not necessarily valuable material things (though sometimes they are), more often a beautiful bone or an old battered box that used to sit on my late grandmother's dresser is what catches my attention.

This January I've been inspired to finish organizing my Abuelita's (Grandmother's) family photos. I narrowed the pile down to about 500 photos that span about 100 years. It's been an ongoing project that I've dipped in and out of for several years. I took the junky old button boxes and battered jewelry boxes that were part of the pile and remade them with collages of my drawings, monoprints and images of my paintings. Here's a photo of my finished group of work. It also includes a pair of painted cowboy boots and some candy tins I made into mini-retablos for my house.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Creativity in the local Brew Pubs Catches the Wall Street Journal's attention

2010-01-05T10:20:00.000-08:00

This past Christmas Eve the Wall Street Journal gave some Bend, Oregon restaurants the holiday gift of an endorsement. Reporter Adam Thompson wrote a piece for Off the Beaten Path on what to do, where to stay and where to try Deschutes County's local brews.

Among the list are some of my personal favorites including two businesses for whom I've created art: Deschutes Brewery and Jen's Garden. Though it's not a brew pub, Jen's Garden made the list, an accomplishment it fully has earned.

Many years ago I created the holiday Jubilale label for Deschutes Brewery (the second year of their annual artist label).

The painting "Jen's Garden" is in the restaurant above the fireplace.

It's been an honor to be involved with these two very creative companies. I recommend you visit both restaurants when visiting Bend.

New Retablos of the Guadalupe, Conquistadora and Others for Christmas Shows

2009-11-17T11:48:00.000-08:00

Owning a piece of beautiful art may be easier than you think. Meeting the challenging economy head-on, art galleries are working hard to present collectors with affordable art pieces.

To make a series of affordable retablos, I put giclee prints of images from my Hispanic Culture art series of retablos and santos on hardwood panels. Hand rolling and cutting clay into a variety of shapes including leaves, crosses, birds and more I fired those then mosaiced them onto the hardwood. I painted the hardwood with a variety of gorgeous abstract colors then layered that with figurative leaves and flowers created with metallic paint.
The retablos are 15" across x 21" tall and sell for about $598.00.

This holiday season, three galleries are carrying my new series of retablos: These retablos retail for $598.00.

ChimMaya Gallery, 5283 East Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA
www.Chimmaya.com 323-869-8881

High Desert Gallery with locations in Bend, Oregon.
www.HighDesertGallery.com 541- 388-8964 or toll free 866-549-6250.

Suzanne Etienne Art Gallery, Ashland, Oregon. 541-482-1766
www.SuzanneEtienne.com

Contact the galleries to purchase one of these pieces.
www.CristinaAcosta.com

Easy Cookies for a Crowd

2009-10-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

School events, holidays, potlucks and parties are busy enough without making yourself crazy with complicated baking. This cookie recipe is easy to modify and makes a bunch of small cookies. I usually make three kinds of cookies from one batch. Divide this dough into portions and add different ingredients and you'll have a batch of cookies for any occasion.

Tools: Blender / Vitamix or Food Processor or by hand, Oven,   Baking Pans: 2 to 4 large cookie sheets - as many as your oven can handle at once 
Yield: about 12 dozen
Baking time: 6 - 8 minutes. Assembly time including overall baking time, about 45 - 60 minutes
Oven 400 F (preheat for at least 5 minutes)

2 Cups Butter softened
1 T. vanilla
4 eggs large - beaten
1 1/2 C. Sugar - Mexican Moreno sugar, organic "white" sugar or light Brown sugar (or a combination)
3 to 3 1/2 Cups flour - unbleached white or add in some whole grain if you prefer, though the texture will change.
2 t. cream of tartar
1/2 sea salt

Optional ingredients:

1/2 C. colored sugar - roll teaspoon of dough in sugar before setting on baking sheet.
1 C. Chocolate drops - add to dough or insert large drops on top of single cookie
1 C. powdered sugar - when cookies are warm from the oven, put them in a paper bag and gently turn them in the sugar until completely coated. Repeat process again when they are cool if desired.
1 C. dried fruits and nuts - add to dough
spices - 2 t. cinnamon, 2 t. ginger, 1/2 cloves for spice cookies. Adjust amounts to taste.

Directions:
Mix together dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

In a mixing bowl whip butter with sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla and beaten eggs and whip for a few more seconds until everything is mixed. Reduce mixer speed to low and pour the dry mixture in gradually. The dough will stiffen, so you may need to finish mixing by hand. Note that the dough should be just dry enough to roll into little balls. Don't add all of the flour at once. Put in enough to get it to a fluffy, soft texture that is more on the wet side than the dry.
If you want to make more than one variety of cookie, divide the dough into portions and add the optional ingredients or plan for them depending upon the cookie you want.

Drop by small spoonfuls on greased baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 6 - 8 minutes and remove onto a rack to cool.

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Color Consulting and Interior Lighting

2009-10-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

Color and light are part of any interior design or home remodel project. Here are some of my recent blog entries from my blog ColorConversations.com
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Nature's Lovers - Green and Purple in Your Home Landscape artists often refer to the color combination of violet/purple and green as “Nature’s Lovers”. Not only do purple and green look good together on an artist’s canvas, they can look amazing together in your home. From soft gray violet to deep amethyst purples, painting your walls your favorite shade of purple will go with more colors than you might think. Here’s why . . . .READ MORE

Are Color Trends a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy? According to Ford Motor Co., and PPG Industries (Pittsburgh Paint), car buyers in the U.S. still vote with their wallets for the color silver as the most popular car color in the U.S. for the 9th year in a row. Colors trailing behind silver are white, then black. The rest of the automobile color line-up varies by city and region.. . . READ MORE

Painting Your Garage Door Trim When color consulting with clients who are choosing exterior paint colors I often suggest they don’t call attention to their garage. This advice doesn’t work for every house or every client, but it’s worth considering. Here’s why. . . READ MORE

Interior Lighting and Your Eyesight - Do you need stronger glasses or more light? Even though you’ve gotten a bit older, it’s not necessarily true that you need stronger glasses (though a doctor has the last word). Sometimes, the lighting in your home is the problem. Though a room may seem well lit to one person, another person may perceive the same room as poorly lit. . . . READ MORE

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Back to My Roots: Mexican-American Style Clay Ornaments

2009-10-23T16:25:00.000-07:00

One of the strange things about life is that things from my earliest years of life come back into my life in different ways. This seems to happen more lately. Maybe it's an artistic cycle of some sort.

How it happens is interesting. I get "stuck" in one aspect of my artistic work, so I do something that is very easy for me. Which is why I buy 100 pounds of clay now and then so I can play with making terracotta tiles or tile-like ornaments.

I've been a little stuck lately so out came the clay. I ended up making clay crosses, clay Jewish stars, and clay birds. Just in time for holiday gifts. It's fun. Making decorative clay pieces like this reminds me of some of the Mexican-American or Chicano crafts I would see growing up in Southern California. It's comforting to me as well as somehow seems to open the gates of creative flow within me.

So if you're stuck in some aspect of art (or life) maybe this approach will work for you. Not that you have to make terracotta ornaments. Sometimes I'll make hand-patterned fabrics to wear as sarongs or paint ties for my husband. Whatever it is, it's something I can completely relax with. Opening the kiln is always fun. Kind of like baking bread, but with a more permanent result.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Helvetica - How a Letterform Became Part of All of our Lives

2009-10-21T08:26:00.000-07:00

The movie Helvetica is a documentary about a type-face. Before you yawn-off (or click-out), wait a minute. Helvetica is a good movie. Really. At least for anybody interested in any of the arts, design, architecture and fashion fields.

Back in the mists of time when signs were actually hand-painted, I used to paint Helvetica as a letterform (type-form) on advertising billboards. (I was a billboard painter.) Helvetica was always a bit awkward to paint as it's roots were not from the brush and chisel roots of all of western languages letterforms, but from the machine age.

For more of an explanation about the roots of letterforms you must see the movie. Besides setting up the history of typography well, Helvetica the film has interviews with a variety of graphic designers who have completely opposite or divergent opinions about design from each other along with examples of their work so the viewer can make their own judgments.

Listening to contradictory opinions and design theories warms my heart. Strange -- but it does. I love that artists and critics do have strong opinions. And that they change those opinions. Been there, done that, over it is a credo that sits side-by-side with the purity of obsession over one thing for the rest of one's life.

About a week after seeing the movie Helvetica I was working with a designer on a logo I recently did for our family business, www.StandUpPaddleFlatwater.com. She was going through her list of fonts when I saw a name that intrigued me. "Let me see the font Switzerland," I asked her, wondering if what I thought I might see would be something funny.

I did see something funny. Switzerland looked almost exactly liked Helvetica. I don't know the history behind the Switzerland font, but I get the joke. Helvetica is a German made (and owned) type font that was originally supposed to be named after Switzerland. They changed the spelling slightly for the times. It was a marketing ploy of some type (see the movie). In response, somebody made a competing type form they titled Switzerland. A subtle joke tucked into a list of fonts. That's the kind of meaning in an everyday object that keeps the art world inspiring.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

I'm Teaching an Art Workshop October 24th and 25th in Bend, Oregon

2009-10-16T05:00:00.000-07:00

A6 - Atelier 6000 in Bend, Oregon near the Old Mill District is a wonderful printmaking studio with a bright and light energy. It's a wonderful place to practice your art form.
Here's the class info:

When: October 23rd (evening artist talk); October 24th and 25th
Where: 389 SW Scalehouse Ct., Suite 120, Bend, OR 97702
Call: 541.728.8527 for cost and additional details.
Cost: $115.00

Class Info:
Bring flowing creativity into your artwork. Cristina is teaching a art workshop at Atelelier 6000 focusing on using painting and optionally mono-printing to work with the concepts. Invite freedom and flow into your art and jump-start your creativity in this exciting class that breaks down the barriers between the artistic practices of painting and printmaking. Veteran artists Pat Clark and Cristina Acosta will demonstrate their process and techniques for you. You’ll learn to combine painting and printmaking techniques to create something new and different. Not only will you be inspired, informed and empowered, you’ll have accumulated class techniques and processes to inform a portfolio of unique drawing and painting outcomes.

Cristina Acosta is teaching a residency Oct 24 & 25 from 10 a..m. - 3:30 pm entitled Printmaking as a Vehicle to Painting. Registration is underway. Cost of the workshop is $115. For a description of the workshop check out the website at www.atelier6000.com

www.CristinaAcosta.com

University of Oregon Board of Visitors for the School of Architecture and Allied Arts

2009-10-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

Attending the University of Oregon and graduating with a BFA degree in Painting was a wonderful time of my life. I put myself through school working as a window and sign painter along with some generous scholarships that enabled me to finish a studio degree in painting. Frank Okada, Ron Graf, Morales and others were professors that made a deep and lasting impact on me and the art I've gone on to create.

I'm proud and honored to have been invited to serve on the Board of Visitors for the University of Oregon's School of Architecture and Allied Arts. I encourage readers with the funds to donate to consider this college as a worthy cause. Here's some of the info about the BOV from the U O:

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University of Oregon Board of Visitors

What is the Board of Visitors?

The Board of Visitors was established in 1987 as an advisory group of distinguished University of Oregon alumni and friends representing the departments and programs of the School of Architecture and Allied Arts. Our goal is to support the school in developing the highest quality of its educational programs by establishing strong connections between the school and the professional community.

Who are the Board of Visitors?

Members of the board are accomplished professionals with a shared commitment to make themselves available as professional resources for students and faculty; to increase professional and alumni outreach and communications; and to assist the school in attracting investment in research, instruction, and service.

(I'm the woman second from the top on the right side in the tiger stripe sweater)

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Thinking About Color Changes

2009-10-13T09:34:00.000-07:00

The changing colors of the season inspire me to write about color. Here is a list of my most recent articles about color from my blog ColorConversations.com:

Blanca, The Color White - I was looking at the color white last week and realized that for me, white had became a symbol of global interconnection. How did a color I see every day suddenly have a new meaning? Here’s what happened. . . . .

Color and Design Concepts - Repetition and Variation (and a Snake) - Good design snakes our attention. Here’s why. Looking at too much of the same thing can turn a good thing into a nothing. That is, nothing you’d notice or want to look at. Too much of the same thing sends our brain to sleep. Maybe not literally, but our attention drifts and we’re on to the next thing. Our human brains are on the alert for differences. That alertness informs us when. . . .

Color Meanings, Color Symbology and Color Psychology - You may not know this, but you were covered in color symbolism, meanings and psychology from the day you saw your first pink or blue baby blanket. Scientists, religions, governments, mystics and artists have always assigned meaning to colors over the centuries of human kind and there’s no way to get away from those meanings. . . . .

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Gracias to Latina Magazine for the Article!

2009-09-11T06:00:00.000-07:00

Angie Romero, a writer for Latina magazine wrote this piece, Madonna Mia about my art exhibit, Reshaping the Divine. Thanks Angie for supporting my work. Here's an excerpt from Latina:

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My older sister was named Maria Auxiliadora, after the Virgin Mary. Maria is a very predictable name for a Latina, but my mom named her that because she was in a near-fatal car accident when she was pregnant with her firstborn, so she promised la virgen that if she and her baby survived, she’d be forever grateful. To this day, she is a devout Catholic. Me, I’m more spiritual, but that’s another story for another day.

I recently received an email from an artist who did a whole collection of Madonnas (as in the mother of Christ, not the queen of pop). Cristina Acosta was born in L.A. to an Anglo American mom and Mexican American dad. Her paternal roots date back to New Mexico in the late 1500s. Growing up, she says she was always fascinated by that side of her family tree.

Her Madonnas (my favorite of which is “La Sirena Verde,” which Acosta painted for her sister to celebrate her recovery from cancer) are painted with oil, sterling silver, copper, gold metal leaf, and inlays of antique, gold-glazed ceramic tiles. They often delve past the dawn of Christianity and also represent the earth religions of the Native Americans. . . . READ MORE at Latina
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www.CristinaAcosta.com

Scam Artists on the Internet Target Real Artists

2009-09-09T10:42:00.000-07:00

Con artists spend their creativity and intelligence tricking people so that they can steal their money. Even if you get away from a scam artist with your bank balance intact, you've still had your time stolen. Either way, it's a loss of potentially positive energy on both sides of the relationship.

Yesterday, a woman called me to get my bank information. She claimed to be a kindergarten administrator from Australia who wanted an illustration of mine for a cookbook she was putting together for a worthy cause. She had sent me an email introducing herself and her project and we'd entered a amicable email conversation of about 3 or 4 letters. The money she offered me was fair for her type of project. She called and had a lovely Australian accent and acted very friendly when she asked me for my bank account number and routing information. I told her I'd send her the information the next morning.

I did my due diligence and checked out the school she mentioned. There was no school by that name at that address. If there had been, I would have contacted them directly to confirm her position and project. That, along with a few other complications to the transaction were big red flags. She didn't get the financial information she requested from me. I'd wasted time I could have spent more positively.

Having an internet site for over a decade, I've been the target of quite a few of these scammers. It's always a sad waste of time. I've been written to and called by so many of these people over the years that I am very careful about doing business with anyone who insists on discussing money with me without being transparent as to who they are.

Scammers often target visual artists, probably because we have the reputation of being a bit naive to business practices and we usually have items to sell that cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. Considering how many astute people were taken advantage of by Bernard Madoff, I can't guarantee that my advice is fail-safe, but it's a start. Here are some red flags I want to share with you so that you can recognize these thieves:

HASTE: They are in a hurry. Some sort of time urgency is making it necessary for them to hurry the process and they need your help.
MOBILITY: They are often moving around between foreign countries or cities which causes some sort of extenuating circumstance.
PAYMENT: They have excuses about how they need to pay you. Maybe their Visa doesn't work, or they claim to live in a town without a proper bank or Western Union office. (This often segues with the mobility theme.)
KICKBACKS: They want you to send them back the "extra" money that they insert into the transaction to "cover fees".
OPACITY: They aren't upfront with who they are, their phone number, where they live, what their project is, etc. Double checking their phone numbers often leads to dead-ends. If they claim to be somebody, check out their claim thoroughly and be sure to call the person.
COST OF YOUR ART OR ART SERVICE: They insist on "talking" to you through email and want your pricing information without giving any information of their own. They often offer to pay more than your price.

So what do you do if you have a legitimate international art customer or art collector interested in your art work? You can't always tell if an art customer is honest. The best you can do is put in place some financial safeguards.

BANKING: Work with your bank to set up an account that you use ONLY for these type of transactions. Explain your business to the bank officer and they will help you put safeguards into place that minimize the risk you undertake when handing out your bank account and routing information. One of the dangers my banker explained is that with the account number the thieves will create bogus checks to withdraw money from the account.
VISA AND OTHER CREDIT CARDS: Call the company to additionally verify the legitimacy of the card number and info you receive.
WESTERN UNION: Don't give ANYBODY a kickback for fees. If they want to use Western Union to transfer money to you, they will absorb the fee. Western Union will wire the money to the Western Union office you designate. You DO NOT NEED TO GIVE ANYBODY YOUR BANK INFO TO GET A WESTERN UNION PAYMENT!! Be sure to check out the Western Union website and to call for more information.
SHIPPING YOUR ART: Regardless of the delivery system you use - whether you are shipping original art or sending electronic files, do not send anything until the money has cleared the bank. Again, talk to your banker and rely on their advice.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Why Should You Paint Your Ceiling White?

2009-08-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

During a color consulting appointment clients will often remark that they are nervous choosing a paint color for their ceiling. There are far more reasons to not paint a ceiling white than you'd think. In situations where white is the perfect color to use, it is successful only because it is used very consciously as a color -- not a knee-jerk reaction to getting out of the paint store sooner than later. I posted a piece about the color white on my color blog. Here's the lead.
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Painting your ceiling white is not necessary or even always a good idea. White paint will not always make your room look larger, cleaner and more fashionable. Sometimes white will seem to expand the size of a room, but sometimes it’s a big mistake. Mostly, people paint their ceilings white because they don’t know what else to do.

I’m not exactly sure when white ceilings became fashionable, though I suspect the country’s fascination with white paint began in 1893 at the Chicago World’s Fair. The famed White City at the World’s Fair included a complex of buildings and streets over an area of hundreds of acres. Buildings were finished with white stucco and brightly lit with the new-fangled street lights. Acres of radiant whiteness must have been an entrancing alternative to the dark countryside and dimly lit city streets filled with dark tenement buildings.

Then, about thirty-five years later, the Great Depression. . . READ MORE at Color Conversations with Cristina.

Color Consulting Architectural Project Portfolio

2009-08-10T13:44:00.000-07:00

Creating color plans for residential, commercial and institutional buildings is a fascinating way to put color theory into practice. Color is a language that exists in the spoken and written word as symbol and metaphor. I love the challenge of translating the subconscious and conscious reactions of my clients to color into a color plan that they love.

Read more about my color advice at Color Conversations with Cristina
Hire me as your color expert:
Cristina Acosta Art & Design llc, Certified Minority Contractor

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Change a Few Colors Instead of Repainting Your Entire House

2009-08-07T14:21:00.000-07:00

I posted a new entry on Color Conversations with Cristina. I wrote about how to fix an exterior house paint project that didn't turn out quite like you'd expected. Here's the lead:

Are you ready for a home makeover but you don’t want to break the bank? Have you ever painted your house and when it was done, wondered why the paint job didn’t look as good as you thought it would? Changing paint colors doesn’t have to be a complete re-do. With a few strategic changes of color you can get the look and pizzaz you want by changing only the colors or areas that make the most difference, rather than repaint the entire exterior of your home. . . . .READ MORE

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Bragging About My Kid's Artwork

2009-08-05T12:19:00.001-07:00

Isabella Acosta Barna's paintings

Please forgive me, but I'm a mom and I am so proud of my daughter, Isabella Acosta Barna, that I just have to brag a bit. Isabella's greeting cards are for sale at the Clinton Presidential Library Gift Shop!!

And, a portion of every sale funds The Alliance for a Healthier Generation.

The Alliance for a Healthier Generation Youth Advisory Board and Empower Me 2 Be (of which Isabella is a board member) is on task to halt the increase in childhood obesity. Last year the Alliance asked Isabella to make some images using their color scheme that convey health. They would then choose one or more to use in their outreach.

The slide show of Isabella's art work has a photo of her at work in her respirator, carefully layering stencils and other collage materials on her piece as she paints. This was a great opportunity for her to work within the client's design and concept parameters as she explored how to creatively fulfill those guidelines.

Isabella is a strong and independent artist -- which means that I had nothing to do with the outcome of these images beyond explaining to her the mental/artistic process of how to approach this type of project. I love her final images -- they are beautiful!

And as a mom and an artist, I'm glad my child likes to make art. Presenting art to a kid and knowing when to slip in a little teaching now and then is a very fluid experience over their lifetime. There is no one right way to encourage creativity. My approach is to have the tools and time available and then to be a good example of working my own creative process.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Successful Artists and Their Original Art

2009-07-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

Years after I've taught an art class, a student will introduce themselves and tell me that they liked my class. One of the best things about teaching is having a student tell me that their art learning experience with me was positive. Especially if they are telling me months or years later when their memory has sifted and re-sifted the experience until the essence is left.

My next best thing is bragging about my art students. Some of my students come to me as experienced artists who glean a little and move on. Others are beginning artists -- a group I feel especially responsible to. Teaching someone art for the first time usually sets the tone for their attitude towards art education.

Here is some artwork from past contacts:

Steve Bennett took Central Oregon Community college art classes from me in the 1990's. He was already an accomplished artist and has gone on to create even more beautiful work. His lovely pastel of this forest glade is the cover for an artist workshop exhibit and sale at the U.S. Hotel Ballroom, California & Third St., Jacksonville, Oregon. August 25 - September 2, 2009 Daily 10 am – 7 pm. Gala Reception, Saturday, August 29, 2 – 4 pm . Steve Bennett and his wife, Sue Bennett are both accomplished artists and educators. They operate the art tour business, AIM Art in Motion Workshops.

Dianne Charewicz, a blog reader sent me this recent note regarding her inspiration from my book, Paint Happy : (Here's a photo of her art)

Hi Cristina,
Back in February I had emailed you asking how you sealed the soft pastel on top of the acrylic painting. I promised to send you a picture of my painting. Well, here it is. My husband really liked it and so many people comment about how "Happy" it is! Thanks for your help!
Blessings,
Diane Charewicz

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Looking for Art in Little Rock, Arkansas

2009-07-29T14:58:00.000-07:00

I was in Little Rock, Arkansas recently, looking for art. My daughter, Isabella Acosta Barna is on the youth Advisory Board (YAB) for the Alliance for a Healthier Generation and their Empower Me kid's movement to stop childhood obesity. Her board meetings were held in the William J. Clinton Presidential Library. The Clinton Library is a beautiful modern building with a Platinum LEED environmental rating.

While in Little Rock, I got about a few hours to myself during the afternoons to explore. I visited a few local museums and saw some very nice work. The Historic Arkansas Museum had some art as part of their exhibit: John Ellis and Don Shaw (a sculptor and painter) with the exhibit, Cosmic Interplay - Light and Darkness (ends Aug. 16, 2009); and Custom by Design - Contemporary Furniture Handmade in Arkansas (ends Jan. 10, 2010). The exhibits had their moments, but I wasn't captured by anything. (That "wow - I wish I'd made this" or "this is amazing" feeling).

I walked further south to the Arkansas Arts Center, a complex including a museum, children's theater and studio school. One of the exhibits there was of the French artist Paul Signac. A wealthy early 20th century industrialist invested in Signac's career and built a museum with a permanent collection of decades of Signac's work as the centerpiece. Seeing the artist's life's work through the decades I was struck by how the patronage of one man made this gift to the future (me, and others seeing this work) as well as supporting the artist during his lifetime.

My favorite contemporary work (also in Arkansas Arts Center,) was the contemporary artist Jun Kaneko's large ceramic pieces. Works in a series he called Dango -- a Japanese word for rounded form (he appears to be of Japanese ancestry). Kaneko's exhibit included drawings and smaller pieces also which didn't do much for me. I found his large pieces compelling.

Ben Whitehouse had his exhibit of paintings and photos titled, Ben Whitehouse: Observation. My favorite piece from his was the calendar of paintings of the same ocean scene for every day of March.

When visiting Little Rock, be sure to take the River Rail Electric Streetcar. It's only a dollar or two and it's a fun ride around Little Rock in a vintage (but air-conditioned) electric streetcar. The very charming driver was also a wonderful tour guide, pointing out landmarks along the route. The River Rail Electric Streetcar tour of Little Rock is the best bargain.

For a complete listing of Greater Little Rock Museums and Cultural Attractions see www.LittleRock.com. And be sure to eat at least one meal at The Flying Fish. It's a order-at-the-counter, seat-yourself diner with delicious local fare.

Try some Southern style microbrew at Boscos. They offer light and medium bodied microbrews that you can sip on their deck overlooking the riverfront when the weather is good. They're just down the street a short walk from the Flying Fish.

Can Color Change Your Mood?

2009-07-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

Do you feel like no matter what goes on around you, even if you're not in control you at least know what's going on? Well, you do and you don't. The senses we rely on to understand the world around us aren't always accurate. Shapes and colors manipulate how you perceive the world around you -- along with texture, temperature, scent, sound and more.

Think about bright colors and food. Vitamin rich fruits and vegetables are mostly colorful. Fast food restaurants don't serve colorful fruits and vegetables, so instead they put strong colors in the decor of the restaurant, the pictures on the menu and the packaging. Candy is almost always manipulated to be artificially brightly colored to appeal to the human impulse to eat brightly colored healthy food.

As obvious as the manipulation of food colors are, colors in our homes and business offices manipulate where our attention goes as we move through the space and how we feel about the space. A red door on a brown house focuses our attention on the door.

But don't feel that colors have one note, like the keys on a piano. Though many studies of colors have outcomes that insist yellow is happy or red is stimulating, those studies can only address that color in one environment. Colors interact with each other to create a melody line, just as the keys of the piano can combine to create a tune.

The bottom line is yes, color affects your mood. But don't get caught up in creating a rigid identity for every hue. The interaction of a color with other colors and the cultural viewpoint(s) of the people experiencing the colors is the ultimate arbitrator. Assigning one emotional response to a color is like insisting that each note of the musical scale has an immutable meaning. Like insisting that the note of middle C is always happy and F minor is always sad.

Pay attention to the interaction of colors and strive to be aware of the meanings you've assigned to colors and you will begin to use colors more creatively in all aspects of your life.

Photos: I took these photos in Oaxaca, Mexico. The gorgeous colors of flowers mixed into the salad greens and vegetables (it tasted as delicious as it looks) are mimicked in the colors of the candies and other sweets this woman was selling at her snack stand.

See my color consulting work for residences and public buildings on my website at www.CristinaAcosta.com

See examples of my color consulting portfolio and articles on my website.

www.CristinaAcosta.com Call me to schedule a color consulting appointment in Bend, Oregon or a phone appointment if you don't live in Oregon.

Art of the Tatoo - Portland Art Museum

2009-07-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

Altering your looks is the status quo of our culture. Makeovers are featured in most every magazine and for the financially backed, an entire menu of plastic surgery lite and full course options abound. Change and reinvention are firmly embodied in the flesh around us.

After seeing Marking Portland: The Art of the Tattoo at the Portland Art Museum June 20 - Sept. 7, 2009, the choices offered by the question of change and reinvention expanded. Tattoos are the tool of choice for many Portlanders seeking to express themselves beyond a nip, tuck or new hairstyle.

My daughter, Isabella and I spent the afternoon in the Portland Art Museum, ending our stay with a rest on the benches downstairs and the slide show that was the exhibit, Marking Portland: The Art of the Tattoo.

Sitting on the bench was the Checkerboard Face Man. I introduced myself to him and he was very gracious regarding my interest in his tatoos. His name is Matt Gone and he's an artist who has used his body as his canvas, covering everything except his gums and palms of his feet with tattoos. Willamette Week featured a great piece describing his motivation and life experiences as a completely tattoed man.

Matt posed for me, pulling up his pant legs and shirt to expose his body covered in a checkerboard pattern of tatoos interspersed with colorful motifs. He's an affable man with quiet and unassuming body language that is at odds with his flamboyant markings.

I admire Matt's dedication to his personal vision. In the Willamette Week article Matt says that his wish is to preserve his skin for display after he dies. For Matt, reinvention never stops.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Thanks to Chicano y Que

2009-07-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

Thanks to ?Chicano y Que? blog for posting info about my art exhibit, Reshaping the Divine: Contemporary Hispanic Retablos Exploring the Divine Feminine, at El Museo Cultural in Santa Fe, New Mexico for Summer 2009.

(Can anybody give me a tip to make a Spanish question mark and accent marks in Blogger?).

Chicano Y Que? is a blog Jesus Garza writes that is devoted to information related to Chicano/Chicana culture. Jesus is also a wonderful art and commercial photographer. You can see his beautiful photography, some of which includes photos of Cesar Chavez on his website, Jesus Manuel Mena Garza Photography.
www.CristinaAcosta.com

Painted Sarongs for Sailing

2009-07-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

Color and light filled with air propelling me across the surface of a High Cascade's lake. WOW!

Flatwater stand up paddling on lakes usually involves wind of some sort if you're out past noon. My friend, Judy Shasek and I were playing around on Hosmer Lake, Oregon last week and came up with a lot of things to laugh about while we experimented with our SUP boards.

Memories of catching the wind on windsurfers inspired Judy and I to take advantage of a tail wind and try some sailing. Since I often travel with sarongs (as SPF, clothing, mosquito distractor, etc.) I was ready.

I whipped my sarong into the air with a gust and Judy and I made a jib sail between us. It worked so well that we returned the next day with two sarongs and caught downwind puffs singly wherever we could. We even convinced Judy's husband, Ed to give it a try.

I painted these sarongs on silk and cotton and was totally grooving on how they looked filled with air and lit through with sunlight. Silk was definitely the material that won the day as a sarong sail. Silk is strong, lightweight and catches the wind easily. It also looks good on.

Judy and I got so caught up in sarong sailing that we almost re-invented the windsurfer!

Judy's husband, Ed Shasek took the photos (unless he was in them).
www.StandUpPaddleFlatwater.com

www.CristinaAcosta.com

The Barbra Streisand Rose

2009-07-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

Portland, Oregon is an interesting city to visit. I'm often in Portland taking my daughter to her fencing training, so I'll take a few hours while she's training to be a tourist and check out the local scene.

The Portland Rose Garden is a beautiful garden on the side of a small mountain that overlooks the city of Portland and the river. I was there a few weeks ago around the Rose Festiva l dates and made sure to visit the rose garden. The scents and colors of hundreds of blooming rose bushes is worth a visit.

I asked a gardener to send me to the roses with his favorite scents and he sent me to the bottom of the garden looking for the Barbra Streisand Rose. Wandering the garden I came across this very handsome poodle and his two female owners. I asked them why he was dressed in a Hawaiian lei and decorated. They told me that he had just recently won First Place in the dog contest in the Gay Pride Parade downtown.

"Is he gay?" I asked, pointing to the dog.

"Of course, he is," they replied, "that's why he was in the parade."

I pointed out the Barbra Streisand rose, a deep pink rose with an extravagant scent and asked them if I could take the dog's photo in front of the rosebush.

"This is wonderful," one of the women said as she helped to pose her dog, "we just got him a Streisand CD yesterday."

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Art and Grieving - Making Group Art

2009-07-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

The past several months I and my family have lost some close friends in accidents. In my own way I work through these sad times in my art work. Sometimes consciously working with the experience, but mostly by continuing to work and observing after I'm done that references to that sadness are in the work.

My friend, Cameron Clark, owner of C3 Events recently experienced the passing of Jimmy Pantenburg, the child of a close friend. Cameron called me and asked me if I'd be willing to work for him creating a place both physically and psychically for Jimmy's friends to make a mural in his honor.

I just finished the mural project and want to share with you Cameron's brilliant idea. Brilliantly rich was how I felt watching a dozen teenagers with spray cans talking and painting as they created a tribute to their late friend. (Though, as an adult, the irony of teaching teenagers the fine points of spray painting did give me a smile.) Not only did they all agree that the piece is "really sweet", they had a chance to talk about the fun things they did with their friend. They'd look through Jimmy's album of spray paint stencils and photos of his work, then they'd copy something as they talked.

I didn't know Jimmy, but after seeing his work and listening to his friends, I feel enriched by his life. His friends got a chance to live consciously with their feelings of grief and share them openly without any heavy expectations or the sense that they had to do or be any particular way. They were hanging with his spirit. It was a beautiful thing.

On a practical note -- facilitating the creation of a group art piece that's 5 feet tall and 15' long necessitated some basic design parameters. Here's what I did:

Painted one basic background color. In this instance, red.
Put together a selection of spray paint can colors that would work with Jimmy's themes.
Determined the central theme and set that first so that the kids could work around it. In this instance the focal point was the grafitti moniker, "Always".
Gave the kids tips on how to best use their spray paint cans.
Kept the image "floating". That's a term I use to describe my method of keeping the entire surface of the image working together at the same time. Practically, that meant I'd work intermittently with the kids -- being sure to disappear enough that they felt very invested in the work.
When the kids were done I spent some time "tightening" the image so that it would be even stronger.

I enjoyed helping out this way. I highly recommend a mural project of this sort as a way to bring a group together, regardless of the occasion.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Muchas Gracias La Bloga for Your Review of Reshaping the Divine

2009-07-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

Muchas Gracias to La Bloga for the generous and positive review of my art exhibit, Reshaping the Divine - Contemporary Hispanic Retablos Exploring the Divine Feminine currently at El Museo Cultural, Santa Fe, New Mexico. You can read the full piece and a lot of other very interesting things on La Bloga.

Here's an excerpt of the review:
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"This is quintessentially female, strong, sinous, visual art. It is a contemporary re-visioning of traditional retablo, hinting at the aesthetic of popular commercial artists like Laurel Burch, but containing a depth of spirit. There is a certain richness, an evanescence emanating from the figures portrayed.

Acosta has an ability to make a heart connection with the observer beyond the demands and trends of the marketplace, or the prevailing winds of "fine" art communities and critics. I find Acosta's work to be completely accessible, capitalizing and re-visioning icons from a metizo heritage, as well as feminist ideas of the female God-force.

She's also creative in the use of precious and mundane material in the creation of these retablos. In an in depth look at her site, piece after piece reveals she is truly a renaissance woman balancing commerciality with content and succeeding admirably." READ MORE. . . .

www.CristinaAcosta.com
See the images of my retablos, santos and ex-votos.

Latin American Herald Tribune Features My Exhibit - Reshaping the Divine

2009-07-13T14:37:00.000-07:00

Thank you to the Latin American Herald Tribune, for the interview and feature of my art exhibit, Reshaping the Divine - Contemporary Hispanic Retablos Exploring the Divine Feminine, on exhibit at the El Museo Cultural in Santa Fe, New Mexico for the Summer 2009.

I am very appreciative that my work is getting such positive attention. I've included an excerpt. You can READ MORE here.

EFE News Services (US) Inc. www.efe.com
Spain's International News Agency- Agencia EFE is the leading newswire service in Latin America and Spain. Everyday, directly or indirectly, millions of individuals are brought up to date on what is happening in the world by EFE. Of its total 3.600 media subscribers, 531 are
located in South America, 110 in Mexico, 62 in the Caribbean, 78 in Central America, 150 in the USA and others in Spain, Europe, Africa, The Middle East and Asia.
____________________________________________________________
Chicana Artist Explores Heritage Through Retablo Paintings
By Lydia Gil

SANTA FE, New Mexico – Chicana artist Cristina Acosta has turned to sacred art as a means of exploring her religious and cultural heritage, incorporating aspects of her life, beliefs and family history into Madonna retablos.

“The tradition of the retablo (devotional image) reflects both the past and the present,” said the artist, whose works are now on display as part of an exhibit of contemporary retablos at this southwestern U.S. city’s El Museo Cultural.

The word “retablo” in Spanish dates back to the Renaissance and Baroque era and was used to refer to large screens that were placed behind altars in churches and were decorated with paintings, carvings, and sculptures.

These large altar screens then became prevalent in colonial Latin America as well, and by the 19th century oil-on-tin retablo paintings of Christ, the Virgin, and saints were commonly produced by amateur artists for devotional use in the home.

However, in parts of the southwestern United States, such as New Mexico and Colorado, retablos passed beyond the realm of sacred art into that of folklore.

Acosta said there are two types of retablos, one belonging to the tradition of Catholic saints and the other to that of “ex-votos,” or offerings of gratitude.

She says the first group is similar to the concept of icon painting in Byzantine art, in which the figures of saints or the Holy Family are painted in accordance with strict liturgical rules that define how the main figure should be portrayed.

“The counterpoint to that tradition is the ex-voto retablo, for which there are no rules but rather (the artist) creates a personal vision to give thanks for a blessing (received) or when a petition was heard,” she said.

It is within this folk tradition that her art is rooted.

Acosta said her retablos have served as a medium for meditating on her family heritage, her Latino identity and her role as a woman and an artist.

“My retablos are strictly related to my life, my Latina-Chicana cultural heritage in the southwestern U.S. and my personal opinions and life experiences,” she said.

Acosta, who now lives in Oregon, grew up in a Catholic family – the daughter of an Anglo-American mother and a Mexican-American father – in southern California. . . . READ MORE

Here are some links:
http://mx.news.yahoo.com/s/10072009/38/n-entertain-retablos-marianos-dominan-arte-chicana.html
or
http://www.impre.com/eldiariony/espectaculos/2009/7/11/retablos-dominan-el-arte-de-cr-134844-1.html

The article was picked up by the international service, so you may find it in Latin America and Spain as well.

Here it is in English translation:
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=338991&CategoryId=13003
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www.CristinaAcosta.com

In Memoriam - Goodbye Eddy Miller

2009-06-27T20:50:00.000-07:00

My dear friend and friend of my family, Eddy Miller passed on this week. I'll blog later when I'm ready. You can read about Eddy here.

I'm Writing a New Blog - Color Conversations!

2009-06-17T17:29:00.000-07:00

So many people come to this Create and Relate blog looking for color answers that I've decided to devote a blog just to the subject of choosing colors. Titled, Color Conversations, it's a blog devoted to the process of choosing colors. I love helping clients choose colors for their homes or business projects and have been actively color consulting for over 5 years.

Color consulting is a business that I enjoy and that I find enriches my perceptions as an artist. I love the process of guiding clients to discover their best colors whether it's a home or business. Stop by my new blog to say hi. I'd love to hear your color stories.

www.ColorConversations.com

Learning Printmaking

2009-06-16T10:55:00.000-07:00

I've spent as much time as I could the last two weeks at Pat Clark's printmaking studio, Atelier 6000 (A6), in Bend, Oregon. Pat, her helpers and fellow printmaking artists have been especially helpful guiding me through the world of printing. Here's what I've learned so far.

Printmaking is FUN! It's also exacting, engaging and messy. I've been learning mono-printing as everyone tells me that monoprinting is most like painting, therefore an easier segue into printing for a painter.

I especially love how I can't predict anything (yet) during the printing process and that results in surprises that always lead to something even better. It's a fun and relaxing way to fill my creative well. I'll post of few of my learning prints when I have some I really like.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Nature Influences My Art

2009-06-05T15:45:00.001-07:00

The well of experience that I draw from to create includes everything I experience. To keep the waters of creativity flowing, it's very important that I continue to experience new things and experiment with different viewpoints.

Changing my viewpoint is a lot easier when I try something new that always pushes me to learn. One of the easiest methods to bring fun and positive change into my life is athletics. Stand up paddle boarding has become one of my favorite sports. This is my third summer of paddle boarding and I'm hooked. I've learned to surf ocean waves, wind-driven lake waves, and paddled rivers. Besides being fun, stand up paddleboarding puts me in to intimate contact with nature. I'm often on waterways that have their own life rhythms and images.

Last weekend I went on a 35 mile downriver paddle with some of our local stand up paddling group. (You can read more about paddle boarding on the SUP Stand up Paddle blog my husband I and share.) The nine hours we were on the Deschutes River in Oregon, filled my senses with both obvious imagery and more subtle experiences.

I work animal and plant images into all of my paintings regardless of the style I'm working in. Here are a few examples of oil paintings I've done that focus on animals. The Blue Heron is a large 4' x 6' oil of an experience I had watching a Blue Heron fly through the forest before dawn. The Eagle is a raptor that I see often on the High Desert Plateau near my home. The Deer Herd is often in my garden (eating or drinking!). Flora, fauna, madonnas and figures populate my imagery and flow from my actual experiences. Figure drawing once a week keeps me in touch with on of my favorite artistic disciplines, stand up paddle boarding is another type of discipline. It's all good!

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Reshaping the Divine - Contemporary Hispanic Retablos Exploring the Sacred Feminine

2009-06-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

This exhibit is up for Summer 2009. The artist statement describes the personal context of my art and about the intent behind these pieces.
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Reshaping the Divine: Contemporary Hispanic Retablos Exploring the Sacred Feminine

Cristina Ortiz Acosta – Artist Statement 2009 - Exhibit at El Museo Cultural, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Click here to see this series of Hispanic Retablos.

Over the past twenty years, my series of Madonna retablos came to me in ebbs and flows via a series of powerful dreams. The dreams started during my pregnancy with my daughter. For the entire pregnancy I dreamt of being a woman on a journey north across dusty plains and through arroyos as I mostly walked behind an oxcart. The dreams ended in a room lit by a wooden candelabra filled with tallow candles and the birth of my daughter, Isabella Pilar in 1993.

I called these dreams my Maria Dreams because in the dreams, I/she was named Maria. Seeking the meaning of those dreams over the years brought me down a path I could never have imagined and deepened my understanding of my cultural heritage. Searching for the meaning of my Maria Dreams eventually lead me back to New Mexico, the land of my Ortiz ancestors.

My paternal grandmother, Catalina Maria Ortiz Acosta, born in 1904, was the daughter of J. Nestor Ortiz and Maria Elena Salazar, descendents of the original Spanish settlers founding the cities and villages throughout New Mexico. Researching my family genealogy (my grandmother spoke vaguely about her ancestors), I discovered that my direct ancestors had participated in the initial 16th and 17th century migrations of the Spanish, traveling North from Mexico City into the region that is now the State of New Mexico. I read books about the era and became fascinated by the types of experiences my female ancestors must have had while living on the New Mexican frontier for generations. With this research nurturing my experience of my personal history, my calling to paint Madonna’s began to take shape.

Born in Los Angeles to an Anglo mother and Hispanic father, early on I was aware of cultural concepts because of the differences between the two sides of my family. Despite their differences, Catholicism was the central theme for my parents. Celebrating their devotion resulted in religious images from the Americas and Europe scattered throughout our home and those of our relatives. Images of Mary the Mother of God as the Guadalupe, Conquistadora and many other versions were always present. Along with those images were displayed American Indian items from the Ortiz ranch.

The artifacts from the Ortiz family ranch consumed my imagination from as far back as I can remember. Handmade Indian blankets and pots, and even a gold menorah (referred to as a “candelabra” by my grandmother) made by Ortiz ancestors generations past (some of the men were renowned filigree gold smiths). Those as well as the chili ristras hanging in my grandmother’s kitchen hinted at another world far from the Southern California beach scene of my childhood home. For reasons I can’t sufficiently articulate, the mix of these images and experiences coalesced into my calling to visually explore and create new images of the Madonna as an expression of the feminine divine.

Each of the retablos I paint results in a new vision of the sacred. For example, painting La Conquistadora opened the door to re-balancing the dominant patriarchal and European view of the divine with the North American native and feminine. In La Conquistadora I layer symbols of the Dine Spider woman and the Puebloan Corn Maiden, seeking to blend the indigenous ancient female images and concepts harmoniously with the Catholic image of Mary. The result is a Madonna that hints of ancient goddesses many thousands of years old at the same time she conveys the current blend of cultures in the Southwest.

I create my work in the traditions of the Spanish/Mexican retablo to reinforce my expression of reverence and convey the intimate experience of sacredness. I find antique, reclaimed timbers for the substrate. I mix gold, silver and copper metals into my oil paintings to both embellish the image and in homage to the gifts my ancestors created for me with their existence. The vintage gold glazed ceramic tiles come from a tile company that operated near my childhood home in Southern California during the 1950’s and 60’s. When I finish a retablo, I write a blessing on the backside of the retablo to convey love to all who view the images.

My Maria Dreams from over a decade ago continue to influence this series of work. May you find your own meanings and blessings within these images.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

West of the West Art Exhibit - A Celebration of Ranch Life

2009-05-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

Ranch living in Central Oregon was a true culture shock for me when I moved from Southern California to Bend, Oregon in the 1980's. Though I'd lived at both the beach and the mountains, rural ranch life was like nothing I'd experienced. I moved to a ramshackle almost-100-year-old ranch of about 20 acres (it was a bank repo of a ranch that originally numbered near a couple hundred acres). Here are the two original oil paintings I am exhibiting in the West of West exhibit. They are both direct expressions of my life experiences during that time.
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When: Saturday, May 30 – Sunday, June 28, 2009 - Artist Reception
Where: High Desert Gallery , 281 W Cascade Avenue, Sisters Oregon 97759

West of West, A Celebration of Ranch Life at High Desert Gallery
Fine Art Group Exhibition and Sale featuring work by Central Oregon Artist including, Cristina Acosta, Kathy Deggendorfer, Kimry Jelen, Grace Bishko, Paul Alan Bennett, Cary Weigand, Trisha Hassler, Glen Corbet, J Chester (Skip) Armstrong, plus special guest Central Oregon artists, Jerry Werner, Sue C Smith and Jean Wells.

West of West , A Celebration of Ranch Life
hosted by High Desert Gallery from May 30 through June 28, 2009.

An Artist Reception on Saturday, May 30, 2009 from 4-7pm will include great art by regionally and nationally acclaimed Central Oregon Artists, refreshments, live music and a darn good time. A Hoot For Sure! West of West, A Celebration of Ranch Life is in collaboration with Sisters Art Works, Ranch Life and Rodeo Show a day long celebration and special exhibition of the Western lifestyle and living history.

Artist Reception: Saturday, May 30, 2009 4-7PM
High Desert Gallery – 281 W Cascade Avenue at Oak Street, Sisters Oregon 97759
For more information: www.highdesertgallery.com, 541-388-8964 / 866-549-6250
Gallery Hours (Spring): Open Friday through Monday 10am to 6pm, Tuesday through Thursday 10am to 2:30pm. Summer Hours starting June 14, 2009 Open Daily 10am to 6pm.

Co-Teaching a Workshop at A6 in Bend, OR

2009-05-27T16:20:00.000-07:00

Patricia Clark and I are co-teaching the class, "Infringing Upon Barriers - Icons & Iconography" at Pat's beautiful print-making studio, Atelier 6000 or A6, in Bend, Oregon next week. It's going to be a lot of fun and very interesting. A6 is a "green" studio which means you won't be smelling toxic oil based printing inks. The light is beautiful, the workspace serene and well-balanced and Pat is lovely.

Here's what you need to to know about our class:

Workshop: Tue–Fri, Jun 2–5, 10:30 am–3 pm
Invite freedom and flow into your art and jump-start your creativity in this exciting class that breaks down the barriers between the artistic practices of painting and printmaking. Veteran artists Pat Clark and Cristina Acosta will demonstrate their process and techniques for you. You’ll learn to combine painting and printmaking techniques to create something new and different on canvas or paper. Not only will you be inspired, informed and empowered, you’ll have accumulated class techniques and processes to inform a portfolio of unique drawing and painting outcomes.
Adult. $151 + $35 studio fee.
389 SW Scalehouse Ct. Suite 120, Bend, OR 97702, 541.728.8527

We'd love to see you there!

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Exhibiting my Madonna series in Santa Fe

2009-05-24T12:23:00.000-07:00

I'm in New Mexico this week delivering my paintings to El Museo Cultural in Santa Fe, NM. This series of contemporary paintings is from my Hispanic Heritage Series. My work is based on the traditional retablo form, but with contemporary imagery of Madonnas such as the Guadalupe, Conquistadora and others. What puts my images into the contemporary definition is that I "remake" the traditional iconic images rather than painting a verbatim image.

The art exhibit at El Museo Cultural is titled: Reshaping the Divine - Contemporary Hispanic Retablos Exploring the Sacred Feminine, by Cristina Ortiz Acosta. I use a longer version of my name for my Hispanic Heritage Series in homage to my New Mexican ancestors.

In New Mexico, my grandmother's family were referred to as "Spanish", a term that is still used today. In New Mexico, being a Mexican American or Chicano has a different meaning than in the rest of the United States because those terms do not specifically denote the Hispanic people that have been in this part of North America for over 4 centuries and still refer to themselves as Spanish. The variety of ways to describe oneself or others is kind of confusing if you're not aware of the meanings.

The reason I'm bringing this up is to describe the cultural context my series of retablo paintings are part of -- the conceptual foundation is the New Mexican or Spanish retablo and ex-voto traditions of my Ortiz ancestors.

It's very satisfying to work with the Madonna theme -- I love the nuances of meaning I consider with my choices of imagery, shapes and color.

This exhibit of my contemporary New Mexican Spanish retablos of madonnas is through Summer 2009 at El Museo Cultural, 615 #B Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, NM.

Note: Image is titled Running Meditation

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Sidewalk Chalk Murals for Kids

2009-05-02T12:56:00.001-07:00

Drawing in public can freak out a normally well-adjusted adult, sending them shyly scampering at the mere question. On the contrary, most kids will excitedly step into the project. After my career as a window painter and billboard artist, I became so used to people watching me as I paint, that I can easily block them out, as long as they don't start talking. Even then, if I get very focused I can block them out.

That's why I was excited to help my friend Cameron Clark of C3 Productions. Cameron hired me to help with a neighborhood Earth Day event at Northwest Crossing in Bend, Oregon. My job was to facilitate the kid's chalk drawing mural.

It was a fun project. Cameron gave me a bucket of chalk and pointed out a 20 foot long section of sidewalk I would oversee. I drew a border around the area, then segmented out land, sky and water so that the kids could draw something within the Earth Day theme. The plan was for all of the images to come together into one large casual mural.

The kids did it!! I started a few drawings so anyone wanting to fill in the lines would have a start. Quite a few kids made their own drawings. After they finished and walked off I'd add a few bright lines to delineate the work or to freshen it after small feet and other body parts inadvertently rubbed off some of the chalk.

As you can see by my pant legs and shoes, I managed to sit on a drawing more than once!

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Susan Boyle's Got Talent

2009-04-15T13:47:00.000-07:00

Susan Boyle stepped onto the stage for Britains Got Talent show today. Frumpy, 47 years old and volunteering that she'd never been kissed, Boyle unwittingly primed the audience to expect her to fill the "self-deluded wannabe" slot where the Got Talent staff interject awkward contestants for comic relief.

Wow - did Susan Boyle rock the house!! She surprised everyone with her rendition of I Dreamed a Dream, from Les Miserables. Watch her video and see for yourself. I got chills watching Susan realize her dream as she sang the audience to their feet.

When youth and beauty are sliding into the rearview mirror (or are firmly behind us) many of us put our dreams aside and resign ourselves to the "reality" of our lives. Thank you Susan for inspiring all of us to have the courage to reach out to our dreams. May you have a blessed creative career.

Read the BBC article about Susan Boyle for more information.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Bid on this Painting and Help a Non-Profit!

2009-04-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

Arts education gives young people not only an opportunity to play with art materials and enjoy their school day, art education develops the creative right hemisphere of the brain. And we need more creative thinkers. The tough challenges in this new economy of global financial troubles paired with the environmental concerns of global climate change predict a future that's going to take a lot of courage and creativity.

The tiny town of Sisters, Oregon (about 20 minutes from Bend, Oregon) has an amazing philanthropic community. The Sister's Folk Festival organization organizers a fund raiser for arts in education called My Own Two Hands. Artist's from the Central Oregon area donate original paintings, sculptures, musical instruments and more for the event.

Because I enjoy the birds visiting my bird feeders, I painted a original acrylic painting in my Paint Happy style titled, Something Wild Outside My Window. My painting is on display at High Desert Gallery (they represent my work locally).

Bid on this painting (or any of the other beautiful pieces by other artists). Not only will you have a beautiful piece of original art and a tax deduction, you will be supporting the arts.

_________________________
P.S. (After the party) THANK YOU!!! The My Own 2 Hands fundraiser was a fun party. Great music, great food, lots of local art to bid on and best of all -- fun people!! Thank you to the winning bidder of my painting. Your generous bid will support the arts programs in Sisters, Oregon.

Staging Your Home Can Sell it Faster

2009-03-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

Today's real estate market is a buyer's market. Presenting your home for sale puts you in competition with an incredible amount of inventory. Look in most any neighborhood and you'll often find a combination of bank sales, short sales and regular sales. Standing out positively among the crowded MLS Multiple Listing Service pages takes special attention to detail.

Many years ago I had a Real Estate License. I sold residential resort real estate in Southern California for a couple of years before going to college to complete my training as an artist. I learned many things from that experience, including this realization: Selling real estate was no fun for me, but I loved to look at houses. It's no surprise that years later I developed my color consulting business in Bend, Oregon, as part of my creative work. Home design is a passion of mine.

Last weekend I staged a client's home in Portland, Oregon. The young family has lived in the home for about 7 years (2 children and a dog). They've had wonderful luck in this location and experienced a happy family life. Their good fortune has resulted in a move to another area, and they were ready to sell their home. They wanted to be sure that their home conveyed a clean, warm and well-cared-for first impression that would welcome buyers.

You can see a fly-around video of the home at this link http://tour.circlepix.com/tour.htm?id=719435&mls_tour=1 or, view the Portland, Oregon family home for sale on the John L. Scott Real Estate website.

Keep in mind this concept when you stage your home. When you style or stage your home for sale, you are creating home design that barely whispers your presence while it loudly invites the visitor to imagine themselves living in your home. You want to create a similar feeling to the one you get walking into a well appointed hotel suite or rental house, only with a bit more personality.

Here are a few staging tips to help you sell your home:

Have on hand: Moving boxes, tape and markers. Prepare a space in the garage or other storage area to store the filled boxes. Uniform sized boxes are easier to stack.
Clear out storage areas and closets to about half full. Arrange items that are left so that they occupy the space without filling it full. Buyers like to open cabinets and closets - make the shelves look spacious.
Empty full bookshelves to about 10% to 30% of their former selves. Arrange remaining books with decor items to add interest.
Hide and/or lock away any valuables including prescription drugs.
Remove family photos - including any refrigerator photos and notes.
Ask yourself if you can remove any furniture in the room to increase the sense of spaciousness. Be strict with yourself, you can always add pieces back.
Remove any broken or damaged things from the room.
Repair any broken or damaged parts to the room including: replace cracked windows, fill nail holes and touch-up wall and trim paint, replace caulking in bathrooms and kitchen if needed, clean and restore flooring as much as possible.

Staging, styling or restyling your home for the purpose of selling it can be your chance to flex your design skills. Learning to see your same old stuff with new eyes opens you to discovering new ways you might live with your furnishings and decor in your next home.

For assistance with home staging, home styling and decor ideas in the Central Oregon or Portland, Oregon areas, call me for a consultation 541-388-5157. I also include color consulting as part of this service.

Fairey Fudged! The Garcia and Fairey Copyright Incident

2009-03-26T09:31:00.000-07:00

How much of an image does an artist have to change so that they are not infringing on another artist's copyrights? Can you take an image off the internet, change a few things then call the image yours?

Usually, egregious copyright problems involve businesses deciding to "save money" by stealing an image without payment to the creator of that image, then using that image in their marketing, manufacturing or sales process. I wrote an entry about Orphan Works legislation and copyright regarding an incident where the multinational corporation Virgin used a family photograph in an international ad campaign.

Now, two artists are in a legal tussle over just such an issue, and it's about an image you may easily recognize: An Obama poster titled HOPE. The graphic poster was created by Shepard Fairey from the work of freelance photographer Mannie Garcia, who took the photograph the poster mimicked. L. Gordon Crovitz wrote a piece in the Wall Street Journal, The Fine Art of Copyright that details the incident. The New York Times also weighed in with the article by Noam Cohen, Viewing Journalism as a Work of Art.

Terry Gross, host of the NPR's, Fresh Air interviewed Fairey for the show, Shepard Fairey: Inspiration or Infringement? She aired the followup show, Mannie Garcia: The Photo that Sparked "Hope", giving the photographer an opportunity to discuss the situation.

These professional journalists have done a wonderful job covering the issue. The only thing I can add is my opinion, one I've developed through personal experience. After publication of my book, Paint Happy, I had my images stolen and had to spend a lot of money defending my copyrights.

I was curious to see the two images of the photo and poster because, words aside, the visuals speak for themselves. What struck me immediately was the sameness. Fairey's image was what I would term a stylized copy of the original Mannie Garcia photograph. Fairey cropped Garcia's image, and changed the background elements by simplifying the background to a flat color. He tilted the head so slightly that I wouldn't have noticed it as an alteration of the photograph until I listened to Fairey confidently list the tilt as one of his original contributions to the final image. I presume Fairey used a software program like Adobe Illustrator to stylize the natural colors and value transitions of the photograph into flat shapes of color.

Fairey fudged. As a professional graphic artist, Fairey knows about copyright laws. (He is quick to reveal that knowledge when Terry Gross asked about potential parodies of the HOPE poster.)

Here's what happened. He searched for images on the internet until he found an AP image he liked. He didn't bother to research anything about the creator of that image. He took the image for his own purposes without any credit or compensation to the original artist.

Fairey did not show any respect for the work of a peer. He acted like a pirate then calmly explained his actions to Terry Gross as being innocent of anything more than accidental oversight. Only Fairey knows if he would have ever told the truth if this hadn't come to light.

The latest news is that Mannie Garcia is now selling signed prints of the photograph. Many artists work diligently aiming for a break that launches their career to a higher level of visibility and sales. Maybe the light of truth cast on Fairey's actions will lead to increased fairness towards creators of all types. We can hope.

(Thanks Mannie for permission to use these 2 images for this blog entry.)

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Sketchbook: Drawing a Portrait in Pen

2009-02-27T16:38:00.000-08:00

Drawing weekly from life is my artistic touchstone. I love working in a peaceful room with other artists. Our figure drawing group, run by artist Dawn Emerson at C.O.C.C, is a happy one. Mostly it's quiet, with Dawn's eclectic music playing as background music. But sometimes there's cheerful banter between artists and the model.

During each session we start out with 2 minute drawings and end up with poses that are about 30 minutes long at most.

Today I glanced to my right and noticed that the artist sitting next to me had a beautiful profile. So, while he concentrated on the model, I took a break from drawing the model and drew him. His name is Tripp. The drawing is ink on paper.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

How to Keep Working when Sales Drop

2009-02-24T12:38:00.000-08:00

Staying inspired enough to work when there is little in the way of art sales can be a challenge. I've been an artist for a over 2 decades and have had to adjust to this challenge more than once over the years. With the dire economic reports now dominating the news, keeping up my enthusiasm and inspiration to work is more of a challenge than during good economic times when commissions, exhibits and sales opportunities kept the money coming.

Here are a few things I do to keep inspired when times are tough:

Keep up my exercise/sports routine. In fact - I look for an exercise goal like a race or strength goal to focus on. It's often easier to see results within a couple of months from an exercise routine than from work.
Pay attention to nutrition. Eat and drink moderately.
Find consistent time to work on my creative work and stick with my self-imposed discipline.
Look at the work of other artists -- both present and past. Support other artists with encouraging notes or comments. When I can -- buy gifts from artists and artisans who make their own work.
Be on the lookout for new experiences and insights to "fill the well". Even if I can't travel, I'll explore a subject or place on the internet. Or I'll make an effort to experience a well traveled path in a different way.
If I have to stop working on my art for a while to find other work that results in more immediate money, I make sure to fit some sort of creative activity into every day. This really helped when I had a baby and realized that my time was no longer my own. With this attitude I was able to slip back into the habit of my artwork without a lot of trouble.

Photo: I took this photo in Albuquerque. This cactus bush had such a gorgeous combination of color, shape and texture. Sometimes a closer look at a ordinary thing -- like a plant alongside a path I'm walking -- can inspire.

Read more on my website: www.CristinaAcosta.com

Sketchbook: A Pencil Portrait from Life

2009-02-19T14:34:00.000-08:00

Doing a quick sketch of a person in real life is very different than drawing from a photograph, and it's a much more pleasurable experience. Seeing and sensing the spaces around the model and picking up the mood and likeness of the person is a fun and interesting "game". Poses in a life drawing session are usually as short as a minute or 2 and as long as an hour or 2.

I especially enjoy the challenge creating a sketch of a person entails. I concentrate on sensing every relationship both visual and kinesthetically, then recording those sensations as I draw. If you want to get better at drawing, there is no substitute for drawing a real-life model -- no photos or videos. Photos and videos are great reference for the experienced artist, but for the person wishing to use sketch time as a time to hone the craft of drawing, real life is the only thing to work with.

This graphite 6B pencil sketch on a drawing tablet was about a 10 minute sketch. I do a lot of sketches that don't work out, so even though the 10 minutes involved in this sketch may seem like a simple thing, when I factor in all of my less successful explorations and experiences, the time is a lot longer.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Happy Valentines Day!

2009-02-12T14:39:00.001-08:00

Hearts are a theme I work with a lot in my work, regardless of the style or series I'm working in. Maybe my obsession with the heart motif is a Chicano artist thing, though I didn't think about the Chicano/a artist aspect of the corazon (heart) image until I noticed that I've been into the heart image for years. Sometimes I'll paint the heart with a realistic aspect like in my retablo, Running Meditation. In that retablo image, the heart is a winged heart sprouting a wreath of green leaves. In a recent charcoal drawing I created for the offrenda at the ASU Anthropology Museum's Dia de los Muertos exhibit, the heart image is created from black charcoal and tinged with iron oxide chalk.

This painting is completely, wildly happy. After I had a child and realized that the early years of our marriage (the honeymoon stage) were over and we'd moved on to something new as parents, I painted this. In a certain sense it's not only commemorative for me, but also an inspiration to remember the fun and light-hearted moments my husband and I can still enjoy with each other. Hearts and flowers and dancing on the bed (metaphorically) are the theme of this happy piece I titled, The Honeymooners. It's an acrylic and pastel 30" x 22" painting from my Paint Happy series, the same series I focused on in my book, Paint Happy.

Though this painting has been hanging in my home for years, the original is for sale.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Sketchbook: Drawing a Portrait

2009-02-10T09:55:00.000-08:00

People are one of my most favorite things to draw. I love the expressions of energy and personality the body conveys whether moving or still.

Lately I've been going back to my artistic roots to redefine the direction of my artwork. Reconnecting with the discipline of figure drawing is kind of like getting back into an advanced exercise program. It takes me a little time to readjust my eye hand coordination so that every move of my hand expresses the feelings and sensations my eyes and mind coalesce.

I've been dropping in on figure drawing sessions at our local college, with a sketchbook and drawing tools. I prefer graphite pencil, charcoal and roller-ball point pens. I especially like the permanent trail of marks the pen makes as I draw -- it's a very tight discipline.

The portrait drawing above is a pen drawing of our model, Eric.
www.CristinaAcosta.com

Ask Cristina: Paint Happy Help

2009-02-07T15:32:00.000-08:00

Dear Cristina, (via my website www.CristinaAcosta.com)

Hi! I've got your Paint Happy book and I love it! But I have a question about how to "finish" my acrylic painting since I used hard pastel on tops of the paint. Can I use the fixative you suggested for the pastels and charcoal on top of the acrylic? I don't want to use something that will damage the acrylic. I'm sorry to bother you directly, but I didn't read in your book tat you covered the entire piece with anything when you were done with it. . . I love how your book helps me express what's in my heart and get past my own self-consciousness. It gives me the courage to be bold and just Go For IT!!! . . . Thanks for your help!

Diane C.

P.S. I made a cool picture for my husband for Valentine's Day! Thanks for the inspiration and encouragement!!!

__________________________________________________________________

Dear Diane,

Thanks for your nice letter. I spray the entire painting with Spray Fixative. It doesn't hurt the acrylic. Spray fix tends to dampen down the color clarity of the hard pastels, but as they are hard pastels (Prismacolor Nu Pastel) rather than soft, traditional pastels, the paint supports the image. Therefore the damping down effect is very minimal. Good luck with your work. I'd love to see a photo of your finished piece.

Best,

Cristina

Though Paint Happy is out of print, you can purchase copies on Amazon. Click through this link and I get a small percentage of the sale to help fund my creative work.

Drawing as Thinking

2009-02-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

Ask most anyone (who is not an artist) to draw you a map to their favorite store. Give them a pen and paper and you'll get a map with all sorts of streets and landmarks. Ask them to doodle while talking or listening and you'll be amazed at what you'll see.

Give that same person a pencil, tell them you're an artist, then ask if they can draw. They'll usually say no. (That's been my experience.) It's time to get over the mind-set.

The truth is that anyone who can write, can draw. The eye-hand coordination necessary to shape letters and the understanding of symbols (the letters and their combination) is a form of drawing (ask any calligrapher). Making that drawing beautiful or up to whatever standard you have for yourself is a different subject. Even if you're drawing "ugly" drawings, you're still drawing.

And -- even if the drawing is a very realistic looking rendering, it is still a map of the artist's thoughts. That is what I love so much about looking at drawings -- they are very clear representations of the artist's thought process as they looked either with their eyes, or in their mind's eye.

So own up to the drawing you do, no matter what it looks like. Do more drawings, and when you look at them rather than assessing whether they are "good" or "bad", notice how your mind traveled and what you placed your attention upon (the reason one part of a figurative (realistic) drawing may be out of proportion compared to another part of the same drawing).

Note: Both of my drawings shown here are very different because they are conveying different things. I made the drawing of the Caring Hands to illustrate a poster for the play "Of Mice and Men". The goal for the piece was to look realistic, rustic and a little foreboding. The drawing of the Marching Man was created to illustrate a design concept related to shapes. Both of my original pencil drawings exhibit different intellectual and emotional goals.

The Marching Man drawing is available for sale through High Desert Gallery. High Desert Gallery has locations in Sisters, Oregon and Redmond, Oregon.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Don't Sell Your Inspiration Short

2009-01-31T06:00:00.000-08:00

During the early years of my life as an artist, people would look at my work and often ask me, "How can you possibly part with (or sell) that painting?"

My desire to make a living from my art meant that I had to make peace with the reality that to make a living I have to sell my work. Seems like such a simple concept, but ironically many people think that creating art for money somehow sullies the purity of the art.

It is strange that art is afforded this expectation even though God/religion and money/power have been hand-in-hand for centuries. It's as though some people think that art work has no relation to real work. I know of many talented professionals in other fields who would never think of working for free or heavily discounted unless the work was pro-bono for a worthy cause. Yet, I know many artists, (including myself, before I got a clue) who will give discounts to wealthy people or corporations (who can certainly pay) for a variety of reasons that mostly boil down to low self esteem combined with a feeling of scarcity.

The fact is that in the world we live in, money is necessary to support anything. Here are a couple suggestions:

For Collectors - Before you ask an artist for a deep discount, be aware that a synonym for discount is disregard. When you ask a creator to discount deeply (they are not some big box retailer or corporate chain) consider the possibility that you are asking them to disregard the value of their work (sometimes to the degree that the artist will have to stop working or will have to stop innovating so as to create "saleable" pieces). Be sensitive.

For Artists - Remember that your work has value. Be aware of how your prices fit with comparable work and don't undersell or oversell yourself. It's easy to think that price alone matters. If you want to give away work, gift a non-profit agency, they are always looking for help.

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Recipe: Creamsicle Flan

2009-01-29T06:00:00.000-08:00

Creamy orange custard with a caramel topping is my variation of the traditional flan. Oranges are one of my favorite fruits and like the citrus flavors of lemon and lime, oranges are great with dense creamy dairy flavors. Read this recipe through before you make it, so you have an idea of what to expect. It's not difficult, it just has some steps that can be intimidating the first time (like making the caramel).
Growing up in Southern California there was always someone we knew who had an orange tree growing in their yard. I remember traveling through Redlands along roads bordering orchards of orange trees in full blossom. The fragrance seemed to brighten every molecule of air. This flan tastes like the scent of orange blossoms early in morning when the air is fresh.

Tools: 1 ½ qt. saucepan. Ramekins – 4 soup (10 oz) size or 8 small (5 oz) dishes; OR a 9" glass or ceramic pie pan; blender / Vitamix or food processor (or by hand with a whisk); stovetop; oven; large pan to hold water bath for ramekins or pie pan.

Time: About 15 minutes to assemble. 25-30 minutes to cook and 4 to 6 hours to cool. (Cool in refrigerator.)

Ingredients:

Caramel:

3 T. water
¾ cup sugar
Apx. 1 T of fresh orange zest*

Custard:

6 eggs
1 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk
1 cup orange juice
¼ cup orange juice concentrate (from the frozen cans)
1 to 2 heaping T. of orange zest * (You’ll need 2 to 3 oranges to get enough zest for this recipe.)

Directions:
Caramel:

Sprinkle orange zest on the bottom of each ramekin
Combine sugar and water in saucepan.
Over medium-high heat cook mixture, swirling occasionally until mixture is a clear, light to medium amber color.

Tips to Make Caramel:

Don’t stir it. When I stir it I more easily burn the mixture.
The mixture will go through stages of being foamy, then crusty. Keep swirling pan. (Swirl – Pick up pan off the stove and gently swirl mixture side to side and in circles)
When the sugar mixture flattens down and becomes clear amber immediately pour into the ramekins. Swirl the mixture around the bottom and ½ way up the sides of the dishes.
Set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 350. Put in a large pan for the water bath. Start a pot of water boiling that will fill the pan with enough water so that when you set the ramekins in the pan the water is ½ way up the sides of the ramekin.

Custard: (I use a blender, adjust these directions for your tool of choice)

Crack eggs into blender and turn on low to mix well (15-30 seconds). Don’t get them frothy.
Add all other ingredients. Mix till well blended, but not foamy.
Pour into the caramel coated ramekins and put them in the water-filled baking pan.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. With smaller size ramekins cook for lesser time. Note: custard will appear loose in the center when the time is up. Don't worry it will be solid by the time the dessert is completely chilled. Don't overcook or the final result will be rubbery.
Remove from oven and cool for 4 to 6 (or more) hours.

To un-mold the dessert:

Set chilled ramikens in a shallow dish of warm water for a few minutes. The idea is to have the warmth of the water re-liquefy the caramel. Loosen the edge of the flan with a knife and flip the flan onto a dessert plate. Pour the caramel on top.
Return the ramiken to warm water to re-liquefy as much of the topping as you can and pour over the flan.

Serve alone or with Hot Chocolate Cookies for a delicious contrast in flavors.

*Note: Fresh orange zest is essential to the flavor of this flan. If you don’t have a zest tool, use a cheese grater on the small-hole side. Be very careful to only get the orange part of the peel. The white part is bitter and will ruin your flan.

I Love Using My Vitamix!

Vitamix is more than just a big blender. It's a powerful tool in the kitchen and a powerful tool for a healthy diet. Vitamix recipes and techniques enable you to eat up to 10 fruits and vegetables along with whole grains that are recommended by experts and you'll love the ease and simplicity of the Vitamix.
I use my Vitamix several times a day to make whole food juice, soups from scratch, sauces. smoothies and more. If you're a foodie, you'll love how the Vitamix emulsifies sauces and gravies, grinds grains, purees vegetables & fruits and even mixes a mean margarita or frappuccino!
Read more about why I recommend buying a Vitamix.

Start your 30-day no-risk in-home trial today and you'll get FREE Standard Ground Shipping when you click this link! https://secure.vitamix.com/redirect.aspx?index.aspx?COUPON=06-003174

OR Call Brenda at Vitamix 1-800-848-2649 x 2305 code 06-003174

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Looking for the Perfect White?

2009-01-27T06:00:00.000-08:00

Going into a paint store and asking for their best-selling white will rarely result in the best color of white for your home. Just because a certain color is a paint store employee favorite and easy sell, doesn't mean it's right for you. Take just a little extra time to choose a white and you'll be happier with the results. Here are some tips for choosing the best white wall paint color:

If you're choosing a white trim paint color, choose the white after you've decided the wall colors in your home. Put sample color swatches of white against the other sample colors.

For a crisp look, choose a white that pops out from your wall colors.
For a subtle and serene look, choose a white that is soft and subtle against the wall color samples.

Whites are either basically cool or warm (color temperature). Sometimes the paint company will tell you the color temperature on the samples. Benjamin Moore paint company has a fan deck of over 100 "whites" with either a "W" or a "C" near the color number to denote a warm or cool toned base. If it's not obvious, ask the paint store professional to point out the difference.

Cool whites are bluish, greenish or purplish. Warm whites are yellowish, orangish or reddish. (Sorry about all of these "ish" endings, but I hope you get the idea.) Choose the color temperature you like, but be aware that a North facing or shady room will tend to turn a white to the cooler side and a sunny room will enhance warmth.

See examples of my color consulting portfolio and articles on my website.

www.CristinaAcosta.com Call me to schedule a color consulting appointment in Bend, Oregon or a phone appointment if you don't live in Oregon.

Ricardo Montalbon - Artistic Pioneer

2009-01-25T06:00:00.000-08:00

I was surprised and saddened to learn that the actor Ricardo Montalbon has recently passed. I subscribe to the LatinoLA newsletter (I was born in Los Angeles). The author, Abelardo de la Pena, mentioned that the actor Ricardo Montalbon died at the age of 88.

Ricardo Montalbon was admired by my family. He was a successful Latino who projected elegance and kindness during personal appearances. I always felt that the racism of the time toward Mexican Americans and Latinos in general, limited the opportunities Montalbon had to share his artistic gifts. Nontheless, I knew after reading Pauline Kael's (the late film critic for The New Yorker magazine) reviews of Montalbon, that his talent was not completely unrecognized.

The news of Ricardo Montalbon's passing reminded me of a photo I'd seen years ago in my father, Joaquin Enrique Acosta, Jr.'s box of memorabilia. My dad passed a few years ago from Alzheimer's. He was a highly educated and accomplished Chicano (rare during that time as the legacy of Mendez vs. the Board of Education resulted in most of his generation in Southern California attending sub-standard segregated schools for Mexican-Americans).

I found these photos of my dad with Ricardo Montalbon and other of the elites of the 1970's Southern California scene, including Timothy Cardinal Manning, actresses Loretta Young and Ann Blythe. My biggest surprise was to see that Oregon Senator Mark Hatfield was also part of the crowd. (I now live in Bend, Oregon). I don't know the occasion for this event. My parents went to many political/social fundraisers so I presume the event was either a fundraiser or an event in honor of something/someone.

It's beautiful how somebody I didn't know could touch my life positively. We all have that gift to be a role model for others even if we're not a famous actor. Thank you Ricardo Montalban for being such a wonderful artistic talent and role model. I lit a candle for you.

Photo credit: Marjorie W. Gilfillan, Culver City, Calfornia.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

My Friend Invented FootGaming

2009-01-23T06:00:00.000-08:00

Today's paper had a piece about obesity now being a reality for 25% of the U.S. population. Children are especially prone (they "inherit" their parent's habits) and about one-third of all youth 18 and under are either overweight or obese. My daughter, Isabella Acosta Barna is on the Youth Advisory Board for a Healthier Generation as a member of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. The Alliance is fighting childhood obesity.

My friend, Judy Shasek, has put her uber creative self to the task of getting America up and on their feet. She's invented a mouse pad that you can stand on to play video games such as Bejeweled and other common games. She called her invention, FootGaming. FootGaming has huge potential in education and recreation markets.

Isabella and I helped her out with a video she produced to introduce FootGaming. It was a lot of fun to be actors. Here's a clip of the FootGaming video.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Beware of Matchy Matchy

2009-01-21T06:00:00.000-08:00

Have you seen the TV ads of homeowners bringing their lamps and teddy bears (or whatever) to the paint counter of a big box retailer? They look so relieved when the friendly paint store employee informs them that, "Yes, we can match this color!"

They may be relieved at the paint counter, but that doesn't always mean they're going to love the paint color on the walls of their home. Though looking for paint colors that exactly match a favorite object may seem like the best solution to finding the proper hue, the wall color may not look as good as you imagined when the paint is on the walls in the 3 dimensional space of your home. This is because your eye perceives a paint color differently depending upon the amount of color, the light conditions and the paint tints and base used to achieve that wall paint color.

Here are a couple tips to guide you when you're looking to experience a favorite color on your walls:

Take your favorite object to the store, but don't exactly match the color. Choose a color that is either 1 to 3 shades lighter or darker. Now the color of the object and wall will relate, but not try to replicate each other (much easier than the near-miss of trying for a color match). The colors of each will be enhanced.

Sample 2 to 3 versions of the same color. If you want a purple bedroom, sample a dark, dusky eggplant purple, a deep reddish purple and a lighter blue gray purple. Testing limited variations of the same color will educate you on which direction to go with a color you love.

See examples of my color consulting portfolio and articles on my website.

www.CristinaAcosta.com Call me to schedule a color consulting appointment in Bend, Oregon or a phone appointment if you don't live in Oregon.

Read more of my Choosing Colors blog entries.

Obama Inauguration Family Fund Raising Party. Include the Kids!!

2009-01-17T08:55:00.000-08:00

The Inauguration of President Obama this Tuesday is a party to take your kids to. The youth vote made a big difference in this past election, trumping race, according to The Wall Street Journal's review of the book by Gwen Ifill, The Break Through - Politics and Race in the Age of Obama.

Our daughter is a high school freshman. In 4 short years she'll be eligible to vote in the 2012 Presidential Election. If you are connected to any young people, I encourage you to include them in this inauguration. Whatever their politics may be (or become), expose them to the political process now so that they become conscious of their ability to effect the change they want to see.

In my town, Bend, Oregon, there is a wonderful Inauguration Party that is also a fund raiser for the Boys and Girls Club. Bring the family, we'd love to see you there!!
____________________________________________________________

You are Invited to Celebrate
The Inauguration of President Obama!

Tuesday, January 20, 6:30-9:30

Family Fun, Games, Pizza, Cake, Music, Big Screens to be part of the National Event

At the Boys and Girls Club for the Boys and Girls Club

(across from the library in downtown Bend)

Come out and Celebrate this Historic Event
And contribute to a great community organization!

Dress: Patriotic; whatever that means to you

You may bring your own champagne and a snack to share.
(Pizza and other beverages will be provided)
Collecting donations. Suggesting $10., but no amount to large or too small!

Hosted by Janet Navarra, JoAnn Engel, Sissy Keillor and Ruth Williamson

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Two Top Health Foods are Southwest Favorites. Try My Mexican Slaw

2009-01-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

The New York Times ran a piece titled, "The 11 Best Foods You Aren't Eating" by Tara Parker-Pope. The author details nutrition lists from noted nutritionist and author Jonny Bowden who wrote The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth.

Cabbage and pumpkin seeds are 2 of the foods making the list of the "11 Best. . . " If your thoughts of cabbage stop at coleslaw, I have a recipe you'll love if Mexican food is a favorite. Not only is my Southwest Slaw nutritious, it tastes wonderful and it's beautiful! Serve it as a side dish or salad, or put it on tacos and tostadas (my favorite!) or even hamburgers. Be sure to stop by my website and try some of my other recipes.

Southwest Slaw

Time: About 15 minutes
Tools: knives & whisk or fork, salad bowl, (optional) Food Processor or blender such as Vitamix
Yield: 1/2 Cup per serving. Approx. 6 servings Yield depends on how much you put in the bowl.

Dressing Ingredients & Instructions:

1/2 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 crushed fresh garlic clove
fresh squeezed juice of 2 limes
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Mix ingredients in the Blender or Vitamix on medium, increasing to high for apx. 20 - 30 seconds. Or, mix by hand with a whisk or fork. Pour into salad bowl.

Salad Ingredients & Instructions: (Salad amounts are very approximate)

1/2 head (or more) of red cabbage (or mix red and green cabbage), chopped for slaw.
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup or so of chopped green onion or finely chopped white or yellow onion.
1 to 4 fresh serrano or jalepeno peppers finely chopped. Use fresh mild anaheim chilis if you don't want much heat.
1/3 to 1/2 cup roasted and salted pumpkin seeds
Optional: 1 ripe avocado (another food on the list), peeled and chopped

With a knife or using your food processor or Vitamix, chop the cabbage, cilantro, onion and peppers until they are the size you want for your salad (smaller pieces, like a chop-salad are best).

If you use a Vitamix, put the variable speed on 4 and after twice quartering the cabbage, drop it in chunks of 2 into the machine. Scrape out the chopped vegetables before adding more. Chop the cilantro into 1 or 2 inch pieces before adding to the Vitamix so that the stems won't wrap up.

Put the chopped vegetables into the salad bowl and toss with the dressing. Add avocados (optional) and sprinkle with Pumpkin seeds. Serve immediately. ¡Que rica!

For more of my recipes see my website.

Will the Color Gray Pave Your Path to Serenity?

2009-01-14T07:00:00.000-08:00

Some interior designers and color forecasters are touting gray as the new "it" color -- the color that is guaranteed to update your home. I've read pieces claiming that the color gray is calming and will soften the mood of any room. Don't believe it.

Yes, it is possible to use gray in such a way that it does create an inviting and serene interior design color palette. And yes, the color grey can meld well with other tones (remember the famous 80's mauve and gray combo)? I have created many color plans for color consulting clients using gray and the result for them was beautiful. The key concept is "for them".

Gray may not be your serene and calming color. In fact -- if the color gray is all wrong for you, you'll find yourself dissatisfied, depressed and unhappy with any walls you paint the color grey. You'll hate it. So much for serenity.

Any of the national paint companies offer thousands of colors. In the Sherwin Williams line there are over 200 colors of green. In the Benjamin Moore line, there are over 400 colors of green. As for the color gray, if you include brown-grays, green-grays, yellow-grays, dark grays and light grays, you're going to find hundreds of potential colors that could be considered "gray" in one trip to the paint aisle of any paint store.

Colors shape the mood of any environment, and there are many books and studies written about the effect of color. If you're interested, I encourage you to read everything you can about color. But if you're going to paint a room in your house, put aside those books and think about how color effects you (and the others in your home).

If you can't get out of your head to what a color really feels like for you, take some time to notice color during the next couple of days. Take a few notes or some quick cell phone photos of what interests you. Don't second-guess or edit your impulse to note a color. Look at your favorite clothes and ask yourself if the color could possibly work in your home.

When you've found the colors that work for you -- then you can fine tune them at the paint store and not get yourself confused with the latest fashion trend.

See examples of my color consulting portfolio and articles on my website.

www.CristinaAcosta.com Call me to schedule a color consulting appointment in Bend, Oregon or a phone appointment if you don't live in Oregon.

Read more of my Choosing Colors blog entries.

Home Design -- Color Choices are Part of a Melody Line

2009-01-08T15:38:00.000-08:00

Have you ever found yourself looking at 2 or more paint colors or other home decor colored items and been completely confused as to which color is the best choice?

Recently, I was working with a color consulting client when a concept came up regarding how to use color to accent part of the architecture. We were discussing the idea of either using a deep lush red that cross-pollinated with another accent red surface in the room, or choosing a color that cross-pollinated with a subtle green in that same room.

The issue wasn't which color would be "best", though that would seem to be the question. The real question was, "How does this color work with the melody line of color we've already established?"

The answer to that question has to take into account a variety of design elements: warm vs. cool color balance, texture balance, and the age old question, "How much is "enough?" We decided that considering the other colors, shapes and textures in the home, the subtle green was the best choice. Why that color choice answer surfaced is due to a web of interior design concerns that are beyond the scope of this blog entry.

My point is that you need to be aware that every color in your home that links to another color is part of an overall melody line of color. Keep that concept in mind when you get stuck between 2 color choices.

Read more about my color consulting portfolio and examples along with my home decor articles on my website.

Newsletter: December Happy Holidays (from my website www.CristinaAcosta.com)

2008-12-30T16:07:00.000-08:00

Winter storms in Oregon and sub-freezing temperatures have covered most of the state in ice and snow. Just now the day is brightened with a sunny break between storms. I'm watching the Mountain Quail scratch through the snow at the base of my garden bird feeders. The small Nuthatches and larger Jays spill seed as they eat, leaving a scattering of food for the ground-dwelling Quail. They skitter from feeder to feeder leaving trails in the snow.

The national economic and political challenges are affecting everyone. I hope that whatever storms have come into your life this past year, you find a nurturing sunny spot.

When (not "if") I feel stressed reading the stormy news reports, I look for something that enables me to make an immediate positive change. One of my favorite ways to respond to stress is to make something. Writing, painting, decorating (moving things around my house or painting a wall) or cooking are my default creative activities. I've written a master recipe for Breakfast Scones that has a lot of creative options. It's a fun recipe to bake during the Holiday Season.

Warm and Happy Holiday Wishes!

Cristina

Exhibit Info December / January 2008:

Gottshalks department store obtained 2 images from my Spanish Rose Series for their entry foyer in the new Gottshalks in Bend, Oregon.
ASU Arizona State University Museum of Anthropology is exhibiting my 16'6" charcoal drawing, Love Always (Siempre Amor) for their 9th Annual Dia de los Muertos Festival exhibit, Oct. 28, 2008 - Jan. 29, 2009.This beautiful exhibit features Chicano / Chicana art.
Central Oregon, High Desert Gallery Sisters, Oregon, is exhibiting my series of Madonna retablos (altars) in their gallery. This beautiful Nativity retablo is part of the exhibit.

Along with painting, I continue to write design articles regularly for Latina Style magazine, and offer color consulting services to home and business owners choosing paint colors in Bend, Oregon. I like sharing home design ideas with clients. Clients save paint, time and money while choosing paint colors for their homes and businesses.

Breakfast Scone Recipe

2008-12-23T14:50:00.000-08:00

Are you home for the holidays or ready for a leisurely breakfast? Try making my scone master recipe. Scones are quick to make for a special morning breakfast. These scones are beautiful to look at, they taste wonderful and the scent of baking scones filling the house is enough to get most anybody to the breakfast table.

If you want to make dairy free scones, substitute non-hydrogenated shortening or lard for the butter and plain or vanilla soy milk (or other type of milk) for the cow milk. You can alter the ingredients to make a variety of scones.

Some of my favorite scone variations are: Cherry Pecan (with dried tart cherries), Wild Blueberry, Cranberry Orange Scones (orange zest & dried cranberries), Lemon Poppyseed (with lemon zest), Chocolate Orange Nut (with orange zest, chocolate drops & nuts). Experiment and have fun with this recipe.

Time: 10 - 15 minutes to prepare, 15 minutes to bake Yield: About 8 - 10 scones (depending on how you cut the dough)
Tools: Hand held pastry cutter, OR a food processor OR 2 dinner forks
standard size flat baking pan (one that fits in your oven), oven, spatula, 2 bowls. Optional: Vitamix

Ingredients:

2 cups flour (I use unbleached white mostly, sometimes I'll substitute 1/2 cup of whole grain flour -- more than 1/2 cup makes for a very heavy scone)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup brown or white sugar
1/2 sea salt
6 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
OPTIONAL:
- 1 cup frozen or fresh blueberries (wild are best as they are small)
- 1/2 cup dried fruits such as: raisins, chopped apricots, pitted cherries, sweetened cranberries, etc.
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts such as: pecans, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon (more or less to taste) of spice such as: cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, coriander, ginger
- 2 Tablespoons poppy seeds
- 2 Tablespoons fresh orange or lemon peel zest (don't scrape off the white part of the rind as it will be bitter).

Optional Topping: Mix 1/2 cup powdered sugar with 1 Tablespoon of liquid to make a glaze. Suggested liquids are: espresso, orange juice, fruit / chocolate / or maple syrup, milk, water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Spray a baking pan with release or grease it with butter/shortening.
In a Vitamix or by hand using a fork and a bowl: beat together until frothy - eggs, milk
In a large dry bowl mix together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, sugar, sea salt.
Using a pastry cutter, food processor or 2 dinner forks, cut the butter into the dry mix until the mix resembles coarse meal and there aren't any chunks of butter much larger than 1 grain of rice.
Add any fruits, nuts and/or spices to this mix.

Then. . . .

All at once add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir just until the dry mix is saturated. Don't over mix or the scones won't rise.
Dust a little flour onto a clean counter and after flouring your hands, pour the batter on to the counter (it should be almost like a very wet biscuit dough).
Sprinkle a little flour on the dough and knead it for about 5 - 10 strokes. To knead the dough, pat it down til it's easy to grab the far edge. Bring that edge over the front edge of the dough (by your belly) and make push it together hard with both hands. Do this a few more times, turning it until the dough is easy to pat into a shape.(Sprinkle on more flour if dough is too sticky).
Pat dough into a circle about 1" thick.
Just like you'd cut a pie, cut the dough into wedges.
Transfer the dough to the pan (with a pancake spatula) and spread them on the baking pan at least 1/2" apart so they won't grow into each other as they cook.

Bake the scones at 425 until browned. About 15 minutes.

Pour glaze on when the scones are cool enough to eat. (optional)

Death on My Doorstep

2008-12-18T15:20:00.000-08:00

Writing in my studio with all of the comforts of modern heating, plumbing and groceries, it's hard to remember that for most of the history of humankind, winters in the snowy and cold regions of the globe were often life-and-death seasons of hardship and possible starvation. Watching birds reminds me of reality of life for all of the other creatures on our planet, and reinforces to me that as a human I have a responsibility to nurture healthy eco-systems.

This morning the thermometer was around 10 degrees Fahrenheit and it's been snowing most of the day. Between work sessions I've been sweeping snow off the walkways (easier than shoveling, but I have to do it more often) and stocking the bird feeders.

The seasonal birds have migrated south and only the stalwart local wild birds remain. I like watching the Chicadee's, Jays and Mountain Quail vie for their positions at the feeders. Even though I live in the town of Bend, Oregon, we have a 1/2 acre lot that we've mostly xeroscaped in the indigeneous flora mix of manzanita, red currant, ponderosa pine and bunch grass. The birds visit the feeders while the coyotes, mule deer and bunnies come to the mineral salt lick.

Wherever small birds group, a hungry raptor will eventually show up for a meal that is never vegetarian. I watched owls, hawks and eagles hunt the small birds at the feeder. They fail much more than they succeed, but despite that they always persevere with the hunt, though never from the same angle. I've long ago given up cheering for either "side" of the hunted/hunters of bird world. They each have their place.

Nonetheless, because I see so few raptors in relationship to the usual birds, I always stop and watch them. One day in November, I heard the bump of a bird hitting the glass windows while I was writing. That's not unusual as the occasional bird will zig rather than zag when they're flying around the garden.

Leaving my studio, I opened the door to find a beautiful raptor dead on my doorstep. The bird, a Sharp Shined Hawk, had broken it's neck when it hit the window and died instantly. It lay on it's back in the center of my doormat with it's wings perfectly outstretched, looking like a symbol on a flag. I reached to touch it and stopped when I heard a loud, rumbling growl. I looked up to see the neighbor's cat, Harry, in full wild-cat mode, ready to fight me for the bird's body.

I quickly picked up the hawk and brought it into my studio, letting my Rat Terrior out to chase Harry the cat. (The dog lives to chase that cat). I drew this graphite drawing of the dead hawk laying on my work table.

Yesterday a very much alive and hungry Sharp Shined Hawk flew by the window, finishing a failed swoop after a Quail. I wonder if it's related to the hawk in this drawing.
www.CristinaAcosta.com

Feast of the Guadalupe December 12th

2008-12-15T18:08:00.000-08:00

Sometimes things happen that seem so mysteriously destined that I'm amazed at the richness of this universe. About 4 or 5 years ago a man called my business number and asked if I had any interior design need for furnishings. He was a semi-retired fine carpenter and furniture maker and was looking for new business contacts.

When he told me he was in Albany, Oregon a city in the Willamette Valley about 2 1/2 hours from my home in Bend, Oregon. I was curious as to why he would call someone out of his geographic area. When I asked him, he said that he had just started experimenting with calling people and that I was the first Hispanic name he saw under the Designer category in the phone book. As he was Chicano (Mexican-American) he said he hoped I would be nice because my name was Spanish. (My late father was Mexican-American or Chicano, hence my Spanish name.)

Once he told me he was practicing his business skills on me, we both relaxed and chatted a bit, talking about what it was like to be one of the very few Mexican-Americans (Chicanos) in Oregon during the 1980's. I told him about my series of retablo paintings of Madonnas that I was working on.

He then told me that he had something he needed to get rid of before he retired, and that I might be the perfect person for it. He said that he had a Catholic Church confessional from a church that had been closed. Though he was vague as to how he came by the piece, he'd had it for over 30 years and asked if I would like to buy it. Without photos I said no, though it sounded interesting. After our conversation I sent him a postcard of one of my retablos, La Conquistadora / the Corn Maiden / Dine Spider Woman.

The next month and for about 6 months afterward, the man would check in with me to see if I'd like to buy his confessional. I never saw a photo and always said no.

Then one Saturday morning he was parked at my studio in a work van with a friend. I was stunned that he had driven over 2 hours over a mountain pass and hadn't called to even see if I would be there. My husband, Randall had been at work (at that time our work spaces were in the same building) early to catch up on things and met the man when he knocked on my husband's door to ask if he knew where I was.

I drove up to the studio building to see Randall standing at the back of the man's open van and signaling me the absolutely-no-way hand signals in tandem with the what-in-the-heck-is-going-on eyebrow raise.

Stepping behind the van I looked in to see the "confessional" and was struck with amazement. The sections of cabinetry and plastic ziploc bag of "extra parts" looked like nothing but scraps of old wood and a lot of work to my husband, but I could see that what I was looking at was an altar.

That was it -- I really wanted that pile of cabinetry. The man and I went back and forth on a price and I bought the cabinet. Randall was totally against the idea, but as it wasn't a "affecting both of us for life" type of decision, I bought it anyway. Fortunately, Randall is a lovely guy who happens to be handsome, handy and dotes on me -- so, he put the cabinet together despite his initial dismay with my decision to buy the cabinet.

I was so filled with amazement at the synchronicity and magical quality of life. I cleaned the pieces of wood with Citrus thinner and Randall put the puzzle of pieces together until it was a complete shrine. I asked everyone I thought might know, if they knew anything about the cabinet. Nobody did, but I felt that it was a shrine for the Guadalupe. So, I had my artisan woodworker friend, Terry Scoville, make me 2 wood panels to fit the "holes" left in the cabinet after someone had removed something years ago.

I painted an image of the Guadalupe with Child in oils, 22kt. gold leaf, wax and antique ceramic mosaic to suit the intimate space of the shrine along with a thin horizontal insert. Randall installed them. It is beautiful and we get so much pleasure from viewing the shrine. The shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe is my constant reminder of the strange and often ironic, abundant beauty of life.

A couple of years later, while traveling in Taxco, Mexico I saw identical woodwork on 2 confessional chairs in the Cathedral at the top of the hill and knew that the shrine had "found" me. The man from Albany, Oregon had indeed found the "right" home for what he thought was a confessional, but in reality was a Shrine to the Guadalupe.

In Mexico, the top part of the cabinet (with the portrait of the Guadalupe) is removed from the stand (or bottom section) and is carried at the head of a procession on Dec. 12th. Sometimes the curtain is across her image during part of the procession, other times not -- it depends upon the local traditions. During the rest of the year, the top part sits on the cabinet in a church.

I often light candles I put in the cabinet, or just turn on a light to enjoy it. My friend, Mimi Graves brought me a ristra of local grown red chilies which dried while hanging from the cabinet door. Here's some info about the festival.

Catholic traditions include Feast Days which are specially designated days for a Saint or Holy Person. December 12th is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. In Mexico, this feast is one of the holiest days of the year. Though the concept is not sanctioned by the Catholic Church, some people consider the Guadalupe to be the Christian version of the Aztec Mother Earth goddess Tonantzin. The Our Lady of Guadalupe festival is much more of a tradition in Mexico than in the U.S., though in areas with a lot of Hispanics there are often processions to celebrate the day. Images of Our Lady of Guadalupe are often considered Chicano art, Catholic religious art or Hispanic art -- To hispanics of Mexican-American ancestory, the image of the Guadalupe is a symbol that goes beyond religious affiliations to become an icon of identity.

I was raised very Catholic and consider myself a Chicana or Latina. Despite the spiritually seismic shifts I've experienced that re-shaped my beliefs, I love to paint Madonnas and think of them as expressions of the Divine Feminine. You can see more of my Madonnas here.

Re-Writing History

2008-12-09T15:49:00.001-08:00

I've been going through my late paternal grandmother's (Abuelita's) photos and putting together an essay that includes a piece of her story as a classical pianist in Los Angeles, California during the 1920's. Though now my grandmother might call herself a Chicana or a Latina, during her generation, Hispanic Americans that were not directly from Mexico, but had a history (often for hundreds of years) in the Southwest called themselves Spanish or (if they lived in California) a Californio (male) or California (female).

So I grew up referring to her as my "Spanish Grandmother" when I didn't call her Abuelita (the Spanish word for grandmother). Her name was Catalina Maria Ortiz Acosta and she was a renaissance women who was very cultured and talented. I put together an essay on my site describing her contribution to the classical music scene in Southern California circa the 1920's. I also submitted it to LatinoLA and they published it also.

Here's the beginning of the article and a photo of my grandmother: The article is titled, "My Abuelita was One Talented Mujer (Woman)

Multi-Cultural Chicano Musical History in Southern California with Classical Music Indianist Composer and Chicana Pianists in LA

Los Angeles during the early 1900's was not a friendly place for Mexican-Americans and Chicanos. Though originally part of Mexico, California was annexed by Anglos to become part of the United States of America in 1848. With the gold rush of 1842 and other immigration, the existing American Indian and Spanish / Mexican people of California were politically and socially marginalized. By the 1920's lynchings, racially motivated attacks and "anti-greaser" laws were in place to control and dominate the Mexican American (Chicano) population of California. Pressure on Mexican Americans increased and included segregated schools in areas of Southern California where large groups of Chicanos persisted. The famous case, Mendez vs. the Board of Education finally ended Hispanic segregation in the late 1950's.

Intelligent, cultured and talented Hispanic Americans were not lauded. In fact, with the veil of racism over many Anglo peoples perceptions during that era, there was very limited press coverage of the positive cultural contributions of Chicanos in Los Angeles. History is written by the "winners", and as a conquered population, Spanish / Mexican Californians have lost many of their historical cultural contributions to a lack of attention.

As a third generation Californian (I now live in Oregon), I found some Chicana history within my family that pertains to the larger political climate and the cultural life of elite Angelinos during the early part of the twentieth century. In the early 1920's my grandmother Catalina Maria Ortiz Acosta and her family, lived in Los Angeles. The last of eighteen children, my grandmother Catalina was the daughter of J. Nestor Ortiz and Maria Salazar Ortiz. J. Nestor was a wealthy man who had owned several businesses and a sheep ranch in the town of Ortiz, Colorado (near Antonito, on the border with New Mexico). J. Nestor sold his interests in Colorado and re-located in Los Angeles, California in 1903. Catalina was born the next year. Though her ancestors where among the founding families of Santa Fe, New Mexico (and other towns in the region), she would often refer to herself and family members as "Californios" or "Spanish". Either were terms that people (Anglo and Hispanic) in her generation used to refer to the Spanish families that lived in the American Southwest when that region was under the control of Spain/Mexico. Because she was born in California, the term "Californio(a)" is accurate, but not completely reflective of her cultural heritage. The term she used usually depended upon her sense of the listener's knowledge of these finer points of cultural history.

Though the term Californio/a is dated and not used today, it was very meaningful for Spanish citizens of California who became citizens of the United States because of the Mexican War in 1848. My grandmother would often express her indignation towards prejudice that any family member encountered with the comment, "Those peasants don't realize that we are Californios." I smile when I think about that. She disdained the prejudice that she deemed more a result of a lack of a good education than a lack of kindness. (I'm including this information about her cultural ethnic appellation because you will note that the concert program below refers to her as a "Spanish-American Pisaniste".)

The Ortiz family befriended Charles O. Roos and his wife, Jaunita E. Roos. The family connection was certainly enriched by Catalina's friendship and professional relationship with Jaunita. Catalina (1904-1991) was then a twenty year old classical pianist and the featured pianist at concerts the Roos organized. My grandmother spoke with admiration regarding Juanita's musical abilities. Charles, an Easterner, moved to Los Angeles and worked as a newspaper feature writer when not involved with his work as a lyricist. His wife Juanita was a gifted pianist. They collaborated to create a variety of piano compositions. Charles also wrote poems and lyrics for other composers' music. The concert program for the event at the Ramona Convent in Alhambra, California illustrates the typical concert Roos organized. Nordskog Records recorded the concert. Unfortunately, I don't have a copy of that recording or know of it's existence.

Sifting through my Grandmother's photo albums I found several photos of Charles and Juanita. The photos of the people in the Native American outfits are my grandmother Catalina, and Chief Yowlache, dressed in traditional Native American clothing for publicity photos that Roos used in his concert promotions. Chief Yowlache was the "Indian baritone" for the program. Catalina accompanied him and also played solos.

During a time of escalating social injustice. . . READ MORE.

NOTE: All photos copyright Cristina Acosta.

Party in Bend, Oregon for Barb Buchan this Wednesday!

2008-12-02T13:36:00.000-08:00

Have you seen a Bejing Gold Medal up close? I hadn't until my friend, the ever - inspiring Barbara Buchan won 2 Gold Medals in Cycling in Bejing this past summer. Not only is she talented and hardworking, Barb is 52 years old!

Barbara Buchan began her athletic career as an able-bodied athlete and had Olympic dreams until she went down in a cycling accident over 25 years ago. She suffered a terrible head-injury that left her "dead" more than once. After a decade of rehab and the will and perserverance to put one foot in front of the other no matter how long her journey was predicted to be, Barb defied the odds. She re-created her body, her life and her goals. She went to the Paralympics a few times, but never gave up on her goal to podium regardless of the suggestions she received to "retire".

As a result of her accident, Barb became a very right-brained thinker. She constantly pays attention to art and design and actively creates craft and art pieces for her friends and family along with her devotion to tweaking the interior design of her home.

Barb Buchan is an amazing inspiration and example of the creative life. I've written about Barb Buchan before. Here's a link to that post.

I encourage you to drop by Rebound this Wednesday and say hi to Barb.

Rebound Physical Therapy is hosting a

Meet & Greet for Barbara Buchan

Welcome her home and congratulate her. She won 2 Gold Medals in Bejing!!!

Who: Everyone – This event is open to the public.
When: Wednesday, Dec. 3rd, 5 - 7 p.m.
Where: Rebound Physical Therapy, 155 SW Century Dr, Bend, Oregon
What to bring: Pot Luck finger food & BYOB

Barb is a Paralympic Cyclist, Gold Medalist, and a World Record holder. She is an inspiration to us all.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Ask Cristina: Which Color Should I Use for the TV Accent Wall?

2008-12-01T18:32:00.000-08:00

Dear Cristina, (via my website www.CristinaAcosta.com)

I just purchased paint from Benjamin Moore 2159-40 (amber wave) and AC-9 (Nugget). These colors seem too dark. The Benjamin Moore specialist suggested that we use the Nugget as the accent wall. For some reason it doesn't look too good. Can someone suggest a color that will complement (Amber Wave) or a color that we can use as an accent wall with the color (Amber Wave). Oh by the way the room is in the basement and it is the longest wall in which we plan to put the TV on.
Looking for HELP.

Thank you.
__________________________________________________

From the sound of your note, you're planning on keeping the Benjamin Moore wall paint color, Amber Waves and replace the Nugget. You haven't said anything about your decor, so my advice is a bit of a shot in the dark. Nonetheless, here goes!

I like the color Amber Waves as it's a light and happy gold and would likely be a good choice for a basement color as it's not full of black. The Nugget didn't work because it's a bit blah against the Amber Waves, and the value (the relative lightness or darkness of a color) is too close. Because your accent wall is the TV accent wall in the basement, I'd go for some drama. Here are some deep, rich tones that accent the Benjamin Moore Amber Wave color: Amazon Soil 2115-30 (a beautiful rich and dusky eggplant purple); Pine Cone 2106-30 (a rich warm brown) and Cinnamon 2174-20 (a gorgeous earthy red).

Don't chicken out and choose a blah (in comparison) accent wall color. An accent wall is all about drama -- choose a bold color. Don't worry about the darkness of the color -- the basement is dark already -- put in dramatic color and add lights to highlight any posters, art, or play areas like pool tables and card tables. A lighting expert can help you get dramatic yet practical results. I'd love to see what you ended up doing, send me the before and after photos..

Read more color advice on my website.

November Newsletter from My Website

2008-11-25T06:00:00.000-08:00

Money problems and the bad economy are dominating headlines and entering most everyone's conversations (mine included) at some point during the day. It's almost impossible to be around people or connect to media and not hear something said about some aspect of money.

Our country's current financial instability is something that I can't obviously change, and that stresses me out. For stress relief I turn to something linear and controllable - exercise. I'm an active person, but in times of uncertainty I ramp up my exercise program. Maybe this doesn't seem very artsy or creative, but how I think about exercise is my creative approach to stress. Here's why: Targeted exercise creates measurable positive change in strength and power while relaxing the mind. And that equals control. Most of the control we think we have in life is often an illusion -- except for exercise.

Until I realized this, I often thought of exercise as something I fit around the days I was having fun in a sport like skiing or paddling my SUP board. Creating art is a very non-linear type of activity and I can spend days or weeks on a canvas and not be able to get at what I'm envisioning. Not only does exercise make me healthier, I can experience some linear measure of success with as little as an hour or so a day of minor discomfort.

Whatever the ups and downs may be in my day, not only does the success I feel translate into the rest of my day, I can eat more! Just in time for the holidays I wrote down my Pumpkin Sweet Potato Custard recipe so you can try one of my family's favorite desserts. It's like pumpkin pie without the crust.

The holiday season began this month with Dia de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) and now we're heading into Thanksgiving. The election is over and the work of change is all of our responsibility. I am very grateful to live in our great country. May we all take a moment to count our blessings, not only our cash.

Happy Holidays,

Cristina

Exhibit Info November 2008:

Gottshalks department store obtained 2 images from my Spanish Rose Series for their entry foyer in the new Gottshalks in Bend, Oregon.
ASU Arizona State University Museum of Anthropology is exhibiting my 16'6" charcoal drawing, Love Always (Siempre Amor) for their 9th Annual Dia de los Muertos Festival exhibit, Oct. 28, 2008 - Jan. 29, 2009.
Central Oregon, High Desert Gallery Sisters, Oregon, is exhibiting my series of Madonna retablos (altars) in their gallery.
Onda Gallery in Lake Oswego, Oregon (a suburb of Portland) included my acrylic painting, Two to Tango in their Tango exhibit .

Along with painting, I continue to write design articles regularly for Latina Style magazine, and offer color consulting services to home and business owners choosing paint colors in Bend, Oregon. I like sharing home design ideas with clients, it's a satisfying way to share my creative skills when I'm not painting or writing.

Winter White -- Article in Latina Style magazine

2008-11-24T13:36:00.000-08:00

White is a year 'round color in home decor. I wrote an interior design article for Latina Style magazine about the color white titled, Painting Your Home with Style, Turning White into Wow! For a couple of years I've been regularly writing a design column called Su Casa (Your Home) that answers decor questions. It's fun and interesting work, and I always learn something new with each article. The next issue of Latina Style will include my article about interior lighting.

This issue is all about white (just in time for snow in the northern climes). Though white is not on the color wheel, when it's used in home decor and interior design, white functions as a color, (which is as good as being a color).

Here are some of my tips about using the wall paint color white from the home decor article:

Mix up the sheens (texture).
Choose a basic eggshell sheen for the majority of surfaces. Mix in other whites in matte and glossy finishes. Play with this idea, using gloss as the basic sheen and matte sheen as the accent (or vice versa).

Layer whites from bright to creamy.
Here’s an example of layering three colors of white: Semi-gloss bright-white trim (cool); matte sheen creamy-white though slightly darker ceilings (warm); with eggshell sheen creamy-white (warm) walls that are slightly darker than the ceiling.

Keep your whites in line with your décor.
Bright whites are a stylish boost in stark modern home designs. Enhance a traditional home with warm whites.

White walls don’t have to be boring when you play tonalities and textures of white together. Try some of these ideas and send me your photos to share on my Web site.

Sources:
www.BenjaminMoore.com
www.Sherwin-Williams.com
www.VoiceofColor.com
photo courtesy of Benjamin Moore

You can read more about design (and other things) on my website at www.CristinaAcosta.com

See examples of my color consulting portfolio and articles on my website.

www.CristinaAcosta.com Call me to schedule a color consulting appointment in Bend, Oregon or a phone appointment if you don't live in Oregon.

Read more of my Choosing Colors blog entries.

ASU Exhibit - Love Always - Siempre Amor

2008-11-19T13:47:00.000-08:00

Bones are one of my enduring motifs. I began collecting bones from the rangeland around my Bend, Oregon, home in the early 1980's. Since then, whenever I'm on a hike, if I see an interesting bone, I pick it up and bring it home to draw.

This image is part of the Ofrenda for the ASU Arizona State University, Museum of Anthropology 9th Annual Dia de los Muertos exhibit, Oct 28, 2008 - Jan. 29, 2008.

Love eternal, renewable and cyclical binds together the bones of life. Vertebrae spiral like strands of DNA as they fly from the past into the future. Arteries from the heart bloom into evergreen pine branches. Feathers, like the shed-horns of the deer and elk renew with the seasons. Elements move through the space of the drawing, the dirt of charcoal stains a counterpoint to their beauty.

Each element in the drawing has multiple layers of meaning. The embracing couple is framed with feathers, implying the presence of angels. The pelvis rendering has the feel of a Kachina mask, the hands coming together play on a popular pregnancy photo pose.

You can see more of my Hispanic Heritage art series on my site. I like the elements in this design and am interested in licensing this art. If you know of anyone that would like to license this design or elements in it for home decor or clothing, please pass on this post to them. Here's my contact info: phone (541)388-5157 email: Cristina@CristinaAcosta.com

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Inside Design Internet Radio Talk this Friday!

2008-11-12T10:29:00.000-08:00

I'm excited to tell you that this Friday morning (Nov. 14th, 10:30 EST) I'll be talking to the co-hosts of Inside Design internet radio show about art and design and sharing my inspirations with listeners.

Listen to Inside Design internet radio show to hear the latest interior design trends, news, and ideas, brought to you by co-hosts Susan Featherstone-Schemm and Sherry Burton Ways. Listen every other Friday, 10:30 am -12:00 noon, EST to the Inside Design Internet Radio Show on IM4RADIODC.COM"

To listen to the show you MUST login to www.im4radiodc.com at 10:30 am EST or 7:30 am Pacific Time on Friday, November 21st. Once you go into the website click listen now to hear the show.

PLEASE REMEMBER THIS IS A LIVE INTERNET RADIO SHOW NOT A RECORDING!

The show will begin promptly at 10:30 am EST (7:30 am Pacific Time). The interview will last approximately 30 minutes.

Ask Cristina: Which Wall Should be an Accent Wall?

2008-11-03T11:10:00.000-08:00

Dear Cristina, (via my website www.CristinaAcosta.com)

I was wondering, how do you know which wall to use as an accent wall? I have an oblong living room and I am having it professionally painted soon. I am trying to decide which wall would be best. I was told to use the first wall you see when you come in the room as the accent wall. I was also told that I should not make the wall behind my TV the accent wall. (This is the first wall you see). I am so confused now. Please help. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Much thanks!!
Michele M.

Dear Michele,
A focal (or focus) point is an area of a room that catches your eye. A focal point area could be a wall, window, item of furniture (like a piano or TV), an architectural accent (such as -- ornate trims, a niche, fireplace, a unique ceiling) or fixture (such as lighting or appliances). A room will have a primary focal point, secondary focal point, etc.

How those focal points come to be is a combination of architecture and interior design. And, it sounds as though in your home the architecture makes the TV wall the focal point of the living room.

A painted accent wall can enhance or create a focal point. Because your living room is also your entertainment area I recommend you work with the TV. Put in cabinets and shelving that are attractive and cover or minimize the appearance of the TV. The cabinetry should include shelves to display art, memorabilia and decor items that enrich the focal area so that the TV is not visually dominant - an important factor when the TV is not on. The idea is to reinforce the natural visual dominance of the TV wall but at the same time, subordinate the visual importance of the TV.

With the above concepts in mind here's what to consider when you choose which wall to accent with paint:

A colored accent wall would look great behind built-in shelves. The accent wall color would reinforce the focal point created by the cabinetry.
OR, if the TV wall is also the longest wall in the room, AND after you have the cabinetry designed, IF that wall is too dominant you'll want to consider emphasizing a secondary focal point to create a little asymmetrical balance.**
You could choose to accent a secondary focal point, consider a wall behind the seating area or a wall that frames a visually significant window.

Read more about accent walls on my website, www.CristinaAcosta.com.
When you're done with your room, I'd love to see photos.

Warm Regards,
Cristina

**Yes, this is a conditional answer, but it's the best I can do with the information I have. You'll need to consider these concepts when you make your decision.

See examples of my color consulting portfolio and articles on my website.

www.CristinaAcosta.com Call me to schedule a color consulting appointment in Bend, Oregon or a phone appointment if you don't live in Oregon.

Read more of my Choosing Colors blog entries.

Exhibit: Tango at Onda Oswego Gallery

2008-11-01T05:00:00.000-07:00

Put on your dancing shoes, or just watch the show at the Onda Gallery in Lake Oswego, a suburb of Portland, Oregon. This exciting exhibit of images of the sensuous tango is accompanied opening night by live tango dancing and music. Proceeds of the sales that night benefit The Miracle Theatre in Portland, Oregon.

Put this exciting event on your calendar!

Tango a new exhibit at Onda Gallery in Lake Oswego, Oregon.
November 7 – November 30, 2008
Paintings, Drawings, Mixed Media Original Art

WHEN: November 7 - 6-9 pm Artists Reception and Exhibit Opening
FREE ADMISSION
Live Argentine Tango Dancing and Music by Dick Suanders & Justin Franzino
WHERE: 240 A Street Suite 104, Lake Oswego, Oregon 503-496-3922
oswego@ondagallery.com www.ondagallery.com

Exhibiting Artists: Amy Erickson, Willow Bader, Christina Sells, Carolina Martinez, Karen Landey, Kate Venerso, Claude Werner-Laviano, John Graeter, Judy Maxon, Alan Rose, Colleen Flanigan, Micheal Fisher, Amber Marie Oxford, Frank Engel, Cristina Acosta

My painting in the exhibit is titled Two to Tango. It is acrylic and hard pastel on 100% rag paper.

Gottschalks Department Store Murals - Now & Then

2008-10-30T09:35:00.000-07:00

The California based department store, Gottschalks opened a new 55,000 square foot store in Bend, Oregon last week. I sold limited rights* to 2 of my paintings, Spanish Sonata and Blue Bird Hacienda from my Spanish Rose Series to Gottschalks so that they could have them turned into murals for the atrium. Not only am I honored to have my art chosen, I am amused by the irony of making a mural 20 plus years later for the same location. Here's what happened.

During the late 1980's I was the lead (and only) outdoor advertising billboard painter for the entire Central Oregon region beginning south at the (then) tiny town of La Pine, Oregon and north into the town of Madras, Oregon, on the edge of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. I worked for Carlson Sign in Bend, Oregon and hand painted billboards on metal sections or paper. This was right before computer printers took over the market. Now it is rare to see a hand painted billboard.

Jake's Truck Stop and Diner was a landmark on South Highway 97 in Bend, Oregon, from the 1970's through most of the 1990's. Truck drivers could dial a real 5 pound phone from their table, enabling them to eat and relax while checking on business or calling loved ones. Meals were gourmand piles of carbs with sides of extra gravy and cute girls pumped the gas. The showers were clean and the lot was big enough to host a small village of overnight sleepers.

I painted this 24' long by 11' high sign for Jake's Truck Stop & Diner (circa 1989) on metal sections using alkyd bulletin colors. I used rollers and brushes for most of the under painting on the billboard. I painted the cool looking airbrush effects with a quart sized air gun and 24" wide rolls of masking paper. I remember the satisfaction of painting the "sparkles" on the "chrome" Jakes's name as the finishing touch.

Jake's is still around, but it's now just a diner in another location on the east side of Bend, OR. The phones are gone along with the gas and everything else. Times change. Where Jake's used to be is now a new shopping center. And the anchor tenant for that shopping center is Gottschalks.

The Gottshalks building was designed by Linane/Drews Architects (from Burbank, California), on the site of the old Jakes' Truck Stop and Diner, on South Highway 97.

The Bend Bulletin article, A Grand Turnout for Gottschalks, October 24, 2008, page B1 shows a
photo by Pete Erickson of my 2 paintings in the entry atrium of the new Gottschalks store.
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Note: The original paintings are represented through my gallery, High Desert Gallery in Central Oregon. You can drop by the gallery or contact Todd Dow (the Gallery Director)
~ High Desert Gallery, Redmond, Oregon -- 541- 548-1811 (direct) 453 SW 6th Street at Evergreen Street.
~ High Desert Gallery, Sisters, Oregon -- 281 West Cascade Avenue at Oak Street Gallery Mailing Address: PO Box 519, Bend, OR 97709-0519
Toll Free Exchange: 866-549-6250
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*Note regarding selling the rights to an image:
When an artist makes a painting, under current U.S. Copyright law they automatically own all rights to that image. What this means is that even if you own an original piece of art, you do not own the rights to sell or use images of that art without written permission (and usually, payment) from the artist. This process is called licensing art. Copyright laws are integral to the success and survival of artists in our country. Because I own the copyrights to my paintings, I was able to assign Gottschalks the right to create the 2 murals in their Bend, Oregon store. Copyright laws for artist's must be protected. I am passionate about vigilantly protecting copyright laws and have lobbied to stop the Orphan Works legislation.

www.CristinaAcosta.com