Color Splash: 01

I thought I would start a theme of posting an image a week based on color. Here is my first!

These are my lovely paint markers- I love POSCA brand, but also have several other brands like Molotow and Ironlak.

Hopefully this post, while short, ads color and happiness to your day.

 

21 Secrets Course Relaunch and Giveaway time!

I am so pleased to be able to share with you today the RELAUNCH of 21 Secrets! and a special GIVEAWAY for two free seats in the class.

I was a teacher in 2014 and am honored to be included in this super talented bunch!

The special edition is a collection of 37 workshops from the Spring and Fall 2014 and 2015 editions to create a well-rounded, power-packed collection.  In this 21 SECRETS you will find instruction on everything from collage, gelli prints, transfers, how to face the blank page, tips on creating a daily creative habit, and much, much more!

 

SELF PACED ONLINE WORKSHOP | 37 WORKSHOPS | IMMEDIATE ACCESS

WHATS INCLUDED:

•  37 workshops in a 150+ pages downloaded eBook.

• Packed with links to videos, full color photos and templates, and clear, inspiring instruction.

• The buyer receives immediate and lifetime access to all content

• Membership to a private Facebook peer group to share their work and receive support.

• All videos are downloadable

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It is on sale now for $128 for 37 lessons- I have not found a better deal since. Really.

The Early bird Special starts today,  Wednesday May 2 through Friday May 4, buyers can save $21 with the coupon code: BESTOF at the time of checkout.
To learn more about the class, follow the link HERE

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In my class, you will learn how to dye papers to look richly colored and antique. We’ll then talk about dreams and symbols and how to work them into your journal. We go step by step to create a unique dreamscape, and add a handmade miniature scroll at the end.

 

I hope you will consider taking this course! It is packed with hours of inspiration for your journaling practice!

**Feel free to message me with any questions you may have! Happy to answer them!**

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GIVEAWAY TIME

To celebrate the re-launch of 21 SECRETS THE BEST of 2014-2015,  I am doing a GIVEAWAY for one lucky winner to score 21 SECRETS The Best of 2014 & 2015 class!

All you have to do is follow the link below and it will lead you to a page to enter your email. Simple!

Click HERE to Enter the contest.

You have until Thursday May 10th at midnight to enter.
The winners will be announced Friday morning, May 11th. Good luck!

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21 SECRETS – The Best of 2014 & 2015 Instructor List

Carolyn Dube – https://acolorfuljourney.com/

Carrie Todd – http://www.mystudio13.com/

Cathy Anderson – http://www.catherineandersonstudio.com/

Cathy Bluteau – http://cathyb.typepad.com/

Connie Solera and Opal Keen – http://www.dirtyfootprints-studio.com/

Crystal Moody – https://crystalmoody.com/

David R. Modler and Eric M. Scott – https://journalfodderjunkies.com/

DeAnne Olguin Williamson – http://deannewilliamson.com/

Effy Wild – https://effywild.com/

Faith Evans Sills – http://www.faithevanssills.com/

Fonda Clark Haight – https://www.fondaclarkhaight.com/

France Papillon – https://www.france-papillon.com/

Galia Alena – http://www.galiaalena.com/

Gina Lee Kim – http://ginaleekim.blogspot.com/

Jamie Ridler – https://www.jamieridlerstudios.ca/

Jane Cunningham – https://www.numinousjane.com/

Jennifer Clay (Jenni Bellie) – http://journalworkshops.ning.com/

Jennifer Joanou – http://www.jenniferjoanou.com/

Jill Berry – http://jillberrydesign.com/

Joanna Powell Colbert – https://www.gaiansoul.com/

Julianna Coles – http://meandpete.com/

Karen Michel – http://www.karenmichel.com/

Kate Robertson – http://www.katerobertsonstudios.com/

Kristal Norton – https://kristalnorton.com/

Lisa Cheney – http://lisacheneyjorgensen.blogspot.com/

Lisa Hofmann – http://dandelionseedsanddreams.blogspot.com/

Lesley Riley – http://lesleyriley.com/

Maya Stein and Amy Tingle – https://www.thecreativecaravan.com/

Michelle Turbide – http://michelleturbidestudios.com/

Nathalie Kalbach – https://nathaliesstudio.com/

Päivi Eerola – http://www.peonyandparakeet.com/

Petrea Hansen-Adamidis – http://www.arttherapist.ca/

Rachel Ellen Andrews – http://www.rachelellenandrews.com/

Rachel Urista – https://www.rachelurista.com/

Veronica Funk – http://www.veronicafunk.com/

On Display at Art Department, Inc

 

Do you  know about  Art Department Inc, in Salem, Oregon? If not, you should! 😀 This is my favorite art supply store in Salem, and now I work a bit dangerously close to it (just down the street!) It puts me in proximity to some fanstastic supplies, fellow artists, and also, art classes too!

Chalk pastels, oil pastels, sold by the pack or individually, colored pencils, markers and an awesome selection of my favorite FW Inks! Great assortment of professional acrylic paint colors…Great calligraphy tips and vast array of decorative papers….oh, also wood cradled boards, and other cool tools for artist like spatulas and tons of encaustic materials. In short, everything you could want, for whatever little niche or mixed media fetish you have! 

This store is great at supporting the local arts. They showcase an artists work on their walls each month, and for the month of February, I’ve been fortunate to have over 20 pieces of my work on display up at the shop. I think they did an EXCELLENT job at hanging the work! 

The show is up until Feb 26th. Salem peeps, friends and artists, take some time to drop by the store, check out the art, and browse some excellent supplies too.

I hope I’ve given you several good reasons to stop in at this awesome art store!

My little Spring Fox….how cute that they set it up on the counter… and some of my paintings on the wall above…

A wider view of the paintings… I’m always surprised at seeing my work all together- I usually see it in the studio, in groupings as I work… it is nice to pause and look up! 😀

Here are more shots of the store and more of my pieces on the wall.

Do you see that Sumi-E brush? Oh my gosh, I’d LOVE that- it has to be 36″ long!

 

Find Your Style • NEW EBook!

WOW!~ ITs here! 😀

Excited to share with you today, the release of a wonderful resource for artists, both new and established- it’s called “Find Your Style” and its the latest, greatest project from artist and teacher Kristal Norton, available for purchase as a downloadable ebook.

I was SO excited when I was asked to contribute my personal experience in finding my own artistic style-but what a question! My mind was spinning…  Where to begin? How did I find my style? What has my journey as an artist looked like? And what would I recommend to others? Thinking back through my artist’s journey, especially over the last 20 years, was a surprisingly emotional job! 

In trying to extract the essence of some of the lessons I’ve learned (and continuing to learn!)  I found some core beliefs within myself:

Finding your style means to be willing to reinvent yourself as an artist and be willing to ditch current style and “artistic” safety nets. Then do it again. And again, and again. 

I knew instinctively that I’d only find my true style, my language, by “going there”; to those emotional, obscure places within.

Wow- man, I WISH someone had written this for me 10 -20 years ago! Who hasn’t struggled with finding their style, their voice, their authenticity as an artist?

This book is packed full of advice and support. I find that in listening to other artists stories I begin to validate my own story, I feel instantly connected to a greater path taken. Artists can be so insular in our pursuits- this ebook is an amazing break from that and about a topic we can all relate to. 

Twelve artists were all asked the same questions about our style, and I LOVE the variation in responses.

Even though we all have traveled beautifully diverse paths there are some underlying themes of exploration, courage, and transformation in each of our stories as artists.

Now it’s your turn too! I also truly believe we keep transforming, not just in our daily lives but as our lives as artists. Indeed when I was invited, I thought, “Oh Boy! I JUST stumbled upon yet another new way of working…making me feel once again, at once both at the crux of discovery and joy, but yet vulnerable too.

Take a gander, soak it in. Know we all struggle and we all doubt, but that we also have triumphs and high points in our artistic journeys. My hope is that you can relate to our stories- that in this ebook, you find advice for those moments of feeling stuck or in doubt. I know I have enjoyed reading each artist’s journey and learned much already! There are so many great pointers here that I will also take into my practice. 

Below are the wonderfully talented artists who contributed to the book!  You can read more about the book and purchase your copy here for just $33. A portion of the purchases will help support the artists (including myself) who contributed to this book. Thank you for your support and I hope you find inspiration and comradery within the pages of this book.

I’d love to know your story and how you found your style, or struggles and triumphs too!

 

 

Collaboration Energy

It started with this: Three artists paint prayers for the strength of another…

Three artists- Bill Shumway, Paige Shumway and I in a group at Pegasus Art Gallery, April 2016. My pieces are the two tall totem like ones, and the green one below the portrait Bill did of fellow artist Rick Bartow.

 

The collaborative potential was there, so we set a date and laid out some paint up at my studio downtown. Sometimes we worked all together in a few hours, and other pieces we took home and worked on individually, taking turns with each one until we felt they were complete. Below are some shots of the work.

There is really nothing like collaborative painting. There is a certain energy, a meeting of the minds…a dance…. For the first piece, our only guideline was to work from the sketches we’d all done at the memorial. We gave eachother permission to paint over one anothers work, unless we stated otherwise. If you want to learn yourself really quick- do a collab- it will clear up who you are immediatly. We worked well together – with ease and delight.

Currently, most of these pieces are on display at OSU, Along with many other collaborations and some of our individual work:
A Plethora of Crows II
Bill Shumway and Don Ferguson
with Raymond Hunter, Edith Wolfe, Kevin Clark, Paige Shumway, Rachel Urista, and Brizz Meddings

The show is up until the end of December 28th at the Center for Humanities OSU, Autzen House Gallery from 4-6. The gallery is at 811 SW Jefferson Avenue is free and open to the public weekdays from 9 to 4. This show will carry on to the Benton Historical Socitey in January, 2017.

 

 

 

It’s Finally Here! Color for Clarity Book

Its real and its beautiful!! …and its now available for purchase on Amazon!

You can also order it directly from me.  I’ll have a limited number of copies on hand available for purchase at my studio studio, starting next Wednesday.

I am so inspired by our collaborative effort, what you can do to make dreams come true. For about a year now I’ve been wanting to create a coloring book, so when I was asked to collaborate with 5 other super talented women, I jumped on board.

What resulted is even more beautiful and inspiring that I had imagined. Check out some images below of the inside pages.

Please share and/or use the hashtag #colorforclarity  so we can see all YOUR Beautiful coloring!

I LOVE these intricate lines and shapes, don’t you? One of the unique aspects of this particular coloring book are its use of merging words into the pages. The intent of this was so that we can meditate on positive words and provocative questions as we color and find ourselves in a calmer, more introspective place.  Read more about this here.

How beautiful is this page? I want my copy NOW so I can take time off and dive in! 

Hey that’s a page I drew above! How fun! …are you ready to join me?

Here is the Amazon link to order your copy!

~ ~ Thanks for your support! Happy coloring! ~~

 

Messages • Work in Progress

Stay open to the messages in your paintings, sometimes unexpected, sometimes unclear…keep working at it! Keep listening and painting, painting and listening…

 

 

Let Go

There are times when I need to get out of my own art routine…I savor moments painting and creating in my journals. Yet there are times when I feel I need to switch it up, work in a completely new manner, and go with the inspiration of the day.

On this particular night, a few weeks ago, I packed up a few sheets of paper, a few paints and pastels, my rather large jar of black gesso, and headed out to meet fellow artist friend at our local coffee shop. I had nothing in mind, no preconceived ideas. I just knew I needed to let something out. I needed to move, to stand, use my entire arms in long sweeping motions and short choppy ones and just make marks on the paper.

Working in this manner, I tapped into my emotions, letting them guide my movements, and then let them go. Out of chaos emerged several symbols and eventually a beautiful, strong and fierce face. Who knew when I started what the final painting was going to reveal?

Do you have a method for “letting go” and a form of creating which has no rules? Where you can be free from constraint? I’d love to hear about your process.

Spring Play

I just love watching my students work. The brushes dancing, the color flying the hands moving… the creativity flowing.

In the last workshop we experimented with movements big and small in our pages. We did a fun warm up exercise using just black gesso and a brush. Nothing to do but make marks on the page, go with the flow and start moving!

After that we all did some marvelous layering with pastels, spray inks, stencils and ink. Love the bright spring colors and playful energy in all their pages.

Some warm up exercises and our working table

Journal Spread • Rainbows Under Water

In this spread, I worked with layers of pastel, spray inks, gel pens and black gesso. We’ll work with these materials in this Saturdays Art Journal Workshop at Imagine Coffee.

Woven into the layers of pastel and spray ink are words from another journal of mine- one solely dedicated to poetry, dreams and ideas.  The words in this spread are about the buoyancy of love, its resilience, and its lightness even in the heaviest of moments.

I’d like to swim amongst the background and climb out to rest upon the blossoms, and look into the stars…Care to join me? 🙂

~ Happy creating and may you weave your dreams into your art! ~

Special Announcement! Southern California Class!

So excited to announce the opportunity to offer my Magical Mapping Class TWICE in APRIL! Im heading to SoCal and so excited to announce my class will be held in beautiful sunny Redondo Beach at the lovely home of the amazing artist and teacher,  Orly Avineri.

Wont you join us? 

Southern California:

Wednesday, April 9th from 2-4:30, Curtis Ave. Apt.3, Redondo Beach, CA 90278

Please Email Orly Avineri to reserve your spot in California: orlyavineri@gmail.com

Oregon:

Saturday, April 12th from 11am-1:30pm

Imagine Coffee, Corvallis

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Cost is $25 Please email me for your class materials list

Please Email me to reserve your spot in Oregon: rachelurista@gmail.com 

Any questions about the content of this class and material list please email Rachel at: rpeterson523@gmail.com or rachelurista@gmail.com

Can’t wait to see you at one of these classes! Until then, Happy Journaling! 

Workshop Inspiration!

Workshop #2 of the year, “RECLAIM”

Connection, energy and inspiration fueled the day and creative sparks were flying!

Each student brought joy, energy and inspiration to the group.

It was particularly joyful to have those who had never done Art Journaling before. They were bold, brave and lent a fresh energy. Meeting friends I’d before only know online was another highlight of the day.  Meeting in person was a blast!

In hearing my students, it is becoming clearer that there is a real need to carve out space for our creative selves to expand. Our creative urges are not going to go away. We are, by nature, creative beings, and ignoring this urge is unhealthy.

Art journaling has the potential to open up this creativity, allowing us space and time to reconnect to this part of ourselves.  From simple to complex prompts and techniques, Art Journaling can open a door towards self-discovery and healing. I sincerely look forward to the next workshop, for the chance to continue to create space for each student to explore their creative self.

Isn’t it awesome how I only had a few colors, yet everyone’s pages look uniquely their own!

So serious about my finger painting!

Lot’s of energy!

All in all, a wonderful, inspiring and JOYOUS time!  

—– Next up—— Inner Rhythms——-Saturday, March 8th! Watch for details! Until then, Happy Journaling!