Tracing my sketch

I had such a great time on the 29th painting in Muse’s front window for the Artist a Day program!  It was a nice sunny day, I had an awesome view of the street, all the supplies were already set up for me, and the staff couldn’t have been nicer.  Jolie Guillebeau interviewed me and the staff took pictures of my work throughout the day to show the progression.  I’ve included the interview below but here is a link to the article and all the pictures from that day.

Artwork is currently showing and available for bidding at Muse Art and Design on Hawthorne.  Half the winning bid goes to the artist with the other half going to support Schoolhouse Supplies.  Bidding starts at $75 and more information about the auction and the artwork available can be found here.

Join us for the artists’ reception and auction:
Wednesday, May 22, 6:30 – 9:30pm
Muse Art and Design, 4220 SE Hawthorne Blvd

Below is my interview with Jolie Guillebeau from the 29th.

Chantel Greene is all about the space where art and science connect. Before she studied art, she was a Biology major in college. Then her art was mostly diagrams of dissections or microscope illustrations.

She’s enthusiastic about patterns in plant cells, or human anatomy diagrams. So when she began painting she worked to figure out ways to incorporate these things in to her encaustic work.

So she creates delicate detailed drawings that she layers in to the wax. She works quickly, because as she says,” I like to be done with the painting before I lose the momentum of the ideas.”

Chantel is eager to talk and share her work and passion for science and painting– stop by and see her piece at Muse, and see more of her work at www.chantelgreene.com

My finished piece from Muse, ready for bidding.

Painting with Wax: Incredible Encaustics

Wax on! No experience necessary for this jam-packed, quick-start wax painting class.

Encaustic painting uses colored pigment suspended between layers of wax and resin. Use painting, collage, scraping, layering, incising, and textured finishes to make an original creation. Topics include: a brief history of encaustic painting, layering and fusing wax, collaging with wax instead of glue, adding texture, transferring images onto wax, paint mixing, and safety issues.

I’m also participating in the River voices summer camp in August during which students learn about the Willamette river from scientists during the morning, then are introduced to different artistic forms of expression in the afternoon, such as art, dance, music, and film.  The second week students choose an artistic format with which to demonstrate their knowledge of the river and raise awareness about water pollution.

The schedule for all classes is as follows:

June 24th-28th – Incredible Encaustics

• 9:00am-11:30am for middle school students (Course #12913)
• 12:00pm-2:30pm for high school students (Course #12914)

July 29th- August 2nd – Incredible Encaustics

• 9:00am-11:30am for middle school students (Course #12915)
• No afternoon class

August 5th-16th – River Voices

• 9:00am-4:00pm for middle and high school students (Course #12891)

Spread the word to the young people in your life who are interested in art!

Peace! Chantel

When: April 29th from 12-5pm
Where: 4220 SE Hawthorne Blvd Portland, OR 97215

It’s late notice but I recently became a part of a tribute show for the Portland Timbers.  On February 28th the Timbers are unveiling their primary and secondary jerseys and are celebrating with an art show at the Alberta Street Galleries.  The Talisman Gallery (1476 NE Alberta St) with the Best Art Gallery in Portland (1468 NE Alberta St) are doing the unveiling  and the Guardino Gallery (2939 NE Alberta St), Six Days Art Co-op (2724 NE Alberta St), The Make House (1732 NE Alberta St), Antler (1722 NE Alberta St), and Screaming Sky Gallery (1416 NE Alberta St) will be featuring Timbers inspired work.

The show opens February 28th from 6-9pm and is up until March 24th.

For more information visit: http://albertamainst.org/whats-happening/green-gold-tribute-portland-timbers/

“Fear is nothing more than an instinctual response to perceived danger. But, unless that life drawing session is filled with rabid velociraptors, there isn’t any real danger. I needed to change the only thing I could control: how I responded to it.”
Read the whole article, “Killing My Potential: I Have a Fear of Success”

When I was first starting this art journey I was afraid of everything.  I was afraid of talking to gallery owners, I was afraid people would hate my work, I was afraid I would appear unprofessional in some way, I was afraid that I would promise too much to someone and not be able to deliver.  I was afraid of failing, but I was also afraid of succeeding.  I was talking to my husband one and night and I confessed that I had a fear of success.  He asked me how I could be afraid of that and I told him that I was scared I would take on too much and not be able to keep up with the demands.  That I would agree to too much and that things would spiral out of control and I’d drop the ball on something important.  Basically I was afraid of succeeding so much that I’d fail.  I know.  I’m a mess.  Two years and four months into this journey I’m still afraid of things.  I still get nervous and worry, but I try to not let it affect what I attempt.  I freaked out before I attended my first open call art show and I was only one out of 100 artists, and now I’m able to put on a solo show by myself.  I was still nervous beforehand, but I knew that the nerves wouldn’t kill me.  I confront my fear by constantly pushing myself to try something new, something bigger, something different.  I don’t know if I’ll ever feel like I’m “succeeding” but hopefully I won’t be afraid if I do.

My piece for the "Love of Portland" show

especially for the show that demonstrates my love of our weird city.  This year the show has over 300 artists contributing work and will be featuring the work of Dan Stiles.  Stop by and see how artists are expressing their affection for our beloved Portland.

When: Artist reception – February 16th, 5pm.  Show hangs until March 10th.

Where: Peoples Art of Portland Gallery
Mark Woolley Gallery
700 SW Fifth (3rd floor) People’s is Suite 4005
Settlement Galleries
Pioneer Square Mall, downtown Portland
Open Thurs-Sun 12-6pm

Monday – Research shows, fairs, or festivals.  Apply to those coming up and make a list of recurring shows in order of deadlines.  Go through the Art Notes RACC flyer at the beginning of the month.

Tuesday – Internet maintenance.  Check comments on website, Etsy and social media sites related to my art.  Add new photos of work to portfolios and make art related posts on social media sites.

Wednesday – Research representation.  Compile a list of galleries and alternative venues that might be interested in representing my work.  Get materials ready to send and contact places.

Thursday – Updates.  Work on blog posts (even if I don’t finish them in an hour) event blog posts, the event calendar, and the monthly email newsletter.  Promote events and blog posts on social media.

Friday – Long term projects.  This is the day I take care of other business, like ordering more business cards, and chip away at those big things I want to do, like learning to mix my own colors, making presentation boxes, creating a photo box, or figuring out how to make my own prints.  Some weeks I’ll have whole days to devote to these things, but even when I don’t I want to at least be working on them a little at a time.

Saturday – Update budget spread sheet and file.  My receipts tend to pile up and I know I have to keep careful track of my spending for taxes, so these should be entered every week.  Also my filing tends to get out of control and it’s frustrating when I can’t find the paperwork I need.

There’s my schedule of non-painting related work.  I know I won’t stick to the schedule perfectly all the time, but it gives me a structure to work with and it will hopefully keep me more on top of things.  If I work at these things for an hour each day I should stay more on top of things and not be surprised with approaching deadlines and hundreds of comments to check.

What systems have you put in place to keep yourself organized?  Have they helped?

Peace! Chantel

Peace!

Chantel

A huge “thank you!” goes out to all of you who came to visit me during the Portland Open Studios Tour.  I met a lot of amazing people, made some important contacts, had fun doing demos, and generally had a blast!  I even had a journalist from The Bee interview me and take my picture for a bit about the tour and the local artists in the inner SE area.  Read the full article HERE.

I hope you all had just as much fun on the tour as I did, and I hope to see you all again if I’m included in the tour next year!

Come visit the 2nd Annual Encaustic art show at Milepost 5.
November 2nd – December 2nd

Come out and enjoy art, wine, and great company!

When: Opening Reception with the artists — November 2nd from 6-9pm

Artist holiday gift show and reception — November 2nd & 16th from 6-9pm

Where: Milepost 5, 900 NE 81st Ave

Featured artists: Robyn Andersen, Serena Barton, Bridget Benton, Kindra Crick, Dianne Erickson, Chantel Greene, Claudia Hollister, Sue Jensen, Manuella Kalestiantz, Anne Mavor, Pam Nichols, PJ Palmer, Virginia Parks, Elina Payton, Ruth Ann Skodacek, Kelly Williams, and Zoe West