A New Show!

"Observations from Air, Land, Sea and the Local Coffee Shop" is up for viewing at the Sequim Museum & Arts Center. Twenty two framed paintings, plus some unframed originals, prints and a calendar are available for purchase through the end of August. As museum volunteers were hanging the show and we were attaching price and title cards. I looked around and wondered, "Where did all this come from?" I'd been busy for sure, but the realization was dawning that there has been a prodigious amount of work produced during the six years we have lived in the Pacific Northwest. A lot of the effort has been to re-establish myself in a new location, something that we all face when we move. Leaving a place where we have friends, and perhaps family is always difficult. As a business owner, leaving an established clientele creates a different kind of void that is difficult to describe. Will I ever get work again? How will people find me? Will they forget me? Is what I worked for over 23 years in Alaska all for naught? Technology has given us blogs, Facebook, and easy to navigate websites, which help tremendously. Anyone who works from home will tell you that keeping your name out there is a full time job. I see it all the time on Facebook with the posts made by fellow artists who share the new work they are creating, encouraging people, as I do, to visit their pages, websites and blogs.

While watching the Olympics the other night, the commentator quipped, "Confidence is that little voice inside your head that tells you you belong." It went by so fast that I almost missed it. What? Who said that? I googled the quote this morning and found it shared and analyzed on amymoritz.com's blog entitled "Byline to Finish Line." The US Olympic beach volleyball team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh-Jennings had found a way to improve by working with a sports psychologist. Rather than playing from fear, it is important to play as though you belong- and with confidence. Thus, Misty and Kerri play like winners, like they belong.

So where do I go from here? I will keep producing the art that I love, continue to connect and share my work with others, and know that the sense of belonging will allow me to move forward toward a personal best that is mine alone.

New Beginnings!

This month and last are seeing new beginnings everywhere! First, our Grand Olympics Chorus of Sweet Adelines has a new director! Mike Menefee is making the trip from Silverdale each week to work with us, and we are loving the new challenges. Mike's daughter, Alena, as been joining us as well to coach and encourage. She has an amazing voice and we are happy to have her! She also writes a really cool blog...Check it out at http://alenapm24-7.com/ .

Three Coast Guard Change of Commands have granted me the honor of having artwork present. The first, this month in San Francisco, saw our friends the Langenbachers Who me knew in Kodiak) leaving Air Station San Francisco and moving to new responsibilities in Alameda, just across the bay. Their unit requested an original painting as a departing gift of the H65 helicopter over the Bay Bridge, and we had prints made as well. More on the following Command changes to come.

So where have I been? Well, I took another class from Stuart Parks Forensics, this time on drawing from the surveillance camera. Did some drawings for a program on The Travel Channel. Then the chorus I sing with, Grand Olympics Chorus of Sweet Adelines International, went to Contest in Spokane. Then I had cataract surgery. Then I went to the American Society of Aviation Artists annual Forum, held this year in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Now I'm working on putting my show together which will run through the month of August at the Museum & Art Center in Sequim. In between all this, I finished some artwork for three Coast Guard Change of Commands. Meantime, our chorus has a new director and we are delightedly on a new path  to reinventing ourselves with better vocal production, better showmanship skills and a new look. How cool is that? This sounds like one of those Christmas letters that start out "Where has the time gone?" I don't pretend to wonder anything of the sort, except to say that life is exceedingly busy, and I'm glad for the work! Here is one of the paintings that will be available at the show, along with a diversion of sorts to, um, the fine art of taking a coffee break........More on that later!

Studio sale!

  Spent a good part of yesterday updating the website with sale items. It's time to make room for new inventory. In the meantime, our Sweet Adelines chorus, Grand Olympics, got through our annual fundraiser show, I illustrated a children's book for a friend to give to her family for Christmas, and am working on the pieces I plan to submit to the Coast Guard Art Program. Speaking of military art programs, last month the Air Force asked me to go to Beale Air Force Base north of Sacramento to document some events that were going on with the 9th Reconaissance group. I met some amazing artists and returned with a ton of research material to use for the paintings I will submit to the program next year along with inspiration from the likes of Stephen Gardner, Michael Backus, Scott Gandell, Bob Cooley and a cool fellow named Winston! Meantime, the pieces that are on sale can be found by going to the website www.PriscillaMessnerPatterson.com and clicking on the "Open Gallery" link. When I check it, it comes up fine. Hopefully it will for you, too! 

Demo at the County Fair!

Did a demo at the Clallam County Fair last Friday night. It was fun to have so many people stop by and say hello. This composition came about after a trip to Kiana, Alaska with the Air Force Art Program last spring. We were there to document Operation Arctic Care, a program where our men and women in the reserves spend their duty time providing medical care to people in the villages. The 2010 program, based in Kotzebue (33 miles north of the Arctic Circle) was sponsored by the Air Force and included 12 villages. I was able to visit two- we were flown out via Blackhawk helicopter. While we were in Kiana, the mail/commuter plane came in, and as in all rural Alaska villages, when the plane comes in, everyone turns out for the event. The passengers are going to Kotzebue and beyond- if they are travelling beyond, they have to go through "Kotz," hop on the jet and go to Anchorage via Nome. So this is my interpretation of a busy scene when the mail plane comes to Kiana. I loved getting so much done in one night, but today am working on another piece that has lots of rivets......

Where have I been?????

Well, where have I been? Everywhere, I guess. May brought the annual American Society of Aviation Artists Forum, held this year in Pensacola, Florida. We celebrated 100 Years of Naval Aviation along with the 25 year anniversary of ASAA. It was a great time to reconnect with aviation artist friends from all over the world. Part of my duties as education chair were to organize a Youth Drawing Session. We had nearly as many helpers, for which I am grateful, as we did students. In June, my husband and I drove down to Vancouver, Washington where we met up with two of my sisters and their families. There we enjoyed a visit to the Pearson Air Museum at Fort Vancouver. Those little known places are certainly treasure troves and I hope they have lots of visitors to spread the word about aviation in the Pacific northwest. In July I attended Barbershop Harmony College in Tacoma with my quartet, Loonie Tunes. One of the other quartets in our Chorus also attended and we had a great time taking classes and learning more about our hobby of barbershop singing with a Sweet Adelines chorus. I continue to take voice lessons with a fantastic coach and participated in a student recital. We have plans for another get together closer to Christmas.

As for painting, I have three pieces in the Clallam County Fair next weekend and am scheduled to do a demo on Friday evening, August 19 from 4-7 PM. The idea for this composition came from a trip to Kiana, Alaska with the Air Force Art Program in April of 2010. While we were there the commuter flight came in. As is normal in Alaska villages, when the mail plane shows up, the town turns out to see who arrived from town and to send off travelers. The canvas is 24x36- Let's see how much I can get done in the three hours I am there. My biggest fear is getting a wet oil painting back to the car without having someone run into me with cotton candy or ice cream. Well, we can't be afraid of those things, can we?

H65 for Port Angeles

H65 for Port Angeles is available as a matted and framed print. Only one in stock! Overall size is 11"x22" and price is $125 + $15 S/H.