Urban Craft Uprising is almost here again!  120+ vendors gathering at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall on December 5th & 6th to show their magnificent goodies.  We will try to post some info on a few favorites this week – in the meantime, check out the UCU blog for interviews with some of the vendors.

-jon

To all my Seattle readers, I would love to visit with you this Saturday during my artist reception at Click in West Seattle.  This is such a wonderful shop and there will be lots of new paintings to check out.  Hope to see you there!

Click! Design that Fits

Saturday, Nov. 21st 6-9pm

2210 California Way SW, Seattle

The vendor list for Portland’s Crafty Wonderland Super Colossal Sale just went up and it looks to be amazing!  Click here to see who will be showing.  This is one of my favorite shows to do and to shop at – mark your calendars for Dec. 13th, 11-7pm at the Oregon Convention Center.  Free admission and goodie bags to the first 200 people.  Woo-hoo!

Rachel

I’ve been a bit of a hermit this week, staying put in the studio painting.  Good, since I’ve been selling more and I’m working on new pieces for holiday shows.  This year I’m only doing two sales – Urban Craft Uprising and Crafty Wonderland.   I always feel so busy and stressed during the holidays that I’m trying to get a lot of work done now so I can relax a little more this season.  Now that I have a little one, I am excited to sew her some clothes and try and make some toys for Christmas.  We’ll see how that goes.  I’m not the best at allowing free time.

It was also a bit of traumatic week for us.  Last Friday Adelaide and I were in a car accident on the freeway during rush hour.  We are both fine, but I still feel shaken up by the incident.  It is scary how fast things like that happen.

And switching the topic back to art, I keep finding myself drawn to abstracted landscapes.  I love the simplicity and mood of each of these.  Aren’t they lovely?

‘by the lake near the hills’  Gretchen Mist

‘Water Hazard’  by Land Fall

‘Summer Evening’ Siiso

Have a good rest of the week!

Rachel

I know I’ve already posted a bunch on this journal, but I really like it!  And I just took some more pictures of the cover and some inside pages and wanted to share.  For more info or to purchase for $12, visit my etsy shop.

Cheers,

Rachel

Rachel loves cute dishes so it was no surprise when I saw this whale mug from CircaCeramics in her Etsy favorites.  CircaCeramics has a bunch of made to order cups, bowls and other ceramic items, each one cuter than the last.

-jon

Since moving into our house and finally having a yard, I’ve been so happy to be able to start growing our own herbs.   I planted Saffron a couple weeks ago in pots on our front steps and the first one just bloomed.  I am so excited that I had to take some photos to share!  Saffron is suprisingly easy to grow in the northwest and blooms in the Fall.  Other interesting saffron facts I’ve learned:

* Saffron is a type of crocus, but it is a very specific type.  Don’t go harvesting your neighbors crocuses in the Spring or you may feel ill.

* The reason it is so expensive is you can only harvest three little strands per flower.  Commercially it takes 75,000 bulbs to harvest one pound.  Crazy.

* I bought 25 bulbs from White Flower nursery and they say that should be a good amount for a year for one family.

* The bulbs multiply so next year we should have some to share!

* You have to grab those little strands the day the flower opens to get the best flavor – they start deteriorating right away.

Now I need to start looking at some tasty recipes that use Saffron…  Yum.

Rachel

Happy Halloween from our little sheep!

Andrea from Tilde emailed me last week to tell me that my paintings made it into the backdrop of a photo in the Oregonian.  Andrea designed this awesome lampshade using paint chip samples.  It is so cute!  Follow the link here on instructions on making your own paint chip shade.

Happy weekend to you,

Rachel

Click! Design that Fits

As of this month, I have two new shops stocking my paintings in Seattle!  It is very exciting as I’ve been looking for places that would be a good fit after Urchin closed last year.  Click! in West Seattle has lots and lots of my map paintings (and even some of my oils) right now.  I’ll be up on Nov. 21st for a reception in their shop.  Stop in if you are in the area – I would love to meet you!  This is such a great shop that features a great collection of items from Northwest designers – you will love everything!

Camelion Design

I also have map paintings available at Camelion Design on Ballard.  Another great shop in Seattle with darling home furnishings!  I have a smaller selection available here, but will be having more pieces in December as I’ll be their artist of the month.  Check it out!