Sky Light

Glass art on Taylor Street

Sky Watch Friday

The Mystical Mermaid

Found this artistic sign hung above a gift shop in Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands. There is something about a great hanging sign that will pull my camera lens around everytime. Some of them can be seen here.

A visit to the islands on a beautiful spring day, after closely following the orca whales along the San Juan Island shoreline, does indeed a happy visitor make. Tomorrow, the orcas.

Contributor to the Skywatch community

Reflector Man

This clever use of recyled bicycle reflectors sits atop a roadside sign for artist Scott Jaster's Williwaw Bicycle Shop.

A member of James' Weekend Reflections

Barefoot Spinner

Spinning yarn is something Rebekah Cadorette enjoys demonstrating on Saturday mornings at Port Townsend Farmers Market. Rebekah's beautiful woven work can be viewed, along with more information about her, at 3strandshandwovens.com

The first day of each month is theme day for the City Daily Photo community and this month feet is the subject. See many creative posts on the theme today from the world over. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

A pleasant surprise

How nice it was this weekend to meet, Chuck Pefley, one of the better known professional photographers in the City Daily Photo blogging community.
Spent the weekend seeing the sights in Seattle with visiting family. Shortly after arriving at Pike Place Market on Friday, I was taking pictures of several motorcycles and scooters parked along the curb on Pike Place and noticed a couple of guys discussing bikes. Later it struck me that one of the men was probably blogging friend, Chuck Pefley (had on a beret) and so I set off to look for him on a very crowded market day. The sun was beaming and the temperature was finally warming to seasonal norms. Find him I did, busy at work, but we did have a few minutes to meet and chat. Saturday was another very busy day at the market, but I was able to snap a few pix of Chuck and his work, chat briefly again and plan to someday actually visit over a coffee or lunch. After more than a year of virtual comments, it was a pleasure to really meet Chuck Pefley.

Shadow Shot Sunday

Folks in the Port Townsend Bay area were treated to a special event last week at the Jefferson County Library in Port Hadlock. The Oregon Shadow Theatre was in town to present its delightful shadow puppet version of the classic Hans Christian Andersen story Thumbelina. Artists and performers, Mick Doherty and Deb Chase are masters at entertaining young and old with their magical and beautiful art form. Learn more about them and the art of shadow puppetry here.

A gallery of shadows awaits your discovery at Harriet's Shadow Shot Sunday.

Born to ride...

...into every sunset from here to eternity.
Artist, Scott Jaster, provides an endless parade of whimsical bike characters around his studio and bike shop in Port Townsend. I've featured some of his bike art in earlier posts here and here. To see some of Scott's fine sculptured furniture and other artwork click here for his online gallery.

A gallery of shadows awaits your discovery at Harriet's Shadow Shot Sunday.

Art Port Townsend - Lori Bernstein

Art Port Townsend is a month long program of events that showcases many artists in this area. One of the highlights is a weekend of studio tours that invites the public to meet and watch the artists at work in their own studios. This year's list included more than forty participating artists. We were happy to have a chance to stop by several of the studios during the tour.

Today's artist is Lori Bernstein. The following is her artist's statement for the Art Port Townsend studio tour:

"Every evening in the springtime, the pond near my home comes to life with the song of frogs. My studio, Froggy Bottoms Pottery, is named after this little pond. It is both my workshop and a “classroom” where I balance my time between teaching pottery and creating hand made ceramic art.
Some of my work is slab built, but I make most of my work on the potter’s wheel. After forming the pieces, I decorate them by brushing on multiple layers of colored clay. Once the layers have dried, I carve through them to reveal the contrasting clay body beneath. The resulting surfaces, black and white and highly textured, remind me of woodcut prints.
I made my first pots on a wooden kick wheel while living in the Costa Rican cloud forest. Later, I studied pottery at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine and at Pottery Northwest in Seattle. I received my BA in Art from UC Berkeley. My work is available locally at the Port Townsend Gallery.
I teach, I make pots, and the frogs sing me to sleep.”

For more information click here to see her artist's page from the studio tour.

Art Port Townsend - Heather Cole Gatto

Heather discussing a work in progress in her studio.

Art Port Townsend is a month long program of events that showcases many artists in this area. One of the highlights is a weekend of studio tours that invites the public to meet and watch the artists at work in their own studios. This year's list included more than forty participating artists. We were happy to have a chance to stop by several of the studios during the tour.
Today's artist is Heather Cole Gatto.

Click here to see her artist's page and statement for the studio tour.

Heather's website can viewed at heathercole.com

Art Port Townsend - Kathy Francis

Art Port Townsend is a month long program of events that showcases many artists in this area. One of the highlights is a weekend of studio tours that invites the public to meet and watch the artists at work in their own studios. This year's list included more than forty participating artists. We were happy to have a chance to stop by several of the studios during the tour.

Today's artist is Kathy Francis. Even though we met her in her new studio high on a bluff overlooking Port Townsend Bay, she's more likely to be found painting out of doors somewhere with a group of other artist friends who enjoy the en plein air style of painting.

To see her artist page in the studio tour guide, click here.

Art Port Townsend - Michael Hale

Michael Hale in his studio during the tour.

A work in progress of the Port Townsend bell tower.

Art Port Townsend is a month long program of events that showcases many artists in this area. One of the highlights is a weekend of art studio tours that invites the public to meet and watch the artists at work in their own studios. This year's list included more than forty participating artists. I hope to post several of the artists we visited during the tour. Today's artist from the studio tour is Michael Hale. To see his artist page on the studio guide list, click here. View his online gallery at halespace.com

ABC Wednesday - J

As promised last week in my Sky Watch Friday post about Port Townsend artist Scott Jaster, here are more of his bike art creations just in time for the letter J on ABC Wednesday. To learn more about Scott Jaster and his artwork visit his online studio at http://www.scottjaster.com/

Visit more posts today on ABC Wednesday by clicking here.

Sky Rider

I've often wondered during the Wooden Boat Festival where this piece of whimsical art that marks the free parking racks for bicycles comes from and who the artist might be. Today I met Scott Jaster, who is indeed the artist, at his bike shop and studio in Port Townsend. He is a very talented artist and works in several mediums. To view some of his work online and learn more about the artist visit his gallery here at Williwaw Studio. I plan to do another post soon with more of his artwork.

Visit all the Sky Watchers here at Sky Watch Friday!

Sky Watch

We are in Plano, Texas today on the first stop of several family visits. There is an art show opening here tonight in Plano at Chattham Gallery where three of our family artists (Roger, Valerie and Nancy) are exhibiting work along with several other area artists.

I took this Sky Watch photo of one of Roger's recent pieces called, The Vase Outside.
To see more of Roger's artwork as well as that of all the artists with the Chattham Gallery, please click here.


For all the Sky Watch news and a list of participants visit Sky Watch here.

Where in the world...

...might this be?
I think many people would quickly recognize this colorful style of artwork as a piece of Dale Chihuly's blown glass and it is, indeed! Shown here is a small cropped shot from this massive piece of art which is a joy to behold.
It's Odd Shots Monday and Katney's Kaboodle is the place to go!

An addendum to this post: This piece of Dale Chihuly's artwork was purchased by and installed in the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska. Named Inside & Out, it was created in 2000. To learn more and to see this thirty foot high piece of glass art in the museum, click here and enter chihuly in the search box.