Calendar of Events

Using the ancient dip pen and black sumi ink, come discover the joy and beauty of calligraphy and the calming meditation of calligraphy. Join poet calligrapher Lindsey Wayland to connect deeply with the letterforms you already use and read daily. The quality of calligraphy will bring each student closer to their center and presence.

The word calligraphy comes from two Greek words: kallos, which means “beauty,” and graphein, which means “to write” thus, “beautiful writing.” However, because calligraphy is less about beautiful handwriting and more about drawing the letterforms beautifully, anyone with enough patience can learn calligraphy.

Each student will learn the basic alphabet in classic Copperplate cursive as the foundation to experiment and add their own creative flair. Students will leave class with a more confident ability to write beautifully, to understand the letters used in nearly every application of life, and very beautiful materials. Students must have a basic understanding of writing and cursive. No other prerequisites necessary. All are welcome.

Please let us know in advance if you are left-handed. Once you’ve taken this class, you are qualified for Pointed Pen Calligraphy for Intermediates (check website for current schedule).

Supplies Fee: $30, cash or check made payable to the instructor on the first day of class.

Learn to paint using acrylics in this 6-week course!  Students will explore a range of acrylic painting techniques to create soft images inspired by nature, and also bold, bright, wild creations that acrylics are known for! Each assignment will guide students step-by-step through planning for a painting, preparing surfaces for paint, and finishing a completed painting.

While working as an assistant to Max Grover, Julie was able to absorb information, techniques and style. Combine that experience with her natural talent, enthusiasm and gift for teaching, and you what you get is 3 hours of  fun, information and creativity.

ABOUT JULIE

SUPPLY LIST:

At least 6 acrylic paint colors, a basic set is fine, or get whatever catches your eye. As is so often the case with art supplies, you get what you pay for, and the cheaper the paints the more unpleasant they are to use. I recommend Golden Heavy Body Acrylics – the Cadillac of Acrylics in my opinion. Here are some of my favorite colors: Titan Buff, N5 Neutral Grey, Payne’s Grey. Chromium Oxide Green, Naples Yellow, Red Oxide, Cadmium Red Dark, Cadmium Yellow Dark, Cadmium Orange, Light Ultramarine Blue, Teal, Light Magenta, Burnt Sienna, and Raw Sienna. You will have the opportunity during class to try paints you don’t have as well.

Palette: Whatever you desire – anything works. I use Masterson’s Sta-Wet palette. It is a moist palette, designed to keep your paint workable longer than a dry palette. Any size is fine, I prefer the 8 X 7 Sta-Wet palette. It should include 5 palette papers and a sponge.

At least 6 brushes in different sizes.  Don’t buy expensive sable brushes as acrylic paint will eat them alive. If you don’t know where to start, buy a pack that includes a variety of brushes.  One of my favorite brushes is very small, it’s the Connoisseur White Taklon brush, round, size 0. The largest brush I recommend is a Connoisseur White Taklon 3/4″ square wash.

Paper Towels

Pencil

ALISSA’S WORKSHOP HAS SOLD OUT, and a wait list is underway. To be added to the wait list, please email info@ptarts.org and include a phone number in your email message. Thank you!

Program fee includes the following supplies: field kit, instructional booklet, 3 page color guide to best dye species, silk scarf and dye testing kit.

Day One: Field Study and Testing for Color

Take a slow walk through a nearby woodland to observe lichens and fungi in their natural habitat, while getting a deeper, hands-on understanding of their ecological niche.  We’ll discuss the difference between collecting specimens for identification, dyeing and dye testing.  After our walk, we will return to the classroom to test mushrooms and lichens for color. This process will determine whether a species has dye value and if so, the best route to optimal color. We will observe and discuss fungal features, perform chemical spot tests on lichens, and take field notes of finds. This will prepare you to forage for dye species on your own.

Day Two: Regional Dye Palette

Using a selection of local dye mushrooms and lichens, we will dye a rainbow of samples. We’ll go over the special techniques required for optimal results with each fungal pigment group. Students will be guided through the steps for making a simple, yet elegant arashi shibori inspired silk design. Participants receive recipes, a procedural handout, a customized guide to the best local dye fungi and will create a beautiful hand dyed scarf. I will cover all aspects of getting started with mushroom and lichen dyes and prepare you to carry on your own exploration.

Day Three: Maximizing Dye Potential/Mushroom Dyes on Multiple Fibers

We will build on our experience of maximizing dye potential by utilizing our strong exhaust baths for marbled skeins and pastels. We’ll also be working with a few new concentrated baths of common dye species from the area. This is an opportunity to explore how all fibers take the dye a little differently. Students are encouraged to bring a minimum of 6 oz of their own selection of protein based yarn or fibers divided into 1oz skeins or bundles. No pre-treatment necessary. We’ll add mordant directly to the pot. Bring extra fiber, 6 oz/ person is the aim, but there will likely be lots of extra color. This is a fun day to play!

ABOUT ALISSA

Alissa Allen is a self-taught mycologist and the founder of Mycopigments. She specializes in teaching about regional mushroom and lichen dye palettes to fiber artists and mushroom enthusiasts all over the world. Alissa got her start in the Pacific Northwest and has been sharing her passion for mushrooms for over 15 years. She has written articles for her website as well as Fungi Magazine and Fibershed. In 2015 she created the Mushroom and Lichen Dyers United discussion group and The Mushroom Dyers Trading Post. These groups have grown into a community of over 6000 members. In 2020 Alissa will host the International Fungus and Fiber Symposium in the US at a location yet to be disclosed. Alissa uses brilliant colors found in fungal dyes to entice people to take a closer look at mushrooms and lichens and the role they play in the greater ecosystem. To read more about her work, visit http://mycopigments.com/

We invite you to fall in love with traditional flavors of Argentina. Chef Donald Cobb Jr. will prepare Argentinian favorites like burnt tomato, goat cheese, anchovy bruschetta and wood fire roasted beef. Be our guest on Thursday, November 21 at Reveille at the Commons to listen, learn, eat and drink in the ambiance of our beautiful seaside property!

Pricing ranges from $55-$65 based on this month’s selections.
Reservations can be made online, book now by using Resy.
Please call 360.344.4400 ext. 522, M-F 9:00-4:00pm with questions.

This one is personal, folks. If not for John, Rainshadow Recording might very well not even exist. When John decided he wanted to make a record, he coaxed me back into the studio, after a 17 year absence from same. As a result, I co-produced his first two records, Dreams of the Lost Tribe and Revelation Land and it was the most fun I’d had in 17 years.

John is one of the most unique and wonderful songwriters I have ever had the pleasure with whom to work. His lyrics are borne of the wide variety of experiences life has thrown at him… from packing vegetables at the A&P, to working in a paper mill, to dealing blackjack, to teaching Shakespeare as a university English professor. His guitar playing is equally prodigious, displaying a remarkable command of chord theory combined with a hard-picking finger style and driving slide work.

I knew from the very first song, when we began working on “Dreams,” this was going to be something special. The record opens with an Invocation, transitioning into a 6 1/2 minute long epic about the Okeefenokee Swamp. A lush arrangement that includes violin, viola, cello, string bass, pedal steel guitar, clawhammer banjo, accordion, tambourine, all held together by John’s acoustic guitar picking, the images portrayed immediately transport the listener to the hot, sticky climes of South Georgia. From the mouth of the babe himself:

“I grew up on a tributary of the St. Marys River in South Georgia, a few miles east of the Okeefenokee Swamp. My aunt once told me that we were part of the lost tribe of Israel, so I grew up believing that said lost tribe had devolved into a pack of Baptists and bootleggers. In addition to playing lead guitar in a wide range of bands, including an almost all-black soul band (yours truly was the token white boy) called Two Shades of Soul, I’ve packed vegetables for the A&P, worked in my Daddy’s liquor store/gas station, worked in a paper mill, on a horse farm, as a craps and blackjack dealer, as a reader for the Folger Shakespeare Library, as a university English professor, and, finally, as an overpaid member of the IT sector before the big bubble burst. Once I made my way to the safe haven of unemployment, I decided to make a CD.

You will discover that there is a healthy dose of blues in my music. I learned guitar at around age 12 from one of God’s best experiments in improving the species, Enman Cobb, a South Georgia bluesman. The three most important lessons Enman taught me were my first chord (E9), that there isn’t a right or wrong way to play the instrument, and this bit of advice: “Careful, Johnny, you white folks has a ten’acee to work the guitar. But you s’pose to play the guitar. Don’t you be working it.” I owe him much. [My music] contains several E9 chords, some probably “wrong” ways of doing things that I happen to like, and, I sincerely hope, a lot of playfulness.”

Glazing is amazing. In the shortest amount of time and with very little effort, you can enliven a dull area, develop the range of values, and possibly salvage a painting that you think is a dud. By adding a judicious glaze of color you could give that painting a spot on your wall! And the ones that really don’t make the cut can still happily function as a template to practice the technique of glazing.

It makes sense that transparent colors would be used for glazing. We will be discussing the difference between opaque and transparent pigments to help clarify that. Make sure you bring any colors that say “transparent” or “semi-transparent” on the tube.

To use the technique of glazing your painting needs to be completely dry. So pack up a few (at least 3-4) of those “dud” paintings along with your painting kit and supplies and let’s see if we can’t resuscitate a few.

Painters in acrylic need to bring medium (either matte of gloss).

Painters in oils: many paint companies offer their own brand of glazing mediums. Bring them along if you have them, but linseed oil or the oil of your choice (walnut, poppy, safflower, etc.) are just fine.

Don your finest blue & green gear and head over to Taps at the Guardhouse to enjoy $15 pitcher & chicken wing specials ALL DAY LONG. This week, the Seattle Seahawks will travel to Lincoln Financial Field to take on the Philadelphia Eagles, Sunday, November 24 with a kickoff at 5:20PM to battle for the week 12 win. Come cheer on your team on game day at Taps! We’re talking to YOU 12’s!