New Artists. New Art Work. New Places to Tour.

Denise McDonald

This year, 42 new artists are opening their studios October 17^th and 18^th giving art lovers young and old a chance to make art connections all across Washington County, Oregon.  

You’ll see demonstrations in a wonderful and eclectic range of art media.  Whether you’re interested in 3 D or 2 D art, there’s something for you.  See steel forging, glass fusing, weaving, wood working as well as throwing clay, mask making and copper repousse.   Watch an artist work with encaustics, watercolors, acrylic or oil on canvas, pastels, silk painting and more.

There might just be an artist right in your own Washington County neighborhood.  Whether you live in the city, suburbs or out in the country, we have artists on the tour from Aloha, Beaverton, Sherwood, Tigard and Portland to Banks, Cornelius, Forest Grove, Gaston, North Plains and Hillsboro.

Here are a few inspirations shared by some of our artists. 

Lorraine Pascuzzi says, “Seeing something beautiful in nature and letting the imagination take hold.”

 

Lorraine Pascuzzi

“I am inspired by all kinds of things. Nature, dreams, visual images, weird things that I see or experience,” says Sierra Lonepine Briano.

 

 

Sierra Lonepine Briano

Her inspiration, Darla Boljat says, “The challenge to recreate the beauty that I see.”

Darla Boljat

For artist, Ana Quinn, “My cats, ancient art forms, and the life cycle of the salmon.”

 

Ana Quinn

 Stay tuned here to read more blogs featuring individual artists as they talk about their inspirations, studios and work process.

To see some of the art before the tour, check out our new Pinterest page https://www.pinterest.com/WashCoArts

Find weekly and soon, daily updates on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Washington-County-Art-Alliance

Figure out which artists are in your neighborhood on our website at  www.washcoart.org

Meet Darla Boljat: Painter.

Not all of us discover art in the same way.  For Darla, it was curiosity.

“A friend of mine painted and although at first I did not take too much notice curiosity took over and I wondered how hard would it be to create a painting,” says Darla.

Darla’s curiosity turned into to a lifelong love.  

 “I love creating,” says Darla.  “It challenges me to recreate beauty I see all around me.  I enjoy the challenge. I love seeing peoples’ reaction to something I have made, especially when they understand where I was going with it and make a connection to a particular piece. I realized after about a year after I had started painting for the first time in 2004 that this would be a lifelong pursuit.”

For some of us, there’s one part of the process that is a favorite.  But not for Darla, “The joy is never ending. I enjoy creating. I enjoy teaching and helping others create. I enjoy the times when my creation finds a permanent home with someone who loves it.”

Although Darla likes to experiment, she has found her own unique way to paint, “I get easily bored,” says Darla.  “I have tried many different techniques but when I am creating paintings I usually stick with the tried and true techniques so that my painting will withstand the test of time. I usually start my painting in acrylic and then finish it in oil. I enjoy using dammar and walnut oil with a bit of odorless thinner as a medium when I am oil painting.”

You can see more of Darla’s work and visit her studio during Washington County Open Studios tour October 18-19^th from 11am to 5pm.  And on her website at www.dkboljat.com