2011 Holidays in Portland: TQB Designs at Abernethy Art & Craft Fair

This is my one and only show for the Holiday season.  Here is your chance to see the breadth of my collection, all my new designs, colors and shapes.  Of course, after this you can always purchase my work at the retailers in Portland that carry my work year round (see my website:  tqbdesigns.com).  But, they don't always carry all the styles and colors.

As many of you know I love to support the Portland Public Schools and because this is just a one-day show, I was able to fit it into my schedule and hopefully do some good to bring arts to our kids:)  Please come out, if you can, and support this wonderful cause and buy some local art.  You'll feel better, I'll feel better, and our kids will benefit.  Thanks!

Pink

2010 - A TQB Plan So Cunning You Can Brush Your Teeth With It...

...okay so it isn't exactly my words (Have any of you ever watched Rowan Atkinson in Black Adder)... Anyway, I do have some exciting plans for 2010.  I am developing new designs - actually started them this winter when I was in the midst of mania creating work for all my galleries.  I have "Stones & Bones" and "Hands & Hearts",  I have "Skulls" and "Flowers".  Seems to be a yin-yang thing going on with me right now.  Anyway, did I say I was excited already?

I will also reveal some new colors - these are some of the hot colors for the Spring:  oyster, delphinium, windward, nautical, and avocado.  I'm also bringing back some of my older colors making them new again:  cherub, hot pink, dill flower, and flame.   Of course I will have new color stories titled:  "As You Like It", "Hadrian's Wall" and "Cafe de Nuit".  All these inspired combinations are a direct result of my experiences and imagination: of the past - history if you will - and what I believe these stories, people, and places would convey if told with color. 

I would also like to let you all now that I am planning on doing more shows this summer (if the juries allow of course) in the Mid-West.  I so enjoyed doing the 2009 Mid-Summer Festival of the Arts in Sheboygan, Wisconsin at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center.  I will be back there again this year and hope to get accepted into some shows in Michigan, others in Wisconsin and Minnesota before the summer is over.  I'll keep you posted on those developments.

On the flip side, because the bulk of my show time will be in the Summer, for those of you that live here/near Portland, OR, so far I don't have any plans to do shows until the Fall, so look for my work with my Retailers.  My first show for 2010 will be Art in the Burbs in Tigard - late October.  I will do one more show in December, but haven't decided which it will be.  I am trying to focus on my fantastic retailers more this year in order to get them fresh work more often.  They are tremendous and extremely loyal and I want to treat them right!  I have retailers in Charlotte, NC, Chicago, Il, Seattle & Olympia, WA and 2 in Portland, OR.

I also want to treat my Etsy customers better.  This last year was crazy-good for me on Etsy.  At one point I had 22 special orders between September and December and I wasn't able to list any new work.  I know that many of you were counting on me to list some new things in order to shop for the Holidays.  Without doing shows in the Spring, I will be able to make/stockpile more beaded rounds and therefore make more work to list in my Etsy store for your shopping pleasure.  Thank you so much to all of you that were sooo patience with me last year.  Your support continues to make my jewelry a success!

All that said, I hope that everyone had a fantastic 2009 and are looking forward to a fresh start with 2010.  I know I am.  And remember, as Coco Chanel said:  "The best color in the whole world in the one that looks good on you."  I hope I create that color for you...

- Pink

For me it's about the color - Bead Lesson No.2

I don't know if you can say that the beads I make are original, since many people out there can make beaded beads. I can say through years of trial and error, discipline, and perseverance, I have managed to create a practically perfect beaded sphere (or oval, square, barrel, disc) that is, in my opinion, my best vehicle for story-telling; for me the beads are all about the color, bringing them together in an original combination of shades. I imagine in color and associate memories with color, smells with color, ideas with color, feelings with color... you get the idea. In order to get this out of my system I work directly with color everyday, creating my jewelry designs. The beaded rounds I make are a means to an end and the metal work I do is the final touch to a color story about: unrequited love, Frida Kahlo, or the French Rivera. Each of my bead colors are chosen deliberatly as a symbol of something I know to be certain in my life or the world.

The unique and personal memories of me are what I try to convey in the work I make. Each color symbolizes a reaction, a longing, or a comfort. We all have these and convey them in different ways... mine just happens to be with color.

My newest and most popular color story right now titled Oaxaca is featured in my Etsy store: dijon, bronze age, chartreuse, mint, tahiti, tide pool, and charcoal. What story do you know that can be told with color?

- Pink

Leveled to the ground - one of my Favorite Portland Landmarks

The Union Pacific Building always reminded me of home. Yes, on the way to the Peninsula of North Portland. Well - now it's completely leveled and the only landmark left is the big smoke stack. I'm so happy I chose this landmark as one of my photo projects in a photography workshop I took last year... so glad:)

I wonder what "they" did with that big Union Pacific sign and the letters... there was just something about that building - the industrial-ness of it all. It looks so empty there now... what are the plans I wonder, as I watched them disassemble it brick by brick and as one metal sheet after the other came down. Bye-bye.

- Pink

Thank you JMKAC Midsummer Festival of the Arts

I did find some time to make a few new things for the last show I did. I really wanted to do something unusual with my beads and found a secret stash of disk cores ( I had made these in the past many years ago). I was only able to make one pair of earrings and one pendant - and they were some of the first pieces to go, as was the new pendulum necklace.

So, this was a very successful show for me and as some of you may have heard already, I came away from this show with an Award: based on professionalism, originality, display, and quality of work (see, here I am in my booth) - and my husband did a beautiful job getting it exactly how I envisioned it I think:). Anyway, I have to say I was STUNNED! I wasn't at all expecting to be given an award - which allows me to come back to the show next year without being juried in or paying the fee. I'm excited already for next year... and I hope to get into a few other shows in the Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan area next summer - what a great part of the country! I had a spectacular time, the people were fantastic and I especially loved Milwaukee - it looks like it is in the midst of a resurgence and what an exciting time it must be to live there...

Thank you so much to the Judges at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center - I'm so glad you were able to see my vision of story telling through color and metal - it means so much to me. And thanks to all my loyal supporters out there - your words of encouragement and support are always appreciated and welcomed... really. xo

- Pink

The Arts are Alive and Well... really? It's a Community.

Yes! And don't let anyone tell you different. Now, I preface this statement with some expected caution and diligence on the part of the artist, of course. In these troubled economic times we all have to be smarter, savvier and persistent. I know I do. And I take this very seriously. But, these are all skills any successful artist has any time of year, no matter the economic situation, I have found.

Now, I don't want to come across as gloating, I simply want to relay my own story in hopes that it may motivate and discourage the "nay-sayer" in either yourself (Yes... I can definitely be an "Eyeore", I've been told) OR perhaps those family and friends around you that ask in their melancholy tones "wow... how is it going?..." waiting to hear back from you some corroborating story of your troubled and tourmulant downturn. My best advice (even if it may be true)... don't succumb to them. I have to say that I was busy over the Holiday Season and continue to be very busily working to this day. I attribute this to the fact that I HAVE to stay positive to stay in business. I also find myself wanting to share what ever it is that I have learned over the many years of being a self-employed artist and find when giving freely back to the community I get so much more in return.

I know this may sound cliche - but, really as part of the Arts Community here in Portland, OR I feel it is my duty to stay positive. If not for myself but, for those that may not be busy or successfully/consistantly selling their work right now. I also do this for those artists that are coming into the community. They need to know that it is okay to try and be an artist not matter the trends or economy.

I am very proud to say that I will be speaking to some of these up-and-coming artists at my almamater, St. Mary's Academy in Downtown Portland (yes, I was one of those crazy Catholic School girls...). This school, being one of the very few all-girl high schools left in the US, taught me so many valuable lessons. The best and the one I use most: don't be afraid to take a chance - be yourself. You may be surprised at how strong you are.

I hope that I will be able to convey this to those young, enthusiastic and adventourous minds and spur them on with a sense of excitement to explore the possiblities out there in the Art world that is Portland and beyond.

It is a new time and it is palpable. I hope that everyone takes advantage of this re-newed energy in the air. I know I will... keeping Eyeore at bay.

- Pink

Doing what I can to help...

Okay - so I've been contemplating for some time on what I can do to keep my paper products for packaging to a minimum (aside from using newspaper that I get for free and re-using cardboard boxes from time-to-time) . For those of you that have purchased a piece from me, you know how I take pride in the packaging and presentation. I figure since I put so much work into the piece inside the box...well, the box should be something special too.

So, I think I have come up with another small re-purposing solution. I have decided to stop buying packaged Japanese paper for making my origami cranes and started making my own. I have discovered that, while looking through some of my very occasionally purchased magazines (and those scavenged from family and friends), not to mention the junk mail and catalogs I get, there are some really fantastic images that can translate into my paper origami cranes! Hurray - I love when I can save some money, save a tree, and re-purpose something that is normally forgotten and thrown out after a week.

Also, come Spring, I will be adding a new item (however, technically it isn't
really) to my store. I have been making my crane cards for many years and sell them to stores in the Portland area and feel that I can now share them with others in my Etsy store. They are really beautiful and I will have then listed singly and you can also purchased them in groups of 3, 5 or 7 for slightly less. And, who knows what else may develop out of my crazy fascination with these folded wonders...

These cards are very similar in feel to how my jewelry is packaged when you receive a piece. I would love to list these in my store before the Spring - but, I think I should focus on trying to get work in my store and filling the many, many special orders still outstanding by all my VERY patience and WONDERFUL customers out there.

Thanks all - and here's to the beginning of a beautiful and festive Holiday Season - each and every one of us:)

- Pink

Color Block Friday: What's in a Word? - 2008.03.28

Now, since I've been making these beads the most common likeness people use is berries. I love this, mainly because I could exist on berries everyday for the rest of my life! Okay, well... maybe not everyday but, you know what I mean. Organics, things in nature, etc... inspire me in what I do and how I work. Even the smallest phrase; collection of words, can bring about a different point of view with what I do. I take words very seriously...

For instance, take my newest color story "Bryant Park". I think of a big city with all its diversions. Cement, trees, colors of purple and gold - like royalty. This was my inspiration for this particular color story. Earlier this month I highlighted one of my newest colors "Crocus" in a gorgeous flowery shade of purple. I wanted to stay on the purple path and continue with Bryant Park by highlighting the other purple in that series: Mulberry.

This brings us back to the berry likeness. I can remember my earliest memory of my beads and how someone wanted me to make a bowl full and eat them like berries. Of course, in the early days, I didn't see this. Now, I wish I could remember who it was that gave me this image of organic delight. I now see my beads hanging from every tree, shrub and exotic plant. They are little pods, berries, and seeds. Droplets of water that glisten. Or, honey ladened buds of gold.

Next month I will have a new color story featuring some shades not yet used. 1st Friday in April... check it out!

xo - Pink

Color Block Friday - Luck O' the Irish - 2008.03.14

...and I don't even have a smidgen of Irish in me... But, how could I resist but to do Green for the Spring Season selection Color Block! Green is renewing, fresh, and representative of new growth, not to mention St. Patrick.

St. Patrick was credited with driving the snakes from Ireland (an early version of Samuel L. Jackson with "Snakes on a Plane"). St. Patrick's day came from his original Christian Feast Day (also may have also been the date of his death in 1737). When Irish immigrants came to American they started to celebrate this day, first in Boston, and then with the first St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York City in 1766 (The History Channel).

Now that the history lesson is over (okay, I'm a history geek, I admit it), let's get on with the colors. I love green. I also have over 10 selections of green in my bead collection. Crazy I know but, I sometimes have a difficult time thinking up a color collection without adding some green.

With a fantastic selection of green in my Etsy Store - take some time to check out my newest earring design, made with cilantro - "Chained Earrings". These have a great, contemporary feel, especially with the long ear wire to balance out the chain dangle. I also have some new bracelets and necklaces in this mighty shade!

I think the bottom most images here has the best views of all my green shades and here's the list - starting clockwise from the top left: wasabi, vine, mint, granny smith, dill flower, pine, emerald, chartreuse, leaf, cilantro, olive, sage - 12 in all.

So get your green on this Spring!