Posts filed under 'Announcements'
Beginning March 23, I’ll be teaching a 6 - week Watercolor class at Olyphant Art Supply 117 Washington St NE Olympia WA 98501.
This series of 6, 3-hour Friday afternoon sessions (3/23/12 - 4/27/12) will begin with an introduction to the materials which distinguish watercolor as a versatile medium uniquely dependent on the interaction of the materials used. Each week, lessons will build sequentially from the basics of paint properties and application, through the necessary visual interpretation skills, to enable each student to set up and paint a complete still life by week 6. See the syllabus for weekly topics.
Contact me amycfisher360@gmail.com or call the store 360-352-6348 for more information.
Be sure and contact me if you would like to be on my mailing list to receive future announcements.
Namaste
Amy
February 25th, 2012
Mark your calendars now. December 4th (Friday) 4 - 8 pm and December 5th (Saturday) 9 am - 4:30 pm I will be at the downtown Olympia WA Library at 313 8th Ave SE. Please come. I’ll have cards, prints, original w/c and acrylic paintings and painted tiles. The tiles and original paintings are recent work and not shown anywhere else prior to this sale. Proceeds go in part to support The Friends of Olympia Library. Go to their website for more info http://www.olympiafriends.com
Or write to me with any questions you might have. If you come to the show and know me only through my website, please introduce yourself. Sign my guest book to receive invitations to future shows and events.
See you there
Namaste
Amy
November 7th, 2009
For months I’ve been waking, nearly daily, feeling a question hanging in the air over my pillow like dew coating my pores - What and why am I doing? Of course, I have no satisfying answer. If I did, the question would not linger. I think most artists question what they are doing because questioning drives creative impulse. Plus I am 55, my hisband retired recently, I’m in my last year of teaching, my children are grown; my life is changing.
Sara Davidson’s article, The First Day of the Rest of My Life in the Jan 22, 2007 issue of Newsweek struck a chord with me. She closed that article with… “Expectancy is in the air. The country ahead, from the scouting I’ve done, is not arid and unpredictable, and I’ve come to be half in love with uncertainty.” I think that aptly describes where I stand after feeling some undercurrent of distress about what I’m doing with my life, why I’m doing it and what I think I’ll be doing with the rest of my life.
I remember the words in a book I read in 1969 and many times afterward by Alan Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity, which set the stage for my post-adolescent thinking. Watts says that insecurity is the result of trying to be secure. We have to live the questions and ride the crest of the breaking wave.
January 17th, 2007
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.
Reading this little poem, written by Robert Frost in 1923, reminded me that it can take very little - perhaps a smile, a flash of light, or a starry night - to break us out of a sour mood if we are open and observant.
Winter is a time of inner reflection and hibernation, yet, mixed in with the hubbub of living in a culture and time period that follows the clock instead of the season, it’s easy to feel tired and out of sorts. The “dust of snow” is a tap on the shoulder to reconnect us with the core of life.
Hook into that, and let go. Release the stuff that really doesn’t matter in the bigger scheme of things. Nature reminds us that life ebbs and flows. If we ride along, living the questions, we will evolve, perhaps not into answers, but into a sense of comfort with what is.
Namaste
Amy
December 29th, 2006
Thoreau stated - In the long run we only hit what we aim at.  Northwest calligrapher, Jo Uhlman, combined these words with her own byline - Feel your power rise when you focus your energy on fewer targets.Â
I don’t know about you, but with too many targets, my creative energy gets diverted in many different directions leading to physical and psycholgical clutter. So I keep Jo’s calligraphed advice visible in my studio. When her words gets dwarfed by clutter, I know it is time to put things away, rethink and refocus.Â
The Holiday season is one that can drown us all in a sense of urgency to keep up with the expectations for shopping, wrapping, shipping, cooking, visiting, even celebrating, to the point that the original motivating factor - a desire for peace in this world and love for family, friends and neighbors, is overtaken by obligation.
Take a step back. Focus on fewer targets and feel your energy rise.Â
Wishing you peace and joy,
Amy
December 14th, 2006
I found a great way to draw on the canvas or board prior to painting with acrylic. Draw with any water soluble ink. I’ve been using Tombow aquarelle brush pens. They are easy to erase by wetting, then blotting with a towel. You can use various colors, if desired, that mimic the color of the object/area you are outlining. Tombow Pink #723 leaves some stain so is harder to erase. You might want to test different inks first. Most lift quickly. Â
Walnut (brand) ink is watersoluble and works beautifully, as well.
Happy Painting!
November 29th, 2006
An article from the Fall 2006 U of Michigan alumni paper contains some powerful facts gleaned by grad students working with Rachel and Stphen Kaplan, the first academics to study the psychological benefits of nature. They found that: Residents of housing projects who live near trees showed measuarable benefits such as “more civility, less agression, and girls were more likely to study”. Also, “the single most important factor for avoiding stress-related burnout for AIDS caregivers was “locomotion in nature”. The quickest route to burnout was watching TV”, though many of us gravitate toward television to decompress. However, television does not allow mental rest because the stimuli are loud, bright and commanding, what the Kaplans call “hard fascination”. “Soft fascination” does not overwhelm the attention, and the beauty of nature provides gentle stimulation that allows the mind to wander, reflect and recuperate.  To read the article in full, click on http://www.umich.edu/news/MT/06/Fal06/story.html?awalk
Often we read scientific statements that actually seem to be based on common sense or common experience as much as double blind studies, yet we don’t necessarily applly the wisdom therein. Nature does not have to be a place we drive to.  Anne Frank wrote about a beautiful horsechestnut tree that grew outside her window. Though in hiding she could not walk outside and engage directly with the tree, the view alone was enough to lift her spirits and sustain her hope for freedom.Â
 Walking a tree-lined street can be a simple prescription for improved health.
Namaste
Amy
November 17th, 2006
Flannery O’Connor said “Never second guess inspiration”. I think that is a good reminder since I suspect all of us have dreams, ideas and gut feelings that we perhaps consider briefly, then ignore. Later we might have an experience that reminds us that we would have been better off had we listened. It is really a challenge in the busy-ness of today’s world to PAY ATTENTION. So many times we are just getting through the day thinking about what needs to be done. I am guilty of that; I make too many lists.Â
Anything that wakes you out of routine thought or action is worth a second look. Write it down, make a sketch note, say it out loud (under your breath even) to make it more real. Honor your individual wisdom and energy. And respect the ideas of others. We are in a critical time on Earth when harmonious and creative adaptability will save the planet
Namaste
Amy
October 28th, 2006
The Shop is now live, enabling easy online purchasing! Â
Crows in Old Madrona, (seen as a detail on the home page banner) is now available as a Giclee print in three sizes. Look for it in the Birds Gallery!
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October 12th, 2006
Hi, I’ve been away for several weeks on a 3400 mile road trip, hiking in seven National Parks in Utah and Wyoming. In contrast to the soft cobalt skies of a sunny day in the Pacific Northwest, the high desert skies were a mix of deep thalo and ultramarine blues. Set against the warm red rock landscape, the effect was stunning.  We had fun looking for flora and fauna native to that region and soaking in the heat before winter rains begin here at home.
In Bryce National Park, Utah we guessed that 80% of tourists were from outside the USA. I hadn’t been around so many foreign language sounds since visiting Ellis Island.  Besides the favorable exchange rate, I’m sure the foreign visitors went for the same reason most others go - to see a unique and magnificant landscape, and to stand in the experience of geologic-time. I was awestruck by the expanse and humbled by my effort to put my own lifespan in the perspective of 360 million years.Â
I figure, since it is so overwhelming to think of the insiginificant speck that our lifespans represent on such a vast timeline, that it is best to just focus on doing good in the world - whatever that might mean to each individual. One small act I decided to repeat more often, is to donate 10% of my profits via www.GOODmagazine.com. Click the link or read my “GOOD” post to find out more about them. A subsription for a freind lets you select a gift that makes a lasting impact.
Namaste,
AmyÂ
October 11th, 2006
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