Artists Working to Make It Happen!!

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Evening View of the Blue Whole Gallery

Preparing the Gallery for the Holiday Season

Artist Terry Grasteit helping out.

   Setting artwork in the Blue Whole Gallery does not happen by wishing it so, but rather it is due to the efforts of individual members volunteering their time, artistic sense of balance and taste to present a visual treat for the public to view.  The results of their hard work & effort this Holiday Season will make the Gallery come alive with a display of original art and unique gifts that will be offered the day after Thanksgiving, Friday Nov. 28 and throughout the month of December.  
    This wonderful selection spans the spectrum of painting, photography, ceramics, holiday cards, ornaments, jewelry, fiber art and more.  Each of these art works have been created by Blue Whole Artists themselves and reveals their spontaneity, creativeness and imagination.  This allows the public the opportunity to embrace & support the arts and the artists themselves.

Artist Robert "Bud" Bowling helped set the Gallery Gift stand up.

    To set the stage for showing these Holiday Gift Items, member artists like Robert "Bud" Bowling, Terry Grasteit, and Brian Buntain put together glass shelving that allows items to be displayed well. This Gift Gallery section, located in the center of Gallery, allowed artists Karin Anderson and Liz Harper to place the art work so that the public can view, touch and admire the efforts that each artist of the Gallery has worked hard to create.  

Karin Anderson making final touches.

Liz Harper placing gift items on stand

Artists Liz and Karin stopped working for a photo shot.

A sample of the artwork by Gallery's artists.

   The Gift Gallery and a Holiday Group Show starts on First Friday, December 5th bringing together 2D and 3D art that offers that perfect gift for friends and family.  Or deck your own table and walls this Holiday Season with original handmade art from the members of the Blue Whole Gallery.  This time of giving thanks and sharing with family and friends can also be remembered by a treasured gift that is appreciated by those you care about.

    

    All the artist members of the Blue Whole Gallery extend their heartfelt hopes that the Holiday Season ahead is a joyous and thoughtful one for each and everyone.

  

 In Memory

    With the ending of the year 2014 we regret to announce the passing of two of the Blue Whole Gallery's founding members.  Their art work and personal dedication to the Gallery will be greatly missed.

Mary Lou Teitzel

Helen Wood

Colors & Textures in Art

Evening View of the Blue Whole Gallery

   

Artistic Inspirations

   Fall has arrived on the Olympic Peninsula.  Cooler & overcast days along with rain turning into snow on the mountains will be the season's gift to us all.  Yet spectacular colors & textures still can be seen at the Blue Whole Gallery with the art works of Jan Tatom & Karin Anderson. Each has a distinctive way of expressing their inspiration in art.  Jan reveals her vision by working in purchased & hand-spun fibers revealing weaving patterns with the use of two looms. While Karin works in acrylic, mixed media and assemblage incorporating a multitude of materials.  Brighten up your day and view these artist's colorful visions on First Friday, November 7th and throughout the month at the Blue Whole Gallery in Sequim, Washington.

Jan Tatom

Jan working at her Schacht Loom

Using a loom's shuttle & bobbins

  Jan Tatom enjoys the weaver's world where threads are woven with unlimited color combinations obtained from dye processes along with creative loom designs and woven geometric patterns.  It is an ancient art form found in all human cultures that reveals cultural identity, historical events, fashion trends and artistic skills.  Jan is fascinated with the possibilities that fiber can offer and she is inspired by the colors of spring or fall, along with the natural beauty of the Olympic Mountains. The challenge is to interpret such inspirations as creations that include fabric garments, discharged & dyed rayon scarves, & hand-woven wearable art as well as decorative and utilitarian pieces.

A swift used in winding yarn.

 In order to create such objects  Jan uses hand-spun fibers, a swift that winds yarns into skeins, along with two looms, a Schacht & a Gilmore, that are warped simultaneously to form decorative and utilitarian pieces. The results are an expanded range of colors, patterns with different weave structures and unlimited forms.

Double Weave Block

    Here are a sample of Jan Tatom's fiber inspirations that reveal patterns, weaving skills that please the eye and serve a multitude of uses.  (i.e. wearable art that may be used as a table runner or wall hanging.)

Ikat Handwoven with beads, Tencel discharge

Alpaca Twill - Hand-dyed Alpaca

Undulating Wall Hanging / Runner, Perle Cotton

  Truly, Jan has mastered the skills of weaving. Her artistic creations reveal the passion and the inspiration she has for fiber art.  The color range & textures obtained by special dye processes along with creative loom designs & weaves offers the visitor to the Blue Whole Gallery an inspirational look at wearable art as well as a decorative & utilitarian pieces.  Explore this weaver's world and join Jan Tatom at the Gallery on November 7th, from 5 to 8pm & throughout the month.

Karin Anderson

Karin working in her studio

   Karin Anderson is a mixed media artist whose work is eclectic, colorful & fun.  Not content to stick with one medium or style, Karin works with a multitude of materials ranging from acrylic, watercolor, gouache, & pastels, to collage & assemblage.  The latter can be seen below.

"Portrait of an Artist"

    
    Karin's inspiration comes from everyday things:  leaves, rocks, flowers, newspapers, fabric, found objects & (her favorite) rusty junk. These objects become the spark for her creative process.  She finds great satisfaction in re-purposing these elements into her art to stir up a story, memory or a laugh from the viewer.

"Mango Morning"

  Karin is always eager to experiment and explore something new. She uses vibrant colors to create simple, bold compositions.   

"Are We There Yet"

     Karin's creative inspirations combine both a love of color & an unconventional approach to art, revealing her unique view of the world.  She has the ability to take the everyday object and turn it into an intriguing work of art. She achieves this with skill and daring.  Visit the Blue Whole Gallery on First Friday, November 7th and throughout the month to view Karin's imaginative work and exploration into the world of art. 


  Jan Tatom and Karin Anderson will be the featured artists on November 7th from 5 to 8pm at the Blue Whole Gallery. Enjoy their approach to art and talk with the artists themselves on this first Friday.

Both artists welcome your contact:

Karin Anderson: at karindesigns54@yahoo.com

    Home phone: 360-681-8481    Cell phone: 360-477-7923
karinandersonart.com

Jan Tatom: at jantatom@olypen.com
Phone:  360-681-3845

Different Approaches to Art

Evening View of the Blue Whole Gallery

Transformation & Adventure

    As the month of October ushers in "Indian Summer", the Olympic Peninsula reveals brilliant fall colors and cool evenings.  Along with this special time the Blue Whole Gallery is showcasing two of it's member artists, Terianne Stratton and Robert "Bud" Bowling, and each has a different approach to reveal their artistic skills.  Terianne is currently working in the medium of Encaustic - or hot wax painting while Robert Bowling uses natural & found materials in assemblages. Their skill transforms as well as creates adventures in art & will be featured on the First Friday of October 3 and throughout the month at the Blue Whole Gallery in Sequim, Washington. 

Terianne Stratton

"Coral Bloom"- Water Series (Encaustic)

   Terianne Stratton currently lives and works in Sequim, Washington and has a fine arts background in printmaking, painting and photography.  She often combines these latter elements with encaustic - or hot wax painting.  Encaustic is an ancient art technique using molten beeswax and damar varnish, sometimes with colored pigments added.  The "paint" is applied with brushes and fused with heating tools. All of these elements are an important part of her artistic approach.

  When working on a new project Terianne let's intuition and the creative process determine the direction of the work.  She is greatly influenced by elements & forms found in nature.  This can be seen in the works shown here, which are a part of her Five Elements Series.

"Transformation" (Encaustic mixed media)

"Deep Light"

"Daisuke's Blade"

  

  Terianne often uses various elements found in her studio among her collection of prints, odd pieces of old texts, stencils, and other ephemera.  She enjoys incorporating graphic elements, letters, words or numbers - as symbols that can suggest content and possibly a hidden story.   Her aim is to illustrate the vocabulary of abstraction that can be found in anything when broken down or simplified. This form of expression can be thought of as a narrative transformed by what the artist sees and experiences.  The following examples follow that theme. 

 

"Two Letter Words R2"

"Two Letter Words PQ"

  For Terianne Stratton "Art is an expression of personal experience and how that experience has settled and imprinted itself upon the spirit of the artist".  Share in her quest, join this adventure in art by Terianne and visit the Blue Whole Gallery on October 3, from 5 to 8pm where she and her works will be featured.

Robert "Bud" Bowling

   Robert "Bud" Bowling is a self-taught, mixed media artist living in Sequim, Washington.  His approach to art is an adventure involving assembling together natural and man-made objects found on the Olympic Peninsula.  He incorporates these relics left behind in time and places them into artistic assemblages.  He strives to show how these objects are related to each other and combines them with various materials and mediums, transforming them into creative works of art.    

"Doorway to Adventure"

 

"Mother Earth"

"Seeds"

   Each piece is a challenge to put together effectively but it is also for Robert Bowling a chance to take the viewer into a world of natural & found elements relating a story of what is left behind.  He finds satisfaction taking a singular concept and seeing it transformed into a completed work.

"Mystic Tree"

"Butterfly"

"Speaking of Heat"

   Enter the assembled worlds of Robert "Bud" Bowling, whose creative eye has seen how found objects can relate to each other revealing a visual story. You will experience an approach to art that incorporates a transformation and an adventure into the unexpected.

 Visit the Blue Whole Gallery and view the art work of both Terianne Stratton and Robert "Bud" Bowling on the First Friday of October 3 from 5 to 8 pm. Enjoy their approach to art and talk with the artist themselves.  

 Both artists welcome your contact.

Terianne Stratton: at www.teriannestratton.com

or Phone 1-786-201-8186

Robert "Bud" Bowling: at 1-360-6812-7344

Artistic Exploration

Evening View of the Blue Whole Gallery

  

 An Exploration in Art Skills

   With the end of Summer and the beginning of Fall, the Blue Whole Gallery will showcase two of its member artists Debbie Cain and Lynne Armstrong. Each of these artists explore their art differently by using materials and techniques to reveal what they appreciate most around them. Their work will be featured at the Blue Whole Gallery starting on First Friday September 5th, and throughout the month.  This will give the public a chance to view two versatile artists who's skills explore different techniques that they have found to help them reveal through their art what they feel and are interested in showing.

Debbie Cain

Debbie Cain in her studio with loyal companion "Mckinley"

   Debbie Cain enjoys exploring art and its possibilities on a three dimensional level, that is painting, carving, embellishing, embedding stones and other materials on natural gourds instead of paper or canvas.  This exploration of gourd art allows her to expand her imagination and use materials beyond the usual materials.  This style can be seen in "Falling Leaves Cut Out" a work where Debbie cuts a gourd to show the outline of maple leaves, that are then delicately painted with fall colors.

"Falling Leaves Cut Out"

"Twined Gourd"

  Beside carving and painting gourds she also incorporates twine and turquoise stones into gourds to give them texture other than the natural smoothness that each gourd has.  She works to integrate these materials so that the gourd takes on a special shape other than itself alone.   
  Tastefully, Debbie makes every effort to incorporate elements into the gourd so that it becomes a unified creation that does not take away but adds to the overall shape. 






   In addition to integrating natural elements on to the gourd, Debbie also paints and carves images on the surface.  Subject matter varies, but images such as wolves, tigers and Southwest portraits & motifs gives her a varied spectrum of creative challenges.  The following examples show the skills that are required to render such images realistically. 

"Tiger Portrait"

"Lone Wolf"

'Trio Lizard on Basket"

       

"Indian Maiden"

 

"Basket Weaver Bear"

   

 

"Chili Peppers"

                  All of these handmade and decorated pieces by Debbie Cain reflect her exploration into this art form which requires technical skills to arrive at a completed composition.  Such dedication begins with a simple gourd that may incorporate a carved image, a painting along with natural elements to achieve the final results.   
   Explore this art form and see Debbie's creations at the Blue Whole Gallery on September 5th and throughout the month.

Lynne Armstrong

   Educated in Art and Art History at Cornell and Stanford, she has been painting all her life.  That exploration is leading Lynne into two different series, one labeled "Dream" in which she is venturing into the abstract in order to convey a subject's purity of soul, its meaning and what she feels about it.  The results can be seen in the following three abstract acrylic paintings.

"The Dream"

 

"A Wondrous Thing"

"Super Moon"

 

"Spring in the Orchard"

"Blossom Tapestry"

     Lynne also explores the seasonal changes that are upon us at this time.  This new series titled "Fulfillment" show how flowering trees in Spring move into a Fall scene laden with ripening fruit and leaves of fall colors.  Such are the gifts that Nature shares with us throughout the year and yields a special element in Fall where the wide spectrum of colors are to be enjoyed as well. 
    

  
                                                        

 

                                                                       "Apple Trees"

  To reveal these changes Lynne Armstrong uses thick impasto strokes of acrylic paint to make a composition come alive and tell a story or share a feeling.  Her two series "Dream" & "Fulfillment" are artistic explorations that can be enjoyed and savored by visiting the Blue Whole Gallery.  





  Both Lynne Armstrong and Debbie Cain will be present along with their art work on the First Friday of September 5th at the Gallery from 5 to 8pm and their art will be featured throughout the month.  So enjoy the fruits and gifts of the Fall Season and join these fine artists and explore their art work by visiting the Blue Whole Gallery. 

Both Artists welcome your contact.

Debbie Cain: at dcain0516@gmail.com

Cell Phone Number: 951-205-5645

Lynne Armstrong:  at lynne@lynnearmstrong.com