The Buckman Arts Show and Sell

Wow! Have we been busy! In addition to our wholesale and online endeavors, the Portland Saturday Market is back in full swing and, last week, we participated in the Buckman Arts Show and Sell. Which means, we did two shows on the same day! Yikes! We just received a nice note from Mary Bradshaw at Buckman, which reads:

Hello everyone - I wanted to take a moment and quickly thank all of you for donating a piece of your work to the Buckman Art Show and Sell Silent Auction. You should have all received a receipt for your donation except for a few that are being mailed out today. Please let me know if you have not received something by early next week. The show was a smashing success. We were able to raise over $2000 on the silent auction alone. When combined with the proceeds from the Art Show and Sell and the Buckman Bash we were able to raise over $40,000 which goes directly to supporting our arts and music programs. Everyone on the Art Show and Sell Committee and especially myself as the silent auction coordinator want to thank you for your generosity. I hope you enjoyed your participation in the show and hopefully will be back next year! Please let me know if you have any questions. Enjoy the rest of your spring! Mary Bradshaw Buckman Art Show and Sell

The "Dance" collage shown above is from a new writing journal cover that we created especially for the Buckman show.

ETSY item of the day:

Our featured Etsy item of the day comes from artist KatHannah of Pennsylvania. We love so much of the work in her Etsy shop, it was difficult to choose just one, but we are particularly fond of this one, entitled Jetaime -Mae and Bebe:

You can purchase a print of this lovely oil painting at KatHannah's Etsy listing .
To see more of KatHannah's work, visit her Etsy Shop.

Thanks for supporting Etsy Artists!

Studio 101 Closing

Tillamook Bay, Oregon ©Mesman Images

We're bummed to report that Studio 101 in Garibaldi is closing it's doors.

Etsy Shop of the Day

On a lighter note, today we'd like to introduce you to Rebecca's Soap Delicatessen, an Etsy artist who has a large selection of wonderful hand-made soaps for sale, like these two which caught our eye.

You can see more of Rebecca's products (and buy some, too) by using this link: Rebecca's Soap Deli

Thanks for supporting Etsy Artists and buying Hand-Made!

We Now Create ACEO's

We're now creating and selling ACEO's of our images. ACEO stands for Art Cards, Editions, and Originals. They are an offshoot of Artist Trading Cards, which are small pieces of art traded among artists. ACEO's, however, are for sale to anyone and have become the equivalent of baseball cards within the art world. The only criteria for these cards is that they all must be 2.5 x 3.5 inches in size. Anything else goes. We have a number of ACEO's currently for sale in our Etsy shop and plan to add to the collection frequently. You can check them out here: ACEO's

New feature: Etsy Artists

We're happy to announce that we are going to begin featuring items made by our fellow Etsy artists. While we plan to feature one item per post, this time, we'd like to feature items from two different artists, both of whom create jewelry. Both of these hard-working artists are currently running specials in their Etsy shops, so you should check them out.

Bracelet by DesignsByKat619

The first featured item is titled Montana Blue and Silver Ric Rac Necklace and is the creation of DesignsByKat619. I love the colors in this piece.

You will find this item on Etsy HERE

Her Etsy shop can be found HERE

Necklace by FeatherDragon Jewelry

The second item is titled Victorian Necklace by FeatherDragon Jewelry. The gray and pink in this delicate piece go great together.

You'll find this item on Etsy HERE

Feather Dragon Jewelry's Etsy shop is HERE

Please support these and other Etsy artists!

Portland Saturday Market Begins Season

The Portland Saturday Market, the longest running market in the U.S. devoted exclusively to artists, has kicked off its 35th season this past weekend. Despite conflicting with the annual Southeast Portland Artwalk, there was nonetheless very high attendance. Notable this year is the dramatic change in the site layout, as two major construction projects have altered the landscape. Mercy Corps is building their worldwide headquarters on one side of the site, while the University of Oregon is renovating the White Stag Building to create a Portland Campus on the other. Things seemed to work smoothly despite the changes.

Boardwalk at Cannon Beach © Mesman Images

Portland Saturday Market
Mercy Corps' New Headquarters

Our Note Cards now at The Arrangement

The latest Portland retailer to include our products is The Arrangement on NE Fremont in the Beaumont Wilshire neighborhood. This is a beautiful gift shop in a great area and we're really proud to have a selection of our note cards included there.

The Arrangement
4210 NE Fremont
Portland, Oregon 97213

Toxic Chinese Pet Toys Update

A couple of weeks ago, we brought up the question of whether or not pet toys imported from China are safe. We also wondered out loud why we hadn't really heard anyone talking about this. Well, doing a little web surfing, we discovered that people were talking about this! The links below are to just a few of the articles we've come across.


From the New York Times
From KXAN News in San Antonio
From Ezine Articles

Image of Gelsey at the Dog Cafe © Mesman Images. All Rights Reserved

Trees Make Great Art

One of our favorite subjects to photograph is trees. At any time of year, the architecture, color, and texture of trees makes them interesting and beautiful to look at. Here are a few examples of trees that we've shot during different seasons. The Japanese Maple below was shot at the Portland Japanese Garden during Fall. The bare tree next to it was shot in Herault, France. The moss-covered trunks on the bottom-left are shown as they appear in the heart of winter, near Portland. Finally, the interesting-shaped pine, which appears to have lost its lower limbs, resides on the Oregon Coast and is shown during Spring.

























For info about trees, check out these useful sites:

Spirit of Trees
American Forests
Int'l Society of Arboriculture
National Arbor Day Foundation
National Tree Trust
Nat'l Alliance for Community Trees
See Spirit of Trees for a more exhaustive list