Five Best Outings in Seattle

Seattle Center Fountain- #1 of Five Best Outings in Seattle
8x10" Original Oil Painting by Joanne Shellan

 1. The fountain at the Seattle Center is my top pick when it comes to naming the heart of Seattle. It's where people are drawn to gather in times of mourning and to celebrate when the sun comes out. You can't beat a fountain that is programed to perfom to music and where there are no signs telling you to keep out.

2. Pike Place Market is a close second. It's as honest as the day is long. Real people working long hours down there, no corporations allowed. Farmers, flowers growers, fish mongers and fish throwers, all together in one big happy. It always makes me happy to be down there.

3. The Arboretum is one of my favorite parks in Seattle. Views there just cannot be beat. You can look out on vast Lake Washington or in on lily-padded nooks and trails for canoes. It's a park that beats all others for sizable trees, calm  vistas and long walks.

4. Our friends and relations who come to visit Seattle always get a visit with the troll under the bridge in Freemont. It's too quirky to not show off. I mean, where else in the world does such a creature exist except in a back lot at Disney?

5. Archie McFees is my final destination for our Seattle Tour. Maybe we just have nutty friends but we always have a lot of fun showing off the place and feel quite satisfied about how our nickel and dimes were spent. A faux leather bacon belt and rubber chicken can't be found at any old store. I do miss the old location  on Stone Way though.

 

Email me your favorites. Surly two heads are better than one and a new and improved list can be made!

 

Your best outing in Bothell is Kaewyn Gallery where my show is currently up and thriving. November 5, Saturday from 1-4pm is Meet the Artist Day! Join me for nibbles, hot cider and art talk. The show is up through Nov. 23. And three of five best places are featured in paintings in the show!

 

The Most Impotnat Thing Every Artist Needs to Do

The most important thing a creative person does is choose what to express. It matters less what style the writer uses or what color of paint the artist chooses. It matters less if the clay is sculpted in a rough or highly polished manner. The poet can use a pen or a computer. The playwright can be funny or serious. But before an artist makes any of those other decisions, the number one thing to consider is what they want to express. It may sound simple. Just say it, as Nike would have us do. But say what? Where do you look to decide what you want to say? Do we climb a mountain and look for it there? Do we study meditation to find it? These things can help but it's really about self-awareness. You need to start by knowing yourself and then looking inside to where you keep your deepest convictions and your dearest values and that's where you'll find something meaningful to convey.

My upcoming show at Kaewyn Gallery will feature paintings of places that vibrate within me. I have positive, loving feelings and real connections with these places and have painted them in a very Joanne sort of way. That is how I walk my walk. If I am true to myself and my art, those feelings should come right off the end of my paint brush and be pulled deep into each painting I create.

Nike may say it but we artists try really hard to just do it.