Franki Kohler

Fiber Artist

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Wild Blackberries on Sauvie Island

I’ve made several trips to Sauvie Island and shared some of what I found here. On Sunday I made a visit with two friends who know the island well and where the best places for picking wild blackberries are. The berry patches were huge and heavy with plump, ripe fruit. I haven’t picked wild blackberries […]

Sketches

Here are two sketches I’ve done in the last couple days. The pear is done with pen and watercolor. Click on image for a larger view. This blackbird is done with watercolor only. I painted the entire page and let it dry before painting the blackbird. This was inspired by a wine label. And here […]

Acceptance at Art on Broadway Gallery

Two of my works have been juried into a guest show titled “minimal – just enough” at Art on Broadway Gallery. The gallery is located in the heart of historic downtown Beaverton and specializes in original fine art by award-winning local artists. The call stated in part: “This show can apply to just about any […]

Columbia Gorge Visit

When the Historic Columbia River Highway was completed in 1915, generous landowners and civic groups donated property to create scenic retreats along the route. Among the most spectacular spots are Chanticleer Point, Crown Point, Latourell Falls, Shepperd’s Dell and Multnomah Falls. I recently made the short trip to what is known as The Gorge. From Highway […]

Three Accepted for Fabrications

I’ve just learned that three of my entries for the Columbia FiberArts Guild exhibit Fabrications have been accepted. The jurors had 70 submissions to consider and 37 were selected. This is the first exhibit I’ve entered since my move to Portland last summer. The call for this exhibit stated simply: We are looking for creative, […]

Portland Art Museum – Native Fashion Now

I joined a nice crowd of local SAQA members this week for a docent-led tour of Portland Art Museum’s new exhibit Native Fashion Now. Organized by the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass., this is the first large-scale traveling exhibition of contemporary Native American fashion celebrating indigenous designers from the United States and Canada, from […]

Fleet Week and Rose Festival

Portland is celebrating it’s 109th Rose Festival this year. Since the very first Rose Festival in 1907, visiting ships and other fleet-related elements (like submarines) have been coming to Portland’s waterfront — so this is also Fleet Week. One of the purposes of Fleet Week is to celebrate and thank the active and reserve military personnel and all […]

Concrete & Grassland Exhibit

I attended the opening artists’ reception for Concrete & Grassland June 3rd. This juried exhibit is a collaboration between Studio Art Quilt Associates and the Grants Pass Museum of Art and features 57 art quilts by 57 artists.  SAQA artists were asked to submit works that explored either the soft lines of nature or the […]

Sauvie Island Visit

We recently crossed the bridge over to Sauvie Island, an island in the Willamette River just 20 minutes from where we live.  The northern half of the island is a wildlife refuge with 12,000 acres of state-owned habitat for wintering waterfowl, swans, herons, sandhill cranes, bald eagles and 250 other species. The southern half is primarily agricultural. […]

Tulips

Last month I had a vase filled with gorgeous tulips. I took many photographs of the flowers as they opened. This photo inspired the piece I am working on now. I chose to use a method that I learned from Denise Oyama Miller several years ago — she calls it broken color. I like the […]

Willamette River Happenings

The river is alive and bustling. Here is the Portland sternwheel steamboat passing by. This was taken from our balcony.  The Portland was built in 1947 for the Port of Portland. It is on the National Register of Historic Places and currently hosts the Oregon Maritime Museum which owns it. The steamboat is moored at […]

Inspiration and Hand Work

I’m still getting things just so in our new condo in Portland. Just this week I brought out my collection of foot-square art quilts purchased through SAQA’s annual on-line benefit auction. (This year’s auction begins September 16th but you can view some of the art that will be available and read about how the auction […]

Happy Birthday Beverly Cleary

Beverly Cleary turns 100 on April 12th. Since her first book, Henry Huggins, was published in 1950 over 91 million copies of her books have sold. It’s entirely possible then, that, like me, you read many stories involving Henry, Ramona Quimby and Ribsy, Henry’s dog. Cleary grew up on NE 37th Street in Portland and […]

First Box From Organics to You

We have been missing the incredible boxes of farm-fresh vegetables and fruits that once came to our door from Shooting Star CSA. After all, it’s spring — so where are the strawberries and asparagus?  I have found a local source. Organics to You works with many local organic farms and other sources for organic foods […]

More Sketches

A couple weeks ago I began experiencing intermittent computer issues so my posting has been sporadic. Those issues have been resolved so I have full use of my computer now. Enough said. Here’s a sketch done in response to an assignment from my recent Sketchbook Skool instructor, France Belleville-Van Stone :  Sketch something with wheels […]

More Sketching

Another exercise assignment from Sketchbook Skool: without looking at the page, put pen to paper and sketch a portrait. I used a photograph of myself with David for this blind contour exercise and sketched us individually. The results were pretty funny. If you’ve ever seen Harry Nielsen’s The Point, David might remind you of the […]

Sketchbook Skool: Stretching

Sketchbook Skool is an on-line sketching and watercolor school that I have taken several classes with. While I was away, I received an offer for a class that had just begun at a price I couldn’t resist. When I got home I was eager to check in and take the first class with  Jonathan Twingley. Jonathan […]

Last Sketch in the Book!

I’ve just returned from a wonderful visit in Nevada and Southern California. I packed my traveling sketch bag along but didn’t think about the fact that I had just one empty page. Lesson learned. Happily, I had a few watercolor postcards in the bag so I was able to do more than one sketch. I was […]

Fountain Pen Sketch

I purchased a Lamy fountain pen over a year ago and have done little to become acquainted with it. I purchased the pen after taking a course through Sketchbook Skool with Liz Steel, an Australian architect-turned-sketcher who regularly uses her fountain pens to sketch. She discusses fountain pens extensively on her site here.  The pen […]

Lemon and Pink Grapefruit Marmalade

I barely squeaked in a batch of marmalade  last year so I’m determined to get with it this year and stock some favorites. The citrus that is available now is just too wonderful to ignore, both fresh and for creating marmalade. This week I turned lemons and pink grapefruit into one of my favorites. The fun […]

Sketches

I ironed some dinner napkins and a small stack of hankies yesterday and was inspired by one of the hankies to open my sketch book. Here is the last sketch I had done — I’m not sure why I haven’t shared it here before. Here is what the hankie inspired: When was the last time ironing […]