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While this is from last year, I thought I would let you all know about the opportunity I had with Sketchbox in March 2021 creating a tutorial on how to paint pet portraits.
Getting used to guiding other artists (read: guiding adult artists) on how-to-do projects is nerve-racking in its own right, it was a fun experience for me to talk through my process on how to get your pet to look like…well, your pet!
Check it out below:
Written by Molly Duttry - EcoArts Coordinator for DNDA
Last winter, DNDA staff started a project allowing youth to be part of a beautification project from the safety of their homes. This mural was designed by local artist Amanda Jorgenson and was painted by 45 youth from NewHolly, High Point, and Delridge. This mural is made up of 63 individual 11”-by-14” canvases. Each youth received their own kit with paint, a printout of the mural, and a unique canvas. It was essentially a paint-by-numbers project that would be part of something much bigger.
This mural shows that as a community we can create something truly beautiful and collaborative without being in the same space. Youth were able to connect with other youth across South Seattle and co-create a project that allowed them to take a break from technology. The flowers in this mural are local to Western Washington and signify the growth we have all experienced during this pandemic.
Once the canvases were picked up, we assembled the mural and looked for somewhere the public could see its beauty. The Seattle Office of Arts and Culture graciously offered to show it at King Street Station. The mural is titled Community Garden and will be on display in their gallery from July 22nd to August 16th. After this showing, it will be on display permanently at the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center in Delridge. We plan on having a closing celebration to honor the youth, families, and artists that contributed to making this mural. More information to come.
We are incredibly grateful to 4Culture, the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, and an anonymous funder for their support. Thank you!
Attempts at restarting a snail mail way of saying Hello.
A few recent Send a Letter postcard requests.
I’ve always been someone who has loved receiving mail, particularly lately while we’re in self-isolation. By mail, I mean legitimate letters, cards or postcards, amd not some junkmail from the ever-perseverant weekly mailer called “Retail-me-Not”.
Most of my friends and acquaintances have a good laugh at my single-handed attempts of reviving the glory days of both USPS and the hand-written letter, but I believe this is because most of them haven’t received real mail in a very long time. Or EVER!
I find that for most, sitting down to write a letter is an incredibly daunting experience, which I understand to a point. However, the nice thing about sending snail mail is that by simply taking the effort to send a physical “hello”, you’ve already shown the recipient that you care. Yes, perhaps the adage “It’s the thought that counts” is really about snail mail senders!
Years back, I took part in a project called Snail Mail My Email, which is sadly now defunct. Snail Mail My Email was a community art project where volunteers would transform strangers' emails into handwritten letters, and include a hand-drawn image of the email-writer’s request. I really enjoyed this project, especially because it combined my love of art, and my love of mail.
In the last few weeks of quarantine, I’ve felt increasingly overwhelmed by technological communication. As much as I enjoy receiving messages, emails, Zoom calls inquiring how I am doing, it is a lot. While on a walk, and away from my laptop and phone, I thought about how nice it would be to get mail asking about how I am so i could sit down at my desk and actually think about how I am doing instead of sending a passive, “Good; you?” over DM, IM or text.
Thus came about sending a letter with customized art on it ala Snail Mail my Email. Why not make someone else hand write and mail something to someone you love? Why not continue to combine my love of art and mail for the benefit of those who are going through a hard and potentially overwhelming time right now?
Currently I offer three different service types for Send a Letter: postcard , greeting card, and a full-on letter. Pricing includes postage, materials (such as paper, paint and envelopes) and the rest goes to my time and art.
“Why wouldn’t I just do this myself?” you might be asking yourself. Well, why don’t you! While I always appreciate the support of my art - especially right now being laid-off and all - what I am really trying to promote is sending happiness to someone who is having a rough time. Or someone who is doing ok, but a piece of mail just makes them smile even more. Maybe you don’t have the materials to do so. Maybe you feel as if you don’t have the time and sending mail keeps getting pushed back. That’s why I am doing this.
I also created a short stop-motion animation called Snail Mail for Tiger as a little advertisement for the service. Stop-motion is something I’ve always wanted to try, so shoot - I had the time to do it.
If you have questions about the Send a Letter service, do not hesitate to send me an email via the Contact form.
To order postcards, greeting cards or letters, head to the shop: www.amandamjorgenson.com/shop/send-a-letter!
In September, Urban ArtWorks reached out to me to ask if I was interested in designing a mural for a client’s private garden/residence. Since the client is often gone, they didn’t care to plant flowers or other vegetation; instead wanted to have a mural depicting Norwegian flowers that they could look at year round.
In total, the mural covers roughly 4.5’ x 25’ and consists of 4 separate panels which are attached to the client’s fence. The flowers in the mural are as follows:
Alpine sow-thistle (in the two-toned purple) | Giant bellflower (in the yellow) | Water aven (in fuchsia) | Fiddlehead fern (in green) | Round-leaved wintergreen (in two-toned red).
The colors are not true to the flowers natural color; however, this was done with intention, as Seattle winters can be quite grey, so bright, bold colors are necessary to brighten up the area.
Between the project manager, a volunteer, and me, we were able to finish the mural in 3 days. Although if you know an artist, you are well aware that we could have picked at it for an eternity longer.
All in all, I am pleased with the outcome, as is the client, so I couldn’t wish for a better ending to 2019.
In the following pictures we have my cat, Agatha, critiquing my initial designs - tracing the design onto the panels, using a projector - beginning stages of painting and outlining - the completed panels in the Urban ArtWork’s studio - the mural in situ!
The below video is shot and edited by Environmental journalist: Alison Morrow for KING5 - please watch!
In June 2018 I had the opportunity to tag along with the Cascades Carnivore Project into the Southern Cascades where a wolverine den was recently found. My role was to illustrate and visually document the den and surroundings.
For those of you who don’t know what a wolverine is, you’re not alone here. Many friends I spoke to about my trip thought a wolverine was a small wolf, made jokes about seeing Hugh Jackman in the wild, or thought they were the stuff of legends. Wolverines are cute, yet vicious member of the weasel family, but more closely resembles a little bear, in my opinion.
Its jaws can bite through bone, and it can take down any mid-sized animal to chow down on. Their territory spans into the upper end of the double digits, and they are mostly solitary. I also happen to think they are just too cute (but not something I’d like to run into by my lonesome).
My friend, Bennett Dewan, took the above photo. You can check out more of his wildlife photography at his website: www.bennettdewan.com . He’s truly brilliant.
It must be mentioned that wolverine sightings are incredibly rare, as not only are they elusive, but they were thought to no longer live in the area. Wolverine sightings are a HUGE deal, so to be included in this was absolutely incredible.
The hike (20+ miles in all) in took us across a raging river and over some snow pack, which turned out to be my downfall. After setting up camp, the team and i set out for another few miles to scout out the wildlife cameras and collection stations. This is where scientists/biologist collect samples of fur to see how many wolverines/other species have been visiting the pungent bait - which is dangling from a rope in a tree to lure in interested wildlife- to be photographed.
It appeared that Pepper, the resident female wolverine, whose den we were on our way to visit, visited with her Pepperoni - otherwise known as her kits. So. Stinking. Cute.
Not far from a beautiful lookout of the Cascades, sadly my trip took a turn for the worst. As I was discussing how excited I was to sketch and observe the area the following day, I broke through the thawing snow pack and straight into an underlying tree.
While normally this is not a huge issue, unfortunately for me, a wave of nausea hit and I knew something wasn’t quite right. As it turns out, I managed to sprain my ankle at a Grade 3 level: where I completely tore ligaments in the right side of my ankle, making it very difficult to walk down hill without rolling my already rapidly swelling ankle.
Regardless, I managed to make it to the wolverine den, which was massive! In June, the wolverines had already made their way to their summer home, so there were no run-ins, or needs for quick getaways. It truly was a sight to take in!
An environmental reporter for a local TV station took fantastic footage about the whole trip; you can watch it below, and in a different segment above:
I get a special mention as the “Illustrator Lady”.
Sadly after one day and night, I had to head back to civilization with the KING 5 crew. Crossing over a raging river with a busted ankle was terrifying, and of course, hiking downhill was no treat. It’s truly amazing how much adrenaline (or whatever it was) takes over to get you through to the otherside. As soon as I got into the car, my ankle ballooned to 3 times the size it was whilst hiking.
After realizing I couldn’t drive back into Seattle, I spent the night in Yakima and ate an entire Domino’s pizza by myself while watching “Southern Charm” - truly wonderful and horrifying.
Regardless of the lingering injury, I would really enjoy doing more conservation work - artistically. I gotta get the ankle back up to snuff, as it’s not quite there yet. to go on mountain treks to find the rare and elusive. Hopefully soon enough!
Thanks again to the Cascades Carnivore Project for allowing me to tag along!
You can see my illustrations under the pen and ink section of my website titled: Pepper, the wolverine, and Vulpes Vulpes.
