Pacific Northwest Arts: Jody Bergsma

Weekends at All Good News All Day Long are going to be more about travel and fun from now on and less about news. You get lots of good news articles during the week that center around green technologies, political changes, etc., but on weekends I'd like to change the focus and do less informing and educating and more entertaining, which can, of course, also be informative. So this week we are going to take a look at a Pacific Northwest artist I stumbled upon when I first arrived here in 1993. Her name is Jody Bergsma. Here's a link to her web site where you can browse her work online.

http://www.bergsma.com/

You can also find her prints, cards, bookmarks, mugs, and books, etc. in many bookstores and gift shops around the U.S., both online and in stores. If you are an artist or would like to explore the possibility of learning to paint, I highly encourage you to sign up for her blog. She's giving art lessons through her blog, which you would do well to investigate. Jody is an outstanding artist and a good teacher as well.

http://artwithheart.wordpress.com/

What brings Jody to my attention this weekend in particular is tied to a bit of personal good news. Not long ago, Jody announced a title contest for her new painting of orcas (a.k.a., "killer whales") cavorting in Puget Sound in the shadow of Mount Rainier. She announced this contest via her blog. I entered a title for the contest, and while I didn't win the contest, apparently Jody really liked the title I suggested. You can read the blog entry about the contest at the link above, and if you are interested, you can subscribe to the blog at the same place. For my title suggestion effort, Jody's crew is sending me a signed copy of the print, whose winning title is "Orca Strait: Your Journey to Paradise."

My suggestion was "Tahoma Breach," because the painting shows an orca whale breaching with Mount Rainier (also known to Native Americans and Puget Sound locals as "Tahoma") as a backdrop. If by chance you don't know this meaning of the word breach, a whale breaches when it leaps out of the water and comes down with a big splash. Wildlife researchers think this might have more to do with communication that sheer fun, but I rather like thinking that those orcas are just having a blast. It certainly seems as though they are enjoying themselves out there in the water.

Now go check out Jody's artwork at her gallery and sign up for her most excellent blog and learn how to do amazing water color art. If you'd like to check out Jody's books at Amazon.com, click here on the link that follows: Jody Bergsma's Books at Amazon

Editor of AGNADL