Two exciting pieces of news for March!

On Thursday, March 11,  I'll be part of a show at Wallflower Customing Framing in Seattle - my first show outside of Portland! Jennifer Mercede, Betsy LeVine, and myself will be showing our three contrasting styles in a show entitled "Three Faces" at Wallflower's Shooting Gallery.  If you happen to be in Seattle on the 11th or any time during March, please check it out!

Second - Art in Hand, the playing card project, is nearing completion and soon you'll see decks of Art in Hand cards on shelves throughout Portland! The decks will retail for $7.00, making them a great gift for card players and art lovers alike.

In the meantime, please visit our fan page on Facebook and support the project by becoming a fan! Not only will you get to see sneak peeks of the cards in the deck, you'll find out about the upcoming auction of the original pieces. Proceeds from the auction will go to non-profits around Portland - mine will go to MercyCorps to aid Haiti relief efforts.

I have the privilege of taking part in a project called Art in Hand PDX, a unique venture which invites 54 Portland artists to each create a design for a playing card.  All of the designs will then be compiled into a high-quality card deck to be sold in retail stores in Portland and beyond.  The project has already been launched in Charlotte, NC and Toronto. To read more about Art in Hand, visit www.artinhand.com.  To get you thinking, my card is the nine of spades..........Check out my site and the Art in Hand site in February to see samples from the finished deck!

From now until the first Wednesday in October, three of my pieces from the first-person self-portrait series will be featured in a group show at Berbati's Restaurant. This is my first West side appearance - don't miss the chance to check it out!

Also in October: on Friday the 9th I'll be painting live at Portland's new and already acclaimed venue The Woods. At this unique event, The Portland Round, artists, poets, and musicians will all perform live to create a "well-rounded" creative experience. Come join us! 

 Check out what Willamette Week art critic Richard Speer has to say about our three-woman show Three Muses at the Bamboo Grove Salon:

http://www.willametteweek.com/places/bamboo-grove-salon/

Only two weeks left to see the show!

 Second posting of the week! I must be on a role..

The news this time is that three of my paintings have been published in the Summer issue of the online literary journal "Ink-Filled Page."  

As you can tell from the cover (that's not my work - although I wish I could take credit for it!), Ink-Filled Page is a rich and complex stew of creativity, and it's an honor to be included in it. 

Copies of the Summer 2009 edition can be downloaded at www.inkfilledpage.com. An anthology is published once a year and distributed at local booksellers such as Powell's, so I'll be sure to let you know once it's hit the shelves!

 Well, the summer is flying by and all of a sudden it's been months since my last posting. But now I have a new show to share with you, which I sincerely hope to see you at - it's at the Bamboo Grove Salon, and it's a trio show with talented Portland artists Julia Gfrorer and Lindsay De Armond. All three of us are figure artists, and you'll see both striking similarities and contrasts between all of our work. 

In the same vein as my last show at the Launch Pad Gallery (see the 2009 gallery page for some examples), I've continued exploring the possibilities of first-person self-portraiture. This show will feature a few works from that show, but will be mostly new works that reveal some of the more recent fascinations I've been influenced by.  

 Join us for the opening on First Friday, August 7th!

Where: Bamboo Grove Salon, 134 SE Taylor (entrance on 2nd between Taylor and Salmon)
When: August 7, 6pm to 10pm
Who: Elena Cronin, Julia Gfrorer, and Lindsay De Armond

Check back to see the show flyer, printed on Bamboo Grove Salon's own in-house letterpress!
 

One of my paintings will be featured in a group show at the Fine Grind Art Cafe alongside such beloved Portland artists as Jennifer Mercede, Anna Todaro, and Jill Bliss. The art will be up until May 15th, so if you find yourself craving a good cup of coffee, take the opportunity to check it out! The cafe is at 3921 SE Lincoln St.

 Thanks to everyone who supported me at the opening - it was a beautiful night!

To see photos of the opening, visit www.flickr.com/photos/elenacronin

To see images of paintings in the show, or to find out more about the Launch Pad Gallery, please visit www.launchpadgallery.org.

Come to the 4th Annual Love Show, February 13th!

Due to overwhelming popularity, this annual event - which in the past has  been held at the Launch Pad Gallery - has shifted to the larger venue of Olympic Mills Commerce Center, at 107 SE Washington St. in Portland. The new space allows room for over 280 different artists - imagine the variety, not to mention to vast scope of interpretations of one of art's most favored subjects throughout history - love.

This year, I have collaborated on a piece with talented silkscreen artist Lee Ritter (who also happens to be my boyfriend, a convenient collaborator for this particular subject).  Come and see our unique creation, not to mention those of the other 280+ artists on show tonight.

As always, the opening will be a party to remember, complete with food, music, drinks, and good company. It will run from 6 pm until midnight (and if you miss the opening, the work will be up throughout March). See you there!

I'd like you all to know about the opening of my newest show: tonight,  December 4th, from 7 to 9 pm. It will be at FaceBodySoul, a healing center and shop at NE 47th and NE Fremont.  Every other month Kiva Lane, the store's owner, invites local artists and musicians to come together with the community in her healing space.

My lovely and talented friend Rachel Robinson will be performing some acoustic music, and in addition to myself there will be another artist and a jewelry maker. Mediterranean hors d'oeuvres will be served, along with holiday goodies, hemp-milk egg nog, and of course a few bottles of wine (if I have anything to say about it).

Come eat, drink, enjoy art and music - and maybe sign up for a massage while you're there!

Make sure you get a chance to check out two shows of mine up in Portland right now: the first is at the Star E. Rose Cafe at NE 24th and Alberta. The paintings on display there are about the expression of emotion and sensation using the female form as a metaphor. The show will be up until the end of October. The second is a group show at the Launchpad Gallery, at SE 6th and SE Oak. It's a show entitled "Dreams" in which over 100 talented local artists have offered their interpretation of this ethereal theme. This show will also be on display through the end of October.

Hello, friends, family, and whoever else may have stumbled across this page in the vastness of the cyberkingdom - welcome to my brand new, very first, incredibly exciting WEBSITE! Here you'll find a lot of my recent works, as well as some older ones. As you can see, the vast majority of my recent paintings have focussed on a figural theme, and many of those are self-portraits. Another recurring theme is nature and wildlife, inspired by my love for the Pacific Northwest, where I live, and the plethora of creatures I've encountered in my travels throughout the world. 

I thank you all for visiting, and hope you enjoy exploring these pages. And for anyone who knows my wonderful boyfriend Lee, you have him to thank you providing me for this beautiful space to display my works online. Thanks, Lee!