The painting pops with vim and verve.
So, too, does the artist who created it.
The design by Jackie Cort is this year’s symbol of Sorticulture.
It’s on billboards and bus sides as well as on posters for the three-day garden arts festival starting Friday in Everett.
Cort, 49, painted it specifically for Sorticulture, which draws thousands to Legion Memorial Park for art, flowers, music, food and garden gear.
“I wanted it to be super bright and crammed many flowers in there,” she said. “I used as many colors as I could and carved it so it would have a lot of texture. That’s what makes it pop. It makes it look like it’s coming off the page.”
Cort uses a process with colored beeswax and a funny name: encaustic.
“The wax treatment allows it to have amazing ripples and texture,” she said.
She’ll sign free posters of her painting at the Sorticulture information booth from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday.
Her worry? “I have to work on my signature,” she said.
Cort was recruited to create the painting for this year’s Sorticulture poster.
“The minute we saw it we just fell in love with it,” said Lisa Newland, the city’s cultural arts coordinator. “Her work is so bright and colorful and had such texture.”
Everett graphic designer Elizabeth Person put it into poster form that shows off the depth of the flowers.
The city bought the original painting, titled “Garden Party.”
As for Cort, mother of three grown children, every day is a garden party at her rural Snohomish homestead with goats, chickens, a dog and a husband.
Her art studio at the back of the property is part kitchen, part tool shop. There’s a blow torch and carving knife. An electric griddle heats the colored wax she applies to canvas, paper, wood and whatever, transforming a blank slate into a colorful blast.
She does lessons and group art parties at her studio. Even visitors get a crash hands-on course how it’s done and a pretty painting to take home.
Cort loved art as a kid and kept loving it. “I’ve always drawn. I painted my friends’ faces. If there was a dance I did all the props. It’s always been my thing. I’ve painted in everything, with everything, on everything. People. You name it. I’ve done it all,” she said.
“I’m really an art slut. I made pottery that said that.”
She goes by “waxslayer” on social media. “People are like, ‘What do you do?’” she said. “Not what you think.”
What she’s doing is finally pursuing her dream.
“I was in banking and real estate. Everything that bored me stiff,” she said. “In 2010, I lost my mom and decided I was going to do what I wanted to do. I’ve always wanted to do my art full time. It was hard for me at first.”
Maybe so, but she has garnered a loyal following. At last weekend’s artists garage sale at the Schack Art Center, buyers swarmed her booth and snatched up her vivid works as soon as the sale started.
Cort likes the luster and the versatility of encaustic.
“People at all levels can do it,” she said. Even those who can’t draw a straight line. Make that, especially those who can’t. The imperfections are part of the appeal that make it special.
“If you don’t like something you put color over it,” she said. “You can scrape off any chunks you don’t like. There’s a ton you can do with it. It’s really durable. People think because it’s beeswax it will melt.”
Has she ever caught anything or anyone on fire?
Only herself. Well, almost, when she was showing her daughter’s boyfriend how to burn off shellac late one night after having a little too much fun around the campfire.
“I’ve never had anyone in a class get burned or hurt,” she said. “My hands are like hot pads now. Nothing burns me much. You get a little desensitized.”
The most exciting part of her Sorticulture fame?
Seeing her art in a new medium: billboards.
“I saw a picture of it on a billboard and I was freaking out,” Cort said. “I was like, ‘Oh, if I was 20 I’d climb that thing.’ ”
If you go
Sorticulture: Everett’s Garden Arts Festival is at Legion Memorial Park, 145 Alverson Blvd., Everett. There are numerous food, art and garden vendors.
Display gardens: Two Green Thumbs Miniature Garden Center; Land Hoe! Landscape Design and Construction; Planscapes and Complete Landscape Inc. NW; Landscape Design. Farmer Frog.
Hours: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. June 12; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 13 and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 14
Admission: Free
Parking: Park at Everett Community College North Broadway lot and take the bus. Regular fares apply. Limited disabled parking is available at the park.
Online: www.everettwa.org
Music and speakers
Friday, June 12
- 10 to 11 a.m.: Everett High School Jazz Combo
- Noon to 12:45 p.m.: Peter Ali, Native American flutist
- 1 to 3 p.m.: Will Franz, original acoustic pop folk
- 3:15 to 5 p.m.: Patrick McHenry, jazzy pop rock
- 5:45 to 7:45 p.m.: Gary Evans Collective, jazz, blues and pop
Saturday, June 13
- 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.: Zsofiz Pastor, affordable home-grown veggies
- Noon to 2 p.m.: Woodland, high-octane bluegrass
- 1 to 3 p.m.: The Tarantellas, festive Italian musicians
- 2 to 3:30 p.m.: Ciscoe Morris, “Oh, La, La Plants for Containers,” Q&A
- 4 to 6 p.m.: JP Falcon Band, rock, reggae, blues, country and Hawaiian
Sunday, June 14
- 10 a.m. to noon: Robbie Egelstad, Spanish acoustic guitar
- 12:15 to 2:15 p.m.: The Winterlings, alternative folk
- 2:30 to 4 p.m.: Jr. Geezer, original folk rock
Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @reporterbrown.
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64. Art of Mosaics Workshop!
67. Racks, Plaques, and More
68. Cascade Designs
70. Everett Animal Shelter
73. The Rustic Garden
76. WSU Livestock Master Foundation
78. Taking Root Nursery
80. Sherry’s Garden Art
82. Lowell’s Tools
83. Sedum Chicks
85. Bob Bowling Rustics
87. Oh-Growup
89. Garden Pot Stacker
91. Falling water gardens
93. Just Plate Crazy
94. Snohomish County Noxious Weed Control Board
95. Quilceda Carvers
96. Evergreen District Garden Clubs
97. Freeborn Metal Art
99. Snohomish County Master Gardeners
101. Diggit Garden Tools
102. Seattle’s Bird Lady
103. Island Art Glass
105. Silhouettes in Steel
107. Washington Department of Ecology
108. Everbloomin Glass Flowers
109. Red Barn Community Farm
110. All Decked Out Glass Art
111A. Green Everett Partnership (Saturday only)
112. Kindergarden
114. The Rusty Bolt
115. Four Cedars Studio
116. The Blooming Artichoke Herbary
117. Bayside Treasures
119. Amish Country Originals
121. Magic Magpie Studio
122. Oudean’s Willow Creek Nursery
124. Tin Man Garden Art
126. Wish Poosh Designs
127. NKRN Mosaics
128. Mario’s Birdhouses
131. Twisted Poppy Designs
133. Housing Hope
135. Sunbreak Nursery
137. Earth &Clay
138. Big Saw Productions
139. Shasta Image
140. BloomDiada.com
141. Edelweiss Perennials, Inc.
143. MKC West
145. Wilma’s Creations
147. Absolutely Nuts
148. Artstone Garden Ornaments
150. Bright River Studio
151. Concrete Concepts and Design
152. Enchanted Garden Art dba Scrapwood Studio
153. Albe Rustics
154. Dennis Cant Artist
156. Glass Gardens NW
157. Scents Nursery
158. Snooter-doots by Creative Endeavors
159. Krazy Klay Kreations
160. Soapworks Studio
161. Kennedy Creek Pottery
162. Jesse Kelly Glass
164. Jordan Nursery
167. Eclectic Treasures
169. M R Jacks Unlimited
170. Marion Pollmann, Fine Art in Clay
171. The Lily Pad Bulb Farm
173. Parts -2- Arts
175. Set In Stone Garden Art
177. Dymond Graphics
179. Lavender Hills Farm
181. Tom the Irishman LLC
183. Shelley’s Crustic &Craptastic Garden
185. Phocas Farms
186. Driftwood Creations
188. Trapp Industries
190. Laels Moon Garden
192. Stacie Moe
193. Dean Tile and Design
195. Marta Farris
197. Roxann Van Wyk
199. Evergreen Arboretum &Gardens
200. Art Of Stone
201. Len’s Fabrication
202. Dog and Pup Studios
204. Natural Accents
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209. Joyful Creations
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Food Booths
F1. Scotty’s Northwest
F2. Bambuza Vietnam Kitchen
F3. Grandma’s Yummies
F4. Gip’s Down-Home BBQ
F5. Pony Espresso
F6. Crepe Town
F7. Nibble (corn roasters)
F8. Pioneer Popcorn
F9. Island Creamery LLC
FT1. Tornado Potato
FT2. Express Rolling Grill
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