Watch and learn from artists at Fresh Paint

Fresh Paint is Everett’s annual outdoor festival during which visitors can roam the city’s waterfront promenade and watch dozens of artists at work.

Instead of just watching the action, visitors have the chance to become artists for a day.

Mixed media artist and Lake Stevens Middle School teacher Jody Cain has, at past Fresh Paints, invited kids and adults to participate in a collage project or make their own stamps.

This year, Cain is thinking of doing stencils.

And who wouldn’t want to play with shaving cream and watercolors?

Cain is a believer of using common household items such as drywall tape, bubble wrap or bottle caps, or whatever she can find really, in her art.

“I find things that are cheap and you don’t have to go to a fine arts store to buy them” Cain, 41, said. “It helps kids and adults look at everyday objects from a different point of view.”

If you would rather just enjoy watching artists at work, you might want to check out the booth of Diane Frederick, who is new to Fresh Paint this year.

Frederick is a self-taught pyrographer, or wood burner.

She has spent more than 25 years burning portraits of people and animals onto wood such as birch or Myrtlewood, creating art works that are look like antiques.

“It’s the kind of art for those who appreciate the art of wood or appreciate folk art,” said Frederick, a Snohomish resident.

Frederick uses a basic wood burner that looks like a soldering iron to draw the images. She discovered this tool in high school and realized at the time, “Wow, I can draw with this.”

“It’s really rewarding to do, like meditation,” Frederick said.

She said she has perfected the ability to control the heat, which can reach temperatures of 1,050 degrees, and has learned how to “barely singe the wood to get what I want.”

In 2007, she began wood burning on gourds and has done several exotic animals such as giraffes. She has a big gourd ready for an elephant — or a herd of elephants.

“Doing this artwork has really tuned me into the energy of these animals,” Frederick said. “With each animal I learn something new.”

Frederick also wood burns mandalas using gem inlay to create designs on plaques, bowls and boxes. She has sold several custom made mandalas. One, for a family in Port Townsend, combined symbols from their lives and stories of their past and became a biography in wood.

If you visit Frederick’s booth, don’t expect to receive any ceremonial tattoos. She says she only burns on wood.

“I burn on the plant material, not on a human being,” Frederick said.

About Fresh Paint

Fresh Paint will be held this year from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday along the entire length of the Everett Marina, 1700 W Marine View Drive.

More than 75 local artists will demonstrate and sell their work at this “16th annual Fresh Paint: Festival of Artists at Work.”

Visitors can watch glass artists at the outdoor hot shop. You can also create your own fused glass masterpiece with artist Janet Foley or watch Steve Dalton throw a ceramic pot, or get a photography lesson from Randall Hodges and observe wood turners, welders, silversmiths, painters, printers, weavers and other artists along the waterfront promenade.

Fresh Paint is a free community event presented by the Schack Art Center. Parking is free at EverPark, 2815 Hoyt Ave., Everett, and visitors can ride Everett Transit bus No. 5 to the marina to avoid the crowds.

On Saturday morning, the fifth annual “Float Find” takes place on nearby Jetty Island where visitors can walk the beach in search of glass sea floats.

Visitors can take the ferry from the 10th Street Park to Jetty Island starting at 8:30 a.m., but the hunt starts at 10 a.m. The “Float Find” is free, but parking is $3 at the 10th Street Boat launch where the Jetty Island Ferry is docked.

For the first time this year, you can make your own glass float at the Schack Art Center hot shop.

The Make It Now Glass Fishing Float event runs from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Schack Art Center, 2921 Hoyt Ave., Everett. The event is for ages 13 and up and costs $45. Pre-registration is suggested.

Also going on Saturday is the Seattle Metals Guild: Jewelry Trunk Show, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Schack Art Center. Visitors can shop for metal jewelry pieces from 15 jewelry artists in Seattle.

For more information about Fresh Paint or other events or to register for the “Make It Now” event go to www.schack.org.

Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424; goffredo@heraldnet.com.