The Finnish American Folk Festival of Naselle is pleased to feature the artist responsible for our wonderful Knee Deep in Finns image . . .

Debbi Littlefield, artist

My fondest and earliest memory is lying on the living room rug, coloring on a carefully chosen coloring book page while Roy and Trigger thunder across the T.V. screen, says Debbi Littlefield.

This pretty well dates me. She goes on to write:

So who knew all that coloring would develop a very steady eye-hand co-ordination and lead to a B. A. in Art from California State University at Sacramento in 1974. No fancy art school but lots of hard work and practice generated a colossal love of color, pattern and shape.

My current medium of choice is colored pencil often augmented with watercolor pencil. The Knee Deep in Finns poster art work is done in this medium. A close second is acrylics — lots of rich, vibrant color.

During the years following college I self-published a line of pen and ink note cards and developed a decorative arts business of painted furniture and seasonal home décor. That is to say, velvety black cats, plump russet pumpkins and shimmering Christmas trees are just so whimsically fun to paint!

Middle school and high school students are always enjoyable to work with and so I taught Art at our high school here in Naselle, Washington for a couple of years. We experimented with as many media as possible and painted elaborate set designs for the annual school plays. We were always tired when the final scene was finished, but pizza is a great reviver.

I love small-town living in Naselle with its self-reliant people and country lifestyle.

So does my husband Bill and two of our three cats. We relocated here from Southern California nearly 11 years ago, settling not too far from the homestead my great grandparents built.

As for today, I can’t wait to get at my drawing board each morning toting that first cup of coffee. A perfect work day is a big block of uninterrupted hours spent laying down colors on thick, crisp white paper. Layering those colors, building up highlights and shadows, watching forms take shape and listening to an audio book — to my way of thinking, it doesn’t get much better than this!

I don’t have any mystical, artsy definition for my work or life in general other than do what you love and do it well.

Well, we here at the Finnish American Folk Festival sure loves what she does, and love how well she does it!

Debbi has worked on many other projects for us, and for the Naselle community, on many other occasions. She is one of Naselle’s treasures of human capital, helping make Naselle a capital place to live.

More people at the festival: finnam.naselle.net/2008/people/

Musicians at the festival: finnam.naselle.net/2008/music/

Festival main page: finnam.naselle.net/2008/