Gallery-9 at 1012 Water St. has selected oil painter Jinx Bryant and crafter Nancy Aikman as its featured artists for October, and the public can meet those artists from 5:30-6:30 p.m., during  an Art Walk reception that will continue until 8 p.m., on Saturday, Oct. 4.

“I love the initial excitement, when light describes an object, a scene, a sound, and I can think of nothing else until I sketch the concept, start the painting (and) set in motion the creative process,” Bryant said of her impressionistic oil paintings.

Bryant grew up in a family of artists, potters, painters and musicians. She worked in clay before moving into painting, first with watercolors, then with pastels. and currently with oils.

“It’s always the colors, the textures (and) the light, describing the world around me, that compels me to put brush to paper and create,” Bryant said. “Color, atmosphere, design and movement call to me, and awaken that ever-present artistic spirit that is a part of my soul.”

Bryant finds it “exciting” to explore the natural world and described herself as “exhilarated” to investigate abstract worlds “blurred from reality, that allow the viewer to form a personal interpretation.”

Aikman creates pine needle basketry and cabochon jewelry, after a lifelong career as an accountant.

She discovered how Southern longleaf pine needles, semi-precious stone cabochons, glass beads and other natural materials could be woven into baskets.

The only man-made materials Aikman uses are traditional Irish waxed linen.

Everything else comes from nature, from shed deer antlers and bone beads, to recycled glass and metals.

Cabochons are natural gemstones found throughout the world, which are shaped and polished, rather than faceted.

Aikman searches for patterns in such stones that would lend themselves to interesting basket or jewelry designs, to complement the beauty of the stones in turn.

“I found my life story through expressing my connection and respect for nature in the creation of baskets and jewelry,” Aikman said. “Each basket is unique, and takes on a life of its own, waiting to find their place of belonging, to a special individual who feels it was always meant to be there.”

Akiman works from her home studio in Port Ludlow.