Back in the studio after a weekend of wax and friends in Portland. I attended the International Encaustic Artist’s yearly retreat, met lots of new people, and gave a presentation with my friend Larraine Seiden. Some highlights:

Buying some new tools and some paint from the vendors…

Soaking in the warm salt water pool…

Seeing Portland for the first time(!)…

Watching artist demos all day Saturday…

Listening to Bon Iver playing live on Saturday night from the porch of the hotel…

Since I got home I’ve been cleaning out the studio, making medium, and new work. So good to be home and all juiced up.

Getting ready for the annual IEA retreat in Portland, Oregon. So excited to meet up with friends, soak up some artistic goodness, and relax! This year I am honored to give back to an organization that has been such a support to me: I’ll be talking about and demonstrating best packing and shipping practices for encaustic work.

I’ve been so busy getting all of my materials ready, I’ve had precious little time to paint! So, it feels good to get a bit of studio time in before I leave.

Ah, I love the smell of paint…

Choosing Action

It’s been a rough year for this little blog of mine.  Not many words or pictures posted.  It has been untended.  Lately, I’ve been working on another blog project (shhhhh, it’s still a secret…) and it’s brought me back to thinking about why I started posting here in the first place, and inspired me to start again.  Events in my life have got me thinking about taking action.

It’s been a year of profound changes and adventures. To top it all off, this past weekend I flew with my eldest child 2000 miles away to Savannah GA, set her up in her dorm room, squeezed her hand, and said goodbye.  As many of you who know me know, I home educated my kids, so with one in college, and one in high school, I’ve had a lot of thinking to do about what is next for me.  It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to focus this much of my energy on what I want to do.

It is exciting.

And unnerving.

It’s a time for action and exploration.  Good thing, too, because I have so many ideas, and am so looking forward to having a more steady studio practice!

Exciting things ahead.  I’ll keep you posted.

Neither Here Nor There

Detail: “Neither Here Nor There”
Just finishing this piece up in the studio this evening. I bought some gunmetal grey metal flake recently, and it’s taken me a while to figure out how to use it; I’m really happy with the result. As usual, the challenge was to use it with the kind of precision that I strive for, and to also be able to use it right on the surface so that the sparkle was not compromised (because what kind of person would I be if I compromised sparkle?!) I think the glitter gods are pleased…

Edit:  The image above is a detail from a larger piece- the original piece is 36″ x 36″ … I am planning on posting some full images of new work soon…  :-)

Upcoming Encaustic Show…

I am so pleased to be included in this upcoming group show.  Thomas Morphis has done an excellent job of curating this;  each artist is distinct, and the show promises to have great variety and texture!  I’m looking forward to seeing it myself Saturday night at the opening.

Mary Black

Robin Denevan

Eileen P. Goldenberg

Lisa Kairos

Opening Reception:  7-9 pm, Saturday, January 15

The gallery is open Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, 1-5 pm, and the show runs until Feb. 12.

From Pigeon Point

Stormy Christmas day here on the coast. Hope you are all enjoying the holiday!

Aluminum beeswax

Some shots from the studio tonight- I’ve been experimenting with rubbing aluminum powder directly onto the wax. The thing I like most about it is that as you move by the painting, the aluminum goes from dark to reflective shine, in relationship to the light source, so that the image changes pretty dramatically. As if it is interacting with the viewer. I love it when a painting does something unexpected like that…

December Painting

The result of my most recent efforts- I’m happy with this painting. I’ve started shaking up some of my compositional patterns. I loathe it when I start imitating myself ( I know, ironic for someone who uses thousands of repetitive dots to build so much of her imagery, but there you go… Consistency is not my strong point)
I’ve been busy in the studio. Usually, I find it easier to make time to work this time of year. I don’t run around too much for holiday events and shopping- it’s more of an indoor, introspective time of year for our family, and that’s very conducive to studio time!

See? Things are kind of a wreck in here right now- a good kind of mess.
Hope you are all enjoying a productive holiday!

Sometimes when I’m working on new ideas, I can get so insecure about the work. But it’s important to remember that without risk, nothing new can come.

If I avoid risk, I get nowhere. The trick is to go through, not around. Prevaricating is not the way…

Thankful

As the thanksgiving holiday winds down, and I reflect on all of the things that I am grateful for, it is plain to me that my artistic community is high on the list this year. What a wonderful cast of characters you all are! And I can’t deny that this (neglected, ahem…) blog of mine has been an instrumental part of building that community. So, thank you, thank you!

Above: I’ve completely hijacked the table in the house, filling it with cuttings from the fields… Slowly, with paper and pencil, becoming drawings for future paintings. Another thing I am grateful for: tolerant family!