Some Flicker Inspiration

Oh my. I finally made it over to Big Huge Labs and their Mosaic Maker. What a fun, fun toy. I’ve been meaning to do this forever, and just hadn’t gotten around to it. They also have a tool that generates a WordPress header image. Whoo Hoo! I am so NOT a techie, that I love it when other (brilliant) people come up with tools like this that take the headache out of trying to do something infuriatingly mind boggling  fun on the computer. 

Anyway. I’ve been gathering dreamy, natural-form photos on Flicker, and I love seeing them together like this. Inspiring, indeed.

1. 20090110_0109_4, 2. La belle Astrance…avril 2006, 3. …, 4. …, 5. …, 6. …, 7. Dried Seeds, 8. Untitled, 9. the shot of the day., 10. Untitled, 11. dry, 12. Bokeh Flowers, 13. Untitled, 14. Untitled, 15. secret garden of Princess thorn, 16. pass over the hedge of thorns, 17. come feel the sun, 18. We Apologize For This Interuption, 19. frost, 20. …, 21. Untitled, 22. i was thinking about hundertwasser, 23. -, 24. Untitled, 25. Nostalgia

“Working in Wax”

I am very happy to say that I’ll be having three new pieces (including the one above) in the upcoming show, “Working in Wax”, at the Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek. This looks to be a fairly large, and diverse showing of encaustic art, and I’m very excited to see it and be a part of it. 

Bedford Gallery, 1601 civic Drive, Walnut Creek, CA

Show runs May 3 to June 21, 2009

Opening reception:  Wednesday, May 6,  5:00-7:00 p.m.

This show will be featuring 84 encaustic artists (!), and will represent a wide spectrum of technique in this medium. If you are at all interested in encaustic, and wondering exactly can be done with beeswax, this is a great opportunity. 

Maybe I’ll see you at the opening!

From the gallery website:

Working in Wax 
May 3 – June 21, 2009 

Encaustic painting, also known as hot wax painting, involves using heated beeswax to which colored pigments are added. This technique was notably used in the Fayum mummy portraits from Egypt around 100-300 CE, in the Blachernitissa and other early icons, as well as in many works of 20th-century American artists, including Jasper Johns. This national exhibition, juried by Eileen P. Goldenberg,will feature some of the most renowned artists working in this medium today and will provide an arena for educating other artists and students about the past and possibilities of working in wax. 

Cruel To Be Kind

Sometimes, you have to almost kill something to make it work right. 

I had that thought last week, staring at my oregano. Meet my oregano:

Last year, I planted this in my garden. It did well, growing tall and blossoming late in summer. By fall, it started to turn brown and sickly looking. With my kitchen scissors, I trimmed it back, hoping this would be enough. And still, it continued to get worse. So I took a deep breath and cut it all the way back to the ground. Not being a very experienced gardener, this always scares me when I do it. Sometimes the plants love it, and sometimes they just die. All winter it seemed as though the oregano was dead. 

But spring arrived, and it came back about eight times bigger than it was before my hack job. I’ve just been amazed, and as I stood the other day looking at it after clearing the weeds away, it occurred to me that one of my paintings was in a similar state of need. 

I’d put hours and hours into this painting, and it just wasn’t working. It bothered me every time I looked at it, and every time I looked, I found something else I didn’t like. This painting was sitting in my studio, daring me to do something about it. And I’m a pretty experienced painter, but it always scares me to risk destroying something to try and make it work. 

I reminded myself that I had nothing to lose , because, though I loved parts of it, I didn’t love it as a whole…

Here it is, with it’s new layers obscuring the parts that bothered me, and ready for new imagery to be put on.

I like it better already.