Open Studio

Well. Thailand certainly does have it’s moments.  Like climbing endless stairs, lotus flowers in hand, to visit a buddhist temple with thousands of Thai students. Like chaotic tuk-tuk rides, careening around corners like a wind-up toy gone awry. Like the night markets with their endless lit stalls. Like the street food everywhere, with it’s myriad smells and textures (mmmm…fried banana). Like the lethargic dogs, their panting bodies draped over the sidewalks of Bankok, sleeping in the heat.  Like incense burning in front of the spirit houses in the morning. Like the high hum of cicadas at night, near the Burmese border. Like seeing a white lotus flower as big as my head. Like the sudden afternoon downpour after a muggy, 100 degree morning. Like sipping many, many iced teas with my sweetie.  Like chasing hundreds of toads around outside our bungalow at night. Don’t even get me started on the curries.

spirit house

Now, if only I could get back into the swing of things here.  I arrived home a week ago, but it seems as if pieces of my self are still arriving, like little packages to be unpacked. Slowly, slowly, I’ve been coming back to earth, back to my routines. Yesterday I spent some time in my studio, preparing some new panels for painting. The day after I got back from my trip, I delivered some pieces to a gallery in San Francisco for a group encaustic show there.  I’ll have the info for you all very soon…..

And now, I’m off for some 4th of July and birthday celebrations with my family. Happy 4th to you all.

Okay, I have to admit that not a lot has been going on in my studio, but I have been working outside my studio!  I ran into some problems with my wax, and realized I’m kind of sick of it at the moment, and needed a little tantrum, er, I mean break…..  so gardening it has been, for a few days.  Getting my hands dirty always seems to have an (ironically) cleansing effect on me.  A few days pulling weeds and planting things, and I’m usually ready to tackle other things again.  So I thought I’d share a few pictures of the ongoing miniature garden plot.  This is really just a theraputic garden for me.  We subscribe to a CSA (Blue House Farm) that delivers a beautiful, bountiful box of organic green vegetables 6 months out of the year.  So technically, this garden isn’t necessary.  But growing things just really does something for me.

I dug the weeds out another 4 or 5 feet, and added a bean teepee, and some poppies.

I also added some permanent plants- some thyme, sage, and Tarragon, to keep the Oregano company.

As for that pesky wax, I had a large batch of it turn a deep brownish yellow in my crock pot. This batch of wax was already a little more yellow than it normally is, but having it in the crock pot totally ruined it.  So let my experience serve as a cautionary tale:  Clear beeswax does not like to be reheated, and does not like to sit for hours in a crock pot!  It even started to smell bad- pungent and strong. I had to throw the whole thing out.  I contacted R&F and they told me to only heat as much wax as I will use in one heating.  And maybe my crock pot heats hotter than I thought.  It is very old and does not have a temp gauge on it.  Ah, well, live and learn, eh?

Has anyone else out there had this problem with their wax?  I’d love to hear about it, and what you did to manage it.  In the mean time, I think a good studio cleaning is in order, and another try at this batch of granulated  wax. Wish me luck!

Just a quick post to show a newly finished piece.  This is the 28″x28″ panel I’ve been working on.  It took some different turns than the other, small white pieces.  It had different needs and challenges that demanded different problem solving.  This picture looks blurry to me (though the original did not), but if it were sharper, you’d be able to see the texture of the opaque white paint that is on the surface.  I used a tiny brush, with small, dabbing strokes to produce the halos around the roses, and fill in others.  It was very slow, and I thought it might be a bit like working in fresco would be.  Painstaking.  I also experimented more with my white ink pen, and like the fine line drawing that can be achieved in the wax.  Again, very slow, but worth it.  This painting pushed me in some new directions, and I am enjoying discovering different ways of handling the wax, and making marks.  It is a mysterious and infuriating medium to work in…. one must keep her sense of humor and adventure intact!

Working large in beeswax is a different animal, altogether.  I’ve been working on this piece for days now, and I’m just amazed at how different the process is when I scale up.  I guess I thought it would be a lot like doubling or tripling a recipe- just add more of everything and get more cookies!- but it’s not. The largest I’ve worked before in wax has been 16 x 16 inches.  This baby is 28 x 28.  Almost four times the size, and more than four times the work.  It’s exponential, I think.  But what is curious is the way the techniques actually behave and work differently. 

   Take fusing for example.  I usually fuse with a heat gun, and occasionally a travel iron that I picked up at a yard sale.  Fusing with a heat gun on a large piece of encaustic is really different- the wax behaves differently, with the pooling becoming more apparent than on smaller pieces.  Also, the pitting that looks interesting on a small piece suddenly becomes overwhelming on a bigger surface.  So I’ve been adjusting my technique as I go, scraping with a razor blade in between fusings with the heat gun to smooth out the surface, and smoothing the excess pitting with the travel iron.  I’ve been also using my light that is mounted on a stand to lightly fuse thin layers.  It has a 150 watt bulb, and does a good job of warming the surface and fusing delicate areas.  Also, laying down layers of beeswax is more difficult, because the wax starts setting about 10 inches into the stroke.  I can’t make it all the way across the panel in one brushstroke!

    It is so much more challenging, but I am figuring out some things, and learning a lot.  I think that in order to be happy with this medium (encaustic), I have to be willing to embrace it’s limitations and abilities, and keep working with what it is, rather than trying to force it to be something it is not.  When I just go with what it is, the rewards are so great. It always forces me to think of painting in completely new ways.  I’m really liking the way this larger piece is coming out.  I’ve just tried to emphasize translucency, and let the medium speak for itself.

Have I mentioned that encaustic painting is addictive?

So is working so small.  It’s like bite size art.  

I am painting, painting, painting for….a show in August, at Enso Gallery, here in Half Moon Bay.  I’m very excited to have a local show.  I’ll be showing these encaustics, and some new nest paintings.  Enso is a little gem of a gallery here on the coast, and they are great about supporting local artists.  They also have a wonderful yoga studio there, where I take classes sometimes…..I’m so pleased that I’ll be hanging this work there.

My sweetie back from Thailand and China…I love the tiny Buddah he brought back.

Finishing a sweater for my son…finally.  I haven’t been knitting much, so this has only taken me…uh….8 or 9 months.  Incredibly patient, that’s what Ian is.

Banana bread….

And my new encaustic panels.  I just made two new ones- 28″x28″- out of a hollow core door.  They seem expansive after all of my little 8 inch squares I’ve been doing.  It has been quite a project, just preparing these.  I am trying to work out how to attach a hanging wire to the back .  Since they are made from hollow doors, they are incredibly light and smooth.  I can’t wait to get going on these.

Some new work…..

I’ve really been enjoying working in this small format (8 x 8 inches) in such an open ended subject area.  The only criteria for them is the dominant color must be white, and that the subject involves repetition.  I’ve been playing with different ways of layering the wax, and applying it.  I also discovered that paint pens do just fine layered in with the wax, and am experimenting with a fine point white paint pen.  I got it for journaling, but it’s opened up another world with the encaustic, being one more way to create precise lines and imagery.  Encaustic is difficult to control, and generally takes a lot of deep breathing and letting go from me, because, well, I can be a control freak like that.  But that is also what I love so much about this medium- it keeps me on my toes, keeps me loose and open to possibility as I work, and it is such a rapidly evolving medium right now, with artists finding new ways to work with it all the time.  Each piece is a wild card.  

Here is another piece I finished the other night- sorry this photo is not sharper.  It is difficult to see the texture here- one of it’s assets, I think. The embroidered circles are doing a lot for these nest paintings, adding some unusual texture and relief to the image.  This, by the way, is the nest I wrote about a couple of posts ago. This is also a small piece.  I have been warming up to this painting small business.  It used to be that any painting under 3×4 feet seemed like a waste of time, but there is something so satisfying about being able to finish a painting in a relatively short period of time, and then being able to hold it in my hands and look at it….. instead of having to stand back 8 feet just to see it properly.  The small pieces are more intimate that way.  

Well, I’m off to make more tea, go to a friend’s baby shower in San Francisco, and then come home and paint sets for the play.  And maybe embroider more paintings…….Whew!