"Winter Stillness"

"Winter Stillness", 18 x 24 watercolor painting

My first watercolor of 2010 is an extension of the work I have been doing, inspired by my visits to the bird sanctuary. I had recently posted the winter encaustic paintings done for this series, but I also felt the need to paint winter in the watercolor medium. I was able to get lost in the process working on this, trying to re-create a cold stark landscape, and it's bare serenity. The linear weave of the branches combined with their stiffness, painted in the subtle stark colors of the season, is how I wanted to convey the mood. I used the same tones with the encaustics, but for me watercolor is still a medium that allows me to get lost in the "zone". I believe the truest form of creative expression is when you loose track of time and are consumed with the paint and the brushstrokes and nothing else matters. That happened for me today when I was able to finish working on this painting.

Show Acceptances

"Path to Sanctuary Pond", encaustic collage that was accepted to the Cambridge Art Association show. This is the first time I am exhibiting one of my encaustic works.

"Three Dragonflies", mixed media collage that was accepted to the LynnArts, Inc. mixed media show.

The past few months have flown by. Ever since Thanksgiving, my full time art schedule had to be put on hold until now. I finished teaching mid November, (some of my best paintings are my class demos), the holiday season and moving became a priority, and then it was 2010. I did make the time to do small works, but it's not the same as my usual routine when I am painting regularly and then finding juried show opportunities to share what I have created.

Last week I submitted work to a mixed media show at LynnArts, Inc. and also to a themed show at the Cambridge Art Association, "The Third Dimension". I found out today that I was accepted to both shows. It's always hard when I do not get accepted into a juried show, but on the flip side when I do get accepted it is the confirmation I need to continue to be confident that what I do is working for more than just me!

Finding New Inspiration

Just before the sun is down...

Man in a boat

Every day since I have moved, I walk my dog along the small beach near my house. It's a short walk and he loves the smells plus he always tries to catch a seagull, it's pretty funny to watch. Yesterday around 5pm we were at the beach and I was blown away by the colors in the sky. I have painted sunsets in the past but ever since I have moved I feel like I have a new awareness of the inspiration that surrounds me on a daily basis. I am about to start a new watercolor and I am thinking of using one of these photos because of the colors in the sky and the way they reflect on the water. Nature is so amazing to me.

Winter Encaustics

8 x 8 image transfer with pigmented wax

Assorted 2.5 x 3.5 image transfers




My focus was on the lack of color, the bland whites and grays that define the winter months. I also wanted to detail the branches, bare and brittle. I started painting on the 8 x 8 elephant board and ended up doing additional small works - I will pick several of these to put into shadowbox frames.

It felt great to finally have the time and focus to get back into my art process. Burnishing the xerox copy of the image into the wax medium is the most important step because if the image doesn't transfer cohesively the composition is lost. Adding the pigmented paint highlights the details that create the 3 dimensional qualities which is what I love so much about using encaustic paints. I look forward to working on the final season of encaustic paintings for this series, Spring, and then I will have completed a year of visiting the bird sanctuary.

Winter at the Pond

It wasn't a sunny day but the gray sky added to the rawness of yesterday's walk through Sanctuary Pond. I finally had the time to focus on the winter season and the series of encaustic paintings I am doing that reflect a year of seasonal color and moods in a New England landscape.

I took pictures yesterday and although I missed the fresh snow that fell a week ago, in the bird sanctuary many of the tree branches remained covered. I will print out a few of the photos and decide which of those would work well as image transfers. I have had an 8 x 8 elephant board fused with wax medium and it's ready for the image to be burnished into it. Hopefully I will work on that today.

Technology and Art

It's been a while since I have had the time to think about blogging, making art, or even focusing on classwork. I have spent the past month packing, cleaning, moving, unpacking, and cleaning some more! I finally setup my new home office and selectively have chosen which artwork will hang here and it's always interesting to me how I see paintings hanging in my home vs. how I see my paintings when they are in my booth hanging in a show.

Tonight I started another class in my master's program - Technology in Education. I am looking forward to understanding how to use software programs that can be used as marketing tools for my artwork plus I want to be able to teach my students how they can do a variety of things to aid in the promoting of their artwork.

I am starting to think about my next painting (winter scene) although I don't start teaching until the end of February. My paintings are always inspired by the current season and I will probably get "warmed up" by making some ATC's before working on the 8 x 8 elephant boards; I already have fused wax on one of the boards and I just need to take the photographs.

Here is to a productive, successful, and educational 2010... Cheers!