Shows and Demos

It's been a busy month so far, starting with the Paradise City Fine Arts show over Columbus Day weekend. This was my last Paradise City show because I will be moving to Chicago next year. 

The 3 day shows are exhausting and the day after coming home I had to begin setup for the next event... Yesterday was my solo show opening at Brush Strokes Gallery, a new local venue that has also invited me to teach encaustic workshops. 

The building once was a daycare center and Jon Corbino, the building owner, decided to convert the space into artist studios with a large, main gallery on the upper level.

Brush Strokes mission statement: "Our mission is to create meaningful connections between artists, collectors, curators and visitors. By establishing an environment that is open and unintimidating, we hope to enable reflection, to encourage passion and to provide a forum for the exploration of all media: painting, photography, sculpture, installation, video and more.  Our roster includes artists both emerging and established. What unifies them is our belief in their material and conceptual vision."

I have never had the opportunity to exhibit so many pieces of my work in such a large exhibit space and admit it was both exhilarating and challenging to make everything flow together. Both watercolor and encaustic paintings are on display, all of the work is inspired by the land and earth. 

I decided to hang awards I have received next to the corresponding pieces as visual endorsements of my work.

This show is my first introduction of the Outback Series, an abstract interpretation of Australian lands. The gallery offers wood display panels on wheels which allow for the room to change with the artist's needs. It was the perfect space to separate the representational landscapes from these new abstracts.

An hour into the reception, I demonstrated several encaustic techniques. I had prepared an 11 x 14 panel with many layers of wax that were then scraped, molded and reformed. I demonstrated inlay techniques, image transfers and oil pastel etched into wax medium. The interest and energy in the room was fantastic.

The first encaustic workshop starts this Sunday and hopefully I will have time to complete the demo piece started yesterday before the workshop, pictured below.