New Day, New Outlook

In addition to the keynote speaker on the opening night, as well as talks and demos throughout the weekend, the conference made available for sale many of the tools used with encaustic painting. "How to" videos, pigmented wax with rich, lush colors, and the Iwatani torch were highlights for me.

After a sleepless night I decided to change my blog's look this morning. I tossed and turned and tried to remember all of the things I took in at the conference and one of the easiest changes for me to address was a different, softer internet presence. Miles Conrad gave a talk on presenting to a gallery, something I also teach to art students. His talk re-assured me that I have been covering all of the important details an artist needs to have in a portfolio however a small change I decided to make was to use a white background on my blog site. He said for him, having a black background could distract his viewing of art images and that having a white background was the least distracting and closest to the way an art piece would be viewed in a gallery. It's a simple detail that may just be a personal preference but I decided to see how I like it on my blog before I go ahead and have my web designer change the background on my website.

Time to get ready for the all day workshop.

Exhaustion

The conference ended this afternoon, but I still have a post conference workshop on color mixing tomorrow, and another workshop on Wednesday. Today I left the conference confused and overwhelmed and unsure of what I am suppose to be doing with the wonderfully lush and alive encaustic medium. I looked around the "Best Foot Forward" show and as amazed as I was at all the different ways artists are using the encaustic paints, I felt a disconnect from the abstractions. Why didn't I feel emotion?

One of the talks I went to over the weekend was on imagery and it's meaning in art expressions and it made me start thinking my art was too simple and direct. My motivation in art expression is to paint a scene in nature, a place that will allow you feelings of serenity and balance. It's so simple, that is what I am inspired to do. I question if that is "deep" enough. Instead of dwelling on this, I will need to shift my focus to learning more about how to use the medium in ways that will let me do what I want to do when I start my next painting.

The biggest lesson learned (so far) is that I need to use a ground, or gesso, so that the wood board is white and light initially, and from there I will work on building depth in wax layers, and applying color with not just encaustic paint but using oil pastels, crayons, and even charcoal or pencil . I purchased something called "Holy Grail" from Evans Encaustics and I can hardly wait to do my next painting starting with a white, primed, birch cradled board.

Another talk I went to was probably the highlight of the entire conference for me. The theme was called "Wax Fetish" which threw me for a loop but it ended up being the talk that inspired me the most. Laura Tyler, producer of the movie "Sister Bee" was able to articulate the thing that has captivated me most about encaustics and painting with beeswax. She explained it as bringing the life and light of the bees and all of our existence into our art expressions by using the beeswax (encaustic) as a medium. It made me feel like I could understand better how being alive and our desire to create art using beeswax was an expression and transference of light. She explained it much better than this, and I am still sitting here trying to process it all. I probably shouldn't even be blogging so soon after the conference because there is too much jumbling my brain right now. Tomorrow will be the color mixing workshop with Hylla Evans, and I will enjoy the opportunity to be student for a day.

Inspiration

"Best Foot Forward", open show to all conference attendees

Day 2 of the encaustic conference, and I am exhausted! I have finally been able to see, learn, and understand so many of the things that during the past year challenged me. One of the very first paintings that caught my attention in the "Best Foot Forward" show was done by Rodney Thompson. His landscape paintings have the luminous qualities that I will strive to achieve and understanding. His process (the way he shared and described it) made everything finally make sense to me. I hope to practice so many of the new things I have learned after I have had time to sit with it all. I still have 1 more day of the conference and 2 post conference workshops. This conference has been a wonderful collaboration and gathering of wonderful artists and I am so fortunate to be a part of it all.

small is all I can do (for now)

"A New Pathway" 3.5 x 2.5

"Spring Pond II" 2.5 x 3.5

I have been waiting a year, literally, to attend the National Encaustic Conference; Friday afternoon is the kickoff. Last year I could only attend a post-conference workshop and it turned into the beginning of what became a year long obsession, learning how to paint and use beeswax in conjunction with all the things I already knew from my years of watercolor painting. It has been a challenge, to say the least, to "self teach" and I can hardly wait to be surrounded by other people as curious and as intrigued with the medium as I am.

Fortunately, I am only letting myself work on small projects this week and I was able to enjoy finishing the 3.5 x 2.5 image transfers today. I will be floating and mounting these in 6 x 6 shadowbox frames and the presentation really allows these small works to stand out. Slowly but surely, I am adding more new encaustic work to my portfolio, and less new watercolor work. Hmmmmmmmmmm!

Time to Breathe

One of my small upcoming projects is to use a photograph I took (one of my buddhas during the spring when the trees were blossoming) for an encaustic image transfer, then place it behind a detailed frame. The antique wood is 14 x 6 and was once part of a temple (so I was told). I will add pigmented wax for highlighted details in the image, then carefully mount the wood on the completed painting.

Another small project I have planned is using more of my photographs from the pathway series for 3.5 x 2.5 encaustic image transfers in artist trading card size. Once the images are transfered into the wax I add colored wax for highlights and more details.

It's a strange feeling to not have the next book to read, or paper to write, because graduate school is now behind me. I have spent time thinking about my future and am waiting to hear on several teaching opportunities but for now I have to just sit. In the meantime, I am organizing at home; I just moved out from a studio rental and now have everything in one place. I have time this summer to build up my inventory for my next Paradise City show which is not until Columbus Day weekend and I am looking forward to the National Encaustic Conference next weekend, followed by 2 post conference workshops.

This Saturday I am jurying a mixed media show for a summer arts festival over 4th of July weekend and I am also participating in the day of plein air painting event on July 2, as well as waiting to hear if my piece was accepted to the painting exhibit.

Time to breathe...

The smaller art projects will be quick and manageable which is probably why I haven't gotten into them yet. I know it's time for me to take advantage of this quiet time and hopefully I will have a productive summer.

The Four Seasons of Pathways

Spring 2010

Winter 2009-2010

Autumn 2009

Summer 2009

Last summer I started working on a series of paintings inspired by the photographs I took when I visited a local bird sanctuary. Each photograph was interpreted as both a watercolor and encaustic painting. The encaustics I painted started as image transfers then were highlighted with pigmented wax (you will notice they are a reverse of the watercolor compositions).

Once my initial summer paintings were done, I realized how not being as familiar or as comfortable with the "up close and in your face" version of the pathway lead me to a less detailed depiction. Each time after that when I incorporated details in my encaustic image transfers, my watercolor paintings became more detailed as well. By springtime, I was concerned that I needed specific, accurate markings in the landscape and I worked toward that in my last watercolor.

I had taken other photographs, also interpreted with the wax medium as image transfers, but I have only painted the 4 watercolors (to date) that I am sharing in this post. I look forward to planning a solo show featuring the entire body of this work (35 pieces total, photographs, encaustics, and watercolors) some time next year.

The Final Painting

"Spring Pathway", final version, 24 x 18 watercolor painting.

I struggled with the blandness that was still apparent in many of the bushes and branches, the rebirth of new green growth was still sparse.

The painting as it appeared this morning, missing crisp details and shadows in the pathway.

my initial paint washes and composition, this was just the starting point.

All week long I worked on the watercolor version of the pathway, inspired by the springtime photograph I took at the bird sanctuary. It was as if I felt pressure rather than pleasure, to paint the most intense version. I wanted this painting to be worthy of the year long series, but I just didn't get into the creative zone, not until today. I went through the motions of the initial paint washes, I knew the composition details (possibly I knew it too well from having painted it the prior 3 seasons!) and I felt like everything I did was just adequate. I was missing the energy and sharp contrasts. I thought about each layer of paint as I was adding it, and although I had the creative freedom to change what I needed in order to make the painting "work" despite what I saw in the photograph, I was battling with the reality that the colors of springtime were spring greens, and browns, and not the same as the full lush greens of summer, not the same as the warmth of autumn, and not the stark cool tones of winter.

I have decided the spring season is my least favorite season to paint based on the reality of the color palette!

Springtime at the Pond

Encaustic image transfer, 6 x 6

Photograph used for the image transfer

Last week I was able to finish another encaustic painting, right before I got busy with my graduation activities this weekend. I enjoyed working smaller again; the 20 x 16 encaustic I did a week ago was difficult to maintain a sense of balance between the black and white image transfer and the impressionistic colors added with the pigmented wax.

This week I hope to work on a spring representation in watercolor and then I will decide if my "Pathways and Transition" series is complete.

completed work

"Spring Pathway", 20 x 16 encaustic image transfer

I was able to tone down the chaos in the foreground by adding another layer of wax medium and feel good about the results however photographing without causing glare is my ongoing challenge. I only have 2 more pieces to complete for the spring season of work in the series, then I will have to decide what I will use when it's time for a gallery show (and I am still looking for a venue) based on how much space I will have.

A year of photographing and visiting the bird sanctuary and the cycle continues, seasons change, and so does my art... when I posted this last piece I felt the need to include a poem by Robert Frost:

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference"

work still in progress

Spring Pathway, 20 x 16, encaustic image transfer

I wish I had more time today to take off color in the foreground and build up in the areas where I want more dimensionality. I still feel like I need to create a way to travel through the path without confusion. I am not sure if I want to add details with oil pastel or just simplify by removing some of the pigmented wax... so maybe this is a good time to stop.