Vignettes

"White Barn"

"Cattails"

"Elm Street"

Everywhere I go I take photos and think to myself, this would make a great painting... and I have started painting mini works of these snap shots from my travels. What excites me is the process of combining photos transferred and burnished into wax, combined with pigments and oil pastels. It doesn't matter to me whether I am painting city brownstones or fields in the country just 1 hour away, the same process allows me to create textures and impressions of these vignettes encompassed in a small tangible space.

Each of these mini works is 2.5" x 3.5" and will be floated and mounted in a 10" x 10" shadowbox frame. I have just reopened my Etsy shop and there are several small works available there but these newest works will be featured in upcoming small works shows (sorry, not available on Etsy yet).

Starting Over

Chicago is an amazing city. Having only been here for two months (not including 25 years ago when I grew up and lived here) I am constantly amazed by the people, events, and energy that surrounds me on a daily basis. I love walking my dog to just about everywhere. I went to a Buddhist Temple today where there was a Ginza Holiday celebration (who knew) although because of my dog I could not enter the temple. There was a food tent, performances and demonstrations, interesting crafts available for sale, all to share the Buddhist culture with the neighborhood.

Just down the street was St. Michael's Church, a landmark in Old Town that reminded me of many of the churches I have seen in Europe.

It's such a huge change from the quiet suburban lifestyle I left behind that I am still adjusting (and loving it).

Art opportunities are everywhere, "look and you shall find". I am going to be in a small group show with four other encaustic artists opening September in the Fine Art Building. Our common thread is "Five artists explore the connections between their earlier work in various media and their current work in encaustic medium".

I am also going to be included in the Copley Society Fall Members' Show juried by Boston gallery owner Howard Yezerski. It was a pleasant surprise to be accepted into the show because I know his gallery features contemporary art. I submitted several new landscape mixed media pieces although he chose the one abstract -

"Ebb and Flow"

12" x 12" encaustic on panel

I also joined an artists group that meets for breakfast every Wednesday in a local restaurant. They are having a show in October and I will be participating in that as well. They have a blog which updates their news regularly - Artists Breakfast Group blog    
  
There have been so many opportunities to learn about, I have had trouble making time to paint. Today I was able to work on new small works, pieces that will be floated and mounted in shadowbox frames (and hopefully sold in a holiday show expo at the Evanston Art Center (if I am accepted to exhibit at their holiday Art Expo).

new small works -

"Cedar Street" 

(my mother's neighborhood)

"One Fish Two Fish ..."
(inspired by my recent visit to Lincoln Park Zoo)

"Little Red Barn"

(I had to paint this again, I loved being there!)

The Land of Oz

I spent the weekend in Michigan and was in awe of the landscape - I loved the farms and barns everywhere, especially the vineyards. I photographed the things that caught my eye knowing I would paint as soon as I got back home.

"Red Barn"

18" x 24" mixed media on panel

I took my photographs to the local printer and decided to switch the images to black and white. In a way, creating this painting reminded me of the Wizard of Oz... started in black and white and ended up with vibrant, living colors. The land was so lush and pure, it made me feel proud to be living in the Midwest.

Process photos -
After transferring, burnishing, and fusing the black and white image onto the panel, I added colored wax to the sky first, then moved toward the foreground with various shades of green.

Below is the painting now ready for me to add highlights using oil pastels.

The red barn was my favorite image from the weekend although I do have one more barn photo I plan on painting after my back recovers from the past two intense days of non-stop work.

"Gelato"

12" x 12" mixed media on panel

Down the street from where my mother lives there is a small park with benches and tables, surrounded by buckets of flowers, a fabulous fountain (that isn't always on), and a wonderful gelato and coffee bar. Last week when we visited it I decided to take a few photos. I transferred and burnished one of my favorite photos into wax medium, then added pigmented wax and oil pastel. I have started to think of my image transfer process as a way of breaking down the "reality" of the photo. By adding bold, impressionistic color and textures using wax, I am able to create an image that's more alive with color.

Since arriving in Chicago I have submitted and been accepted into an encaustic show at the Morpho Gallery - Wax(in')Blue.

I have to say, there is no rhyme or reason when it comes to juried shows. I submitted 3 paintings, the show requirement was that each piece had to have the color blue along with encaustic as the primary medium. I chose two of my "award winning" ocean paintings (one was Best of Show last summer in the Marblehead Festival of Arts, the other won 2nd place at the Copley Society Marine Show last summer) and neither of those paintings were chosen! The piece that did get in was a self portrait that I had recently changed by eliminating the text that was collaged into the body of work -

"Blue"

11" x 14" mixed media on panel

The opening reception for this is August 10, details are listed on the blog side bar in "upcoming events".

Another opportunity presented itself when I attended a FusedChicago meeting and one of the board members said she wanted to invite several artists to join her in September to show in the Fine Arts Building 2nd floor gallery. Lucky for me, I am one of the three she has chosen! More details to follow later.

Chicago Gardens

Inspiration is everywhere.
I have started a new series of mixed media paintings focused on summer gardens in the city.
There are no words...

"Saturday Afternoon in the Park"

12" x 12" mixed media on panel

Work Routines

"Trellis and Roses"

6" x 6" encaustic on panel

Still have not gotten totally acclimated in my new surroundings. I put things away and forget where I put them, I still don't know my license plate number, and have yet to take the Illinois written drivers test (what if I don't pass!) I take photos all the time, download them onto my laptop, and accept that I am always inspired by the summer flowers and gardens.

I am not sure about upcoming show submissions and if I even want to try to "fit" with fellow encaustic artists here. I am not usually big on being part of a group. I will go to a meeting on Saturday with the FusedChicago artists and hopefully get a better sense of the group's goals and direction. One thing I have decided is to continue with mixed media image transfers, incorporate pigmented wax, oil pastel, and etch into the wax to add details. I feel more connected to this technique than I did to the primitive paintings I worked on several months ago although I am planning on visiting the Field Museum exhibit of the Lascaux cave paintings.

I am also planning on visiting the Art Institute exhibit,  Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity. Inspiration is everywhere, I just need to find my niche and work routine.

Back in Business

Before I moved to Chicago, I purposely did not maintain frame inventory and for several months I was unable to paint new work. I had sold most of my small encaustic paintings and was grateful I had less to move. Now that I am back to painting finally yesterday I found my way to an IKEA where I was able to purchase over 20 shadowbox frames. I have yet to find a better, economical option for framing.

I am also starting to look for gallery opportunities but without the work there is no point.

New inspiration, one street over -

"West Oakdale"

2.5" x 3.5" mixed media on panel

And the not-so-beautiful view from my desk -

"Brick Wall"

 2.5" x 3.5" mixed media on panel

City living will definitely influence what I paint, (although this time of year the flowers and greenery are everywhere). I am attracted to fire escapes, brick, and angles.

In the past few weeks I have also attended two different art openings, started the challenge of networking in a new city, and admit I miss being a big fish in a small pond. This is the first 4th of July weekend in many years that I am not actively participating in the Marblehead Festival of Arts and it feels strange, maybe that's why I am blogging on a Friday night.

Time to paint, finally!

It took half the day to setup my workspace in order to get back into encaustic painting but after two months without art, I was desperate to get back at it.

"Blooming Trellis"

I have been saving photos as I take them, planning on mixed media works - photo transfers, encaustic, and oil pastel. While I have been settling into life in Chicago, I continue selling my small works in the Boston area. I still have not had the time to research the gallery scene here but hopefully before the end of the summer I will be able to educate myself and figure out if there is a good fit with a gallery here. I am already working with a fire escape image, as well as a neighborhood street scene. Maybe tomorrow I will have more to post.

New home, new inspiration, new work space

I arrived in Chicago on June 7, followed a few days later by the movers. I thought I had done such a good job whittling down and moving only the essentials but living in a 2 bedroom apartment is much different than a 3 story townhouse with enough room for all three of my adult children, unlimited storage closets, and a two car garage. It's been a whirlwind to say the least and the good news is I have made my dining room an accessible, working studio.

Walking around in the neighborhood has already got me planning on new small works. And the fact that I actually know where my paints are is an added bonus!

I think the biggest change is what I see when I sit at my desk... fire escapes, angles, and shapes here are quite different from the ocean waves and rolling meadows of Vermont!

Lots of catching up to do on a month of everyone's blogs posts, it feels good to have the time to be back.

FUSEDChicago

Ever so slowly, it feels like I am inching my way toward Chicago. My daughter graduates from high school on June 2, the main reason I am still here on the east coast.

I decided to join an art group that focuses on using the encaustic medium -
FUSEDChicago      

and I have already been added to the member listing page - here

After viewing other member's websites, I am impressed with the quality of their work. Many of these artists share in their abstract visions. I find I am battling myself once again, abstract vs. representational.

I plan to continue landscape painting even though concrete and rectangles may replace rolling waves and billowing clouds, I will embrace city influences once I am moved.

Two of my mini works at the Jacksonville State University show received awards -
First Prize Award for "Summer Pathway" and the "Recollected Books Purchase Award" for "Morning Mist", both works can be viewed in a previous blog post here.

I also just received an Award of Merit for "Spring Vineyards", currently in the small works Copley Society show - Co|So Artists' Small Works: Coalesce

and I will be leaving Boston as one of the participating artists in the Danforth Museum show, opening on June 6 - Community of Artists

Lots of unknowns in the near future.

Down the street from my front door, Fisherman's Beach, Swampscott, MA

New "front door", Chicago, IL