Reconnecting with Heart and Soul

"Holding Me"

26" x 19"

encaustic on Rives heavyweight

"Rifts From Within"

19" x 26"

encaustic on Rives lightweight

"Smell the Roses"

19" x 26"

encaustic on Rives heavyweight

Encaustic painting has consumed most of my creative energy for the past 5 years. My focus has been on developing a technique using image transfers fused into wax medium, enhanced with pigments and oil pastels, and learning how to master this technique. I found immediate success with the process, and have been developing a body of work with current inspiration coming from new and varied places; the city of Chicago, surrounding public and private gardens, and the lake. Shortly after I arrived in Chicago, I found an amazing gallery to represent my work, Chicago Art Source, and continue to exhibit in national juried shows, competitions, and art fairs. The gallery manager asked for larger cityscape pieces and I have spent a good portion of the year creating them. 

This past July I learned about a new process, encaustic monotypes. Immediately, I felt a connection to working on paper, using encaustic paint and layering, very similar to how I work when I am building a painting with watercolor washes. Back when watercolor was the only medium I focused on, I learned from Jeanne Carbonetti to let the paint flow, and to respond to it rather than trying to force or control it. Her teaching methods were introduced to me when I read her book, The Tao of Watercolor, and later when I went to meet her in a private 3 day workshop at her home studio in Chester, VT. My artistic path also led to reading Art as a Way of Knowing by Pat Allen, and Trust the Process by Shaun McNiff. All of these books helped to understand that for me, there are two kinds of art; the art I sell, and the art that is created to explore inner feelings, meditations, and deeper understanding. Sometimes the work can do both, but not always. 

Creating encaustic monotypes brings me back to the root of my own creative processes, to not just think with that inner critic looking over my shoulder asking "what is the most salable art to make". The purist form of creativity is the art that allows you to find your soul and comes from the heart.

Mini Works

I continue to work off of photos I took when I was recently at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. I plan on going back each season but for now autumn remains my focus and inspiration. All of these are 2.5" x 3.5", mixed media encaustic on 300 lb. Arches paper.

"House on Water"

"Waterfall"

"Pathway to the Japanese Garden"

"Autumn Tree"

This and that ...

New encaustic paintings, demos from the class I teach using image transfer techniques -

"Autumn Sky"

2.5" x 3.5"

"Mums"

2.5" x 3.5"

Also, I decided to add a shellac burn to tint each of these older paintings (and made several other minor adjustments).

I removed the antelope in the foreground.

And I added color with oil pastels (below), combined with the shellac burn, to break up the massive greenery.

But the most important project I completed was organizing the details for my upcoming solo show. 22 pieces are framed and ready to hang. This week 2 other group holiday shows open, and the season is almost upon us. Where does the time go...

Demonstration Painting

I always incorporate demonstration time when I am teaching encaustic painting. I think the best way to learn new techniques is by seeing them happen.

"Chicago Botanic Garden"

8" x 10" 

encaustic on board

I used slightly tinted wax medium to build up base layers, added the warm tones of yellow-orange into the medium, which allowed the transferred image to retain the glowing colors of burnt orange. I used a pointed tool to create tree textures and added oil pastel to highlight these markings. I know the trees are going to become bare and monochromatic soon, and was anxious to capture this autumn landscape one more time.

More Encaustic Monotypes

Being able to paint with wax on paper feels so familiar, I know it's because of my watercolor past. I used black oil pastel for linear definition, and I am looking forward to developing this technique further.

"Freshly Cut"

22" x 30" on Arches 88 lb. paper

"Dreaming"

16" x 22" on Rives lightweight paper

"Red Tide"

12" x 16" on Kozo paper

Autumn Landscape

What can I say... it's the time of year when the leaves are changing and all I want to do is paint a palette of burnt orange, alizarin crimson, sap green and yellow ochre. This is my favorite color palette and I decided to work on paper using encaustic monotype techniques.

"Autumn Landscape"

16" x 22"

encaustic monotype on Rives lightweight paper

I continuously notice the leaves falling, their shapes and colors. The oak leaf below, grouped with the other leaf impressions, painted last week, makes for an interesting series. I plan on showing this work as part of my solo show next February at the North Shore Art league. I will probably have time to add more by then, too.

"Oak"

10" x 10"

encaustic on panel

Autumn Inspiration

The colors of fall are everywhere! I walk around the Nature Museum and North Pond daily, gathering leaves and pressing them. I have wanted to try several new encaustic techniques, creating interesting textures and patterns in wax and the leaf imprints seemed like a good combination.

"Ash"

mixed media

 10" x 10" on wood panel

"Maple"

mixed media

10" x 10" on wood panel

"Birch"

mixed media

10" x 10" on wood panel

After painting layers of colored wax on panel, I burnished the leaf, creating imprints. Next, I added another layer of wax before lifting the leaf off of the surface. I then added shellac as a final layer, and torched the shellac before it dried completely. The result is a sporadic lace pattern of shellac combined with encaustic. This technique is just one more of the many different ways the encaustic medium can be used. The possibilities are endless.

Encaustic Monotypes and Upcoming Shows

"Dragonfly"

16" x 22" on Rives heavyweight paper

"Whirlwind"

16" x 22" on Vellum 

"Ornamental Grass"

19" x 26" on Rives heavyweight paper

Using the encaustic medium on paper brings me back to a familiar creative place, very much like working with watercolor on paper. For me, there is a similar use of color, airy application of paint, and the ability to create fine details with brushwork. I have been embracing the many varieties of paper, each has it's own unique qualities. As I continue to build a larger body of encaustic monotypes, I can see my love of landscape and nature re-emerging.

Other news - I received notification that one of my large cityscapes, "S-Curve",  was accepted into the 57th Mid States Competition at the Evansville Museum of Art, History and Science. 57 pieces were accepted from the 400 submitted. More information is available on the museum website - http://www.emuseum.org

"S-Curve"

30' x 40" mixed media on panel

And my painting "Ripples" is currently on display in Miami at the International Encaustic Artists Opened Juried Show in the Audrey Love Gallery, show information available here - http://www.international-encaustic-artists.org/Devil-In-a-Straight-Line

"Ripples"

22" x 16" on Rives lightweight paper

Holiday shows are next on my agenda, followed by a solo show at the North Shore Art League next February. One of the important things I have learned since relocating in the Midwest is to keep chugging along, and that there are always new exhibition opportunities if you are willing to do the work.

New works

"Foxgloves"

30" x 22"

watercolor and ink on paper

After spending a good part of the past year painting the city of Chicago, working with photo transfers combined with encaustic medium, I reached a point where I missed watercolor. It had also been on my mind to move toward nature-inspired places and things as subject matter. Even in the big city, I seem to find elements of nature everywhere.

"Dragonflies"

8" x 8"

encaustic on panel

I also started teaching a weekly encaustic class and each week I incorporate a demo sharing different techniques. The first class was more about supplies and safety, with a short demo on how to build layers of wax and texture. I had to finish working on this piece at home and look forward to sharing the end result with the class. I will also be offering a 1-day encaustic workshop on October 25 at the North Shore Art League. The workshop will be an abbreviated version of the weekly class, but supplies are included and the cost is reasonable for those not sure if they are ready to make a weekly commitment.

The dragonfly has always been a symbol to me of creativity, artistic freedom, and beauty. I never tire of painting her. Life has been hectic both personally and professionally yet somehow when I go back to painting Ms. Dragonfly, I find peace and calm and the ability to center.

Bonsai, an interactive art form

Landscape painting has been on my mind a lot lately. I have spent the good portion of a year photographing and painting the incredible architecture in the city of Chicago, but now nature is calling out to me. Earth, rock, trees, green... mother nature is alive and constantly changing, the reason why I love painting her.

This week I became the owner of Serrissa Foetida. It has always been important to me to have live plants indoors (and outdoors when ever possible). I used to have bonsai, before I moved to Chicago, but am now rebuilding my indoor garden, slowly but surely. I think of these plants as sculptural art and the knowledge and care required to keep them alive makes this an interactive art form.

Serrissa Foetida Bonsai, Tree of a thousand stars

The Serissa foetida has small oval leaves, it can explode with small white star flowers several times per year giving it the nickname the "Tree of a thousand stars".

Taken from the book "Bonsai, the art of growing and keeping miniature trees" by Peter Chan:

"Bonsai is an art form. Like any of the other visual arts such as painting and sculpture, it has all the essential aesthetic elements of composition, balance, perspective, depth, texture, color, and so on. The analogy of bonsai with painting in general, and landscape painting in particular, is especially appropriate. The objectives both in landscape painting and in bonsai are the same, in each case to create on a reduced scale what one observes in nature." (p. 9)

I have painted the landscape featuring bonsai throughout the years. I plan on getting back into the roots (pun intended) of bonsai as subject and recently came to a clear understanding why I feel so connected to this after reading Peter Chan's book.

I also have my eye on a very old Chinese Elm, but these trees require a lifelong commitment of watering and care, something that a painting does not require.