Moving Sale

It's overwhelming to me when over 20 years of artwork has to be whittled down into cardboard boxes onto a moving truck. Knowing the cost involved to make the move has me cringing! In response to the sticker shock I am having a huge sale of large frames, and many of my large and smaller paintings. For my blogger friends I wanted to mention in my Etsy shop I am offering free shipping, just enter code SPRING2013. For my local friends, contact me directly if interested in viewing work first hand via email

Despite my relocating, the internet does allow for business as usual and I am comforted knowing I will continue to blog. Just last week I had a therapist in the UK ask permission to use one of my paintings on her website, http://www.sonialee.co.uk and I was surprised she even thought to ask. I know copyright online is impossible to control and it's a price artists pay when we use the internet to share images but the sincerity with this professional has impressed me. She may even end up with a print of the work she asked to use on her website.

"The White Lotus" 

Today I begin organizing and downsizing, wish me luck!

Rangeley, Maine

"North of Rangeley"

18 x 24 

watercolor on paper

Living in New England for the past 24 years has allowed me to travel to some of the most beautiful places, all of which have been inspirational to me. After yesterday's class, I was able to finish working on the demo today. There is so much natural beauty, from rocky coastlines, mountain ranges and rolling meadows. I forget how beautiful it is until I take the time to paint.

WIP

For a while today it was questionable whether I would be teaching tomorrow due to an unexpected major snow storm. It's incredible to me that with all of the available technology weather forecasts can be so wrong. We were told to expect about 4 inches of snowfall (nothing major) and it's just starting to ease up, 13 inches later. Being stuck home today allowed me more time to work on a demo painting for the workshop but I had to force myself to stop painting in order to share process with students. I think the best way to teach is by demonstrating.

Work in Progress, after today -

I will show students how to paint negative space allowing the paper white and lighter colors to pop. Working on the foreground will be the main focus on my demo tomorrow.

Stopping point from yesterday -

A bit of snow from today, view looking out back. Is it time to shovel yet?!

Demo painting

It's been a while since I have taken out my watercolor paints and yesterday was the first of a two Saturday workshop at Montserrat College. I could say painting is like riding a bicycle -- you don't forget how -- although I did have to spend a large portion of today fixing problems I created because I didn't plan out beyond the wash resists I had demonstrated.

I will be adding seaweed and underwater growth, the challenge will be that not having saved the white of the paper, mud is bound to appear.

"Goldfish with Lilies" - a work in progress

watercolor

12 x 18

I used a paper cutout to create the koi. Usually I go for trees as a first subject, but this time fish were on the brain. My goal was to get everyone comfortable with their paints, creating a resist, working wet, using a spray bottle, layering color washes, and letting the paint flow.

Next week I will bring in a still life setup and also plan another favorite warmup lesson. This is my last scheduled workshop as I am getting more involved with my upcoming move to Chicago.

Moving forward

Last week I received word that my painting "Drought" was accepted into the 36th Harper College  National Exhibition featuring small works. 23 pieces were accepted out of 893 submissions. I was thrilled to be included and this show will be the first of what I hope to be many more successful exhibition opportunities in the Midwest. I may even be able to attend the reception in April although I won't be living in Chicago full time until June. It's a good sign.

"Drought"

12" x 12" encaustic on panel

For several months I have been unhappy with a large painting that has been begging me to re-work it. After hearing about the show acceptance and reviewing the direction my work has taken, I decided to make changes by exposing the colored layers of wax below the surface. I also added color inlays and now feel this newer version shares greater depth, texture, and interest.

"Rise", old version

"Rise", final version

24" x 24" encaustic on panel

Last week ended with additional small works inspired by my Tuscan stay-cation, details can be seen in my Etsy shop

Tuscan Stay-cation

In New England, President's Day is the start of a week long vacation for the public schools. My youngest daughter has been waiting to hear from colleges and I am waiting to hear on an apartment lease in Chicago (should know what's happening by weeks end) and the best way to calm myself is to paint. I decided to pull out favorite photos from my Tuscan vacation several years ago and re-used them in small image transfers.

"Silhouette"

6 x 6 encaustic on panel

"Road to Cortona"

6 x 6 encaustic on panel

and I made some minor adjustments to the piece I shared here yesterday...

"Cobblestone Alley"

6 x 6 encaustic on panel

 Together these paintings create a fond memory of my visit to Tuscany.

A week from Saturday I am back at Montserrat College of Art teaching my last watercolor workshop until I am moved. It's a strange feeling to know so much will be changing but I look at it as a new chapter waiting for me to mold it as best I can. 

Red

"War"

12 x 12 encaustic on panel

In the mind of a visual artist, color conveys ideas better than words. I continue to play with "primitive scratchings" in order to build a more cohesive body of work that can bring us closer to the indomitable human spirit.

I am also having fun replenishing my Etsy shop (with more new work to post soon).

"Cobblestone Alley"

6" x 6" encaustic on panel

3 out of 4

"Nemo", the blizzard of 2013, has finally ended. Traffic bans have been lifted, and it will take most of us at least all day tomorrow to shovel out the over two feet of snow we received in the past 24 hours. Fortunately where I live we did not loose power and I was able to spend the time working on new submissions for an upcoming small works on paper show.

My substrate of choice has become encausticbord however for the show all work must be on paper. I decided to re-use some of my favorite images and now I have the task of choosing three submissions. 

Each painting is 3.5 x 2.5 and will need to be mounted and matted on 8 x 10 paper if accepted. I usually float, stamp with my chop, and place in a shadowbox frame (and that's what I will do if my work is not accepted).

Which 3 would you choose?

I continue to develop two completely different bodies of work. These small representational landscape paintings are my bread and butter in art sales plus I love creating textures by etching into the wax. Just today I sold another piece on Etsy and it's hard to ignore the success. 

The other work I am developing challenges skill and represents my thought process. I am hoping to put together a proposal for a solo show at the Copley Society in the next few weeks featuring my primitive works. Submitting requires an artist statement, something I edit on a regular basis.

The motivation behind the work is as important to me as the work.
new statement - Artist Statement

new work - Primitive 

A few blizzard photos: this is what I woke to, Charlie just wanted a way out!

My driveway, and Charlie.

Beach at high tide, down the street from my house.

More processing

"Remains of the Day"

24 x 24 encaustic on panel

My newest encaustic painting finds inspiration from a study of cave paintings, Native American symbols, earth and clay, and even sumi-e line work, all with a lean toward landscape. The Sumi-e  influence is transferred with simple lines and open space.     

After completing "Remains of the Day" I decided to rotate it and now I am unsure which direction this should hang. A successful abstract painting can be viewed and hung in more than one way, right?

In my home I have objects with the same earthy qualities. A favorite vase, a clay planter, shells in a glass bowl, are just a few things that bring me closer to the earth.

When I decided to clean the catch-tray to my electric griddle because of the wax buildup I was surprised to see such beautiful layering from colored drippings. I was going to melt down and recycle the drippings but it's too beautiful a "happy accident" to loose.

Drippings as they appeared in the catch tray, top view -

bottom view -

side views -

Process in Stages

"Fire and Wind"

8 x 8 encaustic on panel

The above painting was the result of three continuous days in the studio, working through personal and creative challenges, and completely changing direction. I hesitated to share the stages I went through because I am sure there will be someone who prefers one of the versions that no longer exists. Maybe if I explain the thinking behind the process you will understand what I was trying to achieve.

Starting with more than 10 layers of colored wax, I carved, etched, added colored inlay, oil pastel and used the panel as a demonstration piece.  I scraped away to expose layers of color and wanted students to see how versatile and forgiving the wax can be. When I came home I had decided the remaining color was too busy and I toned it down by adding a translucent layer of yellow. I thought if I could adhere some of the scrapings on top it would be more interesting. The only problem was, the next day when I viewed the small pieces on top they were too busy for me.

I decided to pull off the scrapings and began etching into the top layer of wax. I also added some light blue inlay although it became too chaotic again.

It was time to do some serious "erasing" by melting off several layers of the existing wax. After the surface was smooth and down to a cream color I could once again try and create something that felt "right". I added the warm colors of sunset combined with the cool colors of water. This now was a landscape waiting to happen, and I drew tree shapes. I almost stopped at this point, but it seemed too pretty and too literal.

Easy enough to add a few more layers of wax, draw in a few more organic shapes but now the warm yellow colors were missing. Plus, I was still being too literal. I have been working toward a simplified understanding of land and earth.

After adding a few more layers of cream, orange, and warmer colors I was able to find the color palette that worked for me. The piece below is an idea and a feeling - the natural elements of fire and wind recreated using color and brushstrokes rather than representational drawing.