Summer Festivals on the Horizon

My first art festival is less than a month away and this is the time when I stop making new works and focus on presentation (framing and wiring), pricing, and determine what will be going to each show. I have to admit, I have had a productive year with lots of choices; I must narrow down what to bring!

First show, Wells Street Art Festival, will be featuring mixed media encaustic paintings. I submitted cityscape image transfers but my newest work is more organic and loose. I have been using lots of shellac burns and transfer foils, incorporating a variety of techniques (many of my paintings originate as demonstrations from the classes I teach). 

"Buddha"

10" x 8" encaustic on panel

This piece allowed me to sculpt with wax, add metallic transfer foils, and draw using the tjanting tool.

The hardest part of preparing for the festival will be narrowing down which work to hang, and reminding myself to focus on a cohesive body of work.

Bridesmaids

"Bridesmaids"

12" x 12" encaustic mixed media on cradled birch panel

 A few weeks ago I went to Texas and watched my son get married to the love of his life. I also had the chance to meet some of the bridesmaids and groomsmen, close friends of my daughter-in-law and son. I found it difficult to not translate the weekend experience into art, and this is the first painting of what may become a new series. 

I have also been busy completing demonstration paintings from my weekly encaustic classes at the North Shore Art League and wanted to share a demo of an older work that was used as the base for something new.

At the time I created the piece below, I was focused on cave paintings and building multiple layers of wax. I decided to use this as the background and re-worked it by etching a drawing into the wax with a pointed tool, then added a shellac burn along with transfer foils. I had the most fun when I scraped away the top layers of shellac and wax, exposing the many layers that were below the surface. 

I have been using foil transfer papers and gold leaf often, but it's a challenge trying to photograph and capture the glisten of the metallics.

"Masked with Age"

12" x 12" mixed media encaustic on cradled birch panel

Mixing Media, Shellac and Encaustic

The Spring session has begun at the North Shore Art League and I am teaching encaustic painting twice a week. Both classes are full and I am starting to feel like I am finally finding my niche since moving to the midwest (Chicago)... and it's only taken 2 years!

One of my students had taken a semi-private workshop with me over the winter and was anxious to use a shellac burn in her encaustic painting. Ever since demonstrating the technique, I have been incorporating shellac, reviving older paintings, using this technique.

"Radiant"

12" x 12" mixed media on panel

I decided to cover an older work (below) with a light cream toned encaustic paint, knowing the red would bleed through the top layer once fused. I also etched into the wax with a sharp pointed tool the figure of the Buddha, and kept the shellac away from the drawn figure. Once the burn was complete, I added details using transfer foil and oil pastels.

The older piece was part of a series of cave inspired works that were influenced by the Lascaux Cave Paintings. The new work (above) has no connection to the old other than it maintains a primitive feel.

Recently I sold one of my larger cave inspired works that had also been transformed with a similar technique using the shellac burn. 

"Deer and Buffalo Roaming"

24" x 24" mixed media on panel

I plan on reviving more older work using shellac this afternoon as my demo for class. I will be connecting subject and style to Buddha, and to a series of works I have titled "Sacred Spaces".

Geishas

The literal Japanese translation of "geisha" is "person of art". Recently I have been revisiting favorite Haiku Masters, Japanese woodcuts, and my love of Asian Art. Years ago I had studied and painted Geishas with watercolor, I used my paintings as transfers into wax in these new miniature works on paper. Each is 2.5" x 3.5" mixed media encaustic. I will be floating and mounting these in a triptych shadowbox frame.

I have been on break from teaching this past week and Friday resume weekly encaustic classes at the North Shore Art League. I am scheduled to teach both Friday and Sunday afternoons. The classes are great for beginners to advanced, we cover a variety of techniques and share in weekly group critiques. For more information visit - NSAL 

Waves

"Wavy"

11" x 14" mixed media on panel

Below is the older version of "Wavy", above is the reworked final version. Most notable change: shades of blue, the addition of a shellac burn, and linear textures. I wanted to create a more impressionistic, recognizable seascape.

I decided to share with my weekly encaustic class at NSAL how a painting can be reworked, and reborn. The first original version was part of a seascape series from 2011, my initial intention was to lean toward abstraction rather than impressionism. For the sake of the class demo, I decided to incorporate several techniques we had used to transform this.

We shared ideas on how to recycle works in new ways. I am creating a one of a kind art book using some of my favorite poems combined with original monotypes that were "extras". I have always found inspiration when combining poems with visual art... something I did exclusively in my Landscape to Lotus Series.

As I was putting together the book I decided to cut up some of the monotype images to create various collages. The book is still a work in progress but I do have a photo sample to share -

And I am sharing the poem I have coupled with this image. As the book progresses and is completed, I will share more.

Tide Rises the Tide Falls

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The tide rises, the tide falls,

The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;

Along the sea-sands damp and brown

The traveller hastens toward the town,

  And the tide rises, the tide falls.

Darkness settles on roofs and walls,

But the sea, the sea in the darkness calls;

The little waves, with their soft, white hands,

Efface the footprints in the sands,

  And the tide rises, the tide falls.

The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls

Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls;

The day returns, but nevermore

Returns the traveller to the shore,

And the tide rises, the tide falls.

Flowering Creativity

"Orchids"

10" x 8" mixed media on cradled panel

"Lotus"

8" x 10" mixed media on cradled panel

Each week I teach an encaustic painting class at the North Shore Art League. The class size is kept small (mainly because of electrical requirements; griddles and heat guns are essential for each student) and we have been able to cover a wide range of techniques. I feel fortunate that the women in my class are self motivated, wildly creative, and supportive.

Above are two of my recent demonstration paintings from the class. "Orchids" was created from a photo I took at the Botanic Garden Orchid show that just ended. After successfully fusing the photo into wax medium, I added depth, dimension, and details with pigments and oil pastel. This is one of my favorite techniques, allowing me to create a three-dimensional environment that if successful, brings you into another space, a place where you can practically reach out and touch your surroundings.

"Lotus" was created from what started as a simple monotype. I used Kozo (Japanese calligraphy paper) and drew with wax on an anodized aluminum plate, pressed the paper and transferred the drawing with a bamboo baren. I decided to mount the drawing onto a cradled wood panel, then added linear wax details to flowers using a tjanting tool. Once the paper was mounted and secure, I was able to add more pigmented wax, scrape and define details, and highlight with oil pastels without worrying about the fragility of the paper. This particular painting covered a wide range of encaustic techniques, and was the first time I mounted Kozo on wood panel. My monotypes are often framed under glass, treated similarly in presentation to watercolor.

I also love working in a scroll format, working in this shape and size is newer to me. "Undun" is the longest scroll I have done to date; important to me is that the color flows from top to bottom. I am probably going to shorten it to six feet (72" in height) once I attach the scroll hanger, I will hang this with a plain black rod, top and bottom, to weight it down.

"Undun"

78" x 11" encaustic monotype on Kozo

Painting with the encaustic medium is one of the most versatile mediums I have worked with and I continue to be amazed at the different ways artists explore and create with wax.

Summer Thoughts

Today in Chicago the high temperature is predicted to teeter between 0 to 5 degrees F. Wind chills are predicted to be around 30 below F tonight! This frigid weather spell has guided my inspiration into mild summer breezes and wonderfully meditative places from my past.

"Rangeley Lake"

8" x 8" mixed media encaustic on panel

"Tranquility"

8" x 10" mixed media encaustic on panel

This month is the much awaited release of "Embracing Encaustic, Learning to Paint with Beeswax", the 3rd edition ebook, offering simplified and helpful ways of how to paint with this incredibly seductive medium. I am excited to share that I am one of the 35 artists featured in the book's Inspiration Gallery section.

My painting in the book is another favorite summer escape.

"Sunday on Snow Street"

8" x 8" mixed media encaustic on panel

Partial screen shot from e-book 

All of these encaustic paintings start with a photograph I have taken from places I have visited. The photo is then burnished and fused into layers of wax medium. I add depth, texture, and pigments with encaustic paint, oil pastels, using pottery tools to scrape and sculpt the wax. If my painting is successful, it takes you on a journey into a newly discovered space with dimensionality and tangibility. I hope I was able to warm up your body and soul with a brief journey into summer.

Where to go from Here

Often, creating art is my safe haven, a place I find peace and love, beauty and serenity, even hope. This week I am on hold from the creative process. The world is scary right now; terrorism and deadly threats to humanity are running rampant, it's hard for me to ignore the darkness. This negative energy is the polar opposite from "Sacred Spaces", paintings inspired by visits to various churches, temples, and houses of worship, focused on different ways we find spirituality, peace, hope, and prayer.

Recently I visited the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago -

"Prayer to Durga Mata"

8" x 10" mixed media encaustic on board

And the 2nd Presbyterian Church of Chicago -

"Ascension #3"

2.5" x 3.5" mixed media encaustic on paper

I also visited the Bahai Temple in Wilmette (photo soon to become a painting) -

Although it wasn't a temple, I visited the Vodou Exhibit at the Field Museum this week. 

Photos from exhibit -

The exhibition featured sacred objects and even included short movies of Haitian rituals and ceremonies, I felt like I was in a sacred space. And it opened my eyes to a different way of praying, using objects to create the seduction of evil vs. good. It also educated me to how the Haitian people found ways to triumph over slavery, from love to sensuality to courage through the personification of spirits known as "Lwa". 

I am sharing an older painting from about 10 years ago during a difficult time in my life, when I felt negativity and hopelessness; this painting connects me to now -

"Sadness"

30" x 22" watercolor on paper

It takes time for me to process shifts in my creativity and I am not sure where I will go from here.

Class resumes at NSAL

Classes have resumed in the winter session at the North Shore Art League and I always start with a review supplies/studio safety, and various techniques that will be introduced with demonstrations. I am flexible and willing to deviate from the outline. If there is something more appealing to the group, we end up focusing on that. Next week image transfers and self portraits will be subject matter.

During the winter break, I was able to start a new series of work, Sacred Places, and I did complete a 2nd piece, this matches in size and shape to the first piece in the series featured here.

Working larger will come, in time.

I also have a new group of encaustic monotypes, all inspired by love of life and land. These works continue with my interpretation of sacred spaces, but the earth and landscape shines through. That, and Zen Buddhism... simplified living... finding peace.

"Entering White Space"

18" x 24"

"Red Mountain Valley"

12" x 18"

"Unknown Territories"

22" x 16"

I look forward to sharing these new works in upcoming shows and events, details to follow.

New Year, New Series to follow...

"Stained Glass"

6" x 6"

mixed media encaustic on 300 lb. Arches paper

mounted and floated in a 10" x 10" shadowbox frame

I am entering the new year with new ideas, new hopes, and new inspiration for my art. I plan to focus on historic Gothic architecture, stained glass, connecting the history of art while working with the encaustic medium. Hopefully, I will be able to explore a variety of churches throughout the city and share a unique, impressionistic vision. This first piece above is small and restricted in details; I am thinking working larger is a must. 

Recently when I visited a Gothic church in Chicago, I couldn't help but reminesce college days, spending hours in the dark basement of the art history building, studying the slide trays for upcoming exams, memorizing the details of historic religious art pieces throughout time. Boy, technology sure has changed the way we learn! 

I want to wish everyone a happy, healthy, prosperous new year. Lets hope 2015 brings us all closer to finding joy and fulfillment, peace and happiness.