Classes resume

It's hard to believe that September is just around the corner. Where did the summer go? Next week I resume teaching workshops and weekly encaustic classes starting with a one night workshop at the Evanston Art Center on August 26. I am also teaching at the North Shore Art League with a one day workshop on September 26. Details for all classes and workshops are available on the websites.

In between my art festival participation, I was able to complete a variety of new works inspired by every day life, the things I see, the places I go.... from the hustle and bustle of city life, to low key farmers markets. I love it all!

LaSalle Street

40" x 30" mixed media on wood panel

"Tomatoes"

12" x 12" mixed media on wood panel

The Good Earth

August is my month to take a break... but also a time to find new inspiration, create new work, and prepare for teaching upcoming workshops and weekly classes in the fall.

Summer art festivals are only a small part of what I do. What I love about the festivals is the opportunity to be up front and first hand with patrons, engage and educate people interested in what they see, to sell work to people that "fall in love"... and that does happen! I have had three excellent show experiences to date and my last festival is in September, right around the corner in my neighborhood, the Lakeview East Festival of Arts.

Last weekend I was in Michigan in an area that is known for it's vineyards and farming. The piece completed below was inspired by the vineyards in Baroda, MI.

"Grapevines"

12" x 12" 

mixed media encaustic on cradled panel

Before I left for Michigan I started a large cityscape, it's 40" x 30" and had been taking up most of my energy. The time off, painting something organic, was a much needed break but my goal is to complete this before my last festival exhibition. I will be fusing the wax, etching details, adding color and highlights with oil pastels, and probably lightening up some of the buildings. It helps stepping away and coming back with fresh eyes.

"LaSalle Street"

work in progress

My last bit of news is that a very special painting of mine, "Under the Chuppah" was accepted into the “Real People 2015” Northwest Area Arts Council National Show, opening August 6 - September 27 in Woodstock, IL.

Summer show season continues...

... and I have not had the time to focus on new work, but ideas keep swirling around in my head!

Wells Street Art Festival

After the Wells Street Art Festival I was excited, stimulated, and plan on creating more oversized paintings. One of the paintings sold was the largest piece I brought to the show, 30" x 40" (seen hanging on the top left side of my booth); a special piece that had been included in the Evansville Museum of Art show last fall. Walking around the city of Chicago has me taking photos on a regular basis and I already have several photos I plan on using in new works:

Crossing the Chicago River on LaSalle Street, water taxis

LaSalle Street, looking South toward the Board of Trade

more from LaSalle Street looking South

Crossing the Chicago River looking West, I love the clouds (Marina City on the right)

On Wacker Drive, looking North East toward the Wrigley building and Lake Michigan

My plan is to continue working large, I have already purchased more 30" x 40" encausticbords, and my goal is to have at least one new piece ready for my September show.

I will have time to paint in August, but right now I am preparing for a big 4th of July show at the Chicago Botanic Garden. All artists participating are required to exhibit botanic inspired theme, materials, or usage.

I will be exhibiting both watercolor and encaustic land inspired paintings, and look forward to showing some of my favorite award winning pieces. If you are local and decide to visit, I will be in booth #62.7, hope to see you there!

Love ... and other things

"Under the Chuppah"

14" x 11" mixed media encaustic

Clearly, my creative inspiration comes from events in life that I see and feel. My son was married in April and since then I have been inspired to re-create artistic vignettes from the wedding weekend, somewhat unusual since landscape is my usual passion. This is the second painting (you can see my bridesmaids painting here) inspired by their wedding with focus not just on the bride and groom, but on the incredible floral canopy hung directly above them. The word chuppah is a hebrew word that means covering or protection, and is intended as a roof or covering for the bride and groom at their wedding. The chuppah symbolizes the new home that the couple will create. 

Because my focus now has to shift toward upcoming art festivals, creating new work is temporarily on hold. I have been making minor adjustments to some of my older works, below is one of the larger 30" x 30" cityscapes that will be highlighted in my first show next weekend, the Wells Street Art Festival. I just added more flowers to the right side flower boxes, light greens to the shrubs and trees, and also added color to the street signs. The older version is below the updated version.

"Approaching Michigan Ave."

30" x 30" mixed media encaustic

In my booth I will also be highlighting other large cityscapes, mixed media landscapes, and miniatures. If you are local be sure not to miss this incredible show.

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.