More Painting Knife Pictures

Pier
Acrylic on Wood Panel

Two elements that work for me in creating painting knife pictures is to work rapidly and freely, and to simplify, simplify. I've been having my best success lately working in the studio with a friend or two. As we chat, I develop a relaxed state of mind and feel free to slather on and scrape off paint. I've been working from photos, though the finished products look a lot different.

The painting above reminds me a bit of an early influence on my childhood self: the work of Raoul Dufy.

In the Wood

I worked from a photograph of a closeup of trees in a forest. I slathered and scraped with abandon and I think it worked. It was largely a matter of trust in reproducing what I saw (though in a simplified way.) The picture doesn't resolve until you are far away from it.

Canyon Sunset

I know this piece must be influenced by trips to Northern New Mexico, that most magical of places.

Past Week's Work

Study in Blue
Mixed Media Collage

A few pictures of what I've been working on. The above collage was meditative and relaxing to create. The center picture is an image of Catherine of Aragon done with a packing tape transfer. I used tissue and decorative papers, teabags, magazine illustrations, and acrylic paint.

Below are some acrylic landscapes done with palette knives.

Fairies' Clearing

Rainy Day Farm





Watchers on the Bank

"Mind Your Own Beeswax" workshop at Trinity

A portion of our ending display

This morning I was ready to leave for Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in NW Portland where I was scheduled to teach eight eager students. When I walked out the door I discovered that my car had been stolen!

I called the police and reported the theft and then called a cab company. I wasn't about to disappoint my students! We had a wonderful day in our encaustic workshop. After I got home (thanks to a ride from a kind student) I got a phone call telling me my car had been dropped off, sans wheels, in front of a car repair shop. Now wasn't that thoughtful--geez. The shop owner told me they had carefully left the lug nuts, arranging them around the car where the wheels would have been. Too weird. Better to have to replace the wheels and tires than the whole car!

Anyway, I want to share some photos from today's class. Trinity has an amazing arts commission--they clearly value the connection between creativity and spirituality. The students had fun experimenting and created lively work. Only one had done encaustic before. One student had not seen encaustic but thought it sounded fun. Another had been wanting to do encaustic for a couple of years ever since she had seen an exhibit of encaustic work. I had so much fun today I even forgot about my missing car!

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Coming next Saturday at the studio--"Transferred Secrets". Only one spot left!

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