Wabi-Sabi Wax and Andrea's Show

Desire
Encaustic/Oil on Wood Panel

I've been playing with creating Wabi-Sabi inspired paintings in wax. I did the above Friday night. More coming later!

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I strongly urge you to see Encaustic artist Andrea Benson's show at
23 Sandy Gallery. I'm going to try to catch her talk and demo on Saturday. Andrea has an amazing style all her own--her work is exquisite and not to be missed!

Recommended Show!

From Mar Goman's show at Re-Vision Gallery

I've written many times about SCRAP (School/Community Reuse Action Project), the amazing source of all kinds of supplies for mixed media work. I went on a Hunting and Gathering trip there the other day, coming home with a new slew of magazines for collage images, fabric scraps, a couple of art books, and assorted gee-gaws. While I was there I felt fortunate to be able to see Mar Goman's installation at the Re-Vision Gallery adjacent to the store.

Mar has used recycled, repurposed, and reimagined objects to tell a powerful story. Her show depicts the life of "Lucy" and other women consigned to mental hospitals for being different in some way from what was considered the norm. Be sure to catch this intense and moving show this month!

Fooling Around with Spirits

The outside of my new old book

While I've been sick I've been fooling around with this altered book. I'm pretending it was written by a very old woman who has been a spirit medium and accompanied her late husband around the U.S., England, and Italy. The husband was a photographer of spirits.

This old lady can't use her hands too well, but she created this album to remember better days. Spirit photography was very popular toward the end of the 19th century. If you google spirit photographs you'll see lots of them, and very fakey they are, too. I wanted the photographs in the book to look fake also, though my old lady believes in them completely. It's hard to read her margin notes, so I'll add them under the pictures.

Left: "Spirit Photograph, Mrs. Nelcott and Son."
Right: "Monsieur Armande with his spirit guide.
Taken at his last seance before leaving for the Continent."

Left: "Spirit Photographs taken in Italy by my Dear Husband--
May he rest in peace."
Right: "Mr. Vance and his Sister's Spirit"

Left: "June 1889. Pupils of Miss Freeman's School.

Two of them are now Mediums--Miss Price (back left)
and Miss Griggs (right front.) Miss Price may have the
Greater Gift. I found a button belonging to Miss Price."
Right: "I hope I am not immodest in including this--A
photograph of Me with my Crystal Ball and a Spirit--1875."

Left: The Haunted Door Plate at Crossley Manor, Suffolk
"We Saw This"
Right: "My dear Henry took this of Mrs. Pettigrew, the Medium.
My Mentor"

Left: "Augusta Jane Taylor-The Youngest Medium
in this Country with a materializing Spirit. Aged 9 at
this Time. Such a Dear."

Pretty silly, but fun to write and create as someone else!

OMG: Golden Oldies

A Celestial Theme circa 1993

I've been lolling around a lot the last two weeks due to my having caught the LP version of the cold that's going around. It's a terrible thing to feel too sick to make art or go look at it! Tonight while I was surfing the net and despairing of my messy desk, my eyes fell on a stack of old photos that had surfaced while I was looking for envelopes.

So, I may regret it, but I'll try to entertain you with some of my Very Early Work. My visual art career began with painting on home-made muslin pillows. I used fabric paint and was very proud when I managed to produce something identifiable.

The pillow below was done in 1992. It was one of my favorites at the time.

She's Always in the Garden (large detail)

Can't remember the name of this one from 1994

This is from '93 or so...I still kinda like it.

One of my first paintings in acrylic on canvas,
done in 1995 after my first trip to Italy.

It's interesting looking at this old work. I can see my growth as an artist, technically and conceptually, while at the same time I love remembering the magic of starting to make art. I can see the liveliness and joy I put into these pieces. Now, many years later, I want to recapture that feeling more often in my work. As art becomes a career there are so many temptations and pressures that can stifle joy and spontaneity. This is where play is so important. And getting out and seeing things.

Tomorrow I'm going to go out and See, whether I feel good or not. Tomorrow evening I'll spend time with my grandson which is some of the best magic I know.

Energetic Encaustic Aftermoon

My demo #1
Photo transfer, encaustic, and collage on Claybord

Today's workshop at my studio, "Mind Your Own Beeswax", was a riot of energy and creativity. Five women fused up a storm. I love how they each used encaustic in different ways and came up with such rich and lively work. Above is one of my demo pieces, done over one that didn't turn out and has been sitting in a drawer for a couple of years. I love how encaustic work can always be redeemed.

New View of Delft (Demo # 2)
Encaustic and vintage pattern paper on wood panel

This demo piece was also done over a reject from years past. I added quite a few layers of new paint and scraped away to the original painting in the central image.

The piece below is a demo that consists of clear encaustic medium over blender pen transfers. The transfers were done on the bare board panel before applying the wax.

Demo # 3
Photo transfers, encaustic medium, vintage postage stamp, teabag

Demo # 4
Homage a Manet
Encaustic on wood panel

I did the above painting earlier in the week, using beeswax mixed with microcrystalline wax. Again, I rescued an old reject and completely redid it.

Now--on to the exciting student work from today:

Kris' second piece today. She figured out how to use the wax in a very
painterly way, and we all think she should keep it just as it is!

Kris' first piece is in progress. She didn't intend to do a face
but it appeared before her eyes as the wax dried, so she
decided to go with it! She also experimented with splashing drops of water
on top of a new encaustic layer, and then fusing, which resulted in the interesting effects you see nearthe bottom of the piece and on the far right.
Cool effect!

The students found that after their first piece, they loosened up a lot. They found out how forgiving encaustic is, and how fun it is to experiment--you can always change it later, just scrape it down and wax over it.

Karen's first piece, very lovely.

For Karen's second piece, she let loose. She did a lot of incising
and added 3-D embellishments. She said she was frustrated by
the small holes that appeared in the wax. She decided to exaggerate
the effect, rather than try to eliminate it, so she added lots of little
holes in areas around the picture. This piece makes me joyful.

Jennifer's first piece is still in process. She began with a structured flower
and then loosened it up with layers of clear beeswax medium. She's
going to explore the processes of shading and layering some more. I'd say she's off to a great start here!

Jennifer relaxed a lot for her second piece, and did this

great Tuscan style view in a very short time!

K.J.'s second piece is this elegant and serene Asian style
landscape. She too, found her second piece went quickly.

We all talked about how the creative process involves entering into "the chaos" and the uncertainty. I often find that my own process goes something like, "Make it, like it, do a little, wreck it, fix it." Sometimes this is repeated many times before it the piece sings.

K. J. did the piece below as her first. After it was finished, she made a "mistake" and worried she'd ruined it. She put it aside and went back to it, ending up with a piece even better than before. (K.J. remember what I said, Don't touch it now--it's done!)

K.J.'s dreamy landscape

KC went to town and did four pieces. The above piece
she had planned, to showcase an image on papyrus
that she got in Egypt. She found that encaustic and papyrus
fight a bit, but she persevered and got this lovely image.

This piece of KC's contains blender transfers, a piece
of vintage dress pattern, vintage postage stamps,
and loose tea. The pattern lines add great movement to
the piece.

KC recently married her sweetheart (a great guy!--SB)
She was tickled by this postcard of a bride with the legend

below: "She was blissfully unaware of her peril"

KC surrounded her card with pink encaustic paint, and some
of the glittery spangles used instead of rice at her wedding. She sealed these with clear medium. When she sealed the bride card, the wax made
a nice shadow over part of the bride's face, suggesting the front of her veil, or maybe a sense of impending doom.)

KC had a blast with bright color and with using the fusing torch
as a partner in creation of this vivid landscape.

The five fiery ladies and I are planning another get-together next month--can't wait!

A Great Resource

A sweetheart from The Vintage Moth

Hey, all you collage artists and those who love vintage photographs--I just found out about an amazing site called The Vintage Moth. Abbie has 2010 (2011) if you count me, followers and you may well want to join us. In addition to showing us her own lovely art, Abbie gives away, yes gives away, a large selection of vintage photos from the 19th century and other times. What a generous spirit! Check it out!

Photos from "Living to Paint/Painting to Live" at PSU

Some images of the wonderful work created by my PSU students this weekend in "Living to Paint/Painting to Live". The students outdid themselves on their creative projects for the class!
The class covers the lives and work of Sofonisba Anguissola, Renaissance Italian painter and Artemisia Gentileschi, Baroque Italian painter.

Tammy's piece in process,
inspired by Judy Chicago's place setting
for Artemisia in The Dinner Party

Roxanne's standing piece for Sofonisba,

featuring text by Sofonisba and a burnt-out heart,

referencing the artist's marriage for love in middle age

Stephanie usually makes functional ceramics, but
today she made her first sculpture, of Sofonisba

Pam created her first pastel painting--Artemisia from the artist's self-portrait

Pamela referenced Sofonisba's black clothing and white collar, along

with Sofonisba's style of painted hands. In the center, Sofonisba

winks at us, which refers to the artist's visual wit and coded messages

Monique's collage contains symbols of the wide eyes with which
Sofonisba viewed the world, and the expressive eyes and faces
that populate her paintings. The blue waves symbolize the ocean
where Sofonisba met her future husband, whom she married for
love against familial and political pressure

Monica created these altered book pages for Artemisia, the

blue referencing Artemisia's self-portrait as "The Allegory of Inclination"

Heather painted this pastel portrait after one of Sofonisba's self-portraits

Karleah's piece combines collage and original drawings in honor
of both Artemisia and Sofonisba.

Gail painted her first picture ever for this piece to Sofonisba

DeeDee created this collaged and painted piece for
Artemisia. The painted face on the left shows Artemisia's
strength, while the prone figure on the bottom represents
Artemisia's attacker, Agostino Tassi, in the guise of Holofernes

I'm sure some of these names mean little or nothing to the readers of this blog, but my hope is that some of you may be inspired to check out the work and lives of these two remarkable women. Here are some places to start for Artemisia Gentileschi and Sofonisba Anguissola.