An Alchemical Tutorial

Here's a little tutorial that shows you how transform a collage piece that didn't work out into something wonderful. Hope you enjoy it!

Busy Days Coming Up

Are you sad to see summer ending? I know I am in many ways. I love the more relaxed pace (even though I'm working, I feel more relaxed.) I've had so much fun with my grandson, attending five outdoor Shakespeare plays and the high-toned classic, Men in Black III at the local Academy Theater.

The last few days I've started to feel the excitement of fall and new projects stirring in me. I've finished filming my online encaustic class for Creative Workshops. I'm grateful to Gail for hosting the class and  to Julia Gardner for filming! The go-at-your-own-pace workshop opens on October 22.

Ready to film!

The talented and patient Julia

Here's an intro to the class. You can see more here:

 Now it's time to get ready to teach at Art Is...You in Petaluma! More on that in the next post.

Blooper from my online class

This past week my friend, Julia, and I have been filming my next online class at her studio. It's a beginning encaustic class and I'm very excited that it will be up on the Creative Workshops site in mid-September. 

It was really hot for Portland last week and there I was, working over a hot wax griddle all day. So I got a little tired and careless...this scene won't be in the final product!

Encaustic Joy at the Beach

Our Portland chapter of International Encaustic Artists spend a wonderful weekend at Nye Beach, Newport on the Oregon coast. Saturday afternoon and Sunday we spent learning and experimenting with a variety of encaustic techniques. Shaun Doll of Seattle's Northwest Encaustics provided us with lots of new ideas and inspiration. 

"You Are Not Listening Now"  by Shaun Doll

It was such fun to hang out together as a group, watching how each artist uses materials and techniques in original ways.

Friday evening we held an Artists' Talk at the Newport Newport Visual Arts Center as part of our group encaustic exhibit, "Exquisite Wax." Saturday night we went to Ozone Gallery in Newport, to cheer on our member, Amy Royce, at her opening,  Here's an example of Amy's strong and evocative work.

"Aire Libre" by Amy Royce

My roommate Bridget Benton and I stayed at the Sylvia Beach Hotel. If you aren't familiar with this retreat at Nye Beach, I'll just say that it is a Oregon Coast institution. Each lovely room is named for a well-known writer, and is decorated as that writer's own room might be. We stayed in the Amy Tan room.

A few of my weekend's experiments--all in my wabi-sabi style.

"Enter"               Encaustic/Mixed Media

 

 

The above piece began with torched wood glue on a wood panel. I brushed encaustic medium over this area.The center image is a print done from my hand-carved block and outlined in encaustic paint.

 

"Stack of Bowls"  Encaustic/Mixed Media

The piece above consists of encaustic paint and tissue prints done from my carved block and from the soles of my shoes. You can see the incised areas, especially at the top of the piece.

"Chalice" Encaustic/Mixed Media

This piece above has encaustic paint, and roofing tar. It was enhanced by fusing shellac and rubbing with India ink. I did this over a piece someone from another group had painted and abandoned. Although I covered the old piece, the red lines above came through, adding interest. (I love working over old pieces!)

"Chosen"  Encaustic/Mixed Media

This simple piece may be my favorite. The golden wax illuminates the subtle difference in several shades of encaustic paint and showcases the translucence for which encaustic is famous. 

Thanks to all who made this wonderful weekend possible!

Shakespeare Summer

The Central Park, NYC Shakespeare in the Park isn't the only one worth seeing!

A couple of weekends ago I went with my grandson (almost 13) and my daughter and her boyfriend to see the Original Practice Shakespeare company in As You Like It at Irving Park in Portland. My grandson belly laughed through the play, though we were sitting a bit far away to hear as well as we've had liked to.

What they mean by original practice is that each actor carries a roll of paper with his/her cues and lines only. Little or no rehearsal is done and performances are filled with improvisation. The actors perform in a motley assortment of modern dress items and gender blind casting prevails. The prompter is a character in the play. He dresses in a referee's outfit and stops the action at intervals to command an actor to improvise on a subject the prompter chooses.

This makes for an hilarious afternoon. Like Shakespeare's players, these modern actors succeed in conveying the precision and beauty of Shakespeare's language while still providing slapstick amusement for the "groundlings."

Poster designed by Mike Wallace

Last weekend my grandson, partner, and I were treated to a magnificent production of Midsummer Night's Dream. This was performed by Portland Actors Ensemble at Milepost 5 as part of the Post 5 Outdoor Shakespeare Festival. This was a magical production. and one of the best productions I've seen here for a long time. We sat in the courtyard and were transported to Athens (for this production, Georgia, not Greece.) The director and actors delivered a perfect blend of poetry and slapstick and the three of us were enthralled. I have no doubt that Shakespeare would have loved this production. The actors had clearly rehearsed a lot, but all the playful liveliness of an improvisation remained.

 In just a few hours we are going to see this company's production of The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged.) Can't wait! Neither can my grandson, who has been beguiled by the Bard away from his computer into the fresh air.

Shakespeare in the Milepost 5 Courtyard

If you live here in Portlandia, check out the remaining summer performances of these groups and others. If you live elsewhere, see if there's a Shakespeare in the Park near you. Watching Shakespeare outdoors on a summer afternoon is a magical experience.

Layered Papers

Recently a wonderful Art and Soul student, Pearl Winne, sent me a box of decorative napkins. I had been admiring hers when she took my classes at Las Vegas last month. She said she had too many of them and would send some. I was amazed to get a good sized box of tons o' napkins! They are soooo gorgeous.

I decided to try an experiment whereby I'd decorate mulberry paper with fragments of the napkins and some other stuff. I was so happy with how they turned out.

"Exquisite Wax" opens at Newport Visual Arts Center

The Portland Chapter of International Encaustic Artists has a delightful show at the Newport Visual Arts Center in the Nye Beach Area of Newport. I found the show fascinating (not just because I'm in it.) If you get a bunch of encaustic artists to create, they will all create differently. The show offers abstract, figurative, portrait, 3-D, and mixed media pieces.

We'll be having another opening on Friday, August 3rd that will include talks by the artists about their work. If you are in the area and want to try this fabulous medium for yourself, we'll be offering two workshops at the Visual Arts Center. On Friday August 10, our IEA chapter president, Manuela will teach "Introduction to Encaustics". This workshop is from 9-12. Robyn will teach "Monotype Encaustics and Specialized Techniques" from 1-4 on the same day.

Lots of other people took photos so I hope to be sharing more pictures of exquisite wax pieces not shown here.

The show runs through the end of August, so if you find yourself on the Oregon Coast, stop by and take a look!

 Closeup of our 8" x 8" pieces

 Display Case Showing Encaustic Materials and Tools

 My Egyptian style paintings in the center

  

Artist Group Photo