Yummy encaustic work from "Mind Your Own Beeswax" at Art and Soul VA Beach

I am excited to share these innovative and diverse pieces from last week's class at Art and Soul Retreat in VA Beach. This was a fun class full of enthusiastic and talented students!

 

Art and Soul Virginia Beach and Rusted Cloth in Back Yard

I looked up from working on my book to see that my talented friend and colleague, Erin Keck had made this collage of my classes at the upcoming Art and Soul Virginia Beach. I am so impressed! Thank you Erin!

My teenage grandson was over yesterday and I showed him how I rust cloth. He isn't into art, but he does like to see processes. I sprayed cotton muslin with a solution of vinegar and water (50/50). Then I sprayed a bunch o' rusty things and wrapped them up in the cloth. I covered them loosely with plastic and let them sit in the back yard overnight. I really like how it turned out!

Wabi-Sabi.

OIl and Wax at the Beach!

I'm so happy to share this gallery of beautiful and unique oil and cold wax work done by students in my recent two day class, "Strata of Time." We met at Bloom! an artspace in the charming beach town of Yachats, Oregon under the auspices of the wonderful Sandy Mier.  

We used oil paint, cold wax medium, oilbars, oil pastels, graphite crayons, paper, and a bunch of texturing tools on birch supports and two kinds of paper. I am floored by the lovely and inventive work that emerged from this class. I hope you'll give these pieces a close look so you can see the variety of texture and the delicious color!

BTW--don't forget to register for our next Art and Soul Retreat! We'll be right on the water in gorgeous Virginia Beach next month! Sign up now so you can get the classes you want before they fill!

         Strata of Time Gallery

Making a Book

"Entrusted"     Oil/Cold Wax/Vintage Letter on Panel

This new piece was inspired by the haiku below:

 The rains of May

Here is a paper parcel

Entrusted to me long ago

--Sampu

I'm hard at work on my new book for North Light. This involves working on several things at once. I'm creating a bunch of new pieces and working on many at a time. It's exciting for me to see some new developments in my work as a result of experimentation and working in the studio more often. Since my website is not working well (it is about to be updated) I am showing these new pieces here.

"Senza Titulo"      [Untitled so far]  Oil/Cold Wax on Panel

In addition to making art, one of my recent tasks was to create what's called a Page Plan. This means that I layout where everything in the book will go, although the North Light Book designer will improve on this a great deal. Doing the Page Plan is useful for seeing what will go where, what order to put things in, how much art I'll need, the materials I'll need to take, and what I can fit into 143 pages. Needless to say, I've revised over and over, and more revisions will come later on.

"Route 66"      OilCold Wax on Panel

I'm also in the process of writing the "Stepouts." These are the captions for the step by step instructions for each chapter in the book. These instructions will be different from the last book. I will not attempt to show how to create a particular piece. Rather, I'll show lots of techniques and weird tools to get certain effects for the reader to play with and to use to create their own unique pieces.This fall I will go to Cincinnati to have pictures taken of my hand performing each step. Before I go, it will be manicure time!

"Below the Surface"     Oil/Cold Wax on Panel

" My Mother's Clothes"

I'll tell you later what all is in the above piece--I want it to be a surprise:) Very soon, another step in the book making process will be sending questionnaires out to my twelve talented guest artists and collecting their images for the book. I'm having fun with this process, but am trying to remember to come up for air periodically!

A Busy Time and Exciting News

Patterns of Migration      Oil and Cold Wax on Canvas

    

I can't believe it's been a month since I was in Taos, NM to teach with Leighanna Light at her studio. Taos was wonderful, with perfect weather. We had a fantastic group of participants in both workshops, my encaustic class, and Leighanna's class where we started our unique canvas books. 

First, I'll tell you a bit about the above cold wax/oil painting, "Patterns of Migration." I painted this piece on an old acrylic painting. Usually I use a wood support as that is better in general for cold wax, so that it doesn't crack. This canvas was just sitting around and it is pretty big so I decided to go ahead but use fewer layers of oil and wax than I usually do.

I didn't have anything in mind before I started. Before I left for Taos I painted a couple of light layers of red oil and wax, using three different reds. I covered over the original painting and incised into the red layers and added a bit of other texture. When I came back the layers were dry and then I went to work with cobalt blue oil and cold wax. What appeared was, to me, an evocation of New Mexican color and light. While in Taos I read a moving and enlightening book on the Anasazi and their descendents in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Mexico. The feelings I had while reading and digesting the book came out in this piece. I love how that works!

The book is called House of Rain and I highly recommend it.

Here are some images from Leighanna's class: "Lily's Book."

Leighanna's completed book sample

We painted canvas with reinkers and let them dry in the sun

We covered our pages with Venetian plaster, heavy gel medium, and other mediums

A student leafs through her pages prior to sewing the book together

We visited the Earthships on our field trip day. This student incorporated the experience into her book

Another yummy page spread with a pocket

The first page spread in my book

I will be posting photos of some of the encaustic work from my class on my Wabi-Sabi blog. 

I am excited to announce that I have contracted with North Light Publishing (F and W Media) to write a second book! This book will be on painting and mixed media work with oil and cold wax with an emphasis on both techniques and on the intuitive creative process. 

I have twelve amazing oil and cold wax artists who will be featured in the book. I'll be posting further about the process of making a book...

Hope you are all having an enjoyable and creative summer!