Some Photos from Encaustic Open Studio Day

Last Saturday I had an open Encaustic Studio Day at my studio.  There were four of us and the day was spent intensely focused on working with our individual processes.  I didn't get many photos, I was too immersed in my own process, but thought I would post what I have.

  some delicious colors of R&F paints....
A work in progress....I love the actual metal gate on the sides of the image.
Cutting, sorting, and playing with possibilities.....
Fusing, again and again of course.....




Once again, I cleaned and put aside my encaustic supplies.  This time I have to make some new medium before I can begin again, but I've 2 pounds of beeswax ready to go, so perhaps this weekend.  I love to do this work.  I feel blessed to have people come to my studio to work and learn this process with me, as well as the infinite possibilities that open in my mind when I am working.  The last two encaustic are ones I did this weekend.  My maternal great grandparents...and a Soaring bird.   

Setting up the Studio again- getting ready for Saturday

Living the Butterfly Woman archetype.

 " Into The Blu" 

It's raining today, a perfect day for going into my studio and setting up for the Encaustic Open Studio day I am hosting /facilitating this Saturday.   

We definitely need the rain here in Northern CA., as we dance with a major drought...however, the rain does have a tendency to turn me inward, something I have been rather obsessive about  lately, as I try to put together the loose ends of my life.  
I hate to say this, but I havn't cranked up the hot plates since my last Encaustic weekend over a month ago.  I know part of the reason is because I have had  to move around the encaustic set up for my women's group and the mandala workshop, cleaning wax off the tables, and creating a different atmosphere/ enviornment for each class....but
But it is also a lethargy that has taken hold since I am not working a regular job anymore.  It's not to say that I haven't done any art, I have completed a mandala, and worked in one of my altered visual journals.  But undivided studio time with my encaustic paints, which is where I really loose myself and get into a flow, just hasn't happened.  I flit like a butterfly.

Yes,  its all this putting it away and bringing it out that shifts my attention. 

 I am looking forward to getting back into my work with wax again.  It is also important to honor that I am going through a " spiral" process right now, and to not devalue it, but enjoy the flitting, and truely indulge the butterfly in me.  Perhaps I am the Butterfly Woman.

Calla Lilly means- Magnificent Beauty

It is truly spring and the air is filled with delightful freshness as well as pollen.  I am in a sense of pure delight over the beauty all around me.  I have been working on my Spring Mandala and am getting closer to completion.

This is close to the beginning when I first began to add color

I love to slow down and draw, one step after the other, letting the prismacolor pencil slow me down move me into a synchronization with my breathing.  This one is closer to completion, with a bit of white added to the final circle of the mandala.  I am not sure if there is more to come, wether I will leave the black in the inner ring or not, but it is lovely as it is.  I just love Calla Lillies, so common, so simple yet so elegantly beautiful.  If I do more to this mandala, I will post it later, now it is what it is.  I notice how pared down my drawing are becoming, perhaps it is because my life is simpler now, less running around, fewer big daily commitments.  I love it.  Life is good and it is spring once again.