Digging In...Trusting the Process

Digging in, excavating down to the heart of the matter, revealing the layers underneath, allows me to  find respite from the issues and problems on the surface  of life, as I dig in.  Sometimes when I am doing art, creating an image story, I feel like I am digging into the depths of my soul.  I work creatively in many media, but nothing seems to go  as deep as when I work in encaustic.

The nature of this media is perfect for digging in.  Tactile, and dimensional, it calls to the fingertips and aches to be touched.  After painting  and fusing  several layers of encaustic paint, the thickness of the texture of the beeswax begins to coalesce into  mountains and valleys of colored forms.  By digging into the wax, the layer just under the surface is revealed.  Light reveals dark, darkness exposes light.  A little like the soul of therapy, there is an opportunity to uncover the facade that is pervasive and brings something and hidden and new to the light of day.

When I participate in this type of excavating, I fantasize that I am on a journey through time, going back to an ancient  land, old and mysterious,  like the walls of a fresco painting, doing into the ocean of memories of ancient patterns of expression.  Making simple marks, crosses, spirals, repeated patterns of triangles, I touch into a part of my being more in touch with my instincts more open to patterns, that when repeated and combined in new ways, is in sync with a long, lost lineage.

So digging implies a process of commitment to a process.  Taking the time to go as deep as possible with out fear of failure, just following the thread of thought and experience as it reveals itself through the process.  Trusting the process, and hence trusting life.  Trusting my life.

Photos from Encaustic Workshop

This past weekends Encaustic Workshop, was invigorating, stimulating and totally engaging.  Everyone who participated was excited and had a great time.  I found the time just flying by as we explored texture, transparency and mixed media on the first day of the class.   

On the 2nd day our focus was continuing to explore personal themes, while adding photo transfer to our pieces.  
I loved witnessing everyones process and emerging art, as well as how each person developed in moving through the learning curve of the media, and finding their own ways to express themselves. 
I took alot of process photos as well as the images themselves and decided to post as many as possible, to show the range of expression that came through.  

I will add more to a later post, so as not to overwhelm with images.   The color, texture, freedom and variety were a joy to see.
It rained all day on Sunday and it was so cozy and enveloping in the studio, as well did art for hours on end.   How I love to do art with others, what a gift of joy.  
Everyone enjoyed themselves so much that we set another day to do studio work in encaustics

in April.   
I feel so blessed to have found my way to sharing this process with others as part of my life work and art.

I will post more images soon. ....