Geography of the Soul Encaustic painting...

I thought that I would post this painting today.  This is the encaustic painting that I have been working on for a while in stops and starts.  My creative process moves in such a left brain way, but I have to trust the process, so this was in limbo for a while and then wallah...I came back to it.

It has changed a bit since I first began.  I think it is complete  but I am open to responses.  I have lost most of the map that is embeded under neath the images collaged into the beeswax, but it still feels like a personal journey map to me.  Traveling over the safe waters of my life towards my home in the heart.

If I had done something like this in years past, their might have been many more troubled waters, but these days, it doesn't feel like that.  I love getting the feedback of my souls state though my art.

I hope to post more here again in the near future.

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.

Soaring Bird Encaustic- Bird theme continues

Birds are a continuing archetypal  theme, or image in much of my art.  As a child, the only pet I could have, in our 3 floor apartment in Chicago was a parakeet.  I had many parakeets over the years, and developed my love and relationship to flying things from those early, tender and companionable memories.  

Here is an encaustic painting I did of a Soaring Bird, which is available for purchase in my etsy store.

Encaustic painting

10"x10" on cradled hardboard

“For man, as for flower and beast and bird, the supreme triumph is to be most vividly, most perfectly alive.”

D.H. Lawrence

So far, so good...more to come, maybe..

Here is my encaustic challenge piece with a bit more detail, some collage elements and lots more copper.  It is begining to get there...maybe it is done, or maybe not.  But the articulation of the archway is a bit more honoring of the playful and happy young women they were at that time in their lives.  I will post a more completed version when its done, but I must sit with it a bit and  see what calls to me...and what the piece seems to be asking of me.  I really enjoyed working with the nylon and pattern piece.  Nylons actually are a very good sculptural element for encautic...who would have guessed.  

A Vision of Possibility- Intentional Encaustic

Dreams are like the paints of a great artist.  

Your dreams are your paints, 

the world is your canvas.

Believing is the brush that converts your dreams

 into a Masterpiece of Reality.

Getting Ready Gets me WoRkInG !!! again....

As I begin to prepare for two encaustic workshops I am facilitating next weekend, I primed my creative pump a bit and did a new piece that I love.  It seems that gathering my materials, organizing my supplies, cleaning the space and preparing for others to come join me, allows connections to happen and all of a sudden things fall into place and I am working.  Hallelulia, is that the key, creating and inviting an resource filled environment for others, creates it for myself, and I become motivated.  

I have always been drawn to prayer flags, as and image and a metaphor. I love the concept of prayers and dreams symbolically represented in form, and then being dissolved and transmitted through the wind.   Over the years I have made many prayer flags and led my students in many prayer flag experiences.   I had a copy of a photo graph of prayer flags high in the mountains of nepal....and made a zerox copy of it, waiting for inspiration.

After creating and encaustic background, I transfered the image and immersed some cheescloth in encaustic medium., fused it all together and added encaustic paint to the cheesecloth.   That is the physical process, but the outcome some how really excites me and touches me deeply.   So I am sharing the image here.  It feels like an ephipany, somehow.  

Today I went to western Farms and bought more beeswax and I am so excited about getting ready.   

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.   

More Photos from Weekend Encaustic Workshop

Here are more photos from the Encaustic Weekend Workshop.   

 Here's are more photos of the encaustics.....

Cheesecloth and voile fabric dipped in beeswax has  amazing three dimensional possibilities
                                  This is a photo transfer piece that I did.
This little encaustic was a sample piece I did incorporating collage, lace and metallic string dipped in beeswax and some scraffito texture..
Another piece incorporating the magic of voile fabric ( tutu material) and cheesecloth
Photo transfer is the basis of this piece with alot of carving done into the wax. 

Another photo transfer piece done from a zerox of an original drawing by Patricia Waters


Mystery abounds in this piece with  lots of cheese cloth dipped in medium.


Heres Liz sharing her process and the story behind this mixed media encaustic painting.





And last but not least, this one has much dimension created by flowers dipped in medium, but it doesn't quite show in the photo.  There were quite a few more pieces that the group members did that I didn't photograph, most of these were done on the first day. I was so into the process on the second day that taking pictures slipped my mind.    I am looking forward to getting back into the studio myself and completeing some pieces I began...but this week is all about taxes and cleaning up my studio for my Friday Medicine Art Group.  I will post more of my work in a later post.  Whew...

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. ....

New Encaustic.....and its process

I am finally back working in my studio and have just begun a new series.....using photo transfer on encaustic.  

Here is the final piece....using a series of photographs made into zerox's over the encaustic paint

I really love how it turned out....so I decided to show the stages of the piece.

The Gateway..

I am having soo much fun...who knows what comes next.