Healing heART - waxing poetic

This past week, I finally got into my studio and began to do some encaustic painting, 

after a very, very long hiatus. 

 So much has been going on, with my dear friends decline, and trying to fit life into my life, that making art and especially cranking up the hot plate and doing encaustic painting, has totally fallen by the way side.

 But it was exactly what the doctor ordered, so to speak.  I decided to create some loosely related Valentine encaustic paintings, with the thought of having some of it   being  included in a group show.   around Valentines Day,  but what really happened was my opening up to HEART energy.

 Working on these pieces, had the effect of not only opening my heart, but soothing my heart, which has been in various stages of grief for over 6 weeks now.  I lost track of time, slowing down and being engulfed in color, image and playful exploration.  Trying to get in touch with what was I trying to say, or express and then letting go.  To say it way healing for me is an understatement.  I found myself in bliss, happier than I had been in months....at the very least.  I loved what I was doing, and found myself returning to the studio even in the evening, when it is cold, cold, cold out there.  Happy as a clam ( a clam being enclosed in a protective shell, which is what I was doing with my art making...)

This final one, of the series so far, really brought me in touch with release, letting go and letting love guide me.  I love how each of these is so filled with vibrant color, which of course is one of the beauties of encaustic paint, as well of how much they speak to what is going on for me right now, as well as love in all its varieties and depths.

No one has to remind me of how creating art is healing, but I had to remind myself again, as I became immersed in this process, finding happiness and joy in the moment, self soothing myself through color combinations, and the placement of images that called to me.  I am thankful and can't wait to get back into my studio again this week, and let the molten hot colors take me away to another land, a land of joyful creative abandon.  Blessings to all... Ciao

Back to Encaustic in the New Year

Something shifted for me on New Years Eve and Day, I found myself actually cranking up my hot plate and electric skillet filled with encaustic medium and losing myself in the dreamy process of painting in encaustic.

It has been months, and months since I last felt the urge and acted on it.
Once I started playing, I went back to the process every day for four days in a row.  What a joy.  One thing led to another, and I wound up expressing some ideas that have been stirring for a while.

When I first began painting with encaustic, I was drawn to its textural possibilities, but lately my draw has been what happens when the densely colored  paint blends and merges as it is fused with the hot air gun.  I am in love with the sheen, and the smooth glasslike glow that emerges when it is polished to a shine.  Each of these pieces began with alot of encaustic medium and color that was played with and coalesced into a brilliant explosion of color and organic form.

Then I took a bone folder and  burnished  zerox transfers of photographs the I have taken over the wax,  and embellished it with more paint and mixed media to create each of these paintings.

I am in love again.  What a way to start the New Year.  Ya Fatah!

I can't wait to continue on this theme, with my paint, but this Sunday, Patricia and I are facilitating a New Years, Mandala Retreat Day,....so I need to put away my hot plates and paint for a bit to set the studio up for the 12 people who are coming to draw and open to the New Cycle with us.

So next time I plan to post photos of that workshop.  But you can be sure, that soon after I will set up my encaustic supplies and dive in.  I am also planning on doing another encaustic workshop sometime in February.  Life is good.  Blessings to all. 

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.

Finally back to Encaustic Painting...

Once again, I am lax in posting on this blog.  Life has a way of taking me away from the computer.  Then its just like getting in touch with a real old friend, so much catching up that it seems over whelming to even begin.  Another thing, is that I feel I need to be significant and post something meaningful, rather than the facebook like updates that we are all so accustomed to.  So, I put it off and off, and then bite the bullet and post again.

I have been back at working on my encaustics.  I set up the studio and had a studio day with an art therapist /friend and that primed the pump for me and now I am in the mode again, and excited.  I have begun working on a piece, exploring map as art, or my life as a journey...I did a series of mixed media map collages...that I printed up on tracing paper and adhered with encaustic medium to a cradled hardboard.  As a jumping off point.

This is the beginning of the process.

The piece began taking on geographical significance for me..  Their is the Sea of Sicily, where my family is rooted...and Chicago where I grew up, all peering through the encaustic medium.

One of the things I found frustrating is that, the encaustic medium adhered wierdly to the underlying tracing paper background...but I decided to just go with it.


And continued to over lay collage imagery on top of the piece.

I then began to paint in areas, forming land and sea.

I also began articulating a series of
diamond shapes.  I love to make triangles in repeated patterns..something so satisfying in that for me..

A ship traveling across the safe waters, brought up lots of wonderful metaphors I thought I could add, ie the winds of change... being one that became a refrain in my mind as I worked.  A moon or a sun and a house to place at the center of the Heart Land, came next....

It still however, looks chaotic and disjointed...but is moving along.

So I added more collage elements, to bring grounding to the land, sea and sky as well as delineate the land and sea masses, using color.  Still the medium and paint, pool on the tracing paper, even with adding layers of medium inbetween colors.  But there is nothing else to do except go with the process, and see what emerges.

Close up of the Sea of Sicilia...

The land mass....

and sky line .....So this is as far as I have come with this piece.  I am sitting with it, planning on carving in, bringing in more contrast and pulling out more words, and perhaps revealing some of the maps in underneath.

So far so good.  I am engaged and excited by the process.  More to come.  I hope to get into the studio today and do more on this piece.  Have a great Sunday.  Ciao.

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

Revisting Some of my Encaustic's-La Finestra Primavera

Before I had my surgery, coincidentally, I brought home many of my encaustic paintings that have been hanging at Art and All That Jazz in Healdsburg.  Due to the economy, the owner was revamping and changing the focus of her gallery.  My work has been there, selling and being seen, for about 5 years.

La Finestra Primavera

The springtime Window

11"x14" on cradled hardboard

Soul Arte Eclectica

Now that I am getting better, I have the time to unpack these pieces and decide what their next step in the world will be.  Shaun McNiff, a wonderful studio based art therapist, believes that images are like angels and that they have a life of their own, and stories to tell.  That has always resonated with me, and I have felt that my art has work to do in the world and it is my job to get them out there.  Some of these pieces are being hung all around my house and studio, and others left stored.  So in that light I have decided to show them here, prior to posting them on my etsy store....while I open to another new venue here in Sonoma County, where they can be seen.  

I love the texture in this piece.  It is an homage to Italy and all things Italian.  The archway reminding me of the narrow streets in Italia, the flowers under the window box...and birds...I have em bedded an antique map into the beeswax on the lower left which is decipherable  among all the colors.

I will continue revisting my early encaustics over time.  This painting is available for sale at my store at.  

SoulArteEclectica

Please go visit them at my etsy store, for another viewing.  Ciao. Caterina

Beware the 10,000 Beautiful Things

This week I went to see the Encaustic show Working with Wax: Contemporary Encaustic Painting in Northern California, at Santa Rosa Junior College's Art Gallery.  After an inspiring talk from Mark Perlman, an SSU professor and remarkable encaustic artist, I began talking to some acquaintances at the show about my doing so many things and going  in so many directions creatively that I have gotten side tracked from my love and commitment to working/playing in Encaustic.

One person mentioned a teacher who once said "Beware the 10,000 Beautiful Things" That statement really touched me and  I have been mulling over that statement all week, as I witness all my creative projects tugging at me like  my many children calling out for attention, as I neglect them by sitting in front of the computer, looking at the beautiful inspiring art and creativity posted from all over the cyber universe.

Can I find time for my one true love, or can I not shame/blame/judge myself for my lovely, affairs with other media, my quickies into others art on line, and flitting from media to media.

I am working on this and am curious about other peoples  ability or lack of it to focus on one thing.  So if you are reading this and struggle with this challenge, let me know how you make peace with it.

As an art therapist, and creativity facilitator, being able to teach, inspire and support people in many way of creative expression is a benefit, as an artist it keeps me from delving deeply into the exploration of one process and the infinite variety of ways I can explore theme.

I am also pondering over the fact that using computers has made me, or rather exacerbated my tendencies towards being ADD.  I used to be able to lose myself for hours in my artmaking, but now, I am lured more and more by the computer and have to set boundaries, in order to do art, read books, take walks, etc.  Does anyone else feel this way, that traveling at the speed of light online, makes it more difficult to stay focused?  I am concerned by this.

One of the ways I have been flitting is in my mixed media art journals.  So these photos are from a journal I have been working on since the holidays.

For me working in this journal is a process of inviting in the muse, priming the pump, nurturing my soul, playing with possibilities without  worrying about outcome or product.

I am curious to hear of how others approach, invite, explore or set boundaries on the 10,000 Beautiful Things.  Let me know.  Ciao

I almost forgot to share! Encaustic Art Exchange

 I almost forgot to share...Around the Holidays I participated in an Encaustic Art Exchange, with members of the BEESWAXTEAM on Etsy.  We were to create and send a 6"x6" encaustic to the artist whose name we were sent.

Here I am with  Cloud Study #3 by Beth Billey of Tangled Sky Studio in Mill Valley, Ca.  She is a  neighbor geographically, because I live in Santa Rosa about 48 miles north on 101. 

 I was delighted to receive her encaustic as my secret bee exchange.  My immediate thought was how different she works from me.  I love this  piece, its subtle earthy colors, opaque yet alluringly transparent, as well as the way the clouds are collaged text, with small scratched in dots defining them. It  almost looks like a face in a dreamy sky.  

She included a   moo card in the package and it had  another one of her encaustic images on it.  It made me want to explore her website and blog and look at more of her work.  I then went an ordered some moo cards of my own to send off with my art.  They came back quickly and are wonderful

I am always struck with how there are so many ways to communicate uniquely and expressively in encaustic.  I continue to refall in love with this medium.    All and all it was a great process, and part of the process was to photograph ourselves with the piece and share....and I almost forgot...ALMOST.

I put away all my encaustic supplies which are usually always out, for the Mandala retreat day, now I need to motivate myself to set it all up again.  But then again, I am still working on my mandala, another altered journal and starting a project of transferring my mandalas to black and white line drawings, with the intention of creating a mandala coloring book....so I've many processes to distract me from cranking up the wax for a while.  Life is Good!.

Engaging Day Exploring Encaustic

The small group of women who came to my encaustic class last weekend, were totally engaged and lost in the process.

 I love it when participants explore process deeply without attachment to outcome,

just diving in and seeing what the media can accomplish.

This is what happened

 everyone meshed

 and that wonderful

creative buzz

of focused,

yet playful

energy

filled

the studio.

Two more Encautics in my Bella Italia series - In Process

Here are two more new encaustics that I worked on yesterday for my Festa Italiana series...Bella Italia.    I plan on having a series of these to take to a big Italian Cultural Arts Fair that I will be selling jewelry at on Oct. 11th.  

Whether they are complete is the question, the first one is a photo transfer from an earlier mixed media encaustic that I did several years ago.  I plan on clarifying this one a bit and perhaps adding something on the right side.  We shall see.  Sometimes the dreamy quality of photo transfer adds to a piece other times it leaves something lacking. Which is it?...




This doorway was a bit more evocative in the original photo, but I still love it. I again am not sure where to go with it and if it needs something more or to be changed.

The good thing is that  I am back in the studio playing, and exploring with the hot wax.  Now that the weather has cooled quite a bit  here in Northern California, it is much more appealing to crank up the hot plates and heat gun.  

Since I am planning another Encaustic Class for the begining of November, getting back into the swing of things is good.  It seems I often need an external goal to get me moving, so at least I am moving forward.. More to come I am sure.  Perhaps one of these days I will show some of my jewelry here as well.  I have been making jewelry for years and years, having done Craft Fairs for ever.  I only start making jewelry these days close to the holiday season, since earrings always sell no matter what the economy.  Doing a fair is something I haven't done for a long long time, but since I was laid off from my faculty position last December I am revisiting it again.  The Italian Festa is a fun event, many Italians, which reminds me of my family, lots of good food...and it is short and sweet...11-6, is also a plus...not alot of hours to sit.

If you are in Santa Rosa on Sunday Oct. 11th, come on by to Festa Italiana at the Veterans Building and check it out!