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

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!

Encaustic Challenge Process

Where to begin....what to do?  Here is what happened

As part of the etsy encaustic artist "Beeswaxteam Challenge"  I received a panties pattern and a nylon stocking in the mail from another encaustic artist on etsy.  The challenge and it was one to start with, was to create an encaustic painting incorporating any part of the items received.

At first I really had no idea where to go with these seemingly random but connected items.
Then I started going through some vintage family photos thinking something might click and I came across several of mother as a young woman with her friends.  I vacillated between two photos then decided I like this one of my mom and my "aunt Margie"  under an arbor.  These two were life long friends. 
The other image I considered was one of my mom and her friends actually in their panties outside probably on vacation somewhere.  I saturated the cradled hardboard with encaustic medium and dipped the nylon in it as well.  The nylon began to form a sculptural frame for the image...hmmm,
I began to apply some transparent colors of encaustic paint....ie R&F paints very diluted with encaustic medium.
I wanted the words from the pattern piece to show through.  However I wasn't really enthralled by the colors at this point.

The center where I was planning on tranfering a copy of one of the photos was too lumpy over the pattern so I scraped it down to the medium.
Placing the copy onto the board I burnished and then peeled away the layer rubbing it with water.
Here is Addie and Marguerite peering through...I love the mystery of photo transfer.

From this point on I kept adding color and playing with possiblities
Hmmm, not sure about the gold rickrack but it needs something...
Its a bit dull and needs more contrast and something more done to it
Taking it another step with more color and starting to carve into the wax a bit here and there.
Then I decided to darken the blue a bit...This is where I left it after the first day of working on it. One thing is for sure, this challenge has challenged and inspired me.  It has been a while since I heated up my hot plates and worked at it again, and this really got me engaged and excited.  More to come..

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.