January 2012

"Deep Memory"     24 x 30 inches    Encaustic/silk photo/paper

"Strolling Deeper"      24 x 30 inches     Encasutic/silk/paper

"To Float A Little"      24 x 30 inches      Encaustic/silk/paper

The new year has brought such promise. With my solo exhibit behind me, I'm back in the studio ready to work again. I started with three paintings that satisfy me on a deeper level than expected. The work is less abstract than when I last worked but the work seems to be for me transition images. Inspiration comes from many sources but I often find mine from reading Mary Oliver poetry. Along with poetry from many sources is the music of Zoe Keating. "Into the Trees" plays constantly as I dream and draw. I hope she records more music as I now own everything available.

New Paintings

I surprised myself. At this time of the year I have always found it difficult to create anything in the studio but today I finished two paintings with a third already completed in a new series. Excavating, reducing, looking at the light.

Shallow Water
Encaustic on banana silk paper on  wood panel

At The River
Encaustic on banana silk paper on wood panel

A Tribute to Bootsie

Yesterday was a sad day. We lost Bootsie. She had been with me for over thirteen years. A rescue cat she was already six months old when we got her from the Humane Society. They had rescued her from a dumpster. From the very beginning she was a great studio companion and only once did she jump up in the paint. She seemed to know what was out-of-bounds from the very beginning.

Every week she came into the studio when my model arrived for a session and usually ended up on the model stand asleep. She liked Laura. She is the invisible presence in all the drawings and paintings I did in those sessions. I will miss her.

ARC Open House

Last evening was the opening reception for studio tours at the Artisan Resource Center where I have my studio. I've had a studio at the Center for so many years; I'm not counting anymore. There are 23 studios and they vary from fine art to film production. The energy at ARC is always positive and there are many collaborations that go on all the time. A huge building, I always feel as if the studio is my private retreat.

This year Kennesaw University art students have a juried painting exhibition in the halls and I didn't count, but there are so many interesting works to see. Since we have very wide long hallways there is plenty of room to see the art and enjoy. I like seeing art in the halls.

Last evening we had a steady flow of visitors stroll thru my studio and I am always amazed at the interest and questions I get. I have a chance to talk to people in depth about the work I'm doing and many times they "get it". I can't count the number of people who connected with the abstract landscapes I'm working on now. Since I'm so sequestered most of the time (except at exhibits of course) I rarely have the opportunity to go into depth about what  I am doing. I find  I love talking to people at these events and yet all week while I'm in my studio working I do not like talking. Music on and I'm working.

My work is going well and I'll be posting more info about my solo exhibit at dk Gallery which is scheduled to open on January 6, 2012. I have three more large paintings to finish over this holiday month. The hardest time of the year to work yet the work is so compelling to me it should be no problem to finish the last paintings I want to show.

Southern Living

Just got the copy of the new book "2011 Christmas with Southern Living". Aha, my painting is featured above the mantle on pages 64 and 65. They did a great job incorporating the painting with the decor. My three dancers became angels. I like that.

Shifting Landscapes Exhibit

The reception at Georgia Perimeter College was just perfect. The work was installed beautifully and well lit. Thanks again to Don Dougan, the gallery director. I truly appreciated the lighting since encaustic paintings must have the right lighting much like glazed oil paintings...well that's certainly true of any artwork. My good friend Jim Gibson took some photos and video and I haven't seen those yet but thanks to Angie Dachs, I'm posting a few photos to to give a flavor of a stellar evening. Fun for me was the fact that one of my good friends from high school along with her husband made it to the show as well as two of my friends from college. So great that they made the trip to Atlanta to see this exhibit. So many of my colleagues from the Women's Caucus for Art of Georgia also attended; they are so supportive. Old friends, new friends, I am so lucky.

I had the opportunity to speak about the exhibit to one of the 2-D classes at GPC and found it rewarding to discuss the work with them as well as everyone there. Although I do like for the work to speak for itself I appreciate the opportunity to elaborate on the process of art making and particularly what precipitated this series of paintings and how I see myself going forward.

Ah going forward....I'm taking the weekend off to the spend with friends and will be ready next week to continue this series with renewed energy.

Openings and Oil Paint

Knowing that my exhibit finally opens on Wednesday, I now have jitters. Nothing new to the process I always have stage fright but how to keep focused is a bit of a conundrum. Lucky for me I had two large oil paintings to complete...ah...oil paint. It is so much fun to paint on canvas once in a while. Canvas is a lovely active surface to work on and oil paint is so, well, it's oil paint. The lovely aroma cast it's spell on me a very long time ago. I can still remember walking upstairs to the painting studio at ACNNJ and knowing I was home before I opened the first tube of paint. It was probably the solvent that came first. Yes it's a bit weird to love that aroma, to some "that smell", but there you are.... painting is in my being. This week I have been treated to that odor and have loved coming into the studio in the morning. I have also like working so quickly and fluently which is a little harder when working with encaustic though I'm beginning to work more intuitively with every new encaustic painting.

The paintings are now finished and I have to clean up. This part of the process, ugh. With encaustic there is so little cleaning to be done. I truly love that. I did have to tell myself "stop, stop, stop", enough with the layers. But I listened and now all I have to do is take them off the stretchers, roll them up, and send them on their way. As for the studio, I'm resetting everything, making medium and paint and after a brief but wonderful weekend out of town with friends, I'll be ready to begin again.