Fun with wax

I must admit to having fun while painting with encaustic though at times it is a daunting task to forget the process while using so many tools, electrical wires and heavy duty extension cords everywhere as well as so many pots of paint, sharp ceramic instruments, irons, the list is too long. As time has passed I am freed, most of time, to pursue the "subject matter" that I'm exploring. It is so difficult not to blown off course by process experimentation. Especially since I've been teaching other artists how to use this method of painting. The workshop and classes are great and as I've said before I learn alot.

It is so interesting to me that my path has now led to the incorporation of "real" images though I still vacillate between pure abstraction and shall I call it semi-abstraction. Yes I am playing with terms knowing that most will say all art is abstract. But you get my meaning. Using the silk organza photographs in my work give it a new quality that I quite like. I have now spent many hours photographing winter trees for future incorporation.

Above is a photo of some of the encaustic paintings I recently delivered to Rick and Dave at Griffith Gallery in Pelham, Alabama. Rick made the photo for me after he framed some of paintings to hang. I often say it and will say again my nearly eight relationship with the Gallery is stellar. I'm lucky to work with great gallery owners who send me commissions of which I am very appreciative. Thanks guys!

Creativity and the Holidays

Each year I notice that as the year winds down it is harder to work. I go in the studio in the morning and sit for a long time or pace around and around trying to decide how to proceed. It's hard for me to know if it is the outside world invading the studio or just a memory overload from all holidays past. There is definitely a sea change in the atmosphere.

I remember several years ago having an exhibit open in January. The struggle to finish all the work in December was very daunting and I determined never to schedule another exhibit in January and have kept that promise to myself.

Each year I plan a vacation during this time. It seems the best thing to do under the circumstances and at least I can leisurely draw and take photographs just for myself. This year it will be the beach, sand, cold wind and breaking waves that will in concert by my muse.

Open House

This weekend was "Open House" at the Artisan Resource Center where I have my studio. Really love my studio, by the way. So many people came through and I had the chance to talk about the encaustic work I am doing now, do a little demonstrating, and meet such great people.

Friday night was the first anniversary celebration at dk Gallery. So many of the artists represented were there and I continue to be impressed with owner, Donna Krueger, who cares about her artists. She is really an amazing person and I'm lucky to know her. I also admire the artists' works that are in the gallery and enjoy just going in to be inspired. The gallery has changed the landscape of the Marietta Square.

I now look forward to a trip to Savannah to not only have a few days of r&r but also time to take photographs. There hasn't been much time lately. Spending time in Bonaventure Cemetery will be wonderful this time of year. So many old trees. Just being in Savannah is like going home in a way. Living there for a while was such a pleasure...though I don't miss the heat and humidity of the summer.

The image above doesn't really have anything to do with this post. Just an image of a recently completed oil painting that I like.

Hot Wax in the Studio

I've started new paintings. Since I spent the summer preparing for an exhibit at the Walker School, a private school in Marietta, Georgia, I have had my usual interim period of cleaning up and waiting to start again. It wasn't really a down time since I had an oil commission painting to work on and two other large oil paintings to finish for the Tannery Row "Big 2" exhibit coming up in a couple of weeks. It has become relaxing to paint with oil, somehow so much easier than encaustic. The encaustic method has greatly influenced my oil painting I think mainly looking at color in a new way. Not sure how that works yet but I'm thinking about it. No matter how often I return to oil it does not satisfy me in the same way as the encaustic painting.

This week I did three demos and had a great time. I love the excitement generated by the contemporary form of the ancient painting technique. Now over time I've become very comfortable talking and painting. I remember the first time I did a demo many years ago at Sam Flax and had a very hard time talking to people and painting.

Looking forward to seeing Jack Kehoe's sculpture at dk Gallery at the end of the week. His marble sculpture is so beautiful.

My favorite quote for the day

Vladimir Nabokov wrote that the purpose of storytelling is "to portray ordinary objects as they will be reflected in the kindly mirror of future times; to find in the objects around us the fragrant tenderness that only posterity will discern and appreciate in far-off times when every trifle of our plain everyday life will become exquisite and festive in its own right; the times when man who might put on the most ordinary jacket of today will be dressed up for an elegant masquerade."

Early Saturday

This morning I'm in the studio early to look at the work I've finished and assess it. I'm working methodically and therefore self-consciously. There are times when it may not be possible to rid my studio of the voices that try to direct me toward an image. I'll be teaching this morning and then I'll do that lovely exercise of inviting everyone, in my head and on my shoulders to leave the studio so that I will no longer be concentrating but composing without an audience. This is not an easy task and may take some time. However, I'm dedicated to the proposition that being alone in the studio is the only way to make art that is meaningful to me.

She Always Walked That Way

And there, hanging my the one hair left to her, she heard a song.
Bent backward and all around she dreamed of inventing the sea.
She tried to understand why she was so solid and not there.
But was geometrically opposed.

She had many eyes at the tips of her fingers but could feel nothing.
Did she need arms to go behind her looking for the answer.
She always walked that way.
Staying connected or wishing for no silence, whichever came first
Part of her stood waiting for the many faces left in her brain.

Her dress was dark and stormy
And her eyes had two lenses.
It was funny the appendages she grew while waiting to divide.
Living up in a row, she saw no one.
Uncontrolled hands were never there.
Was her father the fly on the wall?

Her senses tried to find calm.
She saw a mechanical leg---then she wept.
Her ears grew longer and she felt an eye.
She stood on the stand half thin,
But her eyes were wings, green.
She grew pregnant and heard voices.
Hooks and hangers stabbed below her heart then came a hot whistle.
Her neck stretched to a long finger and she wept again.

Small and black and finely grained
Her legs were shorter than she was.
There was a big line that threw itself about her.
She was only three.