Experimental encaustic

Here is one of my pieces from the workshop... This was done on a 12 x 12" birch panel, tacking a few collage pieces to the board and coating with encaustic medium as a base layer. Other collage pieces and white encaustic (white pigment suspended in beeswax) were painted on in a series of different layers. On the final layer, I created a pattern with a sewing tool that dug into the wax. Then I rubbed brown oil paint into the depressions to make the pattern visible and wiped the rest from the surface. It was interesting to see how quickly the wax obscures layers of materials and how the composition changes as the layers add up. I'll post photos of additional experiments soon... meanwhile, hopefully, I'll figure out how to photograph them a bit better! (...and what are those wheeled, perforating sewing tools called??)

Encaustic work(play?)shop

I spent Sunday taking an encaustic painting workshop from Daisy McConnell, presented by Abecedarian Gallery, and hosted by Alicia Bailey at her studio. It was a great learning experience with a difficult to control medium, which is part of the beauty of it, really. At left is the pattern left behind on a work surface by all the drippings from the coating of numerous boards with encaustic medium / beeswax. (You know how I love patterns of all kinds...) I will post some photos of the (very) experimental things I was working on soon. I was quite intrigued with how collage integrated with, and sometimes was obscured by, the layers of beeswax. Not to mention the sensuous flow and smell inherent in the process. It was a lot of fun to try something completely different.

Little paper jewels

I've been experimenting with collage sporadically for many years. (I still remember the first one I made in second grade so the medium obviously made an impression on me!) I tried to incorporate collage influences in my design work and I dabbled on my own art projects occasionally. 

In the late 90s I signed up for a collage workshop through the Naropa Institute for Continuing Education and taught by Christina Craigo. I lived in Denver, worked in Boulder, and was single mom to a young daughter. My friend, Joan Padgitt, offered to babysit for my daughter so I could stay late in Boulder one night each week for 6 weeks or so to take the workshop. (Thanks, JP!) It was the first time I had taken the time to experiment widely or worked in a series (the final class project). 

The collage at left is one of a series of five Color Constructs (8 x 8"), each done as a single color study on black board. I was using cut papers from magazines with a glue stick, mounted to black illustration board, so it is somewhat surprising that they are still intact! Anyway, they remain fun to look at and continue to inspire my work today. I still remember that during the class critique someone said the series was "like a group of little jewels" -- an analogy I loved. I'd like to do more of them sometime... (Note to self: add to list!)

Let it rain

I love the occasional rainy day, like today. I developed an affinity for the rain during my college days at Oregon State University. (I even have a playlist called Rainy Days on my ipod.) Rainy days tend to be productive and contemplative for me... not sure why, maybe it is the noise of the rain on the roof. I like the view from beneath a hood. And then there's the intriguing smell of rain, also known as petrichor. So, back to work!