Contemplating the Moon

Longing in Prayer

2012-02-19T11:55:00.004-06:00

Longing in Prayer
encaustic mixed media
11x14 inches

There is a longing in prayer, don't you think? A longing for connection, for understanding, for solace.

I took the original image of this bird sitting on a beach post many years ago. I was 17 years old, my senior year in high school. At my school the seniors had a month or so to find an independent project that they wanted to work on during that time and then do a final project or presentation on it. I really can't remember what other people did now, but it was often an internship at an office of some sort. But myself and three of my friends did something a little different. We decided to go hiking and camping! We had to somehow tie it into some kind of educational opportunity. For example, my friend Jen did topographical maps and mapped out our whole trip in the Appalachians.

I decided to take that opportunity to "learn" photography (still learning) and my final project was to create artist books out of the experience. Yes, I've been making artist books for a long time!

I took this little bird photo on Assateague Island, a little island off the coast of Maryland where the wild ponies roam. We chose to camp here to test out our gear before we headed into the mountains. Which was a good thing, because we forgot to waterproof one side of our tent, which was my side and it happened to rain that night....It was a miserable night for me which is why I remember it so well! But when morning came after a sleepless night, I was anxious to get up. I arose before anyone else and with camera in hand, went for a walk and caught this moment.

She has appeared over and over in my work through the years. I see a quietness, a loneliness, expectation, but also acceptance in this image- which is why I can't seem to tear myself away from it.

***********************************

Thank you for all the comments on the school portrait project. I have received several messages from people saying that they want to do it with their kids, which is awesome! Here's what I did with them, if it helps:

The first thing that I had the teacher do before I went in was to have the kids write "I am ___" statements, which really helped me with trying to coax some of the drawings out. With the first group of kids, I was really good with giving guidance in their drawings. Just ideas and suggestions. But honestly by the 3rd group, I was like, "draw whatever you want! Anything at all! Just draw!!!" Which was better anyway. They did the drawings/scribbles/marks with oil pastel and I showed them how to make their drawings "pop" with watercolor washes.

I studied their paintings before I went in again for their poses. So I had an idea for some of them of what their poses should be like. But in general it was a free for all. We talked about emotions and trying to capture emotions with their faces. But again, I was dealing with 3-5 year olds who sometimes would just stare at me in shyness or with a "what is this woman talking about" stare.

At home on my computer, I played around with the levels on photoshop so that the contrasts were much stronger- helped to better integrate them with their colorful paintings and make the portraits more graphic, like the original inspiration. I cut them out and glued them on top of the paintings myself. Older kids could definitely do that part.

Their teacher had them fill out phrases like "My favorite color is ____", "I like to eat ______", "My favorite thing to do with my family is _______", etc. After the kids did those, she combined them with their I AM statements to make poems. I printed them out, cut them into strips and had the kids glue their poem strips anyway they wanted.

Enjoy! And if you do the project, let me know, I would love to see them. One of my relatives who is going to do the project with her daughters suggested it be an annual project. I liked that idea and think I will do it with my kids. It would be a fun way to see how they change and grow- artwise, physically, and verbally.

Noah, standing in front of his class' wall

Fingerpainting the Moon: self portrait project

2012-02-18T14:36:00.004-06:00

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up" - Pablo Picasso

I have so much going on right now in the studio and lots of paintings to share, but I wanted to write one last post on this project before too much time passes. Last month I wrote a post about the school-wide self portrait project that I was volunteering to help with at my son's school. He goes to preschool, but the whole school goes up to 8th grade. For my son's class, ages 3-5, we did mixed media portraits that included oil pastels, watercolors, photography, and poems.

Here is my son's finished project:

Noah, age 5

And here is the wall of portraits of him and his classmates:

Earlier this week, all the artwork that the kids in the whole school made was finally put on display on the school's wall. It was so great to see the energy and creativity that occurred in all the classrooms. For me, it was a wonderful experience to be in the classroom again with kids, but this time as a visiting artist/mom. I wanted to share some of the artwork that came out of the classes because I think they are fantastic. Unfortunately, I don't remember the grades that go with each picture.

I remember reading the process that this volunteer wrote about her project with the classroom- something about blindfolding the kids and having them draw their portraits, and then using acrylic paint, sand, other miscellaneous items to add onto their portraits. I think this was a 3rd grade class, but not for sure. Very impressive!

Stitched portraits! Awesome.

Pop art (sorry for the blur- I had an impatient 5 year old tugging at me)

Word maps describing themselves and then caricatures, from what I remember reading.

This one was done with sharpies. Gotta love sharpies!

This wall of second grade portraits was so wonderful, but with this one-I just loved how her braids went all the way down way past her collage.

The thing to remember about all these projects is that the parents or community artists that volunteered, did so to help a Chicago Public School raise money. We also had to dig into our own pockets for the supplies. Therefore, a lot of what was done had to be done thinking resourcefully and very budget-conscious. I think all teachers can relate to that! But it just goes to show that you don't have to have fat wallets to create art projects with kids.

I have always loved children's art. I remember writing a paper on it in college during my coursework for cognitive development. I even got to go into a first grade classroom for one of my clinicals and have the kids draw for me. Fascinating stuff.

"What adults call 'wrong' in Child Art is the most beautiful and most precious. I value highly those things done by small children. They are the first and purest source of artistic creation." - Franz Cizek

March Madness

2012-02-13T14:20:00.003-06:00

I'm not actually talking about basketball tournaments, but the fact that I have two events coming up that I have been preparing for. So, actually, it's more like February Madness. Anyway, I hate when my blog falls silent for a long period of time, but every ounce of studio time has been going towards getting ready for the show that I'm doing with Crystal Neubauer at PerficalSense Studio in Evanston. We titled the exhibit "Meditations: Looking In, Reflecting Out". The opening is the first weekend of March and I will post more information about that soon.

I have several large paintings all set to go and some in progress, well large for me-some 12x12s, 12x24s, 11x14s. But I also wanted to have a wall made of small paintings- 6x6, 5x7, and even wee itty bitty's at 3x5. That might be overly ambitious considering how things have been going.

Alaskan Mists
encaustic collage
5x3 inches- itty bitty!

The other event that I have going on in March is my first workshop of the year, which I will be teaching at PerficalSense Studio as well. Can you tell, I just love that place! I met Cindy Jevon through FUSEDChicago and she has been so great to open up her studio and workspace to me so that I can give workshops and now hang some work on the walls.

Introduction to Encaustic and Mixed Media/Photography
PerficalSense Studio
Saturday, March 10th, 2012
12 to 4 pm
Evanston, IL

Encaustic painting is a method which uses pigments melted with beeswax and fused to the painting surface with heat. It is the perfect partner for a wide variety of mixed media techniques. This workshop will cover the basics of painting in encaustics with a focus on using your photographs in your encaustic work. Learn encaustic techniques such as fusing, layering, embedding, and image transfers. No experience necessary, only a willingness to jump in and learn about this ancient painting medium with a contemporary twist!

This is a 4 hour introductory workshop. The first 3 hours will alternate between demos and practice where we will cover materials, studio set-up, and techniques. The last hour is allotted to give time for exploration.

I also updated the workshop page on my website. I have workshops this year in Evanston, IL, La Grange, IL and in Salem, OR. Please don't hesitate to get in touch with me if you have any questions!

Tomorrow is the big reveal at my son's school of the portraits that the entire school did. I wasn't able to hang his class' paintings because it was during the time that my daughter naps, so luckily another mom volunteered to do it. So I haven't seen them up yet! I can't wait. I hope to take some photos and share them here. The kids all did such a great job and the portraits are so happy and energetic. Love them.

Art Bazaar

2012-02-02T09:37:00.006-06:00

The Black Cloud Gallery
1909 S. Halsted
Chicago, IL 60608
773.678.3950

Opening is this Friday, February 3rd, from 7-10
Second Friday Opening, February 10th, is from 6-10.

I will have three of my encaustic paintings at this fun event taking place at The Black Cloud Gallery in the Pilsen neighborhood. Everything is priced at $200, no more, no less! Pretty affordable as far as original art goes these days. This is the 3rd Art Bazaar that The Black Cloud Gallery has hosted and I hear it's a great night where buyers can pull the work off the walls and take it home with them right then and there.

Post No Bills
encaustic mixed media

The Art of Patience
encaustic mixed media

These are two of the three paintings that will be included in the show. I created both of these originally for the Somerset Workshop gallery section for the articles I wrote last year. They are both framed now and hanging at the gallery. I also have my most recent bowl painting there as well.

I, however, won't be in attendance at the February 3rd opening as I am headed out east to celebrate my beautiful mother's 70th birthday with her and my sisters. But I hope to make it to the Second Friday's opening. At any rate, there's going to be some great art up there from a good mix of Chicago artists for affordable prices. If you're in the market, don't miss it!

In the Searching

2012-01-30T15:31:00.002-06:00

In the Searching
encaustic mixed media
24x13 inches

I usually have a lot to say when I post one of my pieces on here. But today, not so much. I will let this painting speak for itself.

I had nothing to offer anybody except my own confusion. - Jack Kerouac

For me, it's always in the searching...

Each Other

2012-01-23T22:37:00.004-06:00

Each Other
encaustic mixed media
12x12 inches

I completed this painting over a week ago and it is part of a series of paintings I am working on right now. I am still ruminating on the hows, whys, and whatfors of the series, but I know what direction I am headed. "Each Other" is the second piece of the series. The first one was "Beyond Form" that I created in 2011. The palette for this one has a wintery feel, doesn't it? I think that it was a cool grey Chicago winter day that day when I was last working on it. Snow was falling all around outside. Perhaps that was the influence?

While I was painting it, the first two lines of Rumi's poem kept running through my head. I actually couldn't even remember the exact words, but I remembered the feel of it. At one point, I couldn't take it anymore and went to my computer and did a quick search and found the poem. After I read it, I just had that feeling of everything falling into place.

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I'll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase "each other" doesn't make any sense.
-Rumi

My plan is for this painting and the others that I have been working on to be part of the 2 person show that I will be having with Crystal Neubauer in March at PerficalSense Studio. Crystal and I had known each other through our years online, but didn't actually meet in person until I moved back to Chicago, as she is from northern Illinois. We really got to hang out though last summer when we both taught at EncaustiCamp, where we will both be teaching again this year. I'm really looking forward to seeing our paintings hanging together- while our work is very different, they share a similar quiet, meditative quality.

If you are in the Chicagoland area, I just got word that 3 of my encaustic paintings will be shown by The Black Cloud Gallery this February at their third Art Bazarre. I will post information about that soon, but the gist is that every piece of artwork that will be in the gallery has to be $200, no more, no less. So if you are in the market for affordable art at $200, then you should definitely check out the show.

I have a full day in the studio tomorrow and I am really looking forward to it. Lots to get done.

Thank you for all the encouraging comments about the portraits I did with the kids in my family. I really can't wait until the portraits are done for my son's preschool class. They are turning out really great. The kids are now working on little poems to go along with their artwork. It will be so fun to see it all come together and hanging up in the school next month.

Fingerpainting the Moon: mark making + portraits

2012-01-19T12:40:00.008-06:00

I recently volunteered to help my son's prechool class with a school-wide art project on self-portraits. Each child in the whole school is to make some sort of self-portrait which will be hung up on the walls in February. My son's classroom is a mixed age room, ages 3-5, so the skill level range is huge! I found that some kids were very capable at drawing figures and some were still in the scribbling mode. I came up with a project that I hoped would allow each child to feel successful and just be creative. And I did not want to do anything that was too crafty, which was all I was finding for this age group when I firsted started searching for inspiration online at various kid art websites.

I came up with a mixed media project that included photography, of course! What else- that is what my own personal art work entails.

This past fall I went to NYC for one of my closest friend's wedding. My husband and I took a stroll through Soho and Chinatown one day and I was struck by the "grandness" of the street art there. This particular wall became the inspiration for the self portrait project I am doing with the kiddos.

No, I did not have the preschoolers emulate graffiti. But what I did was focus on was mark making and color washes. I gave them oil pastels and told them to draw their hearts out- symbols, stick figures, shapes, scribbles, letters, numbers, etc. Whatever they wanted to do. And after that I gave them watercolor to paint over their marks. It was so fun to see their eyes widen as their original oil pastel drawings popped out from their paper once the watercolor went over it. I wish I could say that I gave a well thought out lesson on what wax-resist is- but remember, I was dealing with getting 23 squirmy 3-5 year olds to produce work! Maybe next time...

Making marks in and of itself a form of self-portraiture, just like one's signature. It is such a pure form of an individual's expression. One of my favorite quotes says:

No one else but you can make your marks. Listen to your bones. Speak with your spirit. Edit with your head. Live with your heart. - S.Holland

The teachers and I also had the kids come up with "I am ____" statements that helped me direct them with their paintings and later with their photographs. The hardest part of the painting was to get the kids to fill the entire page. Some would just want to draw one little thing and say "I'm done!" and I would be like, "No, no, no, keep going".

I won't be posting photos of the finished projects because of permission issues, but I wanted to share the projects I did with my own kids and my nieces and nephews as practice runs before I went in the classroom. We had so much fun! And they were all very proud of their finished projects.

Noah, age 4
on the left side you can see his drawing of the Sears Tower or as he calls it "The Serious Tower". He loves drawing the skyscrapers he sees living in Chicago.

My niece's "I am" statement: "I am silly"
age 4
Whenever I look at this one, I smile remembering the silliness during the picture taking. I love her painting too.

"I am a dreamer"
age 8
I love this one, because this painting, the words, and the pose all give an accurate portrait of my niece.

age 3
I'll never forget the look on my little nephew's face when I held up his finished project, he looked so proud and had this little shy smile on his face!

age 6
As you can see, this nephew is very imaginative! He and I had a lot of fun doing the poses.

"I am curious"
age 8
We got some good giggles out of this one when we had the puppy coming out of her head. My niece and I both thought it was perfect, although it was totally unplanned!

"I like to make things"
age 8
We didn't come up with "I Am" statement but, he does like to make things. He is very industrious and focused 8 year old. You can see all his tools he drew.

And last but not least, I did one of my little Grace

"I am crazy"
(her older cousins came up with her "I am" statement)
age 1

So the class project is still in progress, but I really enjoyed working with my son's classmates. So much energy! Reminded me of the days I did speech/language therapy in Early Childhood and Head Start classrooms back in the day...except this was way more fun. While I had the natural tendency to use my art towards therapy goals, I never did in depth projects like this. It was more about doing challenging speech and language therapy in a way that didn't cause tears, tantrums, screeching, silence, non-response, or hiding under the tables. I'm not kidding.

I hope the project goes over well with the parents. I've never done anything like this before and feel a little nervous! ha! Well, I think the kids did a great job and we had fun while we were at it. That's what counts, right? And I also know that it made my son so happy to have his mama in the classroom doing art with his friends.

fill, full, unfill

2012-01-15T20:06:00.004-06:00

You have to edit the material. That assumes that some kind of a mind is operating in relation to the material. Not all minds are the same. Every aspect of filmmaking requires choice. The selection of the subject, the shooting, editing and length are all aspects of choice. - Frederick Wiseman

My Bowl is Full
encaustic
8x8 inches

I tweeked this painting last week and am much happier with it. Originally I had embedded a pressed fern frond in one of the squares. You can see it at my flickr page. After a few months, the leaves faded to a dull yellow, and while it looked fine, it bothered me. I also knew that I wouldn't want to sell it if there was a faded leaf in there, even though, like I said, it still looked fine. But I liked the green. And it wasn't green anymore. So it had to go.

I am so much happier with this version. There is always a hesitation when I return to a "finished" piece. There is a worry that I will ruin the painting. But honestly, if something doesn't feel right to me, I can't ignore it. I have also come to believe that there really is no such thing as ruining a painting. If something does get ruined, then it wasn't meant to be and it was meant to give birth to something better. (Although I have spilled red paint on a finished painting and did, indeed, ruin it. But you know what I mean.)

The writing itself is no big deal. The editing, and even more than that, the self-doubt, is excruciatingly impossible. -Jonathan Safran Foer

Lead Me to the Water

2012-01-09T14:33:00.004-06:00

Art is not living. It's the use of living. The artist has the ability to take that living and use it in a certain way, and produce art. - Audre Lorde

First creation of 2012:

Lead Me to the Water
encaustic mixed media
5x7 inches

I recently started reading a memoir of a woman who lives in Alaska called Surviving the Island of Grace: Life on the Wild Edge of America by Leslie Leyland Fields. I laugh at myself because yes, I am one of those that romanticizes the rugged, self-reliant life out in the wilderness. It just fascinates me. Perhaps because I know I would totally fail at such a life! I mean, my aloe plant that lives in my studio is not doing very well. Anyway, in the prologue she writes about how she came to write about her life in Alaska and she quotes another writer's words about memoir:

Listen to your life...See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moment and life itself is grace. - Frederick Beuchner

I approach my artmaking that way. Or at least I try to.

looking forward to 2012

2012-01-05T15:08:00.003-06:00

If you want to make your dreams come true, the first thing you have to do is wake up. -J.M. Power

So here is where I look ahead and set my intentions for the year. Funny how it has taken me all week to get to this, when it really should be done on the first of the year. Well, that is indicative of my life. Family comes first, then art, then everything else. I have to say that looking at what I was able to do last year, I can't help but feel proud, considering I really only have 1 day a week, and if I'm lucky 2 days a week in the studio. I do my best with what I have and that is all I can ask for of myself.

So, let me look at what I set for myself at the beginning of 2011 and how I did:

1. Redesign my art website I did this! Woohoo! It took me about half the year, but my website was completed in the middle of summer. Switched my website over to wordpress for easier updating. And I reorganized how my work was presented by year. I also started editing what I have on my portfolio site since I really don't have to put everything. I am much happier with this layout and design.

2. Relaunch my Etsy site- I set this goal because I was interested in pursuing getting in Chicago's One of A Kind Art show in the etsy emerging artist section. I did "relaunch" it but then never really did anything with it. I don't know, Etsy just seems oversaturated. And I think to myself, but I have my site amanobooks.com to sell things so why put my work someplace that is so crowded?! I have never seemed to be able to figure out how to get etsy to work for me. I experimented with double-listing: I would list the same item on amanobooks as well as on etsy. It always sold on my site, rather than on etsy! Which is better for me because I don't have pay etsy their fees. So, I think I may have to let etsy go, but still reluctant for some reason.

3. Submit to shows on a regular, scheduled basis. I'm expecting to only last 3 months, but I'll give it a go. I just don't have enough work right now for revolving submissions and I'm aware of that. I may have to readjust at one point and do every other month. Well, I did this until May and I actually did pretty well with getting into some of the shows, but it became very apparent this was not a realistic option. First of all, I just didn't have enough work to constantly be submitting. Second, it gets expensive with the submission fees adding up. Third, so after you get in, you have to pay for shipping back and forth. So there is all this cost and of course, there is the fact that your work may not sell. So, considering all of this and feeling like I didn't have my best work to keep submitting and that it was kind of stressing me out with keeping track of all the deadlines, I stopped by May. I also had several non-juried shows lined up and so I felt ok with letting the revolving submissions go. I may try this again at some later point, and I learned from it, so I'm not disappointed by the experiment.

4. Start teaching workshops. Done! I taught 3 workshops at Perfical Sense Studio in Evanston, and 3 days of workshops at Encausticamp in Oregon. This was HUGE for me and I'm so glad I did this. It's opened up a new world- on so many levels.

5. In order to attempt all this I need to be super-organized. Enter work into my workingartist database as soon as it's done. Keep resume up to date so it can be printed out when needed. Get paperwork things organized- the business side of artmaking is really time consuming. Must streamline so that I don't go crazy. I actually did a pretty good of this most of the year, thing kind of slid downward around September. But I figured out some good ways to stay organized, it's just a matter of upkeep.

2012

Keeping it simple this year:

Show up and paint.
Teach for the connection and to share what I know.
Be in love with the process. Always pushing, always learning.
Keep on keeping on.

Actually I forsee this year as a refining of last year. I feel like I hit upon something deeper in my artmaking. Gained more of an understanding of the things that I do during my process that help me get across what I'm trying to say. I gained more of a handle on paperwork and organization, but there is still improvement there. Knowing that when it comes down to it, I can dig in and get what needs to get done, done. Learning to accept where I am on my art path and what I can do at this moment and time. I am getting better at quieting the inner gremlins of comparison. I want to keep connecting with the outside world through my art. And of course, I want to be able to be profitable with my artwork- that entails producing artwork, staying open for opportunities, and taking risks. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can....

Life is a garden, Dig it- Joe Dirt
(yeah, I know it's a horrible movie, but it cracks me up and just saw it again the other night!)

year in review

2012-01-04T21:52:00.005-06:00

selected works from 2011

Looking over my work that I created in 2011, I am reminded of that often quoted line from Picasso:

Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.

This mosaic is actually sort of in a time line with the most recent works at the top going from left to right. And scanning these, I remember what was going on in my life when each of these were created, what issues I was dealing with,what I was pushing forward with in terms of technique. The interesting thing to me was that before I reviewed 2011, I didn't think I had produced that much, but I actually created more than I thought. That's why doing a review is important- we often don't realize what we have accomplished or completed. It's a good thing to remember when I feel like I'm hitting a wall.

Here is my breakdown of 2011:

Produced:
:: Painted 16 encaustic paintings
:: Worked in 5 collaborative artist books
:: 15 handbound mixed media blank journals
:: Completed a commission of 3 large paintings

Shows/Essays/Articles

:: Participated in 6 group shows- 3 in Chicago, 2 in Arizona, 1 in Kentucky
:: Featured artist in Somerset Workshop 2011
:: Work published in 2 books, Artist Unique and Plaster Studio
:: Interviewed for Fascinating Women article (thanks Meri!)
:: Continued to have work at Sacred Art in Chicago, IL
:: Work on the wall at 3231 Creatives in Everett, WA as well

In less quantifiable terms:
:: Still proving to myself that "where there's a will, there's a way"
:: Still moving to painting larger paintings
:: Really trying to push myself- getting out of a comfort zone.
:: Feeling confident with how and why I do the things I do
:: Learning to focus on what I am able to do, not what others are doing and comparing myself. Everyone has their own path, including myself!
:: Learned that I really enjoy teaching. Believe me, this introvert is still surprised by that fact!

2011 was a challenging year in the personal realm, as well in the art realm. I constantly felt like I was lagging behind or that I was always scrambling to meet deadlines. I put myself in new situations that were at times jarring, but in the end I came through and was grateful for the growth. I have a lot of questions popping up that still needs some answers to. I did a lot of wrestling with my inner critic, but again, it's a struggle that is necessary.

2012 has started off better than 2011 did, so that's a good thing! I read somewhere once that one should try to spend the first day of the year in a manner that will set the tone for the rest of the year. This January 1st, I made a big pancake breakfast for my family, spent the rest of the morning in our pajamas, cleaned up the house and started on my "Purging of Things" quest that is still ongoing, played with some of the new toys that my kids got, and fired up the torch that I got for my birthday. It was a good day. Here's to a good 2012...

I am seeking, I am striving, I am in it with all my heart. -Van Gogh

The Spaces Between

2011-12-29T10:04:00.004-06:00

Nothing is less real than realism. It's only by selection, elimination, emphasis, that we get at the real meanings of things. ~Georgia O’Keefe

The Spaces Between
encaustic
8x8 inches

Hope everyone had a nice holiday. I am feeling at a bit of a loss for words, perhaps because this time of year is so over the top. It's not that it's not fun, because with very little kids in the house, it is fun and magical. But there is a need to wind down, for me at least. Feeling the need for some quiet time.

Since I started this blog I have always done a recap of the year and also looking into the next. It helps me figure things out.....hopefully I can get to that. But like I said, feeling like my lips are sewn up.

So for now, I just have to say that this was a challenging year and I am just happy that I showed up when I could and created what needed to come out. Sometimes things that sound like such a simple accomplishment are the biggest hurdle.

Today I have some studio time and I plan to clean, toss, organize, finish up some dangling projects and actually paint a bit.

My goal is to strip things down so that you need just the right amount of words or shape to convey what you need to convey. I like editing. I like it very tight. ~Maya Lin

Been thinking a lot about simplifying things- life, home, relationships, perspective...everything.

fingerpainting the moon: happy holidays!

2011-12-22T11:22:00.005-06:00

This year seems to have been my year of collaborations with some really wonderful artists- Jen Worden, Seth Apter and Hanne Matthiesen. And hopefully next year will bring another one with Roxanne Evans Stout which I am really looking forward to.

But I don't often write about the collaborations that happen every week right at home with my children. My son is 4, almost 5 in a few weeks. And my daughter is 22 months. We are always making things, whether it's in my studio or in the kitchen. I make Stuff, so it's only natural that I share this with my kids.

{Noah when he was 2 working on a large acrylic painting that we gave my husband for his birthday that year. It hangs in our dining room and it is the first thing people see when they come through our front door.}

After college I worked in speech and language therapy in the school system here in Chicago and I worked with ages 3 to 14. My favorite way to incorporate therapy goals was through creative projects. It wasn't something that I could do often, but what I learned was that everything you do with children is a learning opportunity for them. I'm not saying it's easy. Nope, not at all. I'm not saying it's not messy, nope, not even close to that. Not saying that it's smooth sailing. Nope, sometimes it's a disaster! But the point for me is to involve my children in projects that we can all do together, to give them a sense of creative identity, to be proud of what their hands and minds can create.

I thought it would be fun to occasionally share our creative projects on my blog in a series called "Fingerpainting the Moon". My goal too is to show how projects with little kids don't have to be all about googly eyes and cotton balls. Those projects are fun, yes. But if we challenge our kids to be creative and expressive and to enjoy the process, rather than have a finished product that looks like everyone else's, then it encourages them to think outside the norms.

Those of you who visit my blog for the art, don't worry, this is not going to turn into a craftsy-mom blog. This is just an occasional thing. But I do hope to inspire other creative parents who want to do things with their children, but are intimidated by the whole messy ordeal. Once I changed my perspective on keeping my art world and my childrearing world separate and began bringing my son into my creative process, it transformed my world....and his too. My daughter made her first mark on paper around 1 and her face just lit up with excitement and pride because for so long she had watched not just me drawing all the time, but also her brother. I'll never forget that moment.

The finished card on our mantle

This project we did together was for our family Christmas card. This is less of an expressive type of project than what I just wrote about, but it was important for me to have them contribute to the card we send out to our family and close friends.

First I took photos of them and designed the layout in photoshop and printed our card out on cardstock. And then I had Noah help me put the cards through my sewing machine. This year has also seen a lot of stitching show up in my artwork, so it's only natural that I included it in our card design. The snowflake design is just a button on the machine. Easy!

Rule #1: He presses the pedal, but Mommy is in charge.

After that he wrote "HoHoHo" on the back of the card. I am so proud of my little guy with his emerging writing and reading skills. And he is too. By having him contribute in this way, it reinforces letter-writing and that I value his emerging skills.

I wanted Grace to help out too so I had her make red dots on the back of the envelope and draw whatever she wanted.

Anyone who has even spent 5 minutes with a 1 year old knows they don't have much of an attention span. And that you can't force a 1 year old to do anything they don't want to do. So we had to do this in spurts. And while she was drawing them, I would take the finished envelope and lick it to seal. Apparently Grace saw me do it and started grabbing all the envelopes and licking them all over! At first I was like, um what in the world is wrong with my child?! Then I realized that she saw me do it and thought that was a totally appropriate behavior. Anyway, the last batch of holiday cards were naked on the back as I had to end the project right then and there. Oh well!

And yes, I am well aware that this creation of ours will most likely end up in the trash after everyone's holiday decorations come down. But as it is with my paintings, it's not always about the finished product. It is about the process, the time we spent together making these cards.

If I don't get back to blogland before Christmas, just want to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday! Whether you celebrate Hannukah, Kwanzaa, or Christmas wishing you all a peaceful and joyful week. Festivus for the rest of us! (Yes, we are Seinfeld fans in our house.)

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!May your holiday season be perfectly imperfect and be centered on love, hope, and goodwill.

Book of Love

2011-12-08T09:28:00.007-06:00

I have had this post in draft form for more than a week, but life has been quite hectic and I haven't had a chance to sit down and finish it. I have studio time today and it's been one of those mornings where nothing works out, hitting walls and everything is feeling like a dead end. So I decided to have at least one productive thing happen this morning, and that is to finish this blog post!

I wrote about my book "M(Other) Love" that Hanne and I collaborated on, but I don't think I have mentioned Hanne's book yet which is called "Book of Love". She sent this note with her book and not only does it capture the theme of her book perfectly, but it is inspiring as well.

If you click on the images, it will take you to my flickr page where you can find better images of the individual pages.

{I added encaustic paint, a trasnfer, and a quote on top of Hanne's mixed media page.}

So, when I opened up Hanne's book, which was not yet bound, I was pulled in by the warm whiteness of all her pages. And the texture. She had added with photos, fabric, or stitches on all the pages. But the palette of the book was decidedly white, a soft, comforting white.

{I added fabric, paint and a quote to Hanne's page on the left. I didn't add to her page on the right.}

I set myself to work in her book and on top of her already collaged pages. It was a little nerve racking with thoughts like, "will she be upset if I paint over that? Or "what if I totally ruin it?" But I took a deep breath and with the knowledge, that this is what co-creating is about- letting go, seeing what happens, exploration. And really, art shouldn't be taken so seriously. So what if I mess up a page, it's not the end of the world! There are much more serious things happening in the world, creating art is a happy place, not a scary one.

{I added the nest image and encaustic paint on top of Hanne's page the left. The tree page is Hanne's, which I didn't touch.}

And so I began.

On some pages I added encaustic to the pages and my own imagery dipped in wax and then laid over her imagery.

{I added to both pages. Covering up some of Hanne's previous work and adding my own bits and pieces here and there.}

On others, I collaged and painted with acrylic, and added a bit of doodling in graphite.

The right side of this spread was created by Hanne. I played off the hands with my own acrylic gel transfer of a photo I took of my mother-in-law's hands holding my son when he was 5 months old. The words are from that pretty well known verse in Corinthians that begins with "Love is..."

{The left side is mainly Hanne's, but I added the black circles and the two words "gather" and "nourish" in graphite. The right side is an image of my son when he was probably 2 years old.}

This is my favorite page I did.

After I finished up my contributions, I packaged up the book and shipped it back to Denmark for Hanne to complete the book and finish its transformation. And transform, it did! If you go to her flickr site, she created an album just for this book. You can see that she re-arranged the pages, changed some of what I did, and then added transparent overlays with statements of love.

Our books are now in Vilnius, Lithuania, for the 6th International Artist’s Book Triennial Vilnius 2012. I am so thrilled to be part of the exhibit and I am also so honored that my book was featured in Book Arts Newsletter published out of the UK. I never thought I'd read "Bridgette Guerzon Mills (Chicago, USA) in an international publication.

I am so grateful to Hanne for inviting me to collaborate with her, and for the work that was pulled out of me with both of the books. I learned so much and processed quite a bit while working on both of our books. A wonderful collaboration from beginning to end. And our books will now continue on their own journey...

Sanctuary

2011-11-29T13:52:00.006-06:00

Sanctuary
encaustic mixed media
5x7 inches
$115

This little painting is another that I reworked this month. I wish I had documented each rework of this little guy as I seem to have been dissatisfied with it since I first made it back in 2009. I was always happy with the left side, but the imagery that I chose for the right side never felt right. Until now.

The photo that I took that inspired this painting was taken at the Bird Sanctuary right here in Chicago. It's over by the Montrose Harbor and we just love to go visit there. Once Noah and I were pushing Grace in her stoller along the dirt path and out from the trees, a big huge deer appeared! I was stunned. I really don't know how that deer got there as it would have had to go through some major urban roads to get there. I still wonder what happened to that deer. We still talk about that time when the deer "surprised us in the city".

Friday, December 2nd 7:00 - 9:00 for wine and cheese reception
Saturday, December 3rd 10:00 - 6:00
Sunday, December 4th 10:00 - 4:00

1123 and 1125 Florence Ave in Evanston

This weekend I will have some of my encaustic paintings, including the one above, at this holiday show taking place in Evanston, IL. The event is hosted by PerficalSense Studio and Evanston Print & Paper. I, unfortunately won't be attending the weekend show as I will be visiting my family in Maryland that weekend. So, while I am disappointed that I won't be attending, I am so excited to have some good quality time with my sisters and their kids and my mom.

But if you're in the area and are looking for some unique gifts, be sure to stop by. Support your local artists and artisans!

Beyond Form

2011-11-28T22:55:00.006-06:00

Beyond Form
encaustic mixed media
12x12 inches

This month I have mainly concentrated on two things in the studio: 1)Working in and finishing up the collaborative books with Hanne. 2)Reworking old paintings that I thought were done, but apparently were not. This is one of them. It is now done and I am content with it.

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Being originally from the gentle rolling hills of Maryland, I never quite got used to the flatlands in Illinois when I came here for college back in 1994. And then we moved to Seattle, where hills and mountains were the way of life amd lifestyle. A landscape that is such that when Mt. Rainier peeks out of the clouds, you have to stop and catch your breath. When we moved back to Chicago, the utter flatness of the land just killed me. If you're ever flying into O'Hare, just look out your window and you'll hear me in your head yelling about how utterly flat it is here! I mean, how can it be so flat???? But it was and this was my new home. I've mentioned before that it took me about two years to readjust living in a big urban city again. It was a hard two years. But then something magical happened at two years- I fell back in love with Chicago. And now that we're at three years I have to finally admit that I've fallen in love with the flatness and the earthy colors of the midwest.

I can't remember if it was Shayla or Angela, blog friends, who commented on the palette change in my paintings that occurred probably toward the later part of my first year here. It was a very astute observation....and it was an awakening to me that I was starting to accept my surroundings. For the past 2 1/2 years my work has definitely shown an influence of the land around me, whether it is an actual landscape or prairie plant image or with the palette. The Chicago urban grunge has also seeped into my work. The rust and the greys. The layers of graffiti, ads, tags, dirt, wear, and tear.

Instead of going shopping on Black Friday, we headed out of the city to find some nature. That always grounds us. And it always inspires my work.

I have to admit that I have a lot to learn about what a prairie is. I always pictured Laura Ingalls Wilder walking in a sea of grass without a tree in sight. But here, at least close to Chicago, there is a mix. And then I wonder, well, is this a real prairie? But then that would make it fake and that just doesn't make sense. Well, I've learned that there are different types of prairie and that the majority of the original prairie in Illinois has been destroyed.

"Loneliness, thy other name, thy one true synonym, is prairie." ~ William A. Quayle

I must confess that I have a weakness of empty places. ~ Tony Hillerman

…I walk here and there, seeking open,
flat spaces against a sky up high.
I have discovered, too late, perhaps
that I always preferred the empty
more than the full
for breathing and forgiving.
- Teresa Palomo Acosta

my little explorer, 20 months old

Mother Love, completed

2011-11-21T21:50:00.007-06:00

Last I left off, I wrote that I had mailed off the artist book collaboration to Hanne Matthiesen to continue on the topic I chose for the book titled M(Other) Love. Hanne and I had decided that we would work on top of each other's pages, if the muse so wished us to. Hanne was so kind to post photos of her contribution to the book on her flickr site so that I could view them and I made a nifty flickr mosaic to share here. These are images of Hanne's contribution and I need to figure out a way to share the pages of the full book. I was so excited to see her beautiful work in there as I won't be seeing my book for a long while. Hanne will be taking it with her to take part in the 6th International Artist’s Book Triennial Vilnius 2012.

From my understanding our books will be traveling on this schedule:
2 February – 3 March 2012, “Scuola Internazionale di Grafica”, Venice, Italy;
15 March – 18 March 2012, Leipzig Book Fair, Germany;
April 2012, Gallery “Titanikas”, Vilnius, Lithuania;
22 September – 22 October 2012, Kloster Bentlage, Rheine, Germany;
It is tentatively planned to show:
2012-2013 in France, in Bengladesh, in China.

"Wha..?!" was my first response. Then "Woohoo!" I am just beyond thrilled. And am so grateful to Hanne for inviting me to collaborate with her.

But beyond the exhibition opportunity, it was a wonderful experience collaborating with her on so many different levels. On the creative level, I just love Hanne's work and it was such a treat to have her very tactile work in my very own hands. In her own book, which I hope to share soon, I would turn the pages, over and over, smoothing my fingers over the surface, relishing in the texture that she created.

Our format and the "rules" we laid down challenged me as well. Thinking about structure + meaning of content is always a welcome challenge and one of the reasons why I enjoy working in the artist book format.

Then on a personal level, Hanne is a mother as well, of children now grown, and our emails back and forth regarding my subject matter were enlightening to me. I am always hungry to hear other women's and other mother's experiences. And Hanne, from our interactions, I found to be a woman who gave me such great advice and words that lifted me and inspired me in regards to being a mother and how to fit my art in.

Making art that is meaningful to me, that makes meaning of me, that makes me answer the questions that flood my brain and spirit, that helps me to find peace in issues that arise- this is why I do what I do. Why I come up to my studio to create.

I think this is one of my favorite spreads she made
She wrote: this is a love letter for next generation and all mothers

In one of our email exchanges I wrote to her about recent issues with time and scheduling conflicts, she wrote me something that I just love. Hope she won't mind that I share it here, but it's such good advice.

"Sometimes we have to accept to do less than we WOULD have loved to do. Actually I think it's an important lesson for mothers! We have all these big and beautiful ideals. But sometimes life just happens to be not-so-ideal. But don't give up! Never give away! In less-than-best/ideal-situations your real task - the ART of living - is to get the BEST out of the mess you're facing, the life you actually LIVE in - not just the life you DREAM of living in ..."

Thank you Hanne.

m(other) love

2011-11-16T15:09:00.003-06:00

Back in September I shared the beginning stages of a book I was making called m(other) love. Since that post, I filled up most of the pages with mixed media, including encaustic, on some of the pages and have mailed it to Denmark to Hanne Matthiesen to peruse and add her thoughts on the subject that I chose. Hanne will be bringing it with her to Lithuania and it will be part of a traveling book exhibit throughout Europe, which I am just thrilled about! I will post details later.

9.25.2011

Being a mother of two little ones, life has been crazy busy and add on top of that, germs of all shapes and sizes have descended on our household. So, I have neglected my blog a bit, but wanted to share some of the pages that I made in this book. Since Hanne and I both agreed that for our books we would work on top of each other's pages to continue the dialogue, some of what I'm sharing here may no longer be! But that's ok, as I trust Hanne and artmaking is about process, it's about the journey, really. If we get too stuck on the end product...well, we are then just stuck. If you can't be free in creative expression, then what's the point? This is something I have been thinking about a lot and discussing with some of artist friends lately and hopefully I can get some time to write more about here.

9.25.2011

This page above was inspired by a quote I found when I was doing some research online on "motherhood". Found some really interesting discussions actually in regards to how women artists have entered this dialogue. But here is the quote that inspired the page above:

At work, you think of the children you've left at home. At home, you think of the work you've left unfinished. Such a struggle is unleashed within yourself, your heart is rent. ~Gold Meir

9.25.2011

Ever since high school I have been so drawn to the images of motherhood and of the Madonna that I even did ceramic scupltures of her back then. Something that I always come back to, I guess.

9.25.2011

Addressing that feeling of being torn between the "Mother" and "Me". It's crazy how even writing that makes me cringe a bit. Anyone that knows me in person knows that my children are the center of my life and I am so grateful and so lucky that I am able to be with them at this early stage in their life. But even so, people who read this blog or see this book and don't know me and don't know that, may judge me as a "bad" mother for even addressing issues of self-preservation. I think all mothers feel that way at some point- that people are judging their motherhood. It's a terrible feeling, I don't know why we do it...But it's important for us to be honest. It lessens the feelings of isolation, I think.

9.25.2011

This book is very sculptural and fluid, actually. One of the reasons why I ended up using encaustic on some of the pages was to add support to the structure. I really liked how it worked out.

9.28.2011

9.28.2011

I also added a lot of hand stitching and adding pieces of old lace handkerchiefs- addressing the domesticity that comes along with motherhood. I was talking to a Chicago artist at a recent exhibit that we were both in and we were talking about how I manage to be able to keep doing work with young children. She told me that when her kids were little she did a lot of embroidery and handstitching. I've heard that from a lot of other women too, whose children are older now, that that was a way for them to stay creative. Handiwork that could be easily put down and started up again because as you know, you have to learn to work in fragmented time while tending to children and household needs. And lest you think embroidery and crochet is boring and tame, you need to check out some amazing and in-your-face-pieces that I have found online!

9.28.2011

So this was the last stage that my book was when it left Chicago for Denmark. We shall see the transfomation and additions when Hanne is done! I have since worked in Hanne's book which is a different, but related theme. I will share my pages soon. Hopefully! First I need to get better from this annoying bronchitis!

The Favor of Closer Attention

2011-10-27T09:23:00.008-05:00

"…the joy of prairie lies in its subtlety. It is so easy—too easy—to be swept away by mountain and ocean vistas. A prairie, on the other hand, requests the favor of your closer attention. It does not divulge itself to mere passersby." ~ Suzanne Winckler (2004, Prairie: A North American Guide, University of Iowa Press, Iowa City, IA, p. xi)

The Favor of Closer Attention
encaustic mixed media
12x24 inches

When I was in college I was not an art major, but I tried to take art classes as electives as much as my schedule would allow, which wasn't much as on top of my science based classes I also had a lot of clinical hours. And I was normally working 2-3 jobs outside of school. But nevertheless, I was able to take a few drawing classes. I remember in one of them, we went outside to draw and I spent probably 2 hours drawing a 5 inch section of a tree, blown up on my drawing pad. The time flew. And how I loved just looking at the bark, noticing the shapes, the intricacies of something that we normally just pass unnoticed. To get to know something intimately, really intimately, one must draw it, I think.

I am not sure I was able to capture all the layers and details that this painting entails with my camera. But in person, this paintings really does beg a closer look. There is much more underneath the layers than at first glance.

"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see." ~ Henry David Thoreau

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A couple of exciting things to announce:

:: I have an Intro to Encaustic and Mixed Media workshop coming up at Perfical Sense Studio in Evanston, IL on Sunday November 13th. Call Cindy to reserve a spot!

:: Last week I shipped out some of my encaustic paintings out to Everett, WA to be part of 3231 Creatives. I know a couple of the other artists who will have their work there as well and I am really happy that our work will be together. Wish I could just stop in and visit, but Everett, Washington is a tad far away from where I'm sitting in Chicago. I believe that Angela Rockett is going to be teaching a Creativity Workshop there soon which looks like a ton of fun. And Angela is awesome- I've been fortunate to have shown with her in the past when I lived in Seattle.

:: This week I am shipping out three of my handbound blank mixed media journals to the Tubac Center of the Arts. They were juried into the Holiday Artisan Market 2011 and I am excited to have my books there.

Fragmented Time
handbound blank journal
mixed media covers
8x6 inches

The exhibit will take place November 18th-January 2nd, so if you're in the area, stop by!

And I just wanted to give a huge thank you to everyone for their comments of congratulations and support for my Somerset Workshop chapter! I really appreciate it and I hope that my articles help anyone out there who has been curious about encaustic to try it out and/or just to learn more about it. Thank you again.

somerset workshop: experiments with encaustic

2011-10-15T19:30:00.003-05:00

I believe it was the end of last year that I received an email from the editor of Someset Workshop asking if I would write a few articles on how I paint with encaustic and to create some new pieces for their next issue. Fast forward almost a year and I am excited to announce that the stepped out articles and paintings are now available to be read and seen in the current issue!

one of the spreads of my chapter
Somerset Workshop, vol 8

The interesting thing about writing and creating pieces for a stepped out article is that it's much like the cooking shows on t.v. where the chef puts in a just-assembled casserole into the oven, and then opens another oven with a cooked casserole to show the next step in preparation of a meal. For each painting I had to actually create anywhere between 5-10 panels. Each panel showing a step, and then the subsequent step after. It was an interesting way for me to look at how I create my pieces as I've never had to think about it in that way before. When I'm painting I just kind of go with the flow. After a while you just kind of do things by instinct, much like riding a bicycle or playing the piano. But breaking it down into steps for the articles actually helped me prepare for teaching the workshops that I taught this year.

Once all the many panels were done and the articles were written and the extra paintings were made for the gallery section, I packed up the boxes and shipped everything out to California for the editor and photographers to take over. They shot the photos out there following my instructions. It's funny for me to look at the photos because those aren't my hands! ha! They really did a wonderful job with photographing the work, which believe me, anyone who has taken photos of encaustic work knows that that is no easy feat!

I want to share a few photos of my own tools and equipment that I have in my studio here in Chicago to give anyone who read the articles a glimpse into my encaustic setup.

First, say hello to my little friend, the Wagner Heat Gun:

When I first started experimenting with encaustic, I did use an embossing heat gun as I wasn't ready to splurge and get the real deal. But once you use a real deal heat gun, you won't go back. It gets HOT and fuses the encaustic paint much easier. Once you get a handle on using a heat gun, I suggest trying out a torch. Now, THAT, my friends, will ruin you for a heat gun. It's faster to cover larger areas with a torch. I still am loyal to my heat gun though and use it routinely, but at times I will switch to a torch when I need tighter control of my fuse.

my Wagner heat gun and I have been through a lot together

In the article I wrote that I like to keep my encaustic medium separate from my encaustic paint, so as to avoid contamination. Also, I use a lot of medium during my painting process, so I like to have a big vat of melted medium handy. I use an electric skillet for this, which you can buy at a Target, or any home supply store.

melted encaustic medium in an electric skillet

I like to use wide hake brushes for my medium. I attached those bull clips to the end so that there is an edge for the brushes to rest on, otherwise you will constantly be fishing your brush out of hot wax. Not fun.

Above are samples of premade encaustic paint. I like to use R&F as that is what I learned with and I just like them. But there are other manufacturers as well, and the photo includes a tin from Enkausticos. In the article I talk about using oil bars and pigment sticks to rub into the surface of the painting. The R&F sticks are like buttah! So lovely to use. Many artists who work in encaustic make their own paint, but I highly recommend doing thorough research before doing so or learning how in a workshop or class. It is not difficult but you need to be aware of safety issues especially if you are working with dried pigments. Please, your health and safety should always come first.

I like to melt my premade bars of encaustic paint in tins on my hot palette.

And here are my two hot palettes. The black one on the left is an electric griddle that I bought at Target. These are nice because they aren't expensive and they also have a built in thermometer. You always want to keep an eye on the temperature of wax for safety reasons. The palette on the right is an anondized aluminum palette that has a burner underneath. This is more expensive, but I find the heating to be more even than the griddle and the aluminum surface provides a nice surface to mix your paints on.

Writing the articles and creating the pieces for Somerset Workshop was an exciting experience for me and a wonderful opportunity to share what I have learned along my creative journey and how I have incorporated encaustic in my mixed media art. I hope it inspires others to try out encaustic, take a workshop, or even to just appreciate and understand the art of encaustic. There are so many ways to incorporate encaustic into one's creative pratice, and this is just one of many! If anyone has any questions, please feel free to email me. I'm always happy to answer any questions and if I don't have the answer, I will try to get it for you.

I made a page of encaustic painting Resources on my website for links to tools and supplies as well. Hope that helps!

thread, stitches, fabric

2011-10-10T14:22:00.005-05:00

It seems like I have always incorporated thread, stitching, or cloth in my mixed media works. In my Expecting Series (2007), I adhered string and thread on my oil paintings and embedded the same in the encaustic paintings. The idea behind that was the connections between generations: grandmother, mother, child. Woman to child, and so on and so on.

Winthrop
8x6 inch handbound blank journal
mixed media cover
created June 2011

Last year around when my father passed away, I started to really incorporate stitching markings into my paintings. The idea of mending, patching together, holding together.

The Life of Trees
handbound blank journal
mixed media cover
8x6 inches
September 2011

And this year I have been piecing together bits of paper or pieces of cloth fragments into my mixed media paintings.

Fragmented Time
handbound blank journal
8x6 inches
mixed media cover
September 2011

These ideas have always been with me, working subtly or more overtly. I have always been drawn to the idea of life as a pieced together quilt. Each experience and each person in my life, forming a part of my life's quilt. Held together, pieced together, forming a whole. At times, seams coming apart, unraveling.

The Thread that Binds
handbound blank journal
7x5 inches
mixed media cover
October 2011

It's interesting to me to see themes in my work that have always been there and that I continue to work on, to ponder while I paint or collage. And their voices get louder and stronger with each piece. I often want to work in a series, but it never quite works out as I always seem to be trying to work on multiple projects at the same time. And yet, whether I am working on my mixed media panels for my journals or on my encaustic paintings or acrylic paintings- I am still working out the same issues, the same symbols, getting deeper in the depth of my meaning and what I'm trying to say.

Living Memories
handbound blank journal
7x5 inches
mixed media cover
Ocotber 2011

Never sure if my meaning gets transmitted to others, but I know that it makes sense to me. And my art makes sense of me. And really, that's what it's all about.

Recently I have been working on journals as I will be sending some out to the Tubac Center of the Arts for their Holiday Artisan Show. I will also be sending a few out to Everett, Washington for a new venue that will carry my work called 3231 Creatives. And of course, I always try to keep a few of my handbound mixed media journals for sale over at amanobooks.com.

Unfortunately whenever I start binding in earnest, I am reminded why I needed to put a halt to that. My hands just can't handle it. So, while I have slowed down production in journals for some time now. I am beginning to get to the stage of acceptance- that I will need to stop making journals to sell. It pains me to say it and I have a feeling it will still take me some time to accept that.

mother is a verb

2011-09-22T23:20:00.000-05:00

Becoming a mother makes you the mother of all children. From now on each wounded, abandoned, frightened child is yours. You live in the suffering mothers of every race and creed and weep with them, You long to comfort all who are desolate." ~Charlotte Gray

working on something new...
Mother is a verb, not a noun. ~Proverb

I recently started a new collaboration with Danish artist Hanne Matthiesen that I have been working on here and there for the past three weeks. There have been a lot of big changes in the Mills household this month and so it has been a bit tougher to get into the studio as our family adjusts to new schedules. But this photo is a sneak peak into what I have been working on. The overall theme of our two books is "Love", which on first glance, my first reaction was: -meh-.

But then the wheels in my head started turning and what is something that is most relevant in my life right now? Being a mother, which then led to the theme and title of my book: Mother Love. The structure of the book is based on a book I saw in Making & Keeping Creative Journalswhere the entire book is made out of one sheet of paper. With various folds and cuts, a variation of an accordion book is formed, but it is even more sculptural. The paper that I chose to use is a handmade paper that is so soft, it almost feels like cloth. It is really quite lovely to hold and let the book pages fold into each other.

Now, since all the book pages have two sides to it, I seem to be having a dialogue with myself with both sides. One side is Mother Love, the other side is M(Other) Love. On the one hand- the central mother figure, all loving, all sustaining, the source of life and love. And the other, the self, the woman who needs to also see to her own needs, wants, and self-expression. The conflict between the two...or sometimes the partnership. Probably depending on the day, or the hour at times (there's a reason there is a time of day called the witching hour)!

Women do not have to sacrifice personhood if they are mothers. They do not have to sacrifice motherhood in order to be persons. Liberation was meant to expand women's opportunities, not to limit them. The self-esteem that has been found in new pursuits can also be found in mothering. ~Elaine Heffner

This dialogue was not something that I intended from the outset, but something that developed as I worked in my book, and actually in my head, as is often the case during my busy days. But it was actually the structure of the book that lent itself to this dialogue and I'm really happy about that. I'm still developing the pages at this point, like I said a lot of it is still in my head as I haven't had a ton of time. And to be honest, last studio day I spent a big chunk of it staring, staring, and staring. Yep, it was one of those. Frustrating, but in the end good. I have laid down the foundations on the pages and it is coming together. There is a lot handstitching, as well as machine stitching. Transfers of photographs. Lots of layering of paint, text, images, thread, cloth.

I'm really excited to see what happens as things often change in the execution of the idea. This is a theme that I've been wanting to address for a long time. I remember the nights when I would be rocking my daughter in the darkness of her room in the middle of the night, just thinking and imagining 3-dimensional pieces of female forms, womb-like vessels....This book is not what I envisioned during those sleepless nights of rocking and nursing my baby girl, but it is a step towards it. In about a week I will be shipping the book to Hanne and I just know it will go through another transformation that I look forward to seeing.

The art of living is to function in society without doing violence to one's own needs or to the needs of others. The art of mothering is to teach the art of living to children ~Elaine Heffner

rooted in the bones of the earth

2011-09-14T19:10:00.005-05:00

Rooted in the Bones of the Earth
encaustic on handmade paper canvas
8x10 inches

In a recent post I mentioned that I have been torn between two of my different voices. One being the moody and melancholic landscapes that deal with memory and the passage of time. And the other, my more colorful personal narrative that I have been delving into in the past three years since I moved to Chicago. Well, it's pretty obvious where this one fits in!

When I was in Oregon for EncaustiCamp I made sure to get myself some of Michelle Belto's handmade paper canvas that she had made and then stretched and mounted. Michelle makes beautiful surface designs with her handmade paper and then builds atop her paper canvases with encaustic. Well, I love paper and I love wax and the thought of combining the two as a surface to paint on was alluring.

At first, I was astonished by how much wax the paper absorbed as I prepared the surface with my initial layers and fuses in between. But it mades sense. Paper is absorbant. Duh. And then I continued painting. I did intend to attempt to keep the layers fairly translucent to show the original surface design of the paper underneath the wax. But the painting that was emerging wanted me to do otherwise. And I always listen to what the painting wants.

The thing that I liked about her paper canvas was how light it was. With all the layers of wax that are applied to a painting, encaustic paintings can become heavy. This piece, while small, still felt very light because the substrate was paper. I imagine that if I had painted on a much larger version of the paper canvas, that it would still feel much ligther.

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Have I mentioned yet that I will be teaching a workshop in Wisconsin next month with fellow Chicago artist Jenny Learner? I am really looking forward to teaming up with Jenny to offer an encaustic intensive weekend workshop. She will teach the first day and then I will teach the second. I will post about it in more depth soon, but here is a link to Whispering Woodlands, just outside of Madison. Our workshop is set for October 8th and 9th. Join us for a weekend of encaustic painting in a beautiful setting!

The opening for the Come Together exhibit was fantastic and I am truly honored to have the books that Seth, Jen and I collaborated on in the show. I was so busy talking to people and actually really enjoying the reception that my husband was in charge of taking pictures. I created a flickr set of the photos that he took.

Group photo of the artists in the show
From left to right: Michael Young, Ignacio Montano, John Bannon, Alicia Forestall Boehm, me, Mary Ellen Croteau, Celia Greiner, and Amie Sell whose dress matches her installation behind us!
Artists in the photo or who weren't able to attend: Katarzyna Bietak, Seth Apter, and Jen Worden.

One of the artists in the show that I met at the opening is Mary Ellen Croteau. Her work amazes me and inspires me and the first time I stepped into the exhibit space and saw her installation, my jaw dropped. Her work confronts you and makes you think about yourself in the context of the work. Read her artist statement and look at the work. Just be sure to check her website out.

Holding Moments

2011-09-06T21:50:00.005-05:00

Holding Moments
encaustic
8x8 inches
sold

Earlier this year I embarked on a series of bowl paintings sparked by a Raymond Carver poem. This is the third of the 8x8 inch bowls I have painted so far. This was the first one and here is the second. I envisioned doing at least 9. But I may take a little break from the bowls. I have a larger encaustic painting of a bowl painting started as well as an acrylic one. I would like to finish them at some point. But some other work has been appearing on my work table that is consuming me right now and that is all that I want to work on when I get some work time. Hope to post those soon....

Lately I have been feeling split in two. One as mother, wanting to hold onto the fleeting moments with my children. They grow so fast. Wanting them and helping them to become independent and then standing back, trying not to hover, as I bring my son to his first day of big boy preschool. My daughter is now putting 2-3 word phrases together, her first was "I want Mommy!", of course. And then the other as artist, feeling held in suspension, always waiting for the moment when I can step into my studio and into my work. Creating is like a drug for me- I get jittery when I don't get enough of it.

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And now, I put on my promotional hat: I have been adding a few painting to the mixed media art section of amanobooks.com. I will be adding more soon as I sort through things as I have been on an organization binge in my studio and in my paperwork. Maybe I should say I am split in three.

Come Together exhibit at the Arts Center in Logan Square

2011-09-03T16:15:00.006-05:00

For the past two years or so, I have posted about the collaborative project that I have been doing with Seth Apter and Jen Worden. We finished it this year and we are all thrilled to have our collaborative books part of an exhibit here in Chicago called Come Together. This is the premier exhibit at the new Art Center in Logan Square and will feature sculpture, installation and collaborative work.

Here is a quick synopsis of our project: In 2008 I contacted Seth Apter in New York City, and Jen Worden in Canada, to see if they wanted to work on a collaborative project together. They both agreed and we each created our books that we would pass along to each other. I created a plaster book called "A Book of Trees". Jen created a box of metal pages called "Shine" and Seth created a rebound book of vintage pages called "Contexture". We began in early 2009 and each book was shipped across the states and over the Canadian-U.S. border for more than 2 years. We created visual responses to what the preceding person had created. Each "book" encompasses a visual dialogue between three artists working in different styles and materials within the parameters that each artist set for their particular book.

Not only have our books been through quite a journey these past 2 years, but I think that each of us have as well. When I asked Jen and Seth to do this with me, I never thought that our books would end up in a show. I asked them purely out of wanting to explore themes and experiment with different media with two artists that I respect for their artwork and for who they are as people. I have known Jen for a long time through our online art activities. Actually, she bought the first painting that I ever posted online when I first started painting again. And I encountered Seth as I was preparing for my first solo show in Florida. When my show opened, he was one of the first to purchase one of my paintings from the gallery.

But why a collaboration? I've only done this type of thing once before with a mixed media artist, Donia Nance. And it was such an amazing experience. Creating art is a solitary practice, so breaking out of that and working with someone else can be very freeing. It depends, of course, on the mindset and the goals. But for me, it forces me to do something out of my comfort zone, to work with materials that I normally would not. And in doing so, I learn so much and feel a renewed inspiration in my own work. There are a few spreads that I did in Seth and Jen's books that have found their way in my larger paintings. Or at least have planted seeds for future work. For example, I am still not all that comfortable working with metal, but I foresee incorporating it in my work.

The artist community can be an amazing supportive one and I am fortunate to have encountered all the creative and generous people in my own journey. I just love the title of the show "Come Together"- it encompasses so much.

For those that can't attend the show, I created a flickr slideshow of our three books. Take a look:

This exhibit was curated by Beth LeFauve, Jane Michalski, and Emily Rutledge. I am so happy too to be showing once again with the inimitable Alicia Forestall-Boehm, who will be showing her beautiful woven encaustic baskets.

I will be attending the opening on September 10th. Hope to see you there!

Come Together
September 10-30
Artist Reception September 10 6-9 pm
Arts Center, Logan Square/Avondale
2810 N Milwaukee Avenue, 2nd floor
Chicago, IL 60618

I enjoy being given a certain amount of freedom in order to interpret or to come up with stuff, but I do enjoy collaboration. I seek and thrive on projects where I am going to learn from the people I'm working with. ~William Kempe

Incertitude Revisited

2011-09-01T08:04:00.005-05:00

In the dream I heard an order: You will come to the city- describe it. So I asked, How shall I know what is meaningful from what is not?

Later I found myself in a field, winnowing wheat from chaff. Under a grey sky and lilac clouds, the work was hard, but simple. Time didn't exist, rather it had turned to stone. I kept working in silence until she appeared. Stooping over the field, she took pity on a weed and I, to please her, added it to the harvest. Then she did the same for a stone. After, she begged mercy for a mouse. When she had gone, I was confused. The straw seemed more beautiful and the grain, unyielding. Doubt overwhelmed me. I stopped my work. Since then wheat and chaff have mixed. Under the grey sky the horizon is a smudge, and no voice answers. ~Cristina Perri Rossi, The Ship of Fools

sold

I can't believe it's been so long since my last post! It has been a really busy month, with no camps or classes scheduled for my son before he heads to preschool next week. And my daughter, now 18 months, is a typical squirmy, always running, climbing 18 month old who seems to be inches away from disaster at all times! I have found moments here in there to get into my studio and have finished several journals and paintings and have others in the works. And of course, so many things swirling in my head, waiting to be heard. So when I have a child-free moment I have to choose- take photos, blog, or paint. And this past month I had been so starved for studio time, that I always chose to paint.

For the above journal I used a print of a painting that I made several years ago. I dipped it in wax and used the wax as the adhesive to the underneath layers already on my panel. The rest of the panel I painted with acrylics amd experimented with alcohol inks that Sue Stover gave me while we were at EncaustiCamp in July. Sue had told me that you can use alcohol inks on encaustic! So I have been experimenting with that too, but with this piece I just wanted to try it with acrylics. I did a lot of layering with the inks and wiping away, which created really interesting effects and texures. My friend, Binky Bergsman, explained to me that if you put alcohol ink down on acrylics, let it dry and then add alcohol on top, you can then wipe it off which "erases" a painted portion of your work. I had been doing that without understanding why.

The original "Incertitude" painting recently left my studio and now lives in Oklahoma. But this journal, Incertitude Revisited is currently for sale over at amanobooks.com.

There are other reasons why I have revisited incertitude, metaphorically speaking- I have been feeling torn between two styles of painting recently, which creates a feeling of uncertainty for me. For many years now I have created moody mixed media works, using photos of my trees and birds as the central imagery. But lately I have been drawn to brighter colors, more folk-ish style of painting with my bowls. They are both so very different, yet both are me. Part of me thinks that I need to pick one and stick to it. But the other part....well, you know, if something wants to be heard, it needs to be heard.

I have lots of things to post to illustrate my split-personality conundrum, but I still need to photograph them all. Just not enough time to do it all!

Oh, and by the way, the excerpt at the top was the original inspiration of the painting of the crow that I did several years ago. I have always loved that passage. I read it in its original spanish and it's especially beautiful read in its original tongue.

within the seed, a secret

2011-08-06T08:00:00.003-05:00

You are lost the moment you know what the result will be. ~Juan Gris

Within the seed, a secret
encaustic mixed media
12x9 inches

I can't even recall how many transformations this painting has been through or even exactly how many layers of paint makes up this piece. It is a painting I have been working on, on and off, for several weeks. Mmm, actually, maybe months. Perhaps even a few years? I suppose I should know the answers to this or not admit that I don't know to anyone besides myself. It was just something I worked on here and there, think it was done, then no, no it wasn't. Paint over, scrape back, paint again, leave alone for a few months. Repeat. You get the idea. But now, I know, with 100% certainty, that the painting that it was supposed to be all along is finally here. It just took me a while to get there.

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When I was in Oregon for EncaustiCamp, I finally got to hold Judy Wise and Stephanie Lee's book, Plaster Studio: Mixed-Media Techniques for Painting, Casting and Carving (See all Creativity Books) in my hands. I am so honored to have been asked to share one of my encaustic paintings that I created on a plaster substrate in their book. Stephanie was the one that introduced me to plaster several years ago and I have been using it in a variety of ways with encaustic ever since. I am really looking forward to reading this book and trying out some of the other techniques that they share in it. I am particularly interested in trying out casting....oh, the possibilities! And of course I made Judy sign it for me and that makes it all the more special.

New Encaustic Explorations

2011-07-31T13:07:00.004-05:00

A few posts ago I posted the announcement for the current FUSEDChicago exhibit at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center in Evanston. Last week I was able to visit the exhibit and if you are in the area, I encourage you to stop in. We filled two floors of gallery space with encaustic paintings and sculptures. It's amazing to see all the different work created in this ancient medium.

Longing, triptych
encaustic mixed media
8 x 24 inches

This is one of my paintings that is at the exhibit. This little bird has appeared in so many of my creations, but this incarnation is one of my favorites.

Here are a few examples of what is hanging. If you want to see more, check out the FUSEDChicago website or our Facebook page as we have photos up in the current exhibit section.

sculptural pieces by Alicia Forestall Boehm and Yvonne Prisble

Dan Addington
{his work makes me swoon}

Mary Jo Parker O'Hearn
{This red kills me! Want. I've seen this painting before and I just love it.}

Leslie Robertson {who was in one of my workshops at Encausticamp!}
and Yvonne Prisble

Sarah Rehmer
{Unfortunately this photo is a bit blurry, but I wanted to share it here because, well, I love it}

And last but not least, a photo opp with one of my best creations {the other one visiting his Grandma while we went to the exhibit}:

almost 17 months here!

encausticamped!

2011-07-22T15:29:00.005-05:00

It's been almost a week since I returned home from EncaustiCamp and I am still processing all that went on there. It is hard to put the experience into words, so I will tell you a little story.

Walking to my classroom on the morning of my first workshop, I noticed a hummingbird flitting about right outside the classroom door. As I was setting up the class and melting all the wax, I exchanged a few quick emails on my phone with Jenny Learner about the current show we're in back in Chicago, and I told her about the hummingbird. She emailed me back and said that in certain Native American traditions, that the appearance of the hummingbird in life and in dreams denotes joy. It was a good way to start the day and to start the next three days of teaching my workshop "A Book of Images and Wax".

On the very last day of my workshop, I was starting to teach and we all heard this bumping and buzzing sound by the windows. It was a hummingbird who had found its way into the classroom and didn't know how to leave! Jess Greene quickly took charge and was able to catch the hummingbird in her hands and brought it outside. It sat peacefully in her cupped hands for a few minutes, resting, gathering up its strength and then flew off. We all marvelled at this magical moment before we began the last day of painting.

Joy.

Ok, ok, for some people that may just mean that the hummingbird liked the plants outside the classroom and got lost...but I have always been open to signs or dreams that cross my path. And it seemed so fitting for the experience that I had teaching at EncaustiCamp and connecting with all the people there. I am so grateful to Trish, who dreamt this whole thing up and then made it happen and brought myself, Crystal Neubauer, Judy Wise, and Michelle Belto together for this inaugural event.

There were people there who were old hands at encaustic and those where this was their first step in working in the medium. I was so happy to be able to be part of their learning and experimentation with a medium that I love to work with. If you want to see some of the work that people did, go to my flickr site, or view through this nifty slideshow.

This has got to be my all time favorite photo of the week though:

"The Don Moment", photo taken by Stephanie Green

FUSEDChicago exhibit: New Encaustic Explorations

2011-07-10T21:18:00.004-05:00

FUSEDChicago has another group exhibit coming up called "New Encaustic Explorations" at the Noyes Cultural Center in Evanston, IL. Again, I will be missing the opening reception as I will be in the air flying back to Chicago from Portland! But I am definitely looking forward to seeing the exhibit when I get back into town.

New Encaustic Explorations
FUSEDChicago exhibit
curated by Barbara Goldsmith and Chie Curley
Noyes Cultural Arts Center
927 Noyes St., Evanston, IL 60201

Exhibiting artists:
Dan Addington
Donna Zarbin Byrne
Alicia Forestall-Boehm
Denise Funfsinn
Shelley Gilchrist
Ken Gold
Nikkole Huss
Katsy Johnson
Catherine Keebler
Patricia Lagger
Jenny Learner
Barbette Loevy
Elyse Martin
Jane Michalski
Bridgette Guerzon Mills
April Nomellini
Mary Jo O'Hearn
VA. de Pintor
Yvonne Prisble
Sarah Rehmer
Paul Rinaldi
Julia Ris
Leslie Robertson
Emily Rutledge
Mary Krebs Smyth
Karen Tichy
Michele Thrane
Kathleen Waterloo

preparations

2011-07-07T13:33:00.005-05:00

"The thought of being a creator, of engendering, of shaping is nothing without the continuous great confirmation and embodiment in the world, nothing without the thousandfold assent from Things and animals... beautiful and rich only because it is full of inherited memories of the engendering and birthing of millions." ~Rainer Maria Rilke

Atlantic Ocean
June 2011

I spent all of last week with my childen playing in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. It was a good week of bonding time with my mom, my sisters, and my nieces and nephew. A time of fun, but also a time for me to re-center and prepare for the new adventure ahead of me.

Next week I will be headed to Oregon to teach 3 days of workshops, passing on the techniques that I have learned these past years in painting in encaustic and using my photographs in my work. I am really looking forward to not just passing on technique, but also to open up a world of using ones' own images to tell your story, to breathe personal meaning in one's artwork. I remember, for myself, incorporating my photos and my transfers into my own work, opened up a whole new world for me. And I hope to pass this on to others.

For so many years I have been working steadily and in the solitude of my studio. When I moved to Chicago, I began to emerge from my studio and connect with other artists here in the city. And I've learned that while quiet, alone time is so very, very necessary for me...it is also invigorating and just as necessary to be around other creative people. And now with teaching this year, the connections made, really are wonderful. So, I am looking forward to next week with excitement and gratitude.

Class supplies are packed. Class kits are assembled. Class booklets are bound. Art supplies are all gathered and packed. I think I'm ready...

Believe it or not, you can still enroll, even last minute! Visit EncaustiCamp for more info.

“To create one’s own world, in any of the arts, takes courage.” ~Georgia O’Keeffe

Black Cloud Gallery: Fused

2011-06-24T10:00:00.000-05:00

Strata
encaustic mixed media
8x8 inches

I'm pleased to announce that I will have four paintings included in the exhibition "Fused" at the Black Cloud Gallery. This exhibit is a FUSEDChicago show curated by the gallery. I am looking forward to another FusedChicago show, this time in the heart of the Chicago Arts District in the Pilsen neighborhood. We all work with wax, but coming from different backgrounds and experience. It is fascinating to see the different approaches to working in encaustic in one group show.

Fused
Black Cloud Gallery
Opening Reception: July 1, 7-10pm
Exhibition dates: July 1-July 20
1909 S. Halsted
Chicago, IL 60608
info@blackcloudgallery.net

The Privilege of Morning
encaustic mixed media
12x12 inches

The other paintings that I will have in the show are Born of Earth and Bone and Of Living Root.

I am headed out this week with my kids to visit my family in Maryland and am due to get back into Chicago on the 1st, so as of right now I am not sure if I will be able to make it to the opening reception. Hopefully, I can figure out a way to get there. But if you can't make it to the opening, there is another reception July 8th as Black Cloud Gallery participates in the 2nd Friday event.

At any rate, the show will be up until July 20th, so be sure to stop in!

journals, journals, journals

2011-06-23T10:04:00.006-05:00

Bloom
mixed media cover
8x6 inch handbound blank journal

A few weeks ago I was in a flurry to get journals made as a)the "shelves" on my amanobooks site have been emarrassingly empty these past few months and b) I was planning on bringing journals to sell at vending night at EncaustiCamp. But then I had "the fall" and that kind of put a halt to binding for a while. I finally have these journals bound, but I have decided that I am not going to vend. I'm disappointed, but that's ok, I think I'll spend that time shopping instead! ha! There are going to be a lot of wonderful supplies, books and art being offered by the other instructors. By the way, vending night is open to the public, so if you are local to Salem, Oregon, stop by!

I will be bringing these journals with me however, as I want to show how one can incorporate thin layers of beeswax for a cover. When I use encaustic or just beeswax for journal covers, I apply a very thin layer as my journals go everywhere I go. They need to withstand abuse! Actually if I want to bring wax into the art of a journal cover, I usually just use beeswax for my journal covers. But again, I have used encaustic for some covers. Never, say never, right?

Winthrop
mixed media and beeswax
8x6 inch handbound blank journal

This journal, Winthrop is going to be my personal journal. I can't wait! I still have a few pages left in my current one. I have been obsessed lately with stitching, stitching, stitching and combining different tones of white. Actually "lately" isn't the right word. I feel like I have been obsessed with these two things for a few years now.

of early morning
mixed media and beeswax
6x6 inches

The cover for Of Early Morning includes plaster, inkjet print on tissue paper, beeswax, and acrylic. No, the acrylic is not combined with the wax. The acylic paint was applied in the areas where I did not put beeswax. Actually, you can see where the beeswax ends and the acrylic begins.

in unison

2011-06-13T22:25:00.003-05:00

in unison
mixed media cover
handbound blank journal
7x5 inches

This is a recent journal I made that uses one of my oil paintings on canvas that I adhered to the panel, torn papers, beeswax and oil pastel. The intertwined fern image was created doing a polaroid transfer. And yes, that is why I call what I do "mixed media".

Feels like it's been forever since I last posted. I actually have been working on creating new journals lately, but I have not been on the computer much. Around the time that I last posted I had a nasty fall on the pavement. The scary thing was that I was holding my little girl in my arms and so in order to protect her from getting smashed into the sidewalk, I got smashed into the sidewalk. And my left wrist, which must have taken the impact, just has not been the same since. It still is painful to type. So I apologize for not being able to respond to all the kind comments that were left on my last post in regards to the collaborative book with Jen and Seth. Thank you everyone! It feels good to finish up such a long project and then on top of it to really cherish the work that was done together individually and as a group.

The thing that I still find incredible is the ability for the body to adjust itself in mid-air, in a spit second, in order to protect someone else. It is still a blur of slow motion in my mind's eye. So in order to get the art stuff done that needs to get done, I've been laying low on the typing. Hopefully it will feel 100% soon.

A Book of Trees

2011-06-01T14:01:00.004-05:00

For the past two years, I have been posting about a collaborative project that I have been working on with Jen Worden and Seth Apter. I can't even remember when the idea to work together happened, it might have been when I still lived in Seattle! I knew that I wanted to work with Seth as I admire the way he uses collage and paint to create incredible texture in books. We decided to ask one more person to join us and I suggested Jen Worden as her work, whether it is collage or assemblage, has always intrigued me. I was so excited to work with them as we began discussing the shape and form our collaboration would take.

My only caveat was that we each approach our books as something to challenge ourselves with, either via concept or medium. And then along with that, we had to be open to the challenge with the spirit of exploration. We were going to challenge each other, but most of all have fun and experiment. I said, let's not get caught up with creating "masterpieces", this is for experimentation. I would rather have a page in there that was a botched attempt at pushing oneself than a pretty page. Where's the interest in just a pretty page?!

The way it worked was that we each created a "page" or "spread" in each other's books, then mailed it to the next person. I always mailed mine out to Jen, then Jen mailed hers to Seth, then Seth to me. We had to respond visually to the page that had just been done. I wanted each book to read like a visual dialogue.

I am happy to announce that our books are all in the last stages of final binding and my plaster book is completely done! I took photos of the book this week and I hope to share the other books with you in future posts.

Book of Trees
cover art, by bgmills

I will start with my book. The title of this book is "The Book of Trees". I asked Jen and Seth to interpret the theme however they felt. Pretty simple. The challenge for us all was the fact that the book was made out of plaster pages bound with thick metal wire.

on one of her turns, Jen did her magic on the wire, curling them up, adding metal embellishments. I was thrilled when I saw this as I know nothing about working with metal.

Sign-in page on the left
right: bgmills, encaustic and mixed media

detail

Spread by Jen Worden

Left: Seth Apter, collage and mixed media
Right: bgmills, encaustic

Left: Jen Worden
Right: Seth Apter

left: bgmills, encaustic
right: jen worden, acrylic

left: seth apter
right: bgmills, collage and beeswax

last page!
bgmills, encaustic and mixed media

We are all not only happy to have finished this collaborative project, but thrilled that our three books are going to be part of an exhibit called "Come Together" this summer in Chicago at the Milwaukee Avenue Art Festival, curated by Jane Michalski. A perfect ending to a project that we each dedicated more than 2 years to! These books have been through so much, traveling from Chicago, to Nova Scotia, to New York City. Going through lags while Jen trained for Iron Man and Seth for several marathons, and for me when my daughter was born. I couldn't be more happy with how this project developed and working with Jen and Seth who were the perfect creative partners.

More info on the exhibit later!

encausticamp spotlight: Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch

2011-05-30T20:54:00.002-05:00

This is the last instructor spotlight for EncaustiCamp and I knew I had to save the best for last. Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch is the spark and force behind EncaustiCamp. When she called me up to tell me about her vision, I knew I needed to heed her call.

On the website, she describes her vision for this encaustic retreat in Oregon as this:

Encausticamp is about everyone; encaustic artists, mixed media afficionados, experimenters extraordinaire and all form of crafts persons alike! This retreat is about going beyond the borders of encaustic art and opening welcome arms to the art and craft world at large so as to expose the beauty, versitility, accessibility and intense pleasure of this multi-media friend to all walks of artist, crafter, experimenter. With the intent of bringing the rich diversity-potential of the wax to the forefront of the creative world, EncaustiCamp strives to embrace and welcome the notion that 'anything is possible'.

I first met Patricia several years ago in Seattle at an encaustic demo I attended at Daniel Smith Art Supplies. I remember it vividly because the demo room was packed and there was an excitement in the air to hear about painting in encaustic. I signed up for more information and when I received an email about a 3day encaustic workshop at her studio, I jumped on it. My son was only 4 months old at the time, but I had started having opportunities to show and sell my encaustic work and I wanted to make sure that I was following correct protocol, since all of what I had been doing was self-taught. Those days in her studio opened up a world for me, in so many ways- at that time I was just emerging as an artist and I also had a new role as a mother, Patricia was such a source of inspiration for me. She passed more onto me than just the confidence that what I was doing in the studio with encaustics was correct.

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Spruce and Juniper
encaustic triptych
Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch
(I own this painting and I love it, which is why I'm including it in this post. I always get compliments on it when I have visitors over)

I am so excited to be joining her at EncaustiCamp in Salem, Oregon this July. She was such a huge part of my early encaustic journey and I am honored to be part of this retreat. And I get to go to my beloved Pacific Northwest!

Her workshop sounds like it will be full of interesting techniques for bringing in unusual materials together with encaustic. Here is the description:

Foundations in wax with Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch

Plaster, Tar, wood icing and burning tools! All fantastic materials in and of themselves, but as we put them to task in unison with encaustic they become beautiful foundations, additions in the waxen layers, and detailing additions to the nearly finished paintings. With the opportunity to take advantage of glue burning and shellac as well, these products come together to bring the 2dimensional encaustic painting to all new heights~

Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch

Come join us!

foundations

2011-05-26T14:11:00.004-05:00

Foundations
mixed media encaustic
8x10 inches
sold

This weekend in Evanston went well, talked to a lot of people about my work and the workshops that I have been teaching out of Perfical Sense Studio. It was really fun to see the curious looks on people's faces as they read the word "Encaustic" that I had on a sign by my work. What was really exciting though was talking to people who were not familiar with encaustic, but were artists in some shape or form, and seeing that spark in their eyes....that same light that I am sure lit up my eyes the first time I laid my sight on an encaustic painting. I could see the wheels turning, the question of "...oooh, how do I bring this medium into my creative practice..." Now, THAT was exciting for me.

The other thing that was really rewarding was when people would look at my work and say, "These remind me of quilts" and that would just make my day because that is part of what I am going for, the piecing together, the blocks, the patterns, the stitches. So, it's gratifying to get confirmation of what is unspoken, but that is getting through visually to the observer. Speaking of quilts, I scored a wonderful find at Powell's in Lakeview the other day- Quilted Planet: A Sourcebook of Quilts from Around the World . I can't wait to delve into it.

I can't believe that EncaustiCamp is coming up! There is still time to register as it takes place July 13-17 in Salem, Oregon. And even though it really doesn't even feel like spring here in the midwest, I hear that summer is supposed to coming. Anyway, go check it out....

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This painting is based on the encaustic painting that I created for Carmen Torbus' book that was recently published. This painting is about my family and my role as a mother to my two children. Each symbol at the bottom carries meaning to it, encompassing what I hope to lay down for them. A foundation for self, compassion, esteem, and security.

I often make a painting, then come back to it again, either repainting it, or just revisiting that composition in another painting. I recently made a visual journal entry that will become a larget painting. Everything leads into another...

Art teaches nothing, except the significance of life." ~Henry Miller

encausticamp spotlight: judy wise

2011-05-19T13:11:00.005-05:00

Back to spotlighting the instructors that I will be teaching with at EncaustiCamp this July in Salem, Oregon. July 13th-July 17th. There is still time to register!

Judy and I crossed internet paths, oh, probably back 4-5 years ago and I felt an instant connection with her. The year I moved to Chicago, Judy happened to be traveling to Wisconsin to teach an art journaling and an art business workshop and I knew that I just had to go up there to meet her. I remember when I entered the building where she was conducting her workshop, I heard a clear and joy-filled laughter filling the hallway and I thought- that has got to be Judy! And I followed the laughter and there she was. We gave each other a great big hug like we were old friends.

Wisconsin, 2008

I am so thrilled to be teaching with her this summer at EncaustiCamp. She is a wonderful artist, a generous teacher, and truly a bright light. Here is her class description:

class sample for Juy Wise's workshop

My class is entitled "Painting from the Hot Palette" and will cover the techniques of adding colorants (dry pigments, oil paint) to encaustic medium and then painting with those colors just as you would paint from a palette of colors in oils. The difference is that wax hardens immediately so there is no waiting for paint to dry. In addition, the texture is yummy!

I'll be throwing in some transfer techniques (the above painting includes a transfer) and some collage tips. This class is suitable for beginners as well as experienced encaustic students.

I am hoping that I will get to peek into Judy's class to see her encaustic painting techniques! To see more of her work, visit her blog- you won't be disappointed, she always has a visual feast to share whether it's her artwork, travels, or vegetables and flowers growing in her garden.

makin' it happen

2011-05-17T11:35:00.003-05:00

This weekend I was invited to show a few of my encaustic paintings with Perfical Sense Studio at what looks to be a fun, artsy block party. I'll be there Friday night and Saturday, so if you're in the area, stop by!

Makin' it Happen in Evanston's West Village.
Dates and Times: Friday May 20, 5:00 - 9:00
and Saturday May 21, 10:00 - 4:00

Set in Evanston Plaza at the southwest corner of Dempster Street and Dodge Avenue, the Makin’ It Happen in the West Village festival will have a block party feel and take place both inside available retail spaces and outside in the parking lot facing Dodge. A celebration of dancing, music, art and more, the event will give people the chance to meet and greet merchants and neighbors in this vibrant community.

I think there's even going to be fire performers! I'm looking forward to it.

I am also so happy to share that Carmen Torbus has recently had her book published, "The Artist Unique: Discovering Your Creative Signature Through Inspiration and Techniques". I believe it was in 2009 I received an email from her asking me to contribute some work and some of my thoughts on my process to her book. I was honored to be asked and happy to contribute. Thanks Carmen!

Quiet Spirit
encaustic
7x5 inches

This is one of the encaustic pieces I created for Carmen, not sure if it made it in the book or not as I sent her two paintings. I haven't yet seen the book, but hopefully will get one in my hands soon! Oh, and I framed this little piece and I will have it hanging at the festival this weekend.

old forgotten songs

2011-05-10T14:19:00.003-05:00

old forgotten songs
encaustic and mixed media
5x3 inches

My work has been moving in a new direction (with the bowls), but still, at times, I go back to older processes, continuous reworking of my favorite photographs. I am also still attempting to use all my supplies and odds and ends in my studio and I had a small pile of tiny ClayBord panels that I want to use. Hence, this tiny encaustic and collage piece.

I am reading Tinkers by Paul Harding right now and last night I came across this passage and knew I had to retitle this little piece.

...I would feel the actual wind start up the back of my neck and ruffle my hair and the water and the grass and spin the swallows in its choral voice stirring all of the old unnamable sorrows in our throats, where our voices caught and failed on the scales of the old forgotten songs. My father would say, The forgotten songs we never really knew, only think we remember knowing, when what we really do is understand at the same time how we have never really known them at all and how glorious they must really be...."

The article that I linked to above is very interesting, and a commentary on what we are told the market wants and doesn't want. The writing is slow and decriptive, and I find myself having to reread certain passages. Not because it's hard to read, those kind of books I just don't return to. I don't have time for laborious reading! But because it is so rich and I don't want to miss a thing. There have been several passages that I have just made me catch my breath. Beautiful.

artists at work!

2011-05-04T13:47:00.004-05:00

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of teaching another encaustic workshop up in Evanston, IL at Perfical Sense Studio. The focus of this workshop was on transfers, which is a technique that I incorporate in my encaustic process often. Actually, I remember the first time I did a transfer to wax, I yelled out a "Woo-hooooo!" and did a dance of joy at the work table. I had been creating mixed media paintings using acrylic gel transfers already and once I saw that wax loves transfers, I knew that encaustic was a medium I could fully embrace. It was an exciting and memorable moment. Ha! Really, though, it was!

It's so interesting teaching these workshops as everyone who attends comes with a different background and experience. Whether it is someone who has been a formal oil painter for years or someone who is just dipping their toes in taking an art class for the first time or a book binder, the thread that unites everyone is the willingness and excitement to jump in and to not be afraid of what happens. It is really great to be a part of that and sharing the techniqes and processes that have fueled my own artmaking.

I was so happy when Laura returned for her second workshop with me and brought photocopies of her own drawings to work with. I just loved the marriage of her delicate line drawings transferred onto the wax. Laura is an encaustic natural and I can't wait to see more of her work now that she has taken the plunge and is setting up an encaustic space at home. Yeah Laura!

I had another treat that afternoon as Beth of Tangled Sky Studio stopped by after to say hi after the workshop ended. It was so nice to see her as we I haven't seen her for awhile.

I will be back up in Evanston around May 20th to participate in the Evanston West Village Festival. I will be showing some of my encaustic paintings with Perfical Sense Studio at this Festival. I will post more information soon. It looks like it will be fun!

I went to college in Evanston...who knew that I'd be back there so much now just a little over a decade later!? Funny how life cycles back.

my bowl is full

2011-04-26T20:57:00.000-05:00

my bowl is full
encaustic
8x8 inches

Yes, I am still making my bowls. I have the two 8x8 inch bowls that I have made so far hanging together in my studio and I can't wait to make more. I foresee a grid of them.

There are so many things I could say about my thoughts as I worked on this painting. Feeling overwhelmed at times by all that I juggle on a daily basis. Something we all can relate to. Feeling overstimulated by technology. So much "connecting" can be too much at times. I recently took Facebook and Twitter and all of that stuff off my phone and have been spending less time on the computer in general. There are times when I find myself with a rare chunk of time to myself and it's so easy to get sucked into the computer, but I would much rather be doing something else and actually NEED to be doing something else. Although it is fun to browse around and it is wonderful to connect with people, friends and family all over the world. It's all about balance.

The other thing too that I have been thinking about is that whole "cup half full/half empty" argument. For some reason I think of bowls differently. I don't want my bowl to be full all the time, I want it to be empty, open, ready to receive.

Fill Full Unfill

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Speaking of full, my encaustic workshop that I will be teaching this Saturday at Perfical Sense Studio in Evanston is full again! I really enjoy sharing the things that I have learned in my own practice and am looking foward to this workshop.

Encausticamp Spotlight: Crystal Neubauer

2011-04-25T14:08:00.004-05:00

Hope everyone had a lovely Easter weekend. I have always preferred Easter over the craziness of Christmas, and really, Easter is a reminder of life, renewal, and promise. But it is so much fun reliving the holidays through my young children. Being the youngest of four girls, I never got the chance to believe in the Easter Bunny! All the suprises were spoiled for me. Not that it mattered, I still remember the thrill of the Easter egg hunt.

As mentioned before, I will be spotlighting the different instructors who will be teaching at Encausticamp this July in Salem, Oregon. Today's spotlight is on a fellow Illinois artist, Crystal Neubauer. I have been fortunate to have visited Crystal at the One Of A Kind Art Show here in Chicago last December and her work is just as beautiful in person, actually even more so. Computer screens just cannot capture the nuance of wax, but it also leaves out the impact of the strong, quiet essence that is in Crystal's work.

Anyway, I have always been a huge fan of her work and am excited to be teaching with her this summer. Without further ado, here is Crystal's post:

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‘When you share your strengths you create competition. When you share your weaknesses you create community.” ~Rick Warren

Recently I have been sharing a dialogue about a dream of developing a series of workshops and retreats where women can go deeper in their creative lives, a place where they will be supported, encouraged, and strengthened in their identity and worth as a woman and come away with the tools they need to begin to trust the voice they hear inside to guide them. A place that feels more like a community of friends who have gathered for a weekend of fun and fellowship then just a series of art-project oriented workshops.

crystal neubauer

The process of using art as a tool in healing from the past and uncovering my true identity has been such an integral part of changing my life that I’ve begun to share it with other women in some of my art workshops, uncertain of how they would respond or receive it knowing they were expecting to simply learn how to create a specific project. But each time I’ve included something as simple as a breathing technique I learned in my own journey, I find at least one woman who writes to say it was the most important thing she learned that day.

crystal neubauer

As the dialogue with my artist-women-friends begins to solidify into a clearer vision of a deeper more meaningful art retreat experience and dates and locations begin to be penciled in on our calendars, I’ve wrestled with letting go of my desire to teach at some of the larger more well-established venues, but then an email shows up in my inbox telling me of how the breathing technique I shared became a lifeline during a family crisis and I know in my heart this is the direction I was intended to go.

This July I will have my first formal opportunity during a two-hour breakout session at EncaustiCamp to share what I have learned along the way. I will bring a kit for each student who wishes to participate, that will include collage materials to be used as we walk through exercises designed to release that “inner-self” and allow one to experience what it means to “hear” or “listen to” their own voice and allow it to tell their story. The tools I hope to pass on in this exercise will go beyond paper and glue. This uncovering, discovering and releasing-of-self, is a journey so many women find themselves in the midst of and often without the resources or knowledge of what to do with all of these unexpected feelings and emotions. I will come, not as an expert or teacher, but a fellow sojourner sharing what I have learned along the way.

crystal neubauer

Of course, encaustic art will be the main focus of EncaustiCamp, but I am excited that the intention is to create an atmosphere that will be safe, cozy, intimate and restorative. This is where art becomes more then just a pretty picture; this is where it becomes a seed through which inner-healing can flow.

To find out more about this retreat, please visit the Encausticamp website.

absence

2011-04-18T14:59:00.003-05:00

They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder...not sure if that is true when it comes to being absent from the computer. I recently went away on a wonderful trip that included my sisters and my mom to a far away island. It was heavenly. No internet connection, cell phone, etc. I can't remember the last time I had been completely disconnected. What a strange world we live in nowadays.

But absence from my studio has been tough and I am scrambling to catch up. I am working on a commission of 3 large paintings in acrylic. These paintings will be taking up a lot of my studio time in the next month and so I won't be posting here very often. At least I don't think so. I tend to only post when I have art to share. The commission will be taking up all my time and honestly, now that my youngest is walking (running) everywhere, the night hours of working in the studio after my kids go to sleep are dwindling. I am exhausted! But sometimes the siren song of the studio lures me in. As well as deadlines.

What Brings Me Peace
encaustic and mixed media
2008

But, I am excited to share that I will be teaching another encaustic workshop at Perfical Sense Studio at the end of this month in Evanston, IL.

Saturday, April 30, 10:00 - 1:00
Perfical Sense Studio
1127 Florence Avenue
Evanston, Illinois 60202
Phone: 847-316-1900
E-mail: cindy @ perficalsensestudio.com

Encaustic painting is a method in which pigmented beeswax is painted in a molten state and then fused onto a receiving surface. One of the wonderful traits of painting with a wax surface is that wax loves image transfers! This workshop will cover the basics of painting in encaustics- working in layers and mark making. But we will also focus on different transfer techniques such as photocopy transfers, graphite transfers and transfer papers. Time will be given to allow individual exploration.

The painting above showcases transfers on wax. If you're in the area, come join the fun! I believe there is only 1 spot left at this moment, possibly 2.

encausticamp preview: me- a book of images + wax

2011-04-04T13:16:00.006-05:00

I mentioned in my last post that I will be previewing the instructors that will be teaching at Encausticamp this July in Salem, Oregon. This week it's my turn.

I am really excited to be combining two of my passions in one workshop this summer- bookmaking and encaustic. Well, actually three, come to think of it, because I will be covering mixed media techniques and incorporating those into your encaustic practice.

As readers of my blog, you all know that I have been creating handbound journals for many years. But my love of making books, goes beyond binding blank journals, it goes into the book art forum.

Milagro
a flag book I created of my xrays
2005

What is book art? Book art is works of art in the form of the book. Simple as that. But when you think of the book as a medium of visual expression, well, that opens of a whole world of visual exploration! Book art is the artist's interpretation of a "book". What I love about book art is the interaction between the artist and the audience. A book is not just meant to be looked it, but opened, touched, perused. So form invites exploration, while concept also engages. My first ever exhibit I was in was a book art show in Seattle, that included two of my pieces. I have been experiementing with book art forms since high school when my ceramics teacher, an exhibiting book artist, took me under her wing and introduced me to this fascinating art form.

Sheltered
mixed media book, includes pigmented beeswax
2005
published in L.K. Ludwig's True Vision: Authentic Art Journaling, 2008

It was only a natural progression that I would start exploring marrying encaustic with books. I am excited to be sharing my process at Encausticamp this summer in the workshop entitled "A Book of Images and Wax".

In this workshop we will go over incorporating photographs with encaustic with either collage or transfer techniques. We will create these on boards which we will bind in an accordian type of binding. I will also go over using paper with encaustic, one of my favorite things to do, and incorporating those creations into our book of wax and images.

If that sounds like fun to you, then head on over to Encausticamp to register for 3 days and 4 nights crammed with all things beeswax. This is a retreat that is for all levels and beginners in encaustic will feel at home here too. I think that people are often intimidated about starting to paint in encaustic, so this is a wonderful way to venture into painting and creating with wax.

a little sample book I made of encaustic pages coptic bound

encausticamp: featuring Michelle Belto

2011-03-31T14:17:00.003-05:00

Well, I didn't do a Wednesday snapshot this week as it would have been a pretty boring photo. The project that is currently on my table is one that I'm dreading and that is sanding down some large boards in preparation for a large commissioned project. I'm not dreading the project...just the sanding.

Have you ever been to Missouri Bend Studio blog? I love Patti's delicate work and I always enjoy reading her posts. She invited me to be part of her special series "Made by Hand" and I am honored once again to be a guest on her blog.

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In preparation for Encausticamp that will be taking place this July in Salem, OR, I will be sharing a blog post from each of the instructors in the coming weeks. Today's preview is from Michelle Belto. If I weren't teaching at Encausticamp myself I would just love, love, love to take her workshop. Paper making + Wax .... the possibilities makes my heart go pitter-patter!

All Roads Lead to Forever by Michelle Belto
18”X18”
Encaustic, Tar, Torch on Handmade Paper

"When I got married, I didn’t know the first thing about cooking. Unfortunately, my new husband liked to eat…and eat often! Thinking that it would be something easy, he informed me that his favorite side dish was mashed potatoes and that “it would go with everything.” What he didn’t realize was that even the lowly mashed potato was beyond the level of my expertise. I remember calling up my mom with a raw potato in my hand and asking the question: How do you get from here to there?

I often get asked that question about my work. How did you get there? For those who will be attending the first ever Encausticamp in [outside of] Portland this summer, you will get there yourself! Beating cotton and rag into a giant slushy pulp and then reforming it into something wonderful is addicting. What’s more making your own supports will open the door to endless new ways to explore mixed media work, sculpture, and, of course, encaustic painting.

Here is a visual overview of the process that you will learn when you come to camp:

1.

2.

3.

Participants will first learn how to make pulp from ordinary recycled materials. We will use the pulp in a pour-mold (1) which will allow us to add cool things like glitter and cut up newspaper or embed threads or botanicals. Our form, created from foam core and other materials, will be embedded in the pulp. This will make the support stable enough to take the wax. (2)The next step is to remove the water by pressing. One of my students is hand-pressing the pulp. See she is smiling! It is fun! (3) The final step is to allow the form to dry…and voila! You have just created your one-of-a-kind support."

Imprinted

2011-03-29T09:14:00.003-05:00

I am still, and probably will be forever, on the quest of re-using older materials and works that I have in storage in my studio. I have been on a cleaning-out and tossing rampage throughout the house too- must be spring in the air. It feels good to clear out, recycle, donate, or just toss out things that are taking up space and adding to the clutter.

Imprinted
6x6 inch blank handbound mixed media journal
sold

Several years ago I took a monotype print workshop with Seattle artist Doris Mosler. I still have all the prints I made, including the ghost prints. If I remember correctly, I believe this is the ghost print. It's been so long since I've done monotype printing, that I could be mistaken! Whichever it is, it was created on handmade lokta paper. This time around I dipped the print in encaustic medium, which causes the paper to become transparent where there was no ink/paint. So I layered it atop paper and added more layers on top- bark paper, sewn piece of torn ribbon.

I bound it up as a journal cover this past weekend and put it up for sale at amanobooks.com along with another journal that I just made. Both sold within the hour! So now my shelves with available works are bare again. Between painting and other projects I have been working on, plus chasing after my little monkeys, my journals usually end up taking the backburner on my to-do lists. But I always enjoy making them. I have created so many since I first started making and selling journals (since 2002) that it always feels like "coming home" in a way. Back to making more journals...

wednesday snapshot

2011-03-23T20:49:00.005-05:00

My little guy today told me that he wanted to "press the pedal on that machine", so when his sister went down for a nap, we cut fabric strips and sewed them onto a card.

3.23.11

I love painting. I love my wax. But for some reason I dream of fabric and sewing and stitching....I've been incorporating those elements into my paintings. I allude to piecing together, stitch work and seams. But I think one day I will succumb to the lure of fabric.

And just because I'm a quote freak, here's one I love:

"I myself am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions."
~Augusten Burroughs

silent moments

2011-03-20T21:00:00.003-05:00

Thinking of the stars night after night I begin to realize "The stars are words" and all the innumerable worlds in the Milky Way are words, and so is this world too. And I realize that no matter where I am, whether in a little room full of thought, or in this endless universe of stars and mountains, it's all in my mind. ~ Jack Kerouac

silent moments
5x7 inch mixed media panel to be bound
as a journal cover soon

Another bowl painting, but this time it will be a cover for a journal. I just need to bind it up. Maybe it's all the talk of the Super Moon, or waking up to the bright face of the moon in the middle of the night for two nights in a row this week, but the starry skies were definitely on my mind when I made this.

This panel includes an oil painting of a bowl on canvas that I painted a few years ago. I cut it out of its stretcher bars and adhered it to the panel. It always takes a moment of resolve for me to do this, but I am usually happy that I did it in the end. Then added more paint, papers, and encaustic medium. The words read "She was silent for a moment. A few moments". Those two sentences were from a book that I got at a rummage sale many years ago. I scrounge around in it at times for random sentences or phrases that jump out at me. For this painting of the empty bowl under a starry sky, I loved what the words implied...

Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy. ~Eskimo proverb (thank you to Janet Smith for this comforting quote)

Speaking of the celestial bodies, I just added my mixed media painting "Her Moon" to my etsy shop that I am revitalizing. I have had an etsy shop for several years but never used it really as I had amanobooks to sell from. I decided to list at both shops this year and see how it goes. I'll be adding some of my older works to my shop, such as Her Moon, as well as small new encaustic paintings. Well, that's the plan. Stay tuned!

a snapshot

2011-03-16T15:23:00.005-05:00

Jen Osborn posted a fun idea of taking a picture of what you're working on every Wednesday and post it. Not sure if I can participate all the time, but I thought it was a fun idea.

This photo is pretty much a snapshot of my life:

My work table, encaustic palette, a large encaustic painting in progress on the table, a mixed media panel that will be bound into a journal cover and an egg-crate caterpillar that my 4 year old son and I have been working on. He and I have been working on some fun projects together. He made his first journal this week, punching the holes with my Rubi-coil and then coiling it up. He's going to use it as a sticker book and sketch book, he told me. We are also going to start birding together. I've never done it, but I'm looking forward to learning how to be a birder with him. We checked out some books from the library yesterday, I'm going to prep what we need to make our bird journals, and my little guy has his binoculars ready! And now that it seems that spring is on its way to Chicago, maybe we'll be seeing some birds soon. Hopefully.

Playing with Fire

2011-03-14T13:35:00.004-05:00

"Spirit, Lead the Way"
encaustic and mixed media
14x11 inches

I am happy to announce that this encaustic painting, as well as Born of Earth and Bone are on exhibit at the Tubac Center of the Arts in Arizona in the "Playing with Fire" exhibit.

March 18 - May 1
Reception, Friday, March 18, 5-7pm
Walkthrough with juror Barbara Rogers, Friday, March 18, 4:30-5pm

I wish I could be there, not only to soak in some southwest desert sun, but to hang out out a dear art friend from my Seattle days, Karon Leigh who also left the Pacific Northwest around the time my family and I left. But I will be here in Chicago trying to recover from whatever crazy bug that's out there.

For the past two weeks my family and myself have been beseiged with this cold/sickness/plague. One after the other, we all have been taken over with fever, cough and congestion. Hopefully we are finally on the mend. Taking care of sick chldren while you yourself are sick is tough and I have been laying low, trying to recover. Hopefully I'll be back soon with something new to share! Thanks for all the lovely comments left for me in regards to my bowl.

I have another Raymond Carver quote to share:

"And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth."

"Late Fragment"
Raymond Carver

When I read that the other day, it made me want to weep and dance and holler at the same time. I believe it was the last thing he wrote before he passed away.

Rise Above

2011-03-05T15:55:00.003-06:00

The last time I posted, I mentioned a painting that was undergoing The Kitchen Test and that I thought it was done. Well, it did not actually pass The Kitchen Test. Again. So I brought it back to the work table. Again. My husband had noticed that it was gone from the kitchen wall and said, "I thought it was done". I shook my head, no, no, it's not quite there. Then he shook his head, muttering something that I couldn't quite catch. Luckily I had two hours of studio time this past Wednesday and I was finally able to declare it finished. I am so completely confident that it is done that it didn't even need to undergo The Kitchen Test.

Rise Above
encaustic
16x20 inches

My second bowl painting.

Actually, I have a couple of bowl paintings from a few years ago when I was working on my Expecting series. The bowl to me then was about the woman/mother as vessel. And it still means that to me. I think that all ideas feed into another, whether it adds to the meaning or morphs into another.

This painting has some pretty personal meaning for me that I won't get into here. But what I will get into is what is influencing me right now.

- that Raymond Carver poem
- layers and layers and layers of encaustic paint
- urban grunge, graffiti, rust, copper patina, metal, concrete

In Seattle a lot of my work had a soft blue, mossy, gray palette. Sort of like the watery, mossy environment around me then. Natural decay caused by sun and moisture. Here, my palette has changed for sure. I have a lot more rust and yellow in my work. A lot of the buildings in my Chicago environment are a rusty brick color or a yellow-ochre brick. Graffiti, stapled up billboards, rusted metal, patina of underneath metal of the L tracks. I can feel all that entering my work.

I can't help it. I'm a sponge.

The funny thing is when we first moved to Chicago I was really worried about my art- I had been so inspired by Seattle-the tall firs there, the mountains, the water. And I wondered how on earth I was going to find inspiration in such an urban environment my new home was in! I was really distraught about it. But there is inspiration everywhere, I have learned. And the urban world has a beauty of its own.

"The artist's world is limitless. It can be found anywhere, far from where he lives or a few feet away. It is always on his doorstep." ~Paul Strand

wax and cookies

2011-03-01T13:45:00.004-06:00

"Be willing to be a beginner every single morning." ~ Meister Eckhart

Last Saturday I gathered up myself, my supplies and some *cookies and headed up to Evanston to Cindy Jevon's Perfical Sense Studio to teach an encaustic workshop called Intro to Encaustic and Mixed Media. I couldn't have asked for a better bunch of workshop attendees for my first workshop! There were six students, all with different backgrounds, some with encaustic experience and some with none. I even had the cutest couple taking the workshop together. How fun is that?! Everyone was just eager to have a good time and try out a new medium and it was really a great time. For me, especially. I am so grateful for the opportunity and to meet such fantastic people. I've been working alone in my studio since 2002 and doing this, was like a breath of fresh air for me, invigorating and inspiring.

Ellin sharing her encaustic and photocopy transfer piece created during the workshop

This was the only photo I took the whole time as I was too busy to take pictures. I wish I had more as everyone did a fantastic job.

I haven't taught in a classroom setting since 2000, when I worked as a speech and language therapist in the Chicago Public School system...which is quite different than teaching encaustic to adults! But at one point in the middle of the happy chaos of humming creativity, I looked around and smiled and thought, "I like this." The energy, the sharing of technique, the process of discovery. I'm looking forward to the next one...

I wanted to share with you all the website of Eileen Madden's print and bindery studio called Evanston Print and Paper, which is right next door to Perfical Sense Studio. She attended the workshop as well and we briefly talked about me doing an encaustic book workshop with her in the future. Check out the workshop section- that resin workshop looks tempting!

There is a possibility that I will be doing a follow-up encaustic workshop at Cindy's studio again, I will let you all know once we pick a date.

"Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads." ~Erica Jong

*I added chopped dried cherries to this recipe. This is one good recipe. For real.

the kitchen test

2011-02-20T14:17:00.004-06:00

In the last two weeks since I've posted I have been busy working on a painting that has seriously been causing me some major heartache and soul searching...in other words it has been kicking me in the butt! But that's a good thing. It means I'm pushing forward, doing things that I'm not quite used to, learning, exploring, making mistakes, covering the mistakes with more paint, scraping, melting, staring, staring, and more staring...it's all good. The images on this post are detail shots of the painting that I actually believe is finished.

Big sigh of relief.

detail from a work in progress
photo taken 2.20.2011

I actually thought it was done last Sunday, and I brought it to my kitchen and hung it up so that I could see it as I went about our daily business. We spend most of our time in the kitchen, so this is the best place. And I would catch glimpses of it as I washed the dishes. And I would stare at it while I would try to figure out what's for dinner. And one morning when I was cleaning up the splatter of squished bananas that my (almost) 1 year old left behind, I looked at the painting and just shook my head. No. Not done. And I carried it back up to the studio.

I'll bring it back down tonight and see if it withstands the Kitchen Test this week. And hopefully I'll be able to take a full-on photo of the painting. And yes, it's another bowl painting!

detail from a work in progress
photo taken 2.20.2011

I have also been busy preparing for my Intro to Encaustic workshop that is at full capacity and will be taking place this coming up Saturday at Perfical Sense Studio. I am so looking forward to this. I have a feeling that the 3 hours will fly by.

I also finally bound up two blank journals and put them up at amanobooks. Take a look! I am getting close to the end of my current journal and had a bit of a hard time putting "Intentions" up on the site, but I know that it's meant for someone else.

my bowl, not the super bowl

2011-02-07T15:23:00.004-06:00

my bowl
encaustic
8x8 inches

Yesterday morning I got some painting time in before the big game. I'm not a huge football fan, nor do I particularly care for yesterday's teams, but getting together with friends and eating chili and a variety of dips is always a plus. I made this artichoke dip and it is one of my favorite dips to make for gatherings. So good, especially if you like a little kick to your food.

But anyway, I am so glad I got some painting time in as I was able to find a resolution for the first bowl painting sparked by a Raymond Carver poem. I have several going right now, not just in encaustic, but also acrylics. All in various stages.

I look at this bowl now and I wonder if it's full or empty. I feel there is a fullness to the space inside the bowl. Emptiness is not necessarily a negative...maybe it is a readiness. A space, a vessel, waiting and ready to be filled.

out and about

2011-02-03T15:25:00.004-06:00

Well, I am not actually out and about as I am stuck inside due to the Blizzard of 2011 that hit Chicago just the other day. For me it wasn't so bad, I was home and had no where that I needed to go. Frigid temperatures are now the issue, so I'm still home, but keeping toasty in my studio today heating up the palette and getting a few projects done and other paintings started.

But I am happy to share that I have some artwork that is out and about, even if I'm not! If you are in Louisville, KY on February 13th- one of my encaustic paintings, "Of Living Root" was selected to be part of the Water Tower Regional Exhibit at the Louisville Visual Arts Association.

Of Living Root
encaustic and mixed media
9x12 inches

Water Tower Regional Exhibit
Opening Reception: February 13, 2011
Exhibition Dates: February 13 - April 10, 2011

Louisville Visual Arts Association
3005 River Rd
Louisville, KY 40207

I am also thrilled to announce that two of my encaustic paintings were selected for the "Playing With Fire" exhibition taking place at the Tubac Center of the Arts in Tubac, AZ. The painting below is one of the paintings that will be in Arizona.

Born of Earth and Bone
encaustic
10x10 inches

Opening Reception: March 18, 2011
Exhibition Dates: March 18 - May 1, 2011

Tubac Center of the Arts
POB 1911, 9 Plaza Rd
Tubac, AZ 85646

A few months ago I was fortunate enough to have worked on a few pages in Chicago artist and fellow FusedChicago member Jenny Learner's book for a project called The Travelling Journal Project. Jenny's book consisted of colorful, playful pages with pop-outs and encaustic paint. I really enjoyed working in her book and painting with encaustics in a bound book. Jenny's book was on display at Reflections Gallery, Finlandia University, Hancock MI Jan. 10th-30th 2011.

one of the spreads I did in Jenny's book
encaustic and mixed media

Denise Funfsinn, another FusedChicago member, also participated in this project as well as Jackie Hefty of Whispering Woodlands art retreats in WI.

I was going to post about the recent FusedChicago meeting, but this post is getting too long already! It was a wonderful and inspiring meeting at Kathleen Waterloo's studio. She gave a demo of her techniques and it is always such a treat to see people in action. Here is a photo that I took that I just love:

heated palette of encaustic paints at Kathleen Waterloo's studio

refuge and sanctuary

2011-01-31T13:31:00.006-06:00

Not merely an absence of noise, Real Silence begins when a reasonable being withdraws from the noise in order to find peace and order in his inner sanctuary. ~Peter Minard

refuge and sanctuary
mixed media panel
6x8 inches

When I figured out how to print onto the teabag paper, I decided to print out the same image on two teabags and to experiment with them in different ways. The first experiment was my last post. And the panel above is what I did with the other teabag. I had planned on this panel just being mixed media- cloth, acrylic paint and various papers. But at the very end I ended up brushing beeswax onto the surface of the teabag. I wanted to give it a little extra protection. After all, this panel's final destination is as a cover for a handbound blank journal.

Don't know why, but these quotes on silence resonate with me today. Maybe it's because the image of that tree brings back a memory of a silent early morning in the eastern foothills of the Cascade Mountains in Washington. The fog of the morning enveloped the landscape and muted all the sounds around me. I snapped a photo of that tree to remember it and to remember the silence of a new morning emerging.

And now in the bustling city of Chicago, silence like that...well I'm not going to say it doesn't exist. But it is hard to come by. Even now, both kids napping (ahhh, rare silence in my home!), I hear my neighbor's windchimes, the hum of the furnace, the distant flight of a plane heading towards O'Hare, a loud muffler driving by. Different worlds. Neither one better nor worse. Just different.

Let us be silent, that we may hear the whispers of the gods. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

brewing tea and ideas

2011-01-24T22:16:00.007-06:00

I mentioned the other day that I have been drinking more tea lately. This new tea habit has been fueled by wanting to use the beautifully stained bags for art. We have been saving the used tea bags, letting them dry, and then emptying out the dried tea leaves.

For years I have tried to print images onto tissue paper and it worked once. I was still living in Seattle at the time. But ever since then, my printer would just protest. Loudly. And I would end up tearing out tissue paper from my printer. So I gave up.

I have received tips over the years on how to do this- tape the tissue onto a piece of paper or use temporary glue instead of tape. And I would follow each tip I got, but still to no avail. I thought that my manner of attaching the tissue to the paper was the issue. But it was actually how the paper was being pulled into my printer. So last week it occurred to me to print it from the bottom feeder of my printer. And it worked!

Isn't that lovely?

So I finally got a chance to experiment with these printed tea bags.

First experiment:

experimenting with
a) printing on used teabag
b) wax and paper
c) creating 3-dimensional forms with encaustic and paper

Actually, I have an idea of the direction I want to go with this. Conceptually. But I think it will be something that I will develop slowly, in terms of form. Something that's been brewing in my head during those middle of the night stints in the rocking chair with my daughter.

It kind of looks like a uterus to me. I think my late night reading of the works of Judy Chicago and Joan Snyder are infiltrating my brain.

I'll save the second experiment for another post.

Have you visited Shannon Newby's blog before? She recently created an intriguing installation using sheep casings and wax. She also shares other artwork of artists working in 3D. I always enjoy visiting her blog. Good stuff.

perfical sense studio: intro to encaustic workshop

2011-01-24T16:21:00.007-06:00

So it looks like 2011 is the year for me to step out of the solitude of my studio and share the things I have learned working in mixed media and encaustic. In a previous post I announced that I will be teaching a mixed media and encaustic workshop at Encausticamp in Oregon in July. I am also currently working on a couple of encaustic articles for a future issue of Somerset Workshop Magazine. I never realized how much planning goes into creating a stepped-out article! Totally something new for me as I generally don't plan a piece, but rather let it develop organically. But as with all things different, it's been a good learning experience.

But for those of you who are local to the Chicagoland area and are curious about working in encaustic, I will be teaching a 3-hour workshop next month in Evanston, the suburb right north of Chicago.

Cindy Jevon, a fellow FusedChicago member, has a wonderful studio/gallery in Evanston and she and I hatched the idea of hosting intimate encaustic workshops in her space, which is fantastically called Perfical Sense Studio.

Here are the details:

Introduction to Encaustic & Mixed Media
Saturday, February 26, 9:30 - 12:30

Encaustic painting is a method which uses pigments melted with wax and fused to the painting surface with heat. It is the perfect partner for a wide variety of mixed media techniques. This workshop will cover the basics of painting in encaustics with a focus on introducing collage and mixed media techniques into your work. Learn encaustic techniques such as fusing, layering, embedding, and image transfers.

Class Fees: $80 includes all materials

Come join me, it'll be fun! But hurry as space is limited- the class size will be 5 students max. So get in touch with Cindy at Perfical Sense Studio and save yourself a spot.

origins
encaustic and mixed media
2007

bowls

2011-01-22T21:37:00.003-06:00

detail of a work in progress
encaustic

Earlier this week I read a poem that my husband had bookmarked for me and it stayed with me all week as I went about my daily doings. And while I had a million things I needed to get done for specific deadlines in the studio today, I couldn't help but work on two paintings that were inspired by this Raymond Carver poem from the book, Where Water Comes Together with Other Water: Poems. They are both still in progress, but above is a detail of one of the larger paintings.

Tomorrow

Cigarette smoke hanging on
in the living room. The ship's lights
out on the water, dimming. The stars
burning holes in the sky. Becoming ash, yes.
But it's all right, they're supposed to do that.
Those lights we call stars.
Burn for a time and then die.
Me hell-bent. Wishing
it were tomorrow already.
I remember my mother, God love her,
saying, Don't wish for tomorrow.
You're wishing your life away.
Nevertheless, I wish
for tomorrow. In all its finery.
I want sleep to come and go, smoothly.
Like passing out of the door of one car
into another. And then to wake up!
Find tomorrow in my bedroom.
I'm more tired now than I can say.
My bowl is empty. But it's my bowl, you see,
and I love it.
-Raymond Carver

Those last two lines just...hit me right in the chest. So good.

beyond form

2011-01-20T09:43:00.003-06:00

beyond Form
encaustic and mixed media
12x12 inches

With this painting I was exploring the transparent quality that occurs when paper is dipped into encaustic medium. It transforms, no longer paper. Wax and paper become one and the transparency can be quite beautiful...and very useful for certain effects.

+++++++++++++++++++
This was the last painting I created in 2010. I actually had posted a photo of it with my first post of the year, but I took it down and because the quality of the image was so poor. I recently had an aha! moment with my camera and I was able to take a much much better photo of this painting.

In my studio journal I wrote this entry that I'll share here. It's a bit emotional, but that's me.

December 29, 2010: I painted in the morning and it was Good. I felt so happy to be painting and to just BE that I seriously teared up at one point. I know, I know, a bit much, but I can't help myself.

This was the painting that I finished. The composition was inspired by one of the panels I created for my accordian book. I knew that I needed to return to it and paint it larger. And I feel like I hit on something. That doesn't happen everytime I paint. I'll make things that I'm happy with, or ok with...but then there are other times, that I just feel like I tapped into something deep within....and then I am satisfied. It's like all those other paintings led up to that one painting, if that makes sense. they are all stepping stones to the one piece where I can give an exhale and feel content.

Looking back on this year I've had that happen a few times.
1) Beyond Time, encaustic painting
2) The Gatherer (encaustic barbie)
3) Spirits- plaster/encaustic hanging book
4) Born of Earth and Bone, encaustic painting
5) and now this one

It makes me excited and yearn for more energy at the end of a long day when I drag myself up to my studio. But maybe not having a luxurious amount of studio time is actually pushing me to really dig deep when I actually have the paint in front of me....maybe not. I don't know. And maybe I'll look back a year from now and be embarrassed by this entry. But I don't care. It's all about growing and learning and experimenting and making mistakes and moving forward and listening and...

There are time when I am painting and my heart feels full and light at the same time. And all feels right in my world. This is why I paint. .

Anyway.

I am lucky to live near a Powell's bookstore here in Chicago and I had a great find back in November, a beautiful book of Joan Snyder's work for only $20! I recently finished it and I was struck by the visual power that her paintings had on me. The essay by Hayden Herrera was my favorite one and really gave me a sense of the development of Joan Snyder's visual language and her life. She has excerpts from Snyder's journal, which of course being the journal-addict that I am, I really enjoyed.

Painting is the way I speak. I had such an anxiety-ridden youth that when I started to paint, it was as though I was speaking for the first time. I was creating a visual language through which I could say anything I wanted. ~Joan Snyder

intentions

2011-01-14T09:37:00.004-06:00

intentions
mixed media panel
6x8 inches

This mixed media panel is a collage that includes used tea bags at the top. I was inspired by the wonderful Patti Roberts-Pizzuto to start saving used tea bags to use as a collage element with my encaustic paintings. And back in 2009 I went to the Old Town Art Fair and saw the amazing work of Rasa Pranckunaite who had stitched a bunch of tea bags together for one of her pieces and I have never been able to get it out of my mind. I am a coffee drinker so I have never had tea bags handy, but my husband (the more health-conscious of the us) has started drinking tea and has been saving the bags for me. This piece is not encaustic, but I couldn't resist adding it to this collage.

If I could include a subtitle to this post the full title of the post would be "Intentions: keeping it real". This panel is the first creation of 2011. The funny thing is that so far 2011 has been really crazy/hectic/fuzzy that I can't remember when I finished it!

Actually, the very day that I wrote my recent post on my art and business goals/intentions for 2011 I had an afternoon/evening of caring for an inconsolable 10 month old. The rest of the week followed suite as it turned out she had caught whatever nasty bug has been going around and then gotten an ear infection. So, the moral of the story is, I write these goals/visions/intentions down, but reality of daily life is different. Nights up rocking a baby, mornings of spilled coffee and trying not to be late for preschool drop-off, of oh no the laundry is still in the wash, of oops I meant to pull the chicken out of the freezer this morning, of I really need to call my sister back, but I never can find the time....

I am not complaining. This is life and life is full and messy and hard and wonderful. I am a wife, a mother, an artist, a sister, a daughter, a friend, a neighbor. I am always trying to balance it all. I often feel fragmented and I am often messing up. But I think that's normal. My goals and intentions are there to strive for, to keep me going forward, not to make me feel bad. I had a studio day on Wednesday and had so much to do that I didn't know where to start and I ended up wandering around in a circle in my studio like a lame little duck. It was really pathetic! At that point, I thought, this is not productive and I had to leave and disconnect from studio/office and just bring a journal and write out my priorties. It really helped get me back on track.

I love my journal. Really, I don't know how people manage without one. Speaking of, I won a spot in Stephanie Lee's Shifting Ground online journaling class. (lucky me!) She really gives a lot of to think on and write about in order to shift perspective, to make changes...I am enjoying it so far.

I have also been following along with Donna Drozda's "Luna See" articles in my journal and it has been bringing me a lot of insight. I highly recommened reading Donna's blog. I love her work, I love her words and I hope one day that we will get to meet.

All of this writing though mean less time online. But that's a good thing, I think.

EncaustiCamp 2011

2011-01-09T20:22:00.008-06:00

In recent posts I have mentioned that I was working on teaching workshops in the future as well as working on a project with Patricia Seggebruch...well, the time has come for the official announcement. Patricia is not only a woman of grand vision, but she is also blessed with the gumption to follow through with her visions. Her latest dreamchild is something she is calling EncaustiCamp which will take place July 13-17, 2011 on the outskirts of Salem, Oregon. Oregon, here I come!

Click on the link above to go to the official site to read about the retreat and find out about the workshops. The idea behind Patricia's desire to create this retreat is this:

Encausticamp is about everyone; encaustic artists, mixed media afficionados, experimenters extraordinaire and all form of crafts persons alike! This retreat is about going beyond the borders of encaustic art and opening welcome arms to the art and craft world at large so as to expose the beauty, versitility, accessibility and intense pleasure of this multi-media friend to all walks of artist, crafter, experimenter.

There will be six instructors, myself, Patricia, Crystal Neubauer, Michelle Belto, Jan Harris, and Judy Wise. We are sharing what we do in our own studios and hoping to bring our love of the wax medium to people who are curious about the medium and have never tried it before,to people who have experience and who may want to learn new ways to combine encaustic with different media. There will also be six assistants for each workshop-Mary Beth Shaw, Megan Anderson, Christine Webb, Sue Simpson, Deryn Mentock, and Tonia Davenport who will be assisting me with my workshop.

Patricia is all about inclusion and I am honored to have been invited to teach and share what I know. Together we came up with the idea to combine my two passions- book making and encaustic. I will be teaching a 1 day workshop, that I will teach each of the three days, entitled A Book of Images and Wax

encaustic and mixed media accordian book

Encaustic is the perfect partner for a wide variety of mixed media techniques. In my workshop we will combine photographs with encaustic in book art form.

Not only will we use your imagery to make encaustic image transfers

and gel transfers on paper

but also use them as embedded elements in the wax

Other techniques will include oil paint and stick glazing to create an aged patina

All of these techniques will come together on board and paper as we bind them into an artist book.

The past few months I have been obsessed with combining encaustic and paper as well as creating different book forms with encaustic as a main player. It has been so fun. Experimentation. Discovery. Those beloved Aha! moments.

a little photo montage of some book art that I was working on back in November. The top two images are from a coptic bound book filled with encaustic and mixed media pages. The covers are encaustic as well. The bottom image is of a triptych book in which the covers open up to be the two side panels.

I also worked on a book of plaster, encaustic and paper that is hanging from the rafters in my studio right now. Working on another one right now. Well, working on it in my head, I haven't had too much studio time so far this year.

I am so excited to be part of Patricia's dream and to be sharing what I know and have learned through the years of working with encaustic. While teaching art workshops is a new endeavor for me, I used to teach and provide speech and language services in special education...totally different worlds, but the principle is the same.

The other day when I was at my son's preschool there was a big sign up in the front hallway that simply said, "The essence of Teaching is Giving". That really spoke to me and I am ready to give it all that I've got. Come join us!

Oh and did I already mention that it's in my beloved Pacific Northwest!! I can't wait!

Nice to meet you, 2011

2011-01-05T11:07:00.005-06:00

{a fortune from a fortune cookie glued to my studio journal.
a ceramic hand that one of the postal workers gave to me at my local post office in Seattle as all of my packages that I shipped out for amanobooks had a stamped hand image. I love this little hand}

Actually the title for this post is a little disingenuous. I wish I could hit restart on 2011. So, I am. Today is the beginning of my 2011, nice to meet you! I am ready for you now.

I am one of those people that if I don't write it down, it's not going to happen. Even for personal tasks, I have to make a list. My son and I read The Frog and Toad Collection Box Set (I Can Read Book 2), which were among my favorites when I was little. There is a story about Toad who writes lists for everything, but then one day he loses his list and he doesn't know what to with himself! I am totally Toad.

But I also like to write down intentions for the year- if I don't know what I'm aiming for, if I can't visualize it, how am I even going to try to get there? People don't like to make resolutions, but a resolution is just a word. Intention, resolution, whatever you call it, it's about directing your energy towards something. And that's always a good thing.

First I wanted to look at what I wrote for 2010 and see how I did with my art goals.

1. Keep painting. I know it will be hard to, but will have to find a way. My husband says that I am a more balanced person when I have good painting days. I would say that I did this. I really started painting again starting in June. It is still always a balancing act, but something I'm always willing to teeter-totter with.

2. Keep exploring my symbols,my inner dialogue. Mmmmhmm, this is something that will always be on my horizon.

3. Paint bigger!! I will still keep doing small paintings, but more and more I want to paint larger, which also means I will be "less" productive. But that's a given anyway with a baby on the way, so why not go all out?! Did paint a few larger paintings, but still not where I want to be with that goal. But getting there!

4. Be in the present, in the Now. My children are a gift to me and it's important for me and them to be Present. This is my most important task and I think I did fairly well, but again something that is a constant. It is hard to do at times with all the things that I am always wanting to get done, business-wise and personal-wise, but awareness is the key. At the same time, it's not so hard- my son is my joy, my daughter is my heart, I am blessed to have them in my life.

5. Be open to possibilities and opportunities. Yes. Although,one of the hardest things that I had to do this year was say no to two pretty big art opportunities. But I have to be realistic and I didn't want to do a disservice to myself, my family, or to the venues. The timing was just off and I just have to believe and have faith that I will get more similiar opportunities in the future.

6. Rewrite my artist statment Done!

Now for My Intentions for 2011:

1. Redesign my art website

2. Relaunch my Etsy site- I visited Crystal Neubauer's booth at Chicago's One of A Kind Art show this past December and she was in the etsy emerging artist section. It is expensive to get in this show, so if I can get in through the esty category, that would be fantastic. This is a long term goal, not one that I foresee being done this year, but something to keep my eye on.

3. Submit to shows on a regular, scheduled basis. I've already got January crossed off! I don't know how realistic this is, but an online friend of mine Windi Rosson did this one year, submitted to a show once a month, and I was in awe. An artist once told me (before I started painting again) that if I didn't have room filled with rejection slips, then I wasn't trying hard enough. I've never forgotten those wise words. I'm expecting to only last 3 months, but I'll give it a go. I just don't have enough work right now for revolving submissions and I'm aware of that. I may have to readjust at one point and do every other month.

4. Start teaching workshops. In the works, stay tuned...

5. In order to attempt all this I need to be super-organized. Enter work into my workingartist database as soon as it's done. Keep resume up to date so it can be printed out when needed. Get paperwork things organized- the business side of artmaking is really time consuming. Must streamline so that I don't go crazy.

This may all seem way too much to get done when I also have two little kids that I am home with. But the key for me is to make goals and try...and not feel bad if I can't make it happen. It's all about adjusting, taking steps back,readjusting, letting go. Enjoying the ride. I can't help but make these goals, I'm a capicorn.

Okay, 2011, let's see what you've got for me.

Goodbye 2010!

2010-12-29T20:40:00.010-06:00

my work in 2010

When I think back on this year, it is hard to put into words. I would say that it was an intense year. I experienced birth of my second child and death of a parent, life and loss, so close together that I spent the rest of the year recovering- physically, mentally, and spiritually. My life vest that kept me afloat were my children and my art. I learned a lot of personal lessons this year and what I have come away with is acceptance and above all else, gratitude. And in my book, those are two big ones.

An interesting thing that I noticed this year is that since I'm not able to be in the studio as much, it doesn't mean that the creativity or the ideas stop. I found that some of my most creative time was when I was rocking my baby girl in the darkness of her room. The key for me is being still and just listening. These days it is really difficult to do that- not only is there tv, radio, podcasts, but blogs, twitter, Facebook, etc. And not only that, but it's so accessible, I mean my phone is a computer for crying out loud!

Artwise, I produced less work than I have in the past, but considering my time limitations, I am happy that I was able to keep creating! For that I am grateful. And my work is evolving, my paintings are getting larger and the paintings themselves are taking me longer to execute. But this is a good thing- I am becoming more deliberate in my marks and compositions, while still allowing spontaneity to occur. One of the things that I like about painting in encaustic is that while I know how to work the medium, there is always an element of not being in control. Things happen, pigment moves, layers resurface. I love that.

I've done a lot of experimenting this year too with working in 3D that I haven't even shown here on my blog, but that I am looking forward to exploring even more in 2011. Sculptural work, artist books, fiber...There is just so much out there to explore and discover, I sometimes have to steer myself away and remind myself to focus and hone what I have before me.

Every year since I started on this art path, I have journaled about this art journey of mine and looked over the year to see what I have accomplished...or not accomplished! Doing this has given me the ability to look back, celebrate my achievements, learn from my mistakes, make adjustments, and look forward to what is ahead. I have done this for years in my personal written journals, and I have shared my end of the year art reflections on this blog in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009. Here is 2010:

Learned
:: Took a 6 week class on how to use a DSLR which I loved. My learning curve actually dropped off after my class ended, but it is something that I feel I will forever be a student at, and I'm good with that.

Shows/Essays/Articles

:: Participated in 5 group shows- 3 in Chicago, 1 in Oregon, 1 in Virginia
:: Article published in Somerset Studio Nov/Dec issue
:: Featured guest curator on crescendoh.com
:: guest post on Missouri Bend Studio blog

Produced:
:: Painted 20 encaustic paintings
:: 1 plaster and encaustic sculptural figure
:: 3 encaustic artist books
:: 2 mixed media paintings
:: 12 mixed media handbound blank journals, 4 of which were commissioned

In less quantifiable terms:
:: Still proving to myself that "where there's a will, there's a way"
:: Still moving to painting larger paintings
:: Experimenting with materials,
:: Really trying to push myself- embracing that making art is about making mistakes, getting out of a comfort zone.
:: Feeling really comfortable with how and why I do the things I do
:: Learning to focus on what I am able to do, not what others are doing and comparing myself. Everyone has their own path, including myself!
:: Accepted that I have time and energy limitations- it's ok to say "No."
:: Saying "Yes!" to new experiences and adventures ahead

++++++++++++++++++
I am seeking, I am striving, I am in it with all my heart. ~ Van Gogh

I used this quote to end out last year, but I still love it and I truly feel this way.

my little monkeys and my best creations
hanging out in their art section of my studio

Just wanted to take this moment to thank everyone who comes to this little blog of mine with your advice, your support, your encouragement, your condolences, and your friendship this past year. Wishing you all a happy, healthy, and creative 2011!

and so i wander

2010-12-19T21:41:00.012-06:00

I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way…things I had no words for. ~Georgia O’Keefe

and so i wander
encaustic and mixed media
8x8 inches

This painting has a lot of meaning to me, but having trouble putting it into words. But that's ok. Even if I had the words, sometimes it may just be better to keep it to myself.

I've started taking photos with my iphone of my work table of works in progress. I start almost every painting like the one that you can see partially on the right:

work table, 12/12/10

A cacaphonous patchwork of color. If you click on the photo it will take you to my flickr page and you can see a larger image of the beginnings of that painting. I found that just laying down shapes of color just gets me going. One of the beautiful effects of encaustic is the
way you can layer and layer, then scrape back. Or how during the act of fusing, a color long forgotten, makes an appearance again. I love
to see what pops up from a previous layer. And often, what pops up becomes inspiration. And yes, this mostly white painting of the
blackbird started that way too!

I hope everyone has been enjoying these wintery days, the preparing for celebrations and the new year ahead. I still can't believe that it's almost the end of 2010. This year went by like a flash. It seems like ever since I became a mother (almost 4 years ago!) time has accelerated at an alarming speed. Trying to enjoy the moment...because really that is all we ever have.

If I'm not back here before Christmas...

Happy Holidays and eat lots of cookies!!!

recent work- layers and piecing together

2010-12-10T10:17:00.003-06:00

During the summer I mentioned that I was working on a series involving stitching and mending. I have still been working on paintings that play around with these concepts. It has evolved a bit. I feel like I have been working more on the idea of piecing things together, like one does with a quilt. I made my first quilt for my daughter when she was born at the beginning of this year and ever since then I have been kind of obsessed with that.

Yesterday I got an unexpected 4 hours in the studio to paint and it was the first time in a long time that I was able to paint purely for myself. Lately I have had to use my studio time for paperwork, computer work, meeting deadlines, making work for specific projects on the horizon,blah, blah, blah. But yesterday was just me and paint and it felt good. Although I have to admit there was a lot of sitting and staring at the panels in the beginning of the afternoon which was a bit worrisome.

Born of Earth and Bone
encaustic and mixed media
10x10 inches

I painted Born of Earth and Bone back in October. Really working the surfaces of the painting. Painting in layers, scraping, revealing.

Strata
encaustic and mixed media
8x8 inches

This was the painting that I finished yesterday afternoon. Continuing with working the surfaces of the paintings. Painting in layers, scraping, revealing. Piecing it all together.

I just have to say that I am dying to paint larger. It has to happen soon. I'm ready.

And just because, here is a quote that I love:
You will have to experiment and try things out for yourself and you will not be sure of what you are doing. That's all right, you are feeling your way into the thing. ~Emily Carr

encaustic + a kit = encaustikits!

2010-12-07T11:58:00.008-06:00

I have mentioned before that throughout the years I have received many emails asking how one gets started in encaustics. I have my whole spiel I write out, but I also mention to people who have never worked in wax before or who may not want to invest in all the paints and supplies to try this: get a block of beeswax, melt it onto the surface of your substrate and then use oil sticks or oil paints on top. This is not encaustic for the purists, mind you, it's just a way to introduce yourself to working with wax, pigment and heat. You still need to have on hand either a tacking iron (to help melt the block of beeswax) and a heat gun (to fuse).

Anyway, all this to say that Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch has created a line of products called Encaustikits. It's kind of like a starter kit for people who are interested in encaustics like I described above. She sent me one to try out and I was really happy to do so especially since she sent me the EncaustiKits Incising Kit. I often use my awl or pintool to write and draw into the surface of my wax, so I was eager to give it a try

work in progress with the tools that came in the kit
(except the wax-covered spoon, used for burnishing and the razorblade used for scraping)

I have to say that I really liked the incising tool that was included in the kit. I normally use a pintool from back in my ceramics days. Which works fine. But this tool had two ends to it. Each tip ended with a rounded ball, which made for a much cleaner line than my pintool normally left.

work in progress

The hake brushes that came with the kit were a dreeeeaaaam to paint with. Seriously, painting with encaustics you just have got to use one of these brushes. At least for me, that's been the case. I tried to go cheap once and regretted it. The hairs kept falling into the wax. It was so aggravating that I ended up taking all the brushes (I had bought a big tub of them on clearance) and donated them to the art room at my son's preschool.

The kit also came with Encausticbords, which I have been curious about since they came out recently. It definitely has a nice surface. But I would have to try painting on a larger surface to seal my opinion on it. I generally like to paint on wood or clayboard. But like I said, I didn't feel like I got a good grasp on how well I liked the board or not since it was only 4x4 inches.

The kit also came with two painting sticks which I always enjoy using when I paint with encaustics. A tin of yellow encaustic paint came with as well. I don't normally use that bright of a yellow in my paintings, so I was a little hesitant, but it was nice change of pace for me to play with...and it made me think of sunflowers and so out came this little painting:

sunflower
encaustic
4x4 inches

So if you or someone you know is interested in trying out encaustics, this is a good way to test out the waters. According to the site it looks like there is going to be a plaster and encaustic kit coming out next year....mmmhmmm, I just love plaster + wax.

blackbirds

2010-11-30T15:54:00.013-06:00

Life sure has been busy lately. Celebrating the recent holiday, preparing for the one coming up, working on projects for something that Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch has been cooking up and that I'll be posting about soon, hemming and hawing about submitting work for juried shows, submitting work for said shows and other deadlines, crossing my fingers that my work will be accepted, and of course chasing after my little monkeys. My littlest monkey is 9 months old now and is never still! So much fun, but it is exhausting saving a little one from impending disaster at every turn.

All that to say that I have been behind in keeping my blog posts current with what is going on in my studio.

I recently finished a commission for Gesso Cocteau, a sculptor gifted not only with immense talent but also a generous spirit. After she received a journal that she purchased from amanobooks, she contacted me to create a journal for a project. And she sent me a poem to be the inspiration for the cover. I worked on three different covers at the same time, which I enjoyed doing. Keeps things loose and moving along.

When the Blackbird Flew
6x8 inch handbound blank journal

Among Snowy Mountains
6x8 inch handbound blank journal

Autumn Winds
6x8 inch handbound blank journal

Here is the poem:

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird
by Wallace Stevens

I
Among twenty snowy mountains,
The only moving thing
Was the eye of the blackbird.

II
I was of three minds,
Like a tree
In which there are three blackbirds.

III
The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds.
It was a small part of the pantomime.

IV
A man and a woman
Are one.
A man and a woman and a blackbird
Are one.

V
I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendoes,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after.

VI
Icicles filled the long window
With barbaric glass.
The shadow of the blackbird
Crossed it, to and fro.
The mood
Traced in the shadow
An indecipherable cause.

VII
O thin men of Haddam,
Why do you imagine golden birds?
Do you not see how the blackbird
Walks around the feet
Of the women about you?

VIII
I know noble accents
And lucid, inescapable rhythms;
But I know, too,
That the blackbird is involved
In what I know.

IX
When the blackbird flew out of sight,
It marked the edge
Of one of many circles.

X
At the sight of blackbirds
Flying in a green light,
Even the bawds of euphony
Would cry out sharply.

XI
He rode over Connecticut
In a glass coach.
Once, a fear pierced him,
In that he mistook
The shadow of his equipage
For blackbirds.

XII
The river is moving.
The blackbird must be flying.

XIII
It was evening all afternoon.
It was snowing
And it was going to snow.
The blackbird sat
In the cedar-limbs.

I don't think I've ever worked straight from a poem. I really enjoyed it and I hope to one day come back to this poem and create more pieces inspired by it. Perhaps 13 pieces? How fun would that be? Anyone up for that challenge? If you are so inclined to use this poem as inspiration as well, I would love to see what comes from it. Let me know if you do!

fully seeing the world

2010-11-28T09:29:00.008-06:00

Last Sunday started my week long visit at CRESCENDoh.com as a Guest Curator for the "Art Saves" feature. Several months ago I received an email from Jenny Doh asking if I might like to share my "Art Saves" story on her website. At first, I was like, oh yeah, of course, art does have the power to save and I would love to share with others how when I finally decided to follow the creative path, how my life started to change. But when I sat down to write it, I knew I had to start even earlier and that really the story wasn't about me, but rather my sister. While I wasn't one of those that knew I was going to be an artist all my life, creating has always been a part of me. I wanted to write about someone who helped me to see and whose courage and strength will always be a beacon of light to me. And I truly believe that a large part of what sets people apart for a creative life is their ability to see the world around them. To really see.

Please click on the link to read my "Art Saves" story. It occurred to me to that the timing of my art saves story during Thanksgiving was just perfect. I often think of my artwork as a prayer of thanks. A meditation on gratitude.

hidden
mixed media blank journal

Now, the other fun part of being a Guest Curator was to gather and share links to other artists who inspire me through their work or their words. Each day I shared a link to two artists. I hope you will enjoy them too!

Day 1
1. Cathy Cullis combines paint, ink, and stitches to create the most beautiful, poetic creations.

2. Katherine Dunn's paintings and illustrations are pure joy for my eyes and spirit. This blog post of hers has such great insight into trusting and respecting one’s creative process.

Day 2
3. Melanie Brown is an inspiring artist, teacher and mother whose son has been in the studio with her since he was a baby. Involving your children in your creative process can open a whole new world for both of you!

4. Patricia Anders is such a talented artist with a huge imagination that awes me every time. She is always pushing the limits.

Day 3
5. Donna Watson’s artwork and blog posts always leave me feeling inspired and enriched.

6. Leslie Avon Miller- I love this blog post because I think we can all relate to feeling distracted when in the midst of creativity. Here she shares tips on creating unique collage papers to use in your work

Day 4
7. Tracy Helgeson- I have long loved Tracy’s oil paintings and her blog is a great read to see what goes on behind the scenes of an artist, a mother, and raiser of hens!

8. Jeane Myers’ mixed media paintings move me and reading about her process encourages one to be brave and always keep pushing your work.

Day 5
9. Kesha Bruce’s mixed media work is as thought provoking as it is beautiful. She shares the trials and tribulations of being an artist at her blog

10. Deanna Wood is an artist who works in both book form and encaustics. She shares how the creative process is often about answering questions, problem solving, and overcoming obstacles.

Day6
11. Shayla Perreault Newcomb is painter of trees and powerful landscapes. Here she shares a video tutorial of her oil painting technique.

12. Mary Ann Wakely, a prolific mixed media artist shares how to keep your creative ideas and energy fueling your work by organizing it into a handy “art-operations manual”.

Day 7
13. Karin Bartimole shares her unique art journaling process in a video on her blog! She is a lovely woman and talented artist.

14. Donna Drozda is a teacher and artist whose work is spiritual and earthy in nature. Her blog posts help artists to stay attuned to the inner voice connect to the natural cycles of the world around us.

connections and crossing paths

2010-11-15T20:34:00.010-06:00

With multiple websites, blogs, facebook, twitter- all this social networking can get a bit overwhelming and the computer work at times makes me want to throw my computer out the window or contemplate living off the grid. Ok, well, maybe not that drastic. But then there are times when you stumble across someone and through their art and their words, a connection is made.

Last week that happened. Last Monday, U.K. mixed media artist Cathy Cullis posted her Monday mosaic of flickr favorites and I was honored to be part of it. When I was at her blog, one little square popped out at me, and so I investigated and came upon the etsy site and blog of Patti Roberts Pizzuto. And oh my, I just connected immediately with her work. Then a day later, South African artist Robyn Gordon created a blog post called "Nature Lover" and lo and behold there was Patti's work again next to mine! Connections made across two continents and vast oceans made us connect and this week Patti asked me to be guest on her blog to reflect upon this month's theme of "Fleeting Moment: Backward Glance". Please visit her blog and read my essay as well as the other's that have been written this month. I love this meandering on a theme that Patti has created. Very interesting to track the conversation.

A big thank you to both Cathy and Robyn for including my work in their posts and for introducing me to Patti's beautiful work!

The Good Path
mixed media panel
handbound blank journal
sold

Speaking of connections made- back in 2007 when I was preparing for my first show I received an email from a mixed media book artist Seth Apter about one of the pieces that I had just posted to this here blog. He purchased one of my paintings from that show and we maintained a friendship ever since. We are also working on a fantastic collaboration together that is still in the works. Last month Seth was in Chicago and we met up for lunch down on Michigan Ave. It was so great finally meeting and we literally could have talked for hours! It is always refreshing when a person you've "known" online is exactly how you pictured them to be in person, because sometimes the two don't align, oddly enough. But with Seth, it was like we were old friends just meeting up for one of many lunches. And maybe that's what this whole blogging community is about- like Patti wrote, being guests at a dinner party where we discover that not only do we have so many shared interests and ideas, "surely we must have known each for decades already". I love the way Patti put it.

Call for Art

Seth has a wonderful blog that constantly inspires so many people. And now he is writing a book based on The Pulse- a survey in words and pictures of the online artist community that he started a few years ago. He put out an open call for art on his blog: Go check it out and submit!

big sky and fields of grass

2010-11-14T10:57:00.003-06:00

Big Sky and Fields of Grass
mixed media panel
6x8 inch handbound journal

Big Sky and Fields of Grass is mixed media handbound blank journal that I recently completed for someone who has bought a few of my journals in the past couple of years. This journal was an unexpected collaboration between the two of us, which was really fun for me. She had sent me her photograph of the wild grass leading up to the mountain in the distance as a gift in the mail. (Lucky me!) I loved the image so much that I pinned it to the bulletin board I have above my computer. She was waiting for me to create more mixed media journals as her current one was about done. And so I got to work on a couple of panels, but everyday I would see her photo and just fall into it.

And then it came to me, I should make her a journal with her image. Duh! She loved the idea and I got to work. This panel uses an old record sleeve to frame the photo. This is an idea that I've used before and I got from L.K. Ludwig at one of her workshops that I attended several years ago. To protect the surface of the photo I brushed a thin layer of beeswax. Not encaustic, just plain beeswax.

While taking on commissions is always a little anxiety producing, I do enjoy them. It pushes me to try something different, to look at a project in a different way. Because when I work on a commissioned piece, each brush stroke, each stitch, carries the thought of that person in my mind. Normally when I work, I don't think about the audience. And so I look at commissions as collaborations. Whether the person inspires me with an image, a thought or a poem. I am working on another commissioned journal for a sculptor for a project she is working on. I am almost done. Almost, not quite. Waiting for the panel to tell me when it's done. Patience.

the weight of memory

2010-11-10T09:37:00.004-06:00

Weight of Memory
encaustic and mixed media
8x8 inches
sold

Weight of Memory is also a piece that I created for the Somerset Studio article. This is another painting that brings together a lot of my mixed media loves. The tree image is one of my favorite photos of a tree that lives by my sister's house. I have used this tree so much in my work over the years that I pretty much think of it as MY tree. Whenever I go stay at my sister's house I always make sure to greet my tree, even in the dead of winter.

I played around with the image in photoshop this time around. Again, the image was dipped in encaustic medium to help in the adhesion of the paper to the wax that was already on the substrate. For this piece I actually left the top and the bottom of the paper exposed. I liked the ripped edges encased in wax and wanted to keep the effect.

Frayed pieces of cheesecloth were also adhered to the board with encaustic medium. Because I painted this piece on a wood panel, I was able to hammer in little tack nails onto the surface, adding another surface element to the composition.

And, of course, I painted with encaustic paint and oil paints.

After I finished the painting and handed the image over to the editors, I brought the painting over to Sacred Art, a funky gallery/store in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Chicago. They show several of my small encaustic paintings. I was happy to hear that this painting sold within one week of being dropped off there! I guess I'm not the only person who feels a connection to my tree. I love that tree.

never to be forgotten

2010-11-06T19:49:00.008-05:00

never to be forgotten
encaustic and mixed media
8x10 inches

Thank you to everyone who left me a kind note of congratulations on the article for Somerset Studio here and over on Facebook. I really appreciate it and I am so happy to have been given the opportunity to write the article. My hope is that it will inspire people to try this versatile medium.

When I set out to create "Never To Be Forgotten" for the article I wanted it to demonstrate several different methods of using imagery and collage with encaustic. This painting contains both embedded imagery and transferred imagery. The flower bud is a black and white photocopy of a photograph I took many years ago. I use this flower bud often in my work. I am sure it looks familiar. I dipped the paper in encaustic medium in order for the wax to really penetrate into the fibers of the paper. The paper was then fused onto the substrate with additional encaustic medium.

The middle panel also contains an embedded piece of paper, this time a piece of dictionary paper. After the dictionary page was fused onto the panel, I brushed on a layer of white encaustic paint. I still allowed bits and pieces of the printed text to show through the layer. And then I decided, hey, I kind of like that bee, and so using a ceramic tool, I scraped through the layer of white and excavated the bee image.

The bottom right image is a transfer of a black and white photocopy. And at the very top of the right side is a collaged piece of torn paper, embedded in wax medium as explained previously.

Other techniques in this piece include drawing or inscribing into the wax with a pin tool and then filling in the lines with oil paint, wiping off the excess, then fusing. I have several layers of different blue and green encaustic paint as well, that I allowed to peek through here and there.

And that is a basic outline of different techniques one can use with encaustic. Isn't that fun?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Art is not about thinking something up. It is the opposite - getting something down. ~Julia Cameron

"Never to be Forgotten" became a memorial piece to my father as I worked on it. Painting has always been a way for me to work out events and emotions in my life. My father passed away this April and I had to create the pieces to accompany this article in May. In this piece and the ones that I hope to demonstrate, you may see me grappling with the loss. But the intent is never heavy, just a means to come to a peaceful resolution within.

I have to say that when I opened up the magazine to my article, seeing this piece printed at full bleed just made my heart fill, remembering the emotions that went through when I created it.

Go get yourself an issue! There's a really great article in there about Jesse Reno, whose work is just fantastic.

Thanks for visiting!

Encaustic 101

2010-11-03T15:43:00.009-05:00

At the beginning of this year, when I was big and waddling around, waiting for my youngest to arrive, I received an email from the editor of Somerset Studio, Christen Olivarez, inquiring whether or not I would be interested in writing an article on encaustics for the magazine. I wrote back and said, "Thank you so much, I'd love to! But...I'm about to have a baby, what's the deadline?" She was so kind to give me ample time to write an article about painting in encaustics and its many uses for a mixed media artist.

And I am so excited to share that the article has been published and can be read in the current November/December issue of Somerset Studio, which is now on the stands.

Throughout the past few years I have received comments and private emails asking me how one gets started in painting in encaustics. And so now, it's all written out in the article! The editors titled the article "Encaustic 101" and it really is kind of like an encaustic primer- information about what it is and how to get started.

I created a couple of mixed media and encaustic pieces just for the article that I hope to highlight at least one in the next post. It would have been nice to include more information about each piece with general techniqe instructions, but...there's only so many pages I can take up. ha!

In the emails that I write back to the encaustic inquiries I always list resources for people to find out more about the medium. And each year, the list has gotten longer. Here is the list that I recommend:

Joanne Mattera's The Art of Encaustic Painting: Contemporary Expression in the Ancient Medium of Pigmented Wax- this book is a must for anyone who is interested in painting in encaustics. It was the only book that was out when I first started and gives a nice overview and history. The artwork included in there is top-notch.

Linda Womack's Embracing Encaustic: Learning to Paint with Beeswax- The next book that came out. This books has technique and contributions from artists sharing how they work with wax in their art. Disclaimer-I'm a little biased in promoting this book because I have two paintings in there! But really, it's a great little book of encaustic techniques

Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch's Encaustic Workshop: Artistic Techniques for Working with Wax is another book that is filled with step-by-step techniques. When I began painting in encaustics, I taught myself. When I started to have opportunities to show my work I thought I better find out if I'm doing this right and I was also becoming concerned about health and safety issues, so I attended a workshop with Patricia. She is a wonderful person and instructor and I'm excited to share that she invited me to teach with her next year. I will announce more about this soon.

Patricia also has a DVD showing her encaustic techniques.

Daniella Woolf's Encaustic With a Textile Sensibility is a book and DVD set that I have on my wish list. I haven't seen either, but I am familiar with her work and I imagine that her book and DVD are just as wonderful. I hope to one day see her work in person.

Lissa Rankin's Encaustic Art: The Complete Guide to Creating Fine Art with Wax was just published and I haven't had the pleasure of reading it yet.

Amy Stoner has a DVD out called Encaustic Collage: Layers with Beeswax (DVD). If you're a visual person,like myself, it is helpful to see the techniques in action rather than just reading about it. Thank goodness for DVDs and Youtube now!

I don't think I've missed any, but let me know if there are any others out there to add to my list!

Now, go paint!

edit, edit, edit

2010-10-31T18:51:00.007-05:00

Writing and rewriting are a constant search for what it is one is saying. ~John Updike

Beauty is Found in the Spaces Between
encaustic and mixed media
8x8 inches

Substitute the word "writing" with the word "painting" and that quote captures what I feel about painting. I am still on my mission to use what I have, including reworking old paintings. Another reason why it might be better for paintings to leave me...if left in my possession too long I will probably end up painting over it!

The orginal painting can be seen over at my website. A couple of years ago I became obsessed with perfecting my transfer technique onto wax. I created a series of these very spare compositions. I have always found wood grain to be beautiful and so I kept the grain as part of the painting, which is possible due to the clarity of encaustic medium. And while I was pleased with the original painting...I don't know, I just felt like editing. Sometimes an itch must be scratched.

Although, I suppose the painting became more complex rather than simplified. Hmmm.

Cropping makes us focus on the essential. ~Sylvio Gagnon

re-purpose

2010-10-26T15:26:00.005-05:00

For a while now I have been attempting to use up what I have and not buy supplies unnecessarily. For one, it's always good to save money. But what I'm really trying to do is tone down the clutter in my studio. In many areas of my life I am trying to simplify, organize and streamline. With two little ones, art, home, family, etc. etc., etc. it's just become apparent to me that I need to be organized in order to not feel so frazzled. And one way is to get rid of Stuff. When one does mixed media art, Stuff just seems to pile up until you start to wonder if you might have a teensy bit of a hoarding problem!

I was once asked if it was emotionally difficult to sell a painting. I replied that if I am emotionally attached to a painting, then I keep it. I have a few that are like that. But in general, no. The process, the act of creating, is what I hold onto, not the actual painting itself. Once a painting is completed in my studio, my task is to get it out into the world for it to complete its journey. "Besides," I told the guy who asked me, "When paintings stick around too long, it can sometimes lead to emotional baggage. It's better for them to leave me". Maybe that doesn't make sense, but it's the best way I can put it. And really, selling a painting allows emotional, financial, and physical room for new work to emerge.

That babble leads me to the new handbound blank journals that I have added to amanobooks. The butterfly journal below was created from an original 5x5 inch oil and mixed media painting. I cut the canvas off the stretcher bars and glued it down to a new panel and then added torn pieces of paper and paint. I love this image so much more now as a journal than as the painting!

(cocoon)
mixed media
handbound blank journal
6x6 inches

With this blank journal I used a print from one of my first encaustic paintings. In 2007 I participated in an art festival in my neighborhood in Seattle. I had ordered a bunch of fine art prints to include with my paintings at the festival. Since then I've sold quite a number of prints of this image, but I still had one more. I'm attempting to clear out my print storage bin- so out came the scissors and here is a new journal. Included on this cover is plaster, collaged papers and paint.

renewal
mixed media
handbound blank journal
5x7 inches

I like giving new life to things.

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” ~Maria Robinson

Encaustics to the Sixth Power

2010-10-23T13:56:00.005-05:00

We Are All Connected
encaustic and mixed media
14x14 inches

I am so excited to be part of an upcoming group show called "Encaustics to the Sixth Power" taking place at the Nelson Gallery in Lexington, Virginia. This show was curated by Christine Rooney and will show her work along with the work of Susanne Arnold, Diana Detamore, Pamela Wallace, and Elena De La Ville.

I will have two paintings included in this exhibit, the painting above and the painting that I shared in the previous post. Unfortunately I won't be able to attend, but I hope that if you are local, you will stop by!

Encaustics to the Sixth Power
The Nelson Gallery
27 West Washington Street
Lexington, Virginia 24450
Opening Reception: Friday November 5th, 5:00-7:00 pm
Exhibition dates: November 5th- November 30th

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This year has been so crazy busy that I can't believe that I forgot to share this image:

Back in June, my painting "Beyond Time" was juried into the Luminous Layers show out in Oregon. To my delight and absolute surprise, my painting was chosen for one of the posters for the show! The other art in the poster includes Jeff Schaller and Molly Cliff-Hilts.

If you want to take a virtual tour of the show, here is a video. Technology these days is pretty nifty, isn't it?

the beautiful below

2010-10-01T09:38:00.004-05:00

the beautiful below
encaustic
12 3/4 x 24 inches

I completed this painting this past month and it is my largest encaustic painting to date. Yes, I know, it is not that large, but for me it is. And I have to say that I have really been enjoying working larger. There is more room to explore with. More room for risk.

All paintings are much better in person than on the screen, but this is especially true of this one. There is a lot of variation in the dark "ground" that just could not be captured.

The title comes from a piece of writing that my husband wrote many years ago that I have kept in a journal I made. I often refer to this book for my titles.

How is it October already? September was filled with trips out of the city and into the wilderness for my family. Our last trip was to my beloved Seattle, but we spent most of our time on the other side of the mountains in a tiny town called Winthrop. It was so beautiful there. Have you been someplace where the landscape is so beautiful that it makes you breathless or on the verge of tears? Ok, maybe that's overly dramatic, but at the very least it made me want to be a landscape painter. I felt so inspired by the beauty in front of me. I just want to capture the essence of that landscape through paint to keep that feeling with me.

I love the foggy, dark green of the Puget Sound which is west of the Cascade Mountains. The east side of the mountains is completely different, but just as beautiful. It is drier over here and it reminded me of the southwest a little bit, which is another landscape that speaks to me. The mountains and hills were a golden ochre, the skies so blue, and the air so crisp. Just what I needed.

Mt. Patterson, Winthrop, WA

I am more than ever convinced that the only possible way to interpret the scenes hereabout is through an impressionistic vision. A cold material representation gives one no conception whatever of the great size and distances of these mountains. ~Ansel Adams

the hot art show

2010-09-20T21:06:00.003-05:00

As I mentioned earlier I was unable to make the opening reception of Encaustic:Hot Art show that is now showing at The Art Center in Highland Park. My family and I were out in the woods hiking in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It was Grace's first big hike in the backpack and she enjoyed every minute!

This last Saturday we headed up to Highland Park, which is a beautiful north suburb of Chicago, to check out the show. I took a few photos of the exhibit. Shelley Gilchrist, Dan Addington and Jenny Learner curated and hung the show, which is no small task considering there were 25 artists showing very different work. They did a fantastic job and The Art Center is a really wonderful space.

Here are just a few photos:

Mary Jo Parker O'Hearn

Catherine Keebler's encaustic monotypes

Dawn Korman's paper and encaustic sculpture

Jane Michalski's abstracts make me want to sit very still and hold my breath. I don't know if that makes any sense, but it does to me.

Paul Rinaldi. I always feel a sense of calm looking at his encaustic grids.

Emily Rutledge's work is inspired by her urban surroundings. Her work is highly textured and is a treat to see in person

Jenny Learner's vibrant flowers

Donna Zarbin Byrne's paper, wire and encaustic sculpture
and Haley Nagy's encaustic monoprinted curtains

Dan Addington luminous paintings of encaustic and tar, check out those edges!

I did take some photos of myself next to my painting, but I had just run in from a torrential downpour and looked like a wet dog! Not something I want to put up on public display.

The exhibit will be up until October 1st, so if you are in the area be sure to stop in!

Encaustic: Hot Art

2010-09-06T09:27:00.010-05:00

Now through October 1 at The Art Center*
1957 Sheridan Rd., Highland Park

Opening Reception: Saturday, September 11, 6-9PM

Exhibiting artists:
Dan Addington
Donna Zarbin Byrne
Alicia Forestall-Boehm
Denise Funfsinn
Shelley Gilchrist
Ken Gold
Nikkole Huss
Tatjana Jovancevic
Catherine Keebler
Kimberly Keller
Dawn Korman
Jenny Learner
Barbette Loevy
Elyse Martin
Jane Michalski
Bridgette Guerzon Mills
Haley Nagy
April Nomellini
Mary Jo Parker O'Hearn
VA. de Pintor
Paul Rinaldi
Emily Rutledge
Mary Krebs Smyth
Michele Thrane
Kathleen Waterloo

*Regular hours Mon-Sat 9-4
Closed: Labor Day weekend, Sept. 9, Sept. 10, Sept. 18

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I am pleased to announce that I will be showing my painting below in this group show. FusedChicago has such great and varied talent that this should be an interesting show to attend. While the painting below will be at The Art Center, I, unfortunately won't be able to attend the opening. If you are in the Chicagoland area, please stop by!

Of Living Root
mixed media and encaustic
9x12 inches

sepulcher

2010-09-01T20:47:00.004-05:00

sepulcher
6x8 inch panel
bound as a blank journal

A few years ago I was in an art festival where I showed three paintings. I also had some prints of some of my mixed media paintings made to be displayed as well. I've had some left over since then and I decided that I wanted to repurpose them and use them in new work. This panel above is one of the results.

The main action behind the creation of this piece was tearing, ripping, then piecing together. I pieced together using glue, tape, as well as handsewn stitches. I did something similar a few months ago and have been wanting to return to that process.I recommend it! It's very meditative process.

I bound the panel as the cover of a blank journal and you can see it as a journal at the amanobooks blog.

from the heavens to the earth

2010-08-29T19:42:00.003-05:00

From the Heavens to the Earth
encaustic and mixed media
10x10 inches

I have been thinking a lot about the seasons and the cycles in nature. Living in the city, I feel a bit removed from the need to pay attention to the patterns of the weather and of the sky. A few nights ago though the moon was full and so bright over the city...perhaps that is why the moon appeared in this painting that I finished on Saturday.

While I was working on this piece I worked to the point where the tree was in place, the plants below were set. I had painted the space next to the tree black and thought that I would scratch/draw in gardening notations or maybe a garden plot plan. So I went to my computer and did a search and came upon information about gardening to the moon phases. I found that fascinating. It is a practice as old as time and it makes sense to me.

The moon controls ocean tides, influences the groundwater tables beneath our feet and the movement of fluids in plants. Even continental land masses are said to rise 2 to 3 feet in elevation with the passage of the moon. - taken from Marion Owens' article Planting By the Moon

My mother used to be a nurse and worked many nights in the emergency room. She tells me that the nights where there was a full moon there was always more activity, especially in the delivery room. Despite all the technology that we have, the gadgets that fill our homes, the dizzying busy-ness of modern life, we are human, of the earth. A part of us still heeds to the cycles of the moon and the sun and the rotation of the planet.

Anyway, so I found myself reading more about lunar planting and knew that I needed to bring the heavens into this painting. I ended up drawing in representations of the moon at the top and then beneath I did a drawing of the constellation Ursa Major into the wax. A loose interpretation of the constellation, of course.

detail

Take me back to the days of the sun
When time ran in circles and cycles
And meaning came from the moon and the stars
And the earth and the rain
And darkness was just as important as light.

back to my roots

2010-08-27T14:55:00.006-05:00

Last weekend I went back to my creative roots and worked on mixed media journal covers. I finally finished binding them up last night and put them up at amanobooks.com today.

xxxvi
mixed media
6x8 inch handbound blank journal
sold

When I first started on my creative path, I began with making journals. It was something I always did for myself and journaling was always something I have done. It was a natural extension of me. Then I started creating collages on the covers, and that felt right. If you click here you can see my earliest mixed media collage journals I made, starting in 2002. Creating so many mixed media panels reawakened the desire in me to paint and it also allowed for me to grow creatively and gain the confidence in myself that I could paint. In 2006 I started to paint and begain to show and sell my paintings that year. (I can't believe it's only been 4 years!)

gather
mixed media
6x8 inch handbound blank journal
sold

I have made *a lot* of mixed media panels for journals since 2002. When I started working on them last weekend, it all came back to me. Kind of like putting on a really worn in, old, favorite pair of slippers. For me, creating these panels is a different brain process than when I paint, even though I use mixed media techniques in my larger paintings. When I create my collages, I feel like a sifter. My drawers that are filled with papers, photographs, transers are all open and spilling out onto the floor. Bins filled with torn pieces of paper that I thought looked too interesting to throw away surround me. All I do is pick up pieces of this and that and somehow it all sort of falls into place.

The four books that I made last week found me translating some of the symbols and imagery that I have been exploring in my paintings. Creating these panels really helped to work things out in my head, clarify the direction that I'm going in. My panels have always served that purpose for me as well- working out ideas, exploring imagery before I go bigger with canvas. An exploratory playground for larger pieces.

At one point, while I was sewing the sticks above to the canvas panel, I looked at my hands- my fingers were covered in paint and glue as I pulled the threaded needle up and down through the holes I had drilled through the covers. How many times in the past had I looked down at my hands like this? So many...but it had been a long time since my eyes had rested upon my hands in this way. And it felt right. I jsut love to combine paint with different textures, thread, papers, sticks even.

This is me.

patience enduring

2010-08-23T15:51:00.005-05:00

Patience Enduring
encaustic and mixed media
8x8 inches

This past weekend I had the most consecutive hours dedicated to working in my studio than I have had in a long time. It felt good. And while it rejuvenated me, at the same time, I feel a bit exhausted. But that's a good thing. I squeezed as much as I could out of every minute.

This is one of the paintings that I finished this weekend. I also worked on several mixed media panels that will be bound as journals covers. I hope to share those soon. It's interesting to work on several projects at once. There is a definite overlap that is interesting to see (well, interesting to me).

Today I just dropped off one of my encaustic paintings at The Art Center in Highland Park for the upcoming FusedChicago group show Encaustic: Hot Art which will be showing in September. I think 25 of us will have work up- so, a wide range of work done in encaustic.

peaches are pretty

2010-08-17T13:43:00.003-05:00

"Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language." ~Henry James

08.12.10

You know what I love more than summer? The end of summer. I am more of a autumn/winter person actually. Heat makes me crabby. But there's something sweet, nostalgic, even, about the end of summer. A sense of urgency to enjoy the last golden rays, to gather up the fresh fruit and vegetables ripening on the vine. Making sure we hold onto the memories made playing in the sun. In my mind, summer will always belong to childhood. And lucky me, I get to relive it through my little ones now.

{still playing with my new camera}

uncertain waters

2010-08-15T15:32:00.005-05:00

uncertain waters
mixed media
8x10 inches

For the past few years, since I received a very special email from the lovely Judy Wise, I have been painting little boats. Doodling boats when I'm on the phone. And, of coruse, I have also been creating paintings of boats. I have one that I started 2 years ago and it is still not finished. It moves around my studio every so often, just waiting for me to figure out what to do next. I actually thought it was done once, but it still sits there, waiting. And why haven't I shared any of these boat images? Not sure. Felt too personal still to share.

But I've been working on this little mixed media painting for the past few weeks and today it told me that it is done and ready to be shared. It is based on a very powerful dream I had back in 1995. Do you ever have dreams that are so powerful and have such profound layers of meaning, that they stick with you forever? I have had two very powerful dreams in my life that helped shape my future. This dream about a little boat was one of them. And when I made my life altering decision back then, everything seemed so uncertain. But I knew I was headed in the right direction.

The palette is simple, keeping it to shades of black and white, with a little color thrown in. Maybe it's because of Leslie Avon's Miller's post on Black and White: The Yin and Yang of Colors that I felt ready to share this little painting. I am honored to have been included in her post. Thank you Leslie!

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I just realized that just last week marked the 5th anniversary of this little blog of mine! wow. I can't believe it's been 5 years since I started keeping track of my art journey online. Here is my first post: August 8, 2005. So much has happened since then- it seems like a lifetime ago, but really not that long either. Thank you to you all who have been on this journey with me!

longing for home

2010-08-10T20:16:00.004-05:00

"A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness." ~Robert Frost

longing for home
encaustic and mixed media
6x6 inches

I am coming to a realization that I have a permanent case of homesickness. The strange thing is I'm not quite sure what home I'm longing for. Maryland, where I grew up and where my family is? In Maryland, when I am with my sisters, I feel a sense of belonging and comfort. Or Seattle, where I made my first real home and whose landscape makes my whole being hold its breath? Or Chicago, right in the middle, where I have a strong sense of personal history?

This homesickness, or longing, has always been there, a part of me since I was a young girl, so I am also realizing that it is not really about "home". It is more about me. I have found that Home is with me- in my husband and my children. And yet, still, this longing.

And so I paint. Always searching.

stencils + wax

2010-08-08T10:10:00.009-05:00

butterfly
encaustic
6x6 inches

I was asked to create three small paintings featuring butterflies for a special patron. I've never done butterflies in encaustic work before, but I didn't think it would be that much of a departure. I had several ideas on how to tackle creating a butterfly image on wax. I didn't want to use my usual photo transfer technique because I did not want black butterflies. I could paint the butterflies with wax, or collage butterflies into the wax, or stencil in the butterflies. I decided to try out stencils as I've never used that technique before. The above is the result.

To use a stencil, you lay your stencil down on top of the surface and then brush wax on top of the stencil. I fused very, very lightly before pulling the stencil off. It worked! But then, I was stumped because it was way too "stencil-ey" for my tastes. Not very subtle, you know? So I started exploring a bit by filling the lines between the raised orange wax with oil paint. It was looking better, but still I wasn't happy with it. I was about to scrape the whole thing off when I decided to brush on some medium. The wax atop actually helped tone down the stencil-ey look that I wasn't too fond of. I kept working on it with additional markmaking in the butterfly wings with a pintool until I was happy with the butterfly. I am intrigued by the stencil technique and I do want to create more stencils to work with in the future.

I created two more paintings, but with a different technique which I still have to document.

And who is this special patron? It's my 3-year old niece! I wanted the pieces to be light and happy, appropriate for a 3 year old little girl's room. But I also wanted the pieces to be not so childish that she would outgrow them as she got older. Maybe she will even want them when she is in her picky teen years.

wishes cast

2010-08-04T13:36:00.007-05:00

Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders. ~ Henry David Thoreau

july.2010

I remember puffing my cheeks, making a wish, and blowing these little feathery seedlings with all my might. I would watch my wish float in the air, twirling and whirling around and scattering across the green grass. The wonderful thing about being a child is believing that a wish cast on a dandelion seed might actually come true. (As well as living in ignorance that blowing seedlings would make stubborn yellow dandelions pop up all over the lawn!) What would you wish for with all your might?

Just got back from a beach vacation out in Delaware with my family- one house, 6 kids, lots of fun. It will take me a while to get us readjusted to reality. I'll be back soon!

As for me, I wish, I wish, I wish.......

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The WAX show had a great turnout. Please visit the FusedChicago Facebook photo album to see some photos of the exhibit. The show was written up in the Chicago Examiner as one of the highlights of the Milwaukee Avenue Arts Festival. Hurrah!

i love my camera

2010-07-21T21:15:00.003-05:00

For a long time there were only your footprints and laughter in our dreams and even from such small things, we knew we could not wait to love you forever. ~Brian Andreas

5 month old feet
7.20.10

For mother's day, my husband gave me an amazing gift- a photography class called The Fundamentals of Digital Photography at the Chicago Photography Center and a DSLR. The DSLR was more of a gift for all of us, but I was given the task of learning how to use it. His gift though was more meant to make me leave the house and be around creative people. I always have excuses to not leave- tired, busy, guilt for leaving my family at home, etc. And of course whenever I do get a moment to myself, I'd rather be painting. My class met one evening a week and it really was a gift because although I was tired after a full day of running around with the kiddos, it was good for me to get out and learn something that I've always been fascinated by. And, for me, it's always a jolt to my system to be around other creative people, no matter what discipline.

I had a wonderful instructor, Matthew Hollis who never blinked an eye even with my dumbest questions. He was really great with facilitating the critiques which were always illuminating.

I mainly took photos of my children as I am pretty limited during the day and cannot really wander about and take photos. But what better subject to take than photos of my babies?

I often see on blogs entries called "Wordless Wednesdays" where people just post a photo. I think I will do something like that once a week. Not promising it will be Wednesday though. And not promising that it will be wordless either! But I would like to keep pushing myself to keep learning and experimenting with my camera and my blog has always been a good motivator.