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Monday, December 13, 2010

Homebody


These are the women that came to my studio over the weekend and pulled me out of my winter funk. That's my end of the story. Their end of the story is that they learned encaustic and had an exciting day making work that they are really proud of. As they should be.


Here is Kay using the scraper on the wax. The leaf with the gold highlights is a section of one piece she made. I'll show it in full at the end. Kay brought us a pear-chocolate-pudding that was yum. Not that we spend our time eating - lol.


Christine made this scientific piece for her husband who works with equations and such. I love seeing the layers of images through the wax.


Hi Christine! She brought enchiladas, brownies, cookies, lots of amazing food to share. She says, "honey, I'm from Louisiana. We don't go anywhere without food!" There is a world of sociology behind that statement; a world of love, generosity, extravagance and community. I'm going to make more food for future classes; I want to be like Christine. (and OMG, her enchilada recipe! A new tradition.)


Here she is painting on her hot palette encaustic face. Beautiful, isn't it?


Next we have Nancy's winter tree in a field of sparkling snow. Nancy took to the wax like a duck to water. She shared stories and photographs of her travels and experiences. Thank you Nancy, for the wonderful bits of fabric and photography that you gave us.


Nancy smooshing a piece of tissue into the warm wax. She made the most pieces I think. These guys were really productive.


This is Nancy's encaustic painted face. Doesn't she have a shy bit of whimsy in the curve of the mouth?
And I love the brushwork on the shoulders. Yellow always does it for me.


Kay took a broad interpretation of her face. Something about it reminds me of a Spanish matador. The sweeping gray stroke of the collar and judicious use of gold works well to frame the face.


This is Christine's face; a faithful rendering of the example in her packet. It may seem cruel to ask wax beginners to start out on such a difficult task but as I explained to them it is good practice in observation and you learn more from attempting something rather difficult that you do just skimming over something easy. Almost everyone who does this exercise is shocked by how good they are at it. That really gets you motivated to keep at it.


The beautiful primary colors.


And here is Kay's piece in it's entirety. The leaf is a pressed leaf that she embedded in the wax.

I know I said I wasn't going to teach in January but this was sooo much fun and pulled me out of my winter funk and maybe you will be at sixes and sevens in January too so if you want to learn wax with me in a 2 day class just go to this link and let me know. Once again, I only have room for 4 and if the weather is dramatic we will reschedule for the following weekend.

Plus I'll be making Christine's enchiladas for all of you. Toot sweet!!

18 comments:

eb said...

oh yes!
there I am
over there in the corner
watching EVERYTHING!
and sneaking an enchilada...

xox - eb.

nandas said...

who cared if the weather outside was frightful... our creative fire was so delightful!
thank you judy... it truly was a magical weekend. i loved our little gang of four too. what perfect partners for learning.

Dianne said...

WOW, how I wish I lived close enough by to take your class

Mary Helen-Art Saves Lives said...

You are so blessed ...what an incredible group of lovely ladies! I am hoping to dive into encaustic processes in January. Thank you for the lovely inspirations! Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart

dorylyn said...

I must repeat kingdianne...WOW, how I wish I lived close enough by to take your class!! Would you consider coming to my home? I have a wonderful spanish rice recipe to go with the enchiladas!!

Kim Mailhot said...

Magic ! Those amazing faces....

I am so glad that these wonderfully talented and creative women came to you and defunkified you, Beautiful One !
(Oh, how I wish I was closer....;)

Numinosity said...

What fun you guys are having. Encaustics and enchiladas, Now there's a theme I can get behind. I love seeing everyone's work ( although that seems like a misnomer in this case!)
xoxo Kim

Lynn Cohen said...

such art that flows at your studio. You do a marvelous job teaching and getting your students to do their ever loving BEST! And boy is it all so so GOOD.

You make it sound so easy too.
I enjoyed all the things buried in the wax too and the scratches and lines drawn, symbols...I must try this at home.

I need orange said...

Wow. What excellent work. LOVE that black&white tree piece.......

Wish I lived close by...........

Anonymous said...

Looks like a fab class. Love all the work. xox Corrine

Sarah said...

This looks such fun and all of the work is beautiful! I would love to come if I lived nearby! I would bring clementine cake!

Ro Bruhn said...

What great work by your students. As of this coming Friday I'll be joining the ranks of the 'Homebody' clan. I'm giving up my job after 20 years as a full time graphic designer. I'm going to be able to do my art full time now, I can't wait.

Jill said...

This looks so wonderful, but I MUSTN'T try anything else -yet

Unknown said...

Beautiful! So interesting to see the different renditions of the portraits. Love the piece with the leaf too.
♥Jenny

Eva said...

These portraits remind me of the Fayum paintings, coincidence??

nandas said...

eva... you are so smart!!!

MB Shaw said...

Such lovely work! Having just four students must be so luxurious for you and for them. So intimate. Their portraits are great and I adore seeing that stencil. They work really well w/encaustics. Glad you are having such success with these classes.

Parabolic Muse said...

oh, the stuff of dreams...