Temperature Monitoring Your Wax

I learned the hard way that if your wax gets too hot it turns a burnt color. And that you cannot rely on the rheostat to monitor the true temperature. So at the retreat I learned that my wax heros all use digital thermometers with alarms, clocks, bells and whistles to keep their wax at the just right temperature. So now I have that added to my set-up.

Right after I took this photo for you I forgot to move the gizmo out of the way and dripped wax all over it. *sigh* So be it. My studio is pretty much going to the dogs with a film of yak all over everything. When you see the film on your exhaust fan blades you know that you don't want that on your lungs.

This is the whole enchilada showing the fume makers and the exhaust fan. I fuse right there to the right of the griddle so everything goes right out the window. The open door is behind me bringing in the fresh air.

One thing I discovered just by trying is that the copies that my plain paper fax machine makes will work for surface transfer on the wax. I like some images embedded in the wax; for that I use inkjet prints printed on tissue paper, but for crisp surface images I like the carbon copies. So this saves me a trip to the local copy center when I want a transfer.

I'm not fond of these encaustics but include them anyway. They are 100% wax and pigment with gold transfer writing on the top one and carbon transfer lines on the bottom.

I'm taking a few days off to clean my house and put some order to the studio. I don't want to but they say there is more to life than making stuff. I don't believe it but I live with 'normal' people so I'll try to fit in but just temporarily.

Day Off Sunday

One fuzzy photo is all I have to show for a wonderful brunch with my daughters and grandson (John took the picture.) It was a perfect gathering; Nathan as you know is the apple of my eye and my daughters are my best friends. Family. That says it all. We are a universe and Mother's Day was a joy.

After a long nap John and I drove to our friends' house which they built with a southern exposure into a hillside with sustainable principles. The house was built over 30 years ago if my memory is correct; the couple that live there run a CSA and provide food for a number of subscriber families. Every visit is a lesson in right livelihood. Join me for a short tour.

First we head down the path toward the 2 greenhouses that contain solar powered fans. Along the way we follow beds of beautiful greens, flowers, kiwi fruit, apple trees, chickens, ducks and geese. At the bottom of the hill are a couple of contented cows and a goat.

Tao will be a year old in July. He is the most contented and treasured child; Chavo says he wants 5 more just like him. I got to yummy yum yum all over his fat little self.

Here are some lovely lettuces that will go to the CSA members this week. Nice!

Inside one of the greenhouses. Wish I could remember all the unusual things growing there. These growers really love their exotic varieties.

My hand in the photo to give you an idea of scale. These lettuces are huge!

The photos of the orchids were fuzzy so you'll have to settle for these. My friends have an eye for beauty.

Inside the home. Books and music. Refined pleasures after the workday is done.

The woodstove cooks all the food and heats the house. Don't even think of the word microwave. Composting toilet, well-water, solar ovens for summertime cooking, these folks are set if the grid goes down.

This is how you grind coffee. These people make their own butter, wine and cheese. Oh, the meals are to die for!

A calm sense of goodness rests over this home. That's a Meyer Lemon tree in a pot behind the buddah; I just love the way these people live, with intention, appreciation and wisdom. I think we learn things from every person with whom we come in contact. And this way of life is too good not to share and to ponder.

Wax!

It's been a busy few days in the wax room. I've assigned myself the challenge of doing as many techniques as I know with the wax and of seeing what comes of that. Of course then you develop favorite things and get in a groove but my intention was just to experiment.

So what you are looking at is this, that and the other. The first several use stencils a lot. Technical advice is welcome here. If you have suggestions or helpful directions feel free to pipe up.

I have a book full of cut stencils so I ruined several with the wax. Thought they were about the least successful of the bunch but here they are anyway.

ha ha. My DH thinks the silhouette above needs a face. I shouldn't make fun; maybe you think so too.

I'm really getting into transparent layers here. These are among my favorites.

The last two use transfers, tissue inclusions, a variety of scratching, filling and messing about.

I'm a busy little beaver, aren't I? The magnolias, lilacs and rhododendrons are blooming and yet I keep my nose to the hot plate.

OK, last one for awhile. Studio smells of heavenly beeswax and creative fervor. What I am not doing is writing class proposals. Eeep. Put on thinking cap. Brain contains nothing but wax. What to do? Maybe skip 2009 and just enjoy taking classes from others. Aieeee, so much to think about. I can't take it.

DH senses my dismay and brings me a life-saving draught. Sweet hay-soos a cold beer sure tastes good on a sweet May evening. Thanks for humoring me and stopping by. Wait! Give me a hug. Thanks, okay, now you can go. xoxoxoxoxxo

Katie's Workshop

Sometimes I think my 'art' is just posting to this blog. Scurry and write; that is my life right now. And we're all so busy. Does anyone read anyone else's blog these days? The sun is shining, the woods beckon, work abounds. But still the girl reporter shows up for work. Here is the latest.

Yesterday I went to a workshop at Innerstandings with Katie. I've been to many of her classes now and each time I "get it" on a deeper level. Her strength is connecting people to their creative selves; the right brain, the intuitive channel. She opened the workshop with exercises that urged us to let go of control and judgment and to enter the sphere of play. She's good at that.

Here we are making big messes as we enjoy the hours together. Livin' is easy in a workshop with Katie.

At lunch time we repaired to the kitchen for Diane's Curried Rice with all the accoutrements; I think it was my favorite meal that I've experienced there. Diane works very hard at making the day a respite for her attendees; she brought us hot scones, cheese and crackers and chocolate covered almonds at various times of the day in addition to hot beverages. She babies us. :-)

This is an example of what my journal pages looked like at an intermediate stage of the workshop. All this got covered up, mostly. But I liked it, if only for a moment.

Look what Katie's painting!! A lovely wood faun that made us all smile. She's got mysterious ideas that make us happy. Where do they come from?

After everyone left Diane did a demo for Katie and I showing us how well alcohol removes layers of dried acrylic paint. Wow, it's like looking down into a crusted hot lava bed. Can't wait to try it.

I swooned over this image of a beautiful woman. I find it perverse that our culture does not love women past a certain age. My God, but we are full of wisdom, power and beauty. Maybe the culture is afraid of us. What a regrettable mistake.

I made this page which I laughingly think is a cross between deKooning and sad Ophelia. Just messing about and this is what appeared.

And this page. The black pencil is Stabilo; I like to go over it with acrylic medium to deepen and smear the blackness. Not for dainty work.

The giving hands. The hands that can feed, share, create and help. Hands with great strength and the power to change the world.

A page about silly moods. Silly moods are good too. Happiness benefits everyone.

This last is my latest encaustic done with a variety of techniques. Aren't we just walking miracles here on the planet? I am in awe of every one of us. We are golden.

Studio Time

These two encaustics I created yesterday. Between phone calls, a dentist appointment, all the odds and ends that nibble away at what little studio time I can carve out for myself. Of course when I chase everyone away I am lonely and entice them all to return; I am fickle with my time that way. Or most likely it is just difficult to balance out our various needs.

This second one is yummy in a way the photograph did not capture; it is translucent like those candy ribbons we used to get in our stockings at Christmas. Dreamsicle colors, the ones that make me smile.

And it's been awhile since I posted journal pages. I haven't been working in my journal as much; I will get to do some of that this weekend at Katie's class on Sunday at Innerstandings Studio. Katie is teaching both Saturday and Sunday and I think there is still room if you'd like to join us. She always inspires me; I'm really looking forward to this one.

Katie works large on detached pages and then assembles them into her journal after the fact. She is driving down today from her home along the Tahuya River; stopping along the way to pick up more goodies for our class. I love to think of her driving south in her wonderful old boat of a car, loaded as it always is to the gunnels with treasures that she collects.

She is the Goodwill Queen; always finds the best stuff that I for some reason do not yet have the talent for. I'm working at it though. I found a beautiful dhoti with my daughter earlier this week that I can wear in Arizona this August. That is my next teaching gig.

So this one makes me laugh; I hope it isn't too dark for some of you. It is my tongue in cheek statement on where mankind is headed if we don't change. For starters we need more birth control for women everywhere. Women like to see a few children fed instead of a lot of children hungry. Give us the tools and we will use them.

This was just another excuse to layer and scrape; my favorite pastime this week. It's soothing if a little hard on the hands. And so I leave you, hoping to get some hot wax going again today before I meet Katie and Diane and go see Jesse Reno painting a mural at an opening he's having downtown. Whew! Pictures of that and the weekend asap. Cheers.

Wrapping Up

Just a few more photos of the IEA Retreat at Carmel before I leave that subject. The photo above shows Rodney Thompson demonstrating a pour. His went perfectly. Mine at home ran down the wall behind my work table (poor aim) and the over heated wax was too yellow so I gave myself a blister on my pinky scraping the entire board back down. It isn't always as easy as the demo makes it look. And Rodney is the master. I love his quiet work.

The participants were urged to bring an encaustic for trade. The trades are wrapped and chosen by number. Here Miles is choosing one as the rest of us look on.

One of our demonstrations by Chris Paschke was on framing and boxing our work for shipping to gallery shows. The best way to protect fragile work is by double boxing. Above is the inner box.

And this photo shows the outer box which can be reused many times. The walls are of double thick foam core.

From Carmel we travel swiftly back to Portland where this morning I helped other IEA members pack up the recent show at the Brian Marki Gallery. The work that was unsold will be returned to the originating artists. I learned a lot by helping with this job; I got to see what worked and what was makeshift.

It's helpful if you have special instructions to the gallery to include a diagram as this artist has done.

The diagram is affixed to the lid of the box where is won't become lost. It is very easy to lose things with so many boxes to ship back to artists.

It is wonderfully helpful to tape an image of the work to the outside of the box. This will help you keep track of work in your own studio too. Notice the deckled edge on the wax in the crow painting above.

This is how you protect the fragile wax edges.

And then that box goes into another box with padding between the walls.

And here are all the boxes taped up and ready for the shippers to send back to the artists.

The latest in my counting series. You might just see another grid but to me they represent units of finite time. I've been feeling rushed and so have allowed myself to fall behind here and there. I need to live my life slowly and with consideration. It feels good to know that I can take a deep breath and do just that. (Waxing and waning.)