Cold Wax II

This is a time of asking the big questions. It has frankly gotten more difficult for me to teach with my voice challenges. I've pretty much decided to take 2012 off from teaching with the exception of EncaustiCamp. I have been teaching and traveling to teach now for the past 5 years and I'm feeling the need to get back to my own work (oh, that sounds pretentious!) ... but surely you know what I mean.

In 5 years great changes occur. New yearnings arise and new issues in the studio. My paintings have been poems (the etchings I did for 12 years), then still lifes (watercolor), then landscapes and interiors (reverse paintings on glass) and then storytelling (acrylic on canvas). After that 5 years of teaching mixed media classes. Getting out of the studio and reconnecting with other artists. Feeding the social part of my put-together. Falling in love with students, encouraging them and encouraging myself to take whatever path beckons. 

Now I feel pulled. I don't like to do my interior work in public but today I feel like sharing this. What I have to express in my paintings is seeking a new form. I still have a story to tell; of life being this lush adventure. Of finding myself in a physical body that has certain affinities, that is picky, near-sighted and yet brave. Of coming to the conclusion that the world is a place of great beauty and great sorrow. 

That's enough for one day. I'm sure each of you is on your own adventure of discovery, change and awe. What an opportunity we each have. Freedom to search and draw our own conclusions; freedom to leave our marks and words behind as we ourselves pass through. 

I love the saying about our ground time here being short. All the more reason to say it, paint it, leave some evidence.  

Cold Wax

Cold wax, hot wax, I simply cannot choose my favorite. Where one is liquid and transluscent, the other is nuanced and minimal. Lush or austere? Why should I choose at all?

I flew into Telluride Airport in a little mosquito of an airplane that bounced all over the sky and swooped around the high mountains sideways. The beginning of my adventure. Not for the faint hearted.

What greeted me next were the most beautiful colors and piercing contrasts imaginable. Alpine wildflowers. A toy city in a box canyon at 8750 ft. elevation. The airport at 9000 ft. is the highest in the United States and sits atop a flat mountain where the runway catapults you out over the tops of even higher mountain peaks.

These are Rebecca Crowell's well-worn tools. 

Yummy oil paints.

Simple tools and media. Cold wax. Oil paint. Spatulas and things to press into the paint.

It was a 6 day wonder. I walked everywhere, even in the afternoon thunderstorms.

I painted what I felt in the colors that bring me joy. 

Making beauty. That's all I want to do.

Off to Telluride

It's been a beautiful week. Experimented with some new wax techniques. Unpacked and repacked for my next trip. Ran around in circles. Acted like I knew what I was doing. Finally did get settled down. 

The usual studio mess after teaching; after a frenzied bout of wax. This morning I got an e-mail from the person who is translating our book into German. I am floored. I have co-written a book that's being published in a foreign language. Is this really my life?.

Meanwhile the sun shines, the flowers bloom, the bees collect pollen and the days pass. I'll be taking a 4 day workshop with Rebecca Crowell this coming week. I know. I'm one lucky person.

This is another one of the wax portraits from last week's class. Somehow I missed posting it then and I really like it. Mary Beth Shaw painted it.

Happy journal pages. Summer is easy.

Starting a brand new journal. Always a momentous occasion in my little world. I start with a ceremony.

More wax play. 

And now I have a story you'll love. I've known Jessica Greene for over 3 years now after meeting her in New Hampshire. She has faithfully signed up for my classes wherever I've taught and we have formed a trusting and close friendship. She has been an eighth grade teacher for the past 5 years while her art dreams have been on the back burner. 

We met up again at the Encaustic Conference in Massachusetts where Jess was lamenting to my room mate Kimberly that she dreamed of going to an artist residency program where she could have some space and time to put together a body of work. An impossible dream; the kind we each have tucked away somewhere. The kind of thing that's too much to even hope for.

So Kimberly asked her how many programs she had applied to so far. Crickets. Jess had applied to none. Kimberly laughed and told her that to be accepted it was necessary to apply. This was in June.

Long story short. Jessica went home and applied to several residencies. She was accepted to one. OMG was she overjoyed!! She can go to Spain in October for one entire month if she can raise a little bit of money. 

Here's where we can become fairy godmothers. Even if you cannot contribute, reading her story here will warm your heart. It is a real blessing to witness a hopeful young artist as they strive toward their dreams. I hope Jess gets to Spain. I know the work that will come out of this will be thoughtful and will contribute to the well being of many people who haven't even met Jess. I love the way that works.

I'm wishing everyone's fondest dream could come true. Especially the ones that help others so that all might participate in the wide circle. See you down the road. xo 

EncaustiCamp 2011

Oh my. EncaustiCamp in Salem, Oregon in July. Mark your calendars. I'll let the photos do most of the talking. Here we are; most of us anyway. It's hard to get all the campers together at one time.

I baked brownies for the troops. Yeah, me in the kitchen! Hoo-wah.

Jessica Greene allowed me to use her photo montages here. Above from Bridgette Guerzon Mills' class. Boy, were her students lucky to study with her. 

This is Krista's piece made in my class but 100% her own creation. (I didn't write down last names - wah!) 

Taken in Trish Baldwin's class. Did you know she pioneered the amber shellac technique? Was one of the first to experiment with tar? She was not the one who told me this but I did find out. Man, we all owe her for those cool tricks.

Michele Belto's class in paper molding and wax. Very cool approach.

Trish's classroom was buzzing with creativity. Wow, great things came out of here.

We had a show at the end where we admired the work. 

It wasn't all slavery, however. We did manage to get quite a bit of laughing, late night visiting and story telling accomplished. We all ended the retreat as friends; we can't wait to meet again.

The fab five teacher-guides; left to right - Michelle Belto, Trish Baldwin (Seggebruch), Crystal Neubauer, Bridgette Guerzon Mills and mwah, Judy Patootie.

We painted portraits.

This was one of Michelle Belto's demo pieces. See what I mean? (awesome!) 

Oh, is there anything more compelling than the human face?

More "student" work.

And now if you're not too exhausted I will direct your attention here where you can read about the latest goings on in Judy-and-Stephanie land. She says it so well and at this moment I can hardly hold my head up. Someone called it ExhaustiCamp and boy, that's how I'm feeling now. Come and join us next year. You will love it and learn so much.

And go here too. ZZZzzzzzzzzzz

Thank You, Thank You

Well shut my mouth. Thank each of you who commented; wow, I feel connected again. That feels wonderful. 

These are images from a sample I made for my class this Thursday. We are learning to mix paint and to paint directly from the hot palette. No bars of color (at first), no containers of swoony colors already mixed up.

My feeling is that color mixing and color theory are the basis for all painted work and we will be learning how to use color, to mix color and in the process we will paint in wax. I'll show you class work with the permission of the creators. 

We'll be doing simple paintings like this; basically color book paintings with glazes. Yummy wax. 

These puppies are all packed up and ready to go.

Here's what John's corn experiment looks like today. It was waist high by the 4th of July and it's gaining speed. The potatoes behind it are as tall as I am. (okay, I'm practically a pygmy, but still ...)

We met a woman this morning at the farmer's market who had never heard of fava beans. My jaw dropped. I love favas more than ice cream. More than chocolate. Less than salt caramel.

Here are the steps for every single bean. Two peelings. So if I'm willing to do that you know I love them.

MY JOHN'S RECIPE FOR FAVAS

Peel a bunch of fava beans twice like in the picture

Have some chopped onion ready in a bowl.

Blanch the favas about 1 1/2 minutes

Pour the drained favas over the onions

Drizzle on olive oil

Mix it all up and eat it.

There's hardly ever left overs but if that should ever happen they are awesome the next day cold.

July. Officially my second favorite month. I'll bring news back from the Wax Campers. Be crafty!

PS (added the next morning after receiving several wax class inquiries) - Don't forget that I'm teaching an online encaustic class in October. Information here. 

Do People Still Read Blogs?

I feel like I've been to the moon; out of touch with you here. Do you still come? Are people not reading blogs as much as they used to? Should I get everyone on an e-mail list and just send out newsletters once a month? I'm thinking about it. The newsletter that is. 

I've never done a newsletter before because they sort of felt like junk mail to me but maybe that is a more convenient way (for you, not for me) to keep in touch. Do you have an opinion?

The journal. How I love my hour of meditation each morning in my journal; a time for me to calm my thoughts, write slowly and enjoy my coffee while I transition from sleep to full awareness. While I organize my thoughts and plan my day.

Cy passed this week. He was a shy man from all accounts; he never realized we were good friends. Good-bye beloved friend. I will miss you. You have taught me how to live inside my brush strokes. Like you I am exhausted after a large, successful painting and have to rest to recover. Thank you for that.

We have so many mentors. People who show us what it looks like to be brave, to keep your own counsel above all the opinions and pressures to conform that come from others. How good it is to feel that strength grow within and to join the legion of artists who went their own way.

Violetta is making a spectacle of herself again.

She is buzzing with honeybees. She knows how to attract attention.

My morning stroll. Portland is exquisite today. Not too hot. Good for the flowers.

It's poppy time.

Spider Mum time.

And EncaustiCamp time!!! I'll be teaching a hot palette class next Thursday in Salem, Oregon along with several other teachers and you can still sign up for day classes there. All the information is here; now I have to return to my packing. And flower smelling. And life appreciating. xo