Adjusting and Opining

My current obsession seems to be transfers. I just love rolling the paper off the back of the image and watching the magic happen. Best of all is when parts of the image peel away leaving a thing that is like a memory; broken and incomplete. The eye loves that sort of image.

To tell the truth, I can't stop my thoughts from returning to San Miguel at every turn. Remembering how each day was filled with adventure; friends and new acquaintances. Now I am rather itchy all by myself out here in the suburbs. I miss the faces that I met on the streets everywhere. I miss the warm expressions and the little walks to the neighborhood market where you are allowed to break off one celery stalk and buy it if that is all you need. I became one heck of a margarita maker while we were there. Those tiny key limes are the bomb.  

Where was I then? Oh yes, transfers. The one pictured above and below were from inkjet prints on regular paper. What I do is smear on matte gel medium with the side of my finger all over the image and let that dry. My theory is that the gel traps some of the water soluble ink. Then you proceed as with a regular (lazer) print. I apply the gel to the paper and then brayer the image into the gel. If you are transferring onto cheap or waterleaf paper you need to stabilize that paper first with either gel or acrylic paint. The image will not be as rich as a lazer image but if you live in the sticks like I do it is a back up technique. I used a clear gel pen on the lips, letters and some of the shadow. It didn't need it though, I was just doodling.

These are the pages ready for the next round of fun.

Like all of you I've been watching world events with a disturbed countenance. How do we keep our centers when the ground is shifting, forever shifting under our feet? Prayer, working for change, meditation, the distractions of our own survival are all useful coping devices. As I writer, I write. As a painter and journaler, I paint and journal what I am witnessing and how I try to turn my confusion into something useful. Even writing this today helps me; gives me a small job to do that raises my spirits as well as sending out an attitude of courage in the face of change.

Thanks for visiting with me here today. When I come here I am not alone. I can see and remember so many of your warm faces and it gives me comfort.

Journal Pages

I didn't take many art supplies with me to Mexico. Watercolors is what I used for the most part; my trusty glue stick, some gel medium, brushes, and a few small bottle of acrylic. Scissors, dates stamps, a stamp pad, gesso and about a jillion pens. Okay, I guess I did take quite a bit of stuff but I missed a lot of my favorite stand-bys too.

One of the reasons I took an encaustic class while I was there was because I felt I'd go crazy to go a month without dipping into the hot wax.

Now that I'm home I'm tickled to have access to all my acrylics, resins and papers that I like to use.

I think what i missed the most though was not having Photoshop to play around with. I think altering photographs and printing out images that speak to my subconscious are a huge inspiration for how I work.

I spoke to a friend in San Miguel who urged me very strongly to come back and teach a journaling class there.

I'm thinking about it.

In the meantime there is the paradise of Malibu on the horizon. I've been working on the packets and imagining some of the things I want to share in class. I've never had 2 days with a journaling class before and I'm really excited about being able to get into the painting techniques and writing prompts that I haven't had time to include in the past.

I celebrated a Birthday last week and it was really, really good. When I was younger I fretted over Birthdays. Thinking that getting old would be boring and that I would have to grow up.

All I can say now is "ha ha ha ha ha". What did I know? Certainly not that life would grow richer and more free with every passing year. That experience is a wonderful ground to stand on. That the spirit gets younger with time. That was my Birthday gift this year. Embracing my age, my experience, my blessings. 

"First you are young; then you are middle-aged; then you are old; then you are wonderful.
Lady Diana Cooper (1892-1986) English socialite and actress   

San Miguel Recalled

Home again, full of memories and picking up the threads of the life I left behind. Pictured above is one of the handful of encaustics I completed in Ezshwan's class.

She was a very good teacher and demonstrated approaches I hadn't tried before but I found myself settling into my familiar groove in the classroom. 

It was so informative to work in a different studio and with someone else's equipment. It shakes things up.

Three weeks after I thought the above piece was finished I decided to rework parts of it without access to a torch or tools. I struck matches which I held on the surface and sat the piece in the sun to change the wax. That was really fun; making do with what I had on hand. I even got my hair dryer into the action.

Here Ezshwan demonstrates the hot pen. You can lift up blobs of wax and draw with the tip. 

And above is one of Ezshwan's paintings done with that tool.  In the background you can see the first demo piece with a little more added to it.

And this is another piece I did during class - nothing to write home about but it was fun.

John did a lot of cooking.

This last photo shows the tamales our housekeeper prepared for us from a cookbook John purchased. The tamales were made from corn slaked with lime, cooked into tortillas, those tortillas were soaked in cream until they disintegrated and then filled with ground peanuts and cinnamon, lightly sweetened. They were really wonderful.

Now I have to get to work to prepare packets of goodies for my Malibu class in a couple of weeks (see sidebar). I'll be scarce at responding to comments but please know that I read them and love hearing your thoughts. It's going to take awhile for me to get on track here. xo

Update

Postcards From San Miguel

Encaustic in San Miguel

Here I am with my class mates in San Miguel; studying with a lovely new teacher and learning how she does things in her studio.

I'm on the slowest internet connection I can imagine - very difficult. It has taken me 2 1/2 hours to upload 4 images but I am nothing if not determined. I want to share my 2 day class with the superb teacher Ezshwan Winding. You will have to Google her name; she has videos and a great blog but I am too wiped out to spend any more time on links. I'll add them to the sidebar when I return home.

Mexico at 7,000 ft. altitude has special challenges for the encaustic artist. The torches want to sputter in the oxygen poor atmosphere; things take longer to heat up, even the strikers act reluctant to do their jobs.

Here is Ezshwan with one of her large encaustics. She is very interesting, having lived in Spain for some years and traveling widely before making San Miguel her home. Classically trained, she is equally comfortable with realism as well as abstraction. Goodness, my blog is acting so weird. It won't let me start a new paragraph!! Anyway, there are still a few spots left in my March class in Malibu (again, see the sidebar for the link) - I am so excited to hit the ground running on my return and meet with my new friends in southern California. Art makes everything incredibly exciting and new. I will bring you the latest. xo

 

 

 

 

 

Sunny and Warm

Seeing amazing art here and finding time to journal too. This was an old door in the morning sun.


A mural at the Instituto de Allende.


Typical street scene.


Walking everywhere. Profound gratitude for every moment. xo

Recent Sightings

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