Texture, texture!

One of the things I like so much about encaustic is the ability to embed a variety of papers and objects.

This 8" X 8" contains balled up tissue paper that is covered with shellac and partially burned and it stands up from the surface about 2 inches. It has lots of warm carmel and brown colors. Also, I know books and instructors out there say that really only light tissue paper can be properly embedded but here I burned some sketchbook paper making large holes and I was able to embed this, so I always say, experiment with the rules!

By the way this is called "Blister" - don't let it creep you out. It's my husbands favorite of the Burn series so far.

We've been struggling a bit on the coast here because the weather has been tootling along for the last 2 months between 57-63 degrees with lots of overcast and patchy fog which is honestly rather cool to do my best work in encaustic without a heated table. So though it's been cool and comfortable in the studio, the wax is a bit sluggish. Then last week the temperature went up to 95 degrees for 2 days then back down to 63 yesterday and today. It's hard to be happy about getting hot weather like that because it's hard to adapt that quickly to a 30 plus degree change.

However we did have some fresh grilled oysters and they were terrific! Yummm.
Happy painting!

Moving forward

With my earlier work destroyed and my new direction set, I find a calmness, a sense of rightness, and a little spark of itchiness returning to me. Curiosity, different dreaming, walk with me day and night along with scary new steps and constantly reassuring friends that I'm on the right path.

All people young or old who take drastic steps like this or who have it foisted on them always walk around for at least a little while with a huge lump in their throat, a stone in their chest wondering what life there is after their big leap.

It's a changed life and life that now can accept new visions. These moments are as close to real freedom as we can get. We can do something different though we may have to linger a while in this scary place till we know what to do. Take heart in knowing soon a new vision will present itself because the clutter is gone along with new energy to carry it out.

In the meantime, I've moved my studio to my garage totally (this would have been really overwhelming without the new energy I mentioned above) and am starting some larger pieces than this 8" X 8" piece called Copper Pit which has been Sold.

At the recent international Encaustic Conference in Beverly Massachusetts, founded, organized and led by Joanne Mattera , I had the great opportunity to hear a 1 hour talk on working large from Kandy Lozano. Kandy is an artist making large encaustic pieces and a gallery owner of Martin & Lozano gallery located in California. She generously shared her own process and tool and substrate changes required when she started working large and added information such as what is required for storing, packaging, showing, representing size on a website and shipping those pieces. Such a rare person to be confident in her own work and forthcoming about the journey. Thank you Kandy.

So I'm going to be putting some of her tips to work and I'm going to be starting a body of work that I feel is cohesive and can be represented to a gallery as a unique expression. The directions will be offshoots of "Copper Pit" and the next several small pieces. I'm tremendously enjoying working in a neutral palette and it's changed the work I do. I like the simplicity and primitiveness of it.

I have to add here that living in rural Southwest Washington on the Coast has turned out to be a real blessing this year in that the weather has maintained a constant 57-63 degrees all summer so far. The marine air has rolled in during the night and stayed nearly all day every day for all of the last 2 months except for 1- 95 degree day. With the rest of the country blistering today, I can work my wax in rare comfort. All of the trees, shrubs, plants and flowers and grasses, even the dune grasses are green and well watered by the dew every morning.