Spring Cleaning

Here is a new encaustic I did from my retreat last month. It's another one of my Little Gems (8" X 8" on self framed birch panel for $150).

This one is called Red Gold Seal and I used a texture devise, a stamp, a fabric ribbon and wax plus my new Iwatani torch which helps make things much smoother than I have been able to do before.

I found out about this torch at the last years Encaustic Conference in Beverly Massachusettes at Montserrat College - this years Encaustic Conference is going to be held in Cape Cod at Truro Art Center there - if you're interested in this go to this blog and find out all about the great presentations and activities they are having this year : www.encausticconference.blogspot.com

Doing new work energized me to get my website renewed and updated so back into that well I went. Go to my updated website (website address is the same) and check it out here: www.barbaramallon.com I do have all of my recent encaustic work here so you can see the new directions I'm going.

I use a template driven website from Network Solution and it works very well and I can update it myself without knowledge of programing or program language.

You'll notice on my website that I have now joined the Trails End Art Association in Gearhart Oregon. I've missed having a cohesive community of artists to interact with and I have found them here at this great place. They own their own building which houses a gallery for the members and functions much as a Co-op Gallery and another space which functions for general meetings, art classes and just general daily meetings of artists doing great art work together. I feel right at home. Come by and see our member exhibitions which hang all month - the gallery is open Wednesdays thru Sunday 10-3 and starting in June it will be 10-5.

My teaching schedule for this summer is also posted on my website with contact and registration information but just so you know I'll be teaching these 2 Encaustic classes locally:

• 1 day Beginning Encaustic on Saturday June 4th at Long Beach, WA
• 1 day Beginning Encaustic on Saturday August 20th at Trails End Art Association in Gearhart, OR

I also had a playdate last Sunday with a friend who came over to work in my studio with me and we had a fun time waxing and experimenting. We'll play again soon Jean :-).

The weather this Spring has been pretty horrendous - we are still getting winter-like, soggy, rains and wind, with daytime temperatures running mostly in the low 50's. The advantage is it has allowed for more inside painting time without the distraction of too much gardening and yard work. So have fun in your own studio!

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.