Latest creation

I got a commission in June to paint a little rocking chair for a new baby boy by his young grandmother who wanted some vintage aircraft and that sort of theme so I painted the patterning of propellers and flight insignias from that era. I did take some license in colors which were the colors from an already picked out mobile, wall colors and crib liners. It came out cute and hope she'll like it. I'm putting the last coat of varnish on now.

In other news, I've got an International Encaustic artist Call for Entries due on July 15th that I'm painting several pictures for, another Call for Entries for a show at Trails End Art Association in August and then another Call for Entries for a themed Icon show -August deadline -at a Seattle gallery which I'm hoping might lead to representation . Lot's of painting coming up, some of which I'll post here.

There are also a few spaces left in my beginning encaustic class to be held at Trails End Art Association on August 20th so if you know anyone interested in a great painting and relaxing weekend on the Coast, send them to Trails End website www.trailsendart.org for more information and to register. Trails End is in Gearhart which is oh so very close to Seaside and Cannon Beach and the weather is typically very nice.

Looks like the weather is going to be beautiful for the weekend and 4th of July down here.

Here's some work

So here is some new work coming out of my encaustic studio. Over plaster with the theme of simple connections and unity of three's.

Our Beginning Encaustic Class was held at The Picture Attic this Saturday and was filled, and we even had a small waiting list. We had a lot of fun and did some really amazing things with wax. We used those new "Hot Wax Sticks" from Enkaustico's and found them to be very small but very intensely colored. In future classes I'll be diluting them with some medium so they will go further.

We are planning a "Return for the Burn" Encaustic Class later in the summer and I'll announce it here as well as at The Picture Attic website. It will be an Intermediate Class and along with burning papers, fabrics, shellac and we'll be dying papers with tea, coffee and watercolors and burning them too. We'll focus on metallics - not just wax but foils, pigments and joss papers and how you can include those in your designs. We'll also go over fabric and paper hangings as well as rub on and sticky texts. So keep checking here for the exact dates.

The Plaster "thang"

So in my studio over the retreat period I got interested in experimenting with plaster on board and how it would take the heat.

Here is one of 3 plaster pieces I did and it's such a nice material to work with. It dries fast and takes a burn really nice as you can see. I'll be doing some more with this material.

I like the whiteness of the surface as well and the plain encaustic medium goes over the surface and adheres. In keeping with the low color this type of preparation works well and adds lots of texture variety to paintings.

I've got 6 places filled for my Picture Attic class in June now and already 2 or 3 places filled for the Encaustic Class I'm teaching for Trails End Art Association. I'm looking forward to meeting the people who will be coming and seeing what the classes yield in terms of the work - it's always very rewarding. I'll take some pictures too and post them here.

After some very dreary weeks of late rain it looks like the temperature is climbing here into the high 50's and even a day or 2 of low 60's. The wind has turned to a more warm weather pattern and people are planting their gardens up. Two nights ago though it was still 37 degrees out. Spring may be around the corner and people here are breathing a big sigh of relief that outdoor activities are too. I got some gladiola bulbs and dahlia bulbs into the ground and look forward to some nice flowers this year.