in the studio

This week was full of #art365 landscapes as I am now working through the #paintseptember project on twitter. A painting a day for the month of September. Big paintings are on hold right now. I am getting ready for Intimate Persuasions: Small Works opening Saturday. I've got a lot of figuring out to do, as far as what will be included. Adding in new pieces each week is counter productive, really. Oh well. 

This week began with 2 pieces based on a friend of a friend's photo. I was not actually in Vermont. Then a few of the prairie. insert is north of 80 heading east. pleasant view is a cemetery I visited on the road trip last month. Also this week, I made 5 small encaustic paintings. You can see those here.

west woodstock, vermont, acrylic on paper, 4" x 6"

treeline, proper road, acrylic on paper, 4" x 6"

goldenrod, acrylic on paper, 5" x 5"

sunflower prairie, acrylic on paper, 5" x 5"

insert, acrylic on paper, 4" x 6"

pleasant view, old lincoln highway, acrylic on paper, 5" x 6"

sunlit, acrylic on paper, 4" x 6"

Friday was the opening of TEXT:Louder Than Words at Studio 659. seneca was part of this show, and I didn't bring a camera, so I have no pics. I did meet another artist, Arlene Tribbia, who is also a writer. Two different people commented how much her work looked like mine. Unfortunately, her work in the show isn't on her website (and again I didn't take any pictures...) There is a lot of really good artwork in this show. The show is up through Saturday, September 28.

Next up: This week I'd like to get back to some drawing, as well as the continuation of #paintseptember. 

Intimate Persuasions: Small Works by Brabant Lenting and Dawn Diamantopoulos opens Saturday, September 14 4-9pm at Paul Henry's Art Gallery in Hammond. 

encaustics, part 2

Tomorrow was planned to be another encaustics play day, but through some Labor Day-no-work-on-Monday weirdness, we've all been thrown off a day. Although it should be a day behind and not a day ahead, but, whatever. So, encaustics happened today. I was not prepared for this so there are no work in progress pics. This also spares you from seeing the hideous mess I made on one of them. Incising will require a lot of practice and patience on my part. I made two attempts today and they both failed miserably. I just loaded the piece up with more wax and more wax and...I think I saved it, but was scolded for painting over it. What can I say? I really hated it.

today's first painting, 3.5" x 6"

my favorite of today's work, 2.5" x 3.75"

2.5" x 3.75

I thought the red was too harsh at first,
but now I kinda like it. 1.75" x 3.25"

the one I think I saved, 2.5" x 3.75"

Next time I am going to practice the incising. ugh. 

in the studio

This week I spent most days still working on out of reach...

but, I also got to try encaustics! That's painting with melted wax, for those of you not familiar with the lingo. You can see work in progress pics in the encaustics post here. It was pretty amazing and I'm glad I got to finally try it! I would like to try translating the #art365 landscapes into encaustic. This will take a lot of practice, as there is quite a learning curve.

And a pair of #art365 landscapes. The first field, crown point, sold less than an hour after it was posted! If only everything sold that fast! The second is the same field, crown point. These are small canvases, which were purchased pre-#art365 and I felt were too small to do anything. Now I kind of like them, and I like working on this field, so I expect to do a few more.

This week I firmed up three upcoming shows: one of my large scale paintings will be in TEXT: Louder Than Words at Studio 659, two #art365 landscapes will be in SLAC's Hot! at The Sip, and somewhere in the neighborhood of sixty(!) #art365 landscapes will be part of a two person show at Paul Henry's Art Gallery, where I will be showing with the charming Brabant Lenting.

encaustics

Encaustics is something I've wanted to try for the last few years. And it hasn't really happened. 

                                      UNTIL TODAY!
Are there trumpets and streamers? There should be. It's on my art bucket list. More on that later.


Some artists get in a rut. They do the same thing over and over, usually because they've had some success. Success is good! Sales are good! But really, you need to keep learning and trying new things. I am trying not to be the artist that gets in a rut. I try to keep challenging myself.
So when Deborah Landry said she was giving an encaustic lesson in her studio and invited me to join, I had to say yes! 

So what exactly am I so excited about? Painting with hot wax. And there's a bit of process. (I barely scratched the surface with these.) And some of happy accidents. And a bunch of not so happy accidents. And a whole lot of is it done? or could I make it better? And if I try to make it better, will I ruin it? Here are a few in progress shots from the 1st one. This is 3.5" by 4.5".

I was shooting for an #art365 landscape sort of look, without trying for one specifically. Lots of this I didn't plan. Okay, almost all of this I didn't plan. One of the really wild things, which I didn't expect, was the wax continues to move after the heat gun is taken away. I thought it would stay where it was once it stopped being heated. It doesn't. It contracts, and seems to follow the heat. I made four paintings total today. The three below are 2.5" x 3.5"

This next one started with a yellow base layer of paint. I decided to never do that again. Note the accidental "sun" which happened in the middle photo.

For this last one, I went back to a light blue base, which I used in the first one. I also tried to have something closer to that overall look. I don't think I really succeeded in that. One thing I think I would do in the future would be to actually mix some colors before I paint them onto the boards. Another thing would be to paint the wax on with very fine brushes and potentially heat it less. I'm clearly at the bottom of a very large learning curve.

So my art bucket list... is art things I want to try. Not so much before I die, but you know, it will be harder to try them when I'm dead. I wanted to paint really big, and I've done that. And I love it! 

So encaustics was also on my bucket list. Encaustics is something I can see incorporating into my work. Layering text and drawings can also be added into the pieces, which is an additional bonus. Also on my bucket list: throwing pottery on a wheel. Plein aire painting. Sometimes getting back to gum dichromate printing is on the list. Some days welding. It's a short list, I know. And while encaustics makes some sense in with my current work, welding and pottery, not so much. I just think they'd be cool things to know.

So, to the artists reading: what's on your art bucket list?

And if you want to see more encaustics, from artists who actually know what they're doing, take a look at Deborah Landry and Abigail Markov. They have entirely different aesthetics, and really show the broad range of work which can be done with wax.