Patterns as Inspiration

Patterns in nature and just about everywhere, are good starting off points for a piece of art. They could become the subtle mark making in the background, or the piece itself.
Here are 3 pics that have very interesting patterns. Please send me any pics you have of fun patterns you have found along the way of life.

Have a great art filled day!

Weekly Inspiration for your art! FUN

My last encaustic workshop teacher, Lorraine Glessner, introduced me to found drawings and sunday church drawings. Check out the link to Lorraine's great blog for drawings and very cool art. The idea is to find inspiration out in nature, from a gum wrapper on the ground, from some cool designs made in dried mud, you get the idea. Whatever they are called, I have decided to start taking photos, a few times a week and/or collecting things that I see lying around that might inspire one to go out and create something that you saw in the photo. It could be a color combination, a line, a rusty license plate and encourages to use more metal in your work,  Who knows? That is the fun of it. If nothing else, they might just be cool photos.
I am posting 3 photos I took in Crested Butte Colorado this weekend. More to come. Please leave some comments and/or attach your art so I know if this is catching on with people or not.

Thank you. This is all about FUN, no contests, no awards, no critics.

Encaustic Tips

I have been having fun with using black tempera and black ink on my paintings.
Tempera you need to cover with a coat of clear medium, because it is watersoluble, and therefore, not very archival. I would not want to risk it. But the good news is you can wipe it off with water if you don't like what you've done, and start again. The black ink, you do not have to cover with clear medium if you don't want to. I was afraid to put it on, fearing I would make a mistake and could not remove it, until I found out you can remove it with rubbing alcohol! That really freed me up to have fun and experiment. So, try it!

Published in Presence Journal

In December 2011 one of my 5X5 mixed media pieces was featured in an article in Presence Journal. Here is a link to the journals website: http://sdiworld.org/presence_journal.html
Someone had seen my sea turtle piece on my flickr Photostream and asked to use it. A reader from Florida called me and ended up ordering 2 pieces just like it.
Here is a photo of that piece:

Encaustic Workshop

I just completed a 5 day encaustic workshop with Daniella Woolf here in Park City. It was in the beautiful Spiro Arts building. What a great workshop facility.  I learned a lot of new techniques and had access to all the R&F paint and pigment sticks I wanted. It was sponsored by R&F Paint in Kingston, NY. Here is their website: http://www.rfpaints.com
Daniella is a great teacher and has a fabulous new book out that I just ordered. Here is the link to it on Amazon :  http://www.amazon.com/dp/1596683902/ref=pe_175190_21431760_C1_cs_sce_dp_1
It is based on her 5 day workshops, so you can get lots of information in this book.
Here are 2 paintings I did in the workshop. The first painting is 8X8 and the second is 12X12. The second painting has 12 layers of paint.

And here are 2 new paintings I did after the workshop. Both are 8X8.

Art Show!

I was in an art show last weekend and sold 3 paintings. I was very happy with the results and it was fun to see and meet other local artists.
Here is a pic of me in front of my paintings.

Here are 2 recent paintings in my "Wall Series".  The inspiration is old, worn, grafitti, seasoned walls. I am having fun with it.  The second one is sold, but I have 2 more that I am working on.

Fabric Series of Encaustic Paintings

I decided to paint some encaustic paintings that looked like old, faded, torn fabrics.
Here are 2.

More Encaustic Paintings in My Dream Series

Here is an 8X8 panel with Encaustic Paint.

Some of My Dream Series Encaustic

Here are several 8X8 panels that represent my Encaustic Dream Series that I have started.

My Latest Encaustic Paintings

They are 12X12, 2 inch deep panels.

A More Contemporary/Abstract Encaustic Painting

I painted this 8X8 for a friend. I was keeping the same color scheme of another one I did for her, so they could go side by side. Below I have a picture of them together.  The second picture is a close up of part of the painting.  The last picture is a painting I thought would look good between them.

Encaustic Painting

In this 8X8 Encaustic Painting, I used 4 colors of paint, along with the medium. I had been primarily using the medium with mixed media and some oil paint rubbed into etchings. I have been wanting to use more paint, so here it is. Still subtle. I also used a stamp with white encaustic gesso, rubbed with a bit of brown oil paint.
Here it is:

The second picture is a close up of the painting.

Some More Encaustic Art!

Here are a few encaustic panels that I have painted recently. The second panel was donated to the Image Reborn Fundraiser. All are 8X8 inch panels.

HARVEST TIME

CHINESE MOON

IMAGE REBORN

PILGRIMAGE

More Encaustic Art!

Here are 2 more 8X8 encaustic panels that I painted.

New Encaustic Art

Here are some pictures of my new Encaustic Art.  Encaustic involves using beeswax, mixed with damar resin(the medium) and then pigment for color.  My art here incorporates stamping with encaustic gesso, embedding photos, horsehair, human hair, assorted papers, burnt paper and etching with different objects and filling them with oil paint. Most of these painting have 4-6 layers.

All are painted on 8X8 wood panels, except for the last painting. That is a 12X12 framed painting.

Encaustic Workshop

I took a 2 day encaustic painting workshop in town this weekend. I had a blast! I have been playing with beeswax and wondering if I wanted to go the full encaustic route and invest in all the supplies. I am seriously mulling about it. Here are 2 works I made this weekend. The first one is 8X10 and the second is 8X8. The layering and nuances you can get with this meduim, not to mention the luminosity, is wonderful.

Tag Tuesday Challenge - Friends!

The tag challenge over at Louise's Kard Krazy blog is to use Friends as a theme.
Louise used a dog, which set me going too, since we have been giving ALOT of thought to getting another dog, which would be #2!
Here is my entry:

I used 2 blue and 1 orange distress ink on the tag. I stamped a few flowers in black and brown. I stamped the My Faithful Friend stamp by Magenta on a yellow colored scrapbook paper and ripped around the edges and added brown ink to the edges.  I colored the stamp in a bit with inks. I restamped it on a piece of my handpainted paper and just cut our the postmark and glued over the original stamp. I added some ribbons to the back of the image. I stamped the dog stamp by Artistic Outpost on a piece of square chipboard that I had gessoed I added some inks, the rhinestone on the collar and outlined in gold. I attached some ribbons on the back of the chipboard and glued to the tag. I dotted some gold paint in the middle of the 2 top flowers.

Tuesday Tag Challenge

This week's Challenge over at Louise's Blog is to design a tag on a tag. Here is my entry:

I folded over the top of the tag and put gesso on the whole card. Took pink and red ink and stamped with bubble wrap. Under the flower I used red ink on a piece of cardboard. I punched the bottom of the tag and outlined in gold krylon pen. The mini tag has a piece of my hand painted paper on it. I stamped love on it and outlined in gold.  There is a white piece of mulberry paper under the mini tag, can't really see it. I added several tissue paper flowers and the brad. Simple and sweet.