What is Your Favorite Color?

What is your favorite color?

I am inspired to create a new series about the power of color. So far I have completed the red painting, "Tumbling Joy"" and I'm almost finished with a blue one.

Encaustic 32" x 40" Tumbling Joy

 I have been studying color for many years; I used this information in my color seminars when I worked for 3 Ethan Allen stores. It was the most popular seminar I presented  When I introduced his color presentation, I asked participants to write their name tags in their favorite color, but had to stop that practice, when they realized how much their color choices told others about their personalities.



I wrote a book about the power of color. The book  shows you how your color choices influence your health and emotions; how color touches you even if you don’t notice it or understand its force. The specific vibrations of each color triggers your personal energy field. It affects your moods, health and general well being. 60% of a person’s reaction to any situation is said to be based on color.
 Once you know a person's color preferences, you will be able to understand her better. This is available on Kindle.

Here is the process of the blue painting:

New Year, New Classes, Old Paintings

It's a new year. My bronchitis cleared up and I am ready to work and teach.

There have been several art tours of my studio/home/gallery during the holidays,  plus a House and Garden tour. Several people have enjoyed venturing into my special viewing room to discover older painting that I store there. The visitors are welcome to pull out any paintings that they choose. Some of these paintings bring to light work that I have forgotten about. One or two I realized that I want to paint over and others I am delighted to meet again.

lots of older paintings coming back to light

stacks.

A cold wax and oil painting I started in 2016 and finished in 2018 31' x 40"

 People frequently ask me about the encaustic workshops and when they will be. I try to offer at least one a month, but dates can be changed to fit your schedule if there are at least three people interested in the same dates.

For details and photos: http://www.ezshwan.com/classes-and-workshops.html

Here are the dates and information for the next encaustic workshops. Let me know if you would like to sign up or are interested in other dates. 

 Two day private workshop,; $550 $60 material fee
Some artists want the fast track to learning my techniques.
You will work side by side with me in my 
studio, creating your own work with direct input,
demos and suggestions from me.
The curriculum will be designed exactly to 
fit your needs.
deposit of $100 required.

Jan. 20 & 21, 2020
Feb. 10 & 11
March 9 & 10
April 20 & 21

My Year in Review

It seems to me that the older I get, the faster the years fly by. Here we are in December with the new year of 2020 lurking just around the corner.

Although I seem to be caught up with almost everything but making art, it has been a creative year.

The series, "The Lightness of Being", that may be finished, (I haven't been able to work in the studio for over a month) was a exciting project. I created unique techniques, at least for me. Usually my newest series are slower to sell. I am not sure why, but this series has been received well by viewers and collectors.

In October, I created some works on un-stretched canvas , matted and ready to frame, that I offered as a special sale for the month of November. They are now back to the full price and I will be posting them on my online galleries. Thank you to the collectors that took advantage of the sale.

Click the link below to see the full series of "The Lightness of Being"

http://www.ezshwan.com/the-lightness-of-being.html

I have been teaching both group and private encaustic classes and teaching drawing to one young man and portrait painting in oils to a young woman.  Neither of these students had drawn or painted before. I am pleased to be able to share really seeing to them.

I have the dates and information for the next encaustic workshops. Let me know if you would like to sign up or are interested in other dates.
Jan. 20 & 21, 2020
Feb. 10 & 11
Private workshop:6 hours of individual attention: These are tailored to your needs; anything you want to learn and focus on. I am specializing in private classes, because so much can be accomplished.  You can take a cab ( taxis are inexpensive in San Miguel) or drive. Directions on my website; http://www.ezshwan.com/directions-to-studio.html

One day private workshop; $275 plus $40 materials fee 10 am to 4pm
Two day private workshop,; $550 $60 material fee
Some artists want the fast track to learning my techniques.
You will work side by side with me in my 
studio, creating your own work with direct input,
demos and suggestions from me.
The curriculum will be designed exactly to 
fit your needs.
deposit of $100 required.
​
​Two person One day workshop, $160 plus $25 materials fee​ 10 am to 4pm

THESE GROUP CLASSES ARE INTENDED FOR AT LEAST 3 PEOPLE. If you have 3 or more people interested, I will plan around your schedule.

THESE ENCAUSTIC GROUP CLASSES ARE INTENDED FOR AT LEAST 3 PEOPLE.

One Day Workshops: $125 USD plus $25 materials fee 10 am to 4pm

Two Day Workshops: $250 USD plus $40 materials fee 10am to 4 pm

Three Day Intensive: $350 USD plus $60 materials fee. 10 am to 4 pm

A deposit of $100 required at registration. Click PayPal button. The remainder of the fee can be paid the first day of class, in pesos at the exchange rate of the day, or a U.S. check

Day 1 & 2 of the encaustic workshop will cover all the basics, including information about how to make paint, about the commercial paints and their applications, about supports, grounds and techniques: paint application, fusing, glazing, inscribing and mixed media approaches, safety, materials, demos of applying paint, glazing, fusing, How to get that smooth surface! Introducing mixed media, creating lines and texture.. I will emphasize how these techniques can be developed to create a unique encaustic language for each student. I will talk (and demo) how to create glaze layers, as well as some special techniques like inscribing. You will leave with a printout containing all the information you need as well as a list of suppliers.

I give participants a thorough introduction to the encaustic medium method. Artists with backgrounds in almost any medium will find these workshops are an exciting opportunity to expand their visual vocabulary with wax. Some who attend have some familiarity with encaustic, others don't, but want to expand their artistic experience. This mix of artists adds to the learning experience and often inspires all to try new techniques.

In the advanced classes, we focus on surfacing, embedding, transparencies, glazing and hot pen, image transfers, India ink mark making and more. We will explore combining oil and encaustic and dipping. You should have several finished paintings after the workshops.

I will supply all the materials, encaustic paint. brushes, support panels, electric tools, scrapers and propane torches, as well as showing how you can make your own paints and set up your own encaustic studio.

If you want to bring some things to collage you can. Old drawings or prints or photographs can combine with encaustic, but the paper must be porous and not glossy or coated. Encaustic works with almost anything but acrylic or plastics.

Experiment with all the materials and create your own finished encaustic paintings in class.

The workshops are held in my home studio from 10 a.m. to  4p.m. each day. This allows the participants hundreds of examples of my encaustic painting over the last 14 years, including "what not to do!"

Cancellations 2 weeks before workshop will receive a full refund. 1 week before, 30% will be refunded. No deposit refunds after that.

Sell Art Online?

The other day a neighbor stopped in and saw some of my new sale paintings. She said,"These are beautiful. People have to see them." Why don't you take them to the park on Sundays?

I don't remember saying anything to her, but I am sure my expression was of incredibility. I stopped dragging my paintings to open air, un-juried art venues about 50 years ago.

 I sell from my personal home gallery and brick and mortar galleries.and online galleries. I can't remember how many solo and group shows that I participated in, and I will continue to do that, but times are different now. Millions of paintings are sold online. A report from 2017 said that an estimated $5.4 billion in art and antiques were sold online.

I also sell from FaceBook and Instagram, Saatchi Art https://www.saatchiart.com/account/artworks/312358 and Turning Art. Two other online galleries have asked me to join them and I will be working on adding images for them soon

This take time and effort but I am a professional artist and selling is my business. I owned a large art gallery in Scottsdale AZ where we represented many artists. This was years ago before internet selling was important. I found that most of our artists didn't;t want to bother with all the details of The Business of Art. They seemed to think that being an artist was enough. I reminded them that no-one was going to slip a check under their studio door, without a lot of effort .

I created a non-profit business to teach them art marketing, but very few of the artists showed up for the meetings. I taught the same thing at the University of Southern Oregon, and the few artists who listened and acted, prospered.
 
I believe it is easier now that so much can be done sitting at our computer. Yes, it takes time, but doesn't anything worthwhile take time?  I have been asked to teach art marketing again. I hesitate because there is much available information online covering this and anyone truly interested will take advantage of this kind of selling.

Below are some of the recently sold paintings,

Free International Shipping!

Free shipping! This is the first time I have offered that. Perhaps it will be the last time, but I want to make this sale offer something special and affordable to own or gift one of my original paintings.
The last painting that I shipped from Mexico to California arrived in ONE DAY!

Thank you to all the collectors who have chosen to claim one of these special paintings for themselves.

It is not too late to buy one or more of these unique, original paintings. The offer is good until the end of November.

Here are some of the available works. They are all matted 16"x 20", in a plastic sleeve, and ready to frame.

The figurative ones are a bit higher in price. It took many days to complete them.
I accept credit cards via PayPal.

Encaustic and mixed media on paper. Matted size 16" x 20" $250, Next month they go back to the original price of $450 dollars. 50% off this month plus free shipping. Who on your Christmas list would love an original painting at this great price?

Matted size, 16" 20".Next month they go back to the original price of $450 dollars. 50% off this month plus free shipping. Who on your Christmas list would love an original painting at this great price?

$250 includes the shipping. Next month they go back to the original price of $450 dollars. 50% off this month plus free shipping. 

encaustic on paper, matted and ready to frame, $175 Sale price

cold wax and oil on paper, $175 sale price

encaustic on paper $175, sale price

Pre-Christmas Painting Sale

The framed original painting

This is how this painting would look in a simple black frame

From My Studio to Your Wall

Who on your Christmas list will receive a very special gift?

I have been working on smaller paintings that fit into a 16" x 20" white mat with backing, in a plastic sleeve. They are easy to ship and slip into a ready-made standard frame. I want to include free international shipping, just for the month of November and the first week of December. You can choose your own frame when you receive the painting.

I thought I could make a painting a day, but that hasn't worked out because I stared adding layers of encaustic, stenciling and transversals; using the techniques I developed for my latest abstract series. Many days of work went into each of these paintings. 

I still want to offer a temporary discount of 30% and I will pay for shipping. The original price is $295 on the portraits, minus 30% = $206, and I will pay the $50 shipping to the United States. If you live in an other part f the world, I will have to refigure shipping cost.

These are the 6 available paintings; matted and ready to frame.

detail

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Artists Are Always Young

"Artist are Always Young" this quote was written under my high school year book photo.

I remember the picture well, I had just come back from a swimming class and my hair was a mess. I chucked at the quote, not being terribly impressed at 17 years old, I was more concerned about the unflattering photo.

Me, 2019

Dad' Day at the University of Illinois, where I was majoring in painting and commercial design

In this shot from a local newspaper, I was working from a nude model, circa 1959

Now, many, many years later, I understand. Artists are always young because we are never finished with our work. Just when I get the inclination to put the paints away, I get another idea about developing more techniques for my paintings.

It has been more than 60 years that I have been a working artist.

Just finished this abstract. Encaustic and mixed media, on board

I had a battle convincing my parents to let me be an art major in college. My mother often said, "You are going to have to survive on beans and live in a cold-water flat." She insisted that I take a semester of typing so I could get a job after school. My first job was in the art department in a book publishing company in Chicago.

I always carried a sketchbook when I was traveling with my jazz musician, Kai Winding. I sketched and painted musicians for 12 years.

backstage at the Nice, France jazz festival, circa 1981

Process of a very large mural, circa 1990

My Christmas display in Artisimo Gallery's gift shop. About 23 years ago.

My partners in my first gallery, Artisimo, Scottsdale AZ. Note the T shirts I painted for some occasion.

My first abstract painting done during my second year in art school. Casein on illustration board. circa 1953