Tomorrow is the day

It will be interesting to see who comes to our open studio/ pillow show room tomorrow. It is off season in San Miguel, but I am hoping that San Miguel regulars will stop in. 

Many of the pillows have been moved from the upstairs show/work room to be placed "on site" downstairs. 

I plan on doing an encaustic demo. I actually got my studio clean after last week's workshops.

We have also been busy with pets going to the vet. Our rescue dog was neutered yesterday. We have been caring for her for almost 3 weeks and the problem is that we have fallen in love with her. She is the dearest dog I have ever met and I pray that she will be in a loving home soon. Our old Boxer has skin cancer and an infected ear, and I fear my old cat is ill and wanting to leave this planet.

Happy Holidays

This is an old oil painting that I did many years ago. It lives in San Francisco now

 

 

 

And a  Happy Hanukkah to my Jewish friends.

I had been traveling for 10 days in the state of Veracruz and planned on posting many photos of my wonderful trip along with a story of my adventure. I used my iPhone camera to take these precious images, but when I tried to download them to the computer, I couldn't, so I will try again when Mercury Retrograde is over, but in the meantime I want to wish you all a happy, healthy holiday season and a prosperous new year.

I have been posting an image a day on Instagram and this one has been the most liked. It is very different from previous work, and I am wondering if I can create some more in this vein. It is cold wax and oil, 24" x 24" and I titled it "Waiting"

Scamers At Work. Artists Beware

Here is the painting that was selected for "purchase" I am surprised that a more expensive one wasn't chosen

Artists, particularly artists new to social media must be aware of an old scam that pops up every so often in our inbox.

Here is the first one I received this week:
Hello
i'm John Owen from North Carolina. You are doing a really great project in your artworks images. I actually observed my wife has been viewing your art piece online with my laptop,shes an art lover and can see she has interest in your piece.well I was also amazed after seeing your various works too. I would love to receive further information about your piece of work. I am interested in purchasing a piece to surprise my her,so kindly confirm me about the artwork available for sales. best regards
John.

I responded that all information is on my website:www.ezshwan.com

His next email:
 Hello:Ezshwan
Thanks for the message, however, I would
greatly appreciate if you could possibly recommend a few completed
original piece within my budget $450- $2000 ready for     immediate
sale... Just need something within that price   range for a surprise
to my wife (can tell she likes your   work). I would appreciate if you
can figure out a piece     of     work that would serve that purpose.
Kindly email   images and prices of any available works in that
range.   Thanks  and blessing John

Blessings !!!. I don't think so.
Next:
Thanks for the message,  I must tell you I intend to give my wife a
surprise with the immediate purchase of the piece. Also If you'd like
to know, I'm relocating to the Philippines soon and our wedding
anniversary is fast approaching. So I'm trying to gather some good
stuff to make this event a surprise one. I am buying the art work
Luscious Lips, oil and cold wax 16 " x 16" of $575

as a gifts to her.I'm okay with the price, I think it's worth
it
anyway, so I'll be sending a check.

As regarding shipping, you don't have to worry about that in order not
to leave any clue to my wife for the surprise. as soon as you receive
and cash the check, my shipping agent (who is also moving my personal
effect) will contact you to arrange pick-up.

I would have come to purchase the piece myself but, at the moment, am
on training voyage to the North Atlantic Ocean (I'm an ocean engineer)
with new hires who are fresh from graduate school and won't be back
for another couple of weeks.

Regards,

John

PS: In the meantime, kindly get back to me with your full name (you
want the check payable to) cell phone no. and contact address
(preferably for Usps ,fedEx not P.O box) where a check can be mailed
to, so I can get the check prepared and have it mailed out to you
right away.

Of course I  knew it was a scam and played along with it to see how far he would go. I wrote him that I only accept PayPal payments and after a couple more emails, he gave up. Since then I learned that fraudulent or stolen credit cards can be used on Pay Pal. What I should have done is contact the FBI and reported him.

Some unsuspecting artist do fall for these spamers and are usually sent a fradulent cashiers check for more than the price of the painting, are asked to send a check for the excess amount back to the "purchaser" and end up losing quite a bit of money money, and often a painting .
 

Nothing Stays The Same

As of last Wednesday, my daughter and I realized that we were not going to be able to get in the house we thought we had rented to take meaurements because the owner was on her "second honeymoon" with her ex husband and had the key with her and didn't want the agents to have it.

We persisted in asking for entrance to the house before we had the big moving sale.  We needed to know what to sell and what to keep. The house we are living in is much bigger than was the proposed new house. We were brushed off by the agents and told to relax and not to worry. We had paid the deposit and first months rent - I know, a big mistake, without signing the contract, because there were errors in dates and wording.

To skip all the unpleasantness and nasty texts accusing me of crazy things, we will still be moving June 1, but to another house; a much bigger house. Much of what we sold at the sale we could use.

I had a one day sale of paintings that proved to be successful, but I still have mountains of paintings to pack and move. I have been working in the studio for days and it will be several more days of packing to clear it enough to paint and clean the floor.

It will be worth all the work and stress once we are settled in our new, spacious, light-filled home.

Clearing the Studio

making piles in the living room.

My New Passion, Oil and Cold Wax

I worked with cold wax many years ago, then stopped and forgot about it. Last year I was contacted by Jerry McLauglin, who with Rebecca Colwell was compiling  a new book, Cold Wax Medium, Technique, Concepts and Conversations. I was asked to contribute some images of figurative paintings done in cold wax. Thanks to this, I have rediscovered the ease and fun of painting with cold wax and oil.

I haven't made any more figurative work in cold wax. Everything so far has been abstract. Here is the latest and the process of my 80 x 100 cm painting on cradled board, "Fiesta"
Now I have 3 palettes going in my studio; oil paint, encaustic, and cold wax and oil.

under paintng

first of several layers

finished