What's Next?

Even though I have been painting more years than many people reading this blog have been alive, I still go through periods of doubt in my ability. I consider it a honor to call myself an artist and always want to push myself farther and farther. What to do next?

I haven't been able to get back in the studio to work on the last painting I posted since I was traveling in the Yucatan for 9 days and I am in the midst of catching up on postings on my website, blogs, FB page, Instagram, etc., but while looking for a pack of tarot cards that I created from 33 of my paintings back in the early 90's, I found some copies and prints of paintings that I created years ago.
I mentioned to my daughter, "I really could paint!" At this point, perhaps I am trying to hard to be change styles and am influenced by other artists that I admire.

Here are some photos of the tour of the Yucatan. and some old paintings. I

colorful street in Campache

enjoying my stroll by the water

The pelican reserve when 30,000 birds safely nest

Talum, at least there was a ocean breeze

Lots of textured encaustic over oil

a painting I made about 17 years ago, sold

This one is from the 1980's. Stolen . I hope someone is enjoying it.

Another old painting, sold

I Wasn't Born With A Silver Spoon In My Mouth

There was no silver spoon in my mouth when I was born. My parents were immigrants from Hungary and I was taught that I had to work for everything. I am grateful for that training and I have never been afraid to work.

I was a grown woman with 2 daughters when I found out that my parents were millionaires. They worked hard and invested well.

But I digress... I made the painting pictured above for a competition for a gallery in Denmark. (The work had to be either encaustic or cold wax). It is an antique spoon that my mother-in -law gave me. The college in it tells the history of the spoon; in Danish. Fortunately, an English translation accompanied this beautiful gift; it says, "This spoon was my great, great, great grandfathers. His name was: John Nicolay Winding. Born May 6, 1737, in Vestervig, Jutland, Denmark. He died June 10, 1818. He was minister in the town of Twed and he was called "The Pope Of Mols"
because of his great authority. He was married to Sophie Magdalene Falk. They had seven children. "I received the spoon from my mother' "  I am guessing that this was given to my husband's father.
In any case it is very old, beautiful and carries a lot of memories.

After working a few days on the painting above, I realized that it was flat and boring, so I made another one that I entered to the competition. The spoon is featured with an icy glass of Aquavit.
It has many layers of encaustic and the still life is paintied with oil and cold wax.

Moving Is Not Fun!

I am getting too old for this! It feels as if we have been moving for weeks; perhaps because it has been 2 weeks of packing hundreds of paintings, many car loads and trips to the new house with my paintings and 2 days of the moving trucks going back and forth between the houses with the household stuff and many plants. The new location here in San Miguel de Allende feels like a community with parks, tranquility and much closer to town than the last house in the campo. Garbage collection here is 3 times a week. That may not be special for you, but when we moved out of the last house, the garbage was pilled up in front for almost 4 weeks.

I had great help with the transport of the paintings and just today the stacks have been stabilized and the paintings are being moved off the floor.

The new studio is half the size of the last one, so creative placement is necessary. I don't need all the tables any more since I no longer have workshops with 5 or 6 people. I am concentrating on teaching advanced encaustic techniques to serious artists who want to do more than just watch the wax melt and marbleize. There is lots of light and ventilation in the studio.

We have been unpacking and trying to find things for 5 days. With wonderful helpers everything should be in place, more or less in another week. I have been moving things around to achieve the right energy flow.

So far, this is where we are.

view from the front door

There will be plenty of gardening ahead for me. This is a great place for art.

One side of the living room. I look forward to hanging art soon so it feels like home

The paintings that are going in the stacks in what will be the viewing room

encaustic figures and faces

Here I used oil glazes over several layers of encasutic; added transfers, that I muted with the torch and scraped into the painting for the highlights.

I have received some questions about painting figuratively in encaustic. I am not an encasutic artist. I am an artist using what every medium that I think will provide the solution to the artistic challenges I give myself.
I have worked in encaustic for 15 years, and oil, 60 years. Below are some examples of how I work in figuratively in encaustic.

This is one of the first figurative encaustic paintings I did about 9 years ago.

This was for a solo show of Mexican women. Note, I strive to use the hot, liquid encasutic paint to drip and layer. I did plenty of scraping in the background

This is still one of my favorites. I painted over another encaustic painting. I love the texture that added.

Catching Up and Weeding Out

After almost 5 days without an Internet connection at home, I have a lot of online things to catch up with. With the down time I had, I have been going through older paintings in the stacks and photos on the computer. Time to weed out what is not worth keeping and re-visit the paintings that I am pleased with.

Here are some paintings that I pulled out of the stacks:

My first encaustic portrait, done about 10 years ago

The above painting was made over an older abstract one from my color and surface work. I did it quickly and I still like it, Perhaps I should use older abstracts as the under painting of more figurative work. What do you think?

This is from a series I made about 10 years ago also. I collaged photos of San Miguel with ancient Mexican symbols that I carved into the encaustic.

 

I have several paintings left from the above series. All that carving left my fingers hurting.

These 2 are a diptych, "The Magnet" I was surprised that they didn't sell. I can't guess what will appeal to collectors.

"The Mask", encaustic on board, about 2009, 100 x 80 cm

More older work and maybe a new blog

 I am being besieged by hits on this blog from Russia. I can't image that my work is wildly popular over there. I am thinking that I may have to start a new blog. It would be a shame to loose all the years of posts.
I looked into the possibility of blocking those hits - they  do not come in as spam, but can't find a way to do that. Any suggestions?

A week of moving

It is a week today that our move began. Well, actually, there was a whole day before that that was just moving paintings.

All the paintings are in the stacks. There is a bit more arranging in the studio and it will be ready for students and new creations from me.

Yesterday we sent a good part of the day unpacking kitchen stuff. We certainly have a well stocked kitchen, combining 2 households of dishes and cooking utensils. We do have many duplicates and are planning a sale of a lot of stuff.

I bought in many pots of herbs that were getting burned outside and now we have an indoor herb garden.

My nasty cold has left me and I feel like myself again.

When the art is in place, it will really feel like home. I will start hanging paintings soon, now that the furniture has been placed. I will need my drill, the cement walls will not accept a hammered nail.

next step, getting covers for the storage areas

just some of the kitchen herbs

2 refrigerators

Encaustic and oil painting, Pay What You Want

 Please check out this video offer and let me know why you want this painting and what you want to pay for it.  http://vimeo.com/92954894

"The 3 Eves," encaustic, oil, gold leaf

 

Another modern icon painted in oil and encaustic on birch panels. I have used gold leaf behind the central figure and carved through the encaustic on the bottom to reveal the silver leaf.

"The Three Eves" On the right panel, we see Lilith, who in the Hebraic tradition is said to be Adam's estranged first wife. In one story,God created her and Adam as twins, joined together at the back. Lilith demanded equality with Adam and failing to achieve it, she furiously left him. In another version of the myth of Lilith, she would not succumb to Adam's demands that she lie beneath him during sexual intercourse. Lilith would not meet this demand of male dominance, so we see her in my work as a free spirit, self assured, joyful,powerful and independent.

On the left panel we see the typical portrayal of the biblical Eve. Shy, submissive, self effacing, she is the perfect follower of the superior male.

In the center I have created my version of a more modern Eve. The expression of the feminine that has finally emerged, after more than 2000 years. She is a whole woman, complete unto herself, and the combination of the goddess Isis, superimposed over the characteristics of the Madonna. The early Christian church removed all ancient symbols of the goddess and replaced them with a softer, self- deprecating, perfect woman in the image of Mary. 

I have used astrological fire symbols as as well as the Lion, that is an embodiment of the fire element, to indicate the burning of the old feminine image and clearing the path for today's woman.

Kai Winding

It is almost 31 years since my husband died. I still miss him.

This was the last time I saw Kai perform. Thousands of Japanese fans in the audience.

I was sitting on the steps to the stage, sketching, when Kai turned around to smile at me.

After a jam session with Chuck Manngione

Many people have asked about Kai.  I found a good summary of his life on line: http://www.answers.com/topic/kai-winding  

If you are interesting in reading my memoir : http://www.amazon.com/Ezshwan-Winding/e/B008GWWQ9W 

This is like being at Grandma's house!

I had 3 of the most delightful people in my workshop Monday and Tuesday. I had planned an advanced technique class, and then at the last minute, after I had gathered all the materials, the class became an introductory one. Since there were only 3 people, everyone got what was almost a private class and by the second day, they had experimented with several techniques beyond the intro level. Gary, a photographer, exclaimed, "This is like being at Grandma's!" You have everything we want just for the asking. I loved his comment and told him I would share it.

We joked a bit about being with Grandma (me) and Flora said, "No you are more like a mother, very caring, thoughtful and directly to the point. I have spent a lot of money since I have been in San Miguel, but this class was the most worthwhile." I said, "I have considered stopping teaching", and she said "You must never stop teaching. You have too much to share." My heart was filled to over flowing.

An encaustic demo

back to work

After a break of a day and a half, I felt inspired to go back to the studio. I could see what I needed to do to finish several paintings and put the second layer of oil on one that I had started last week.

A detail of the beginning of the next painting

I spent the last few days working in circles on one of the paintings I posted before. Finally, I decided I hated the painting and rubbed out all but the under painting. I also worked on a few others. These 2 are almost ready for the encaustic.