Holding the Light

Holding the Light

detail

In this time of upheaval on the planet, I know it is important for all of us to carry our light, keep it bright and send it to all sentient beings. This is not one of my "masterpieces", but it was important to me to visually create my feelings.

new painting

detail

I felt as if I have been working on this painting for weeks, but actually it has just been one week. I don't know how some artists working in encaustic can knock out a painting or two in a day. They can't possibly be using the many layers as I am, or maybe they just don't agonize as much as I. I am thinking of calling this 24" x 24" painting, The Power of Peace.

A whole day in the studio

All week I was looking forward to spending a whole day in the studio.  I cleaned and rearranged it after last week's workshops.I was excited about preparing the boards with milk paint, a great substitute for encaustic gesso and easier that gluing white paper on large boards. I like it better than the gesso and lots better than plaster. I got into the studio early - my cat woke me at 4:30, so after my yoga, meditation and breakfast, I was ready to create a masterpiece. It didn't happen. I wiped out the oil painting I had made on the milk pain surface and set it aside.  I had been looking at the attached painting for a couple of weeks and decided to rework it. Many layers later I am happier with it. Can you even tell the difference?

Invitation to my home gallery

I invite you to visit my home/gallery/studio to experience and on-going exhibit and sale of encaustic paintings. After 45 years of painting with almost every other medium, I have worked exclusively in encaustic for the last 12 years, and taught this hot wax, resin, pigment, technique to hundreds of other artists, and non-artists, in the 6 years I have been giving workshops in San Miguel.

My work is in collections in Mexico, U.S and Europe and some samples can be seen on my website: www.ezshwan.com

Please contact me for an appointment and directions.

demos for the advanced class

molding and building

Fresh leaves as a stencil, over collage

water transfer - 6 minutes; acetone transfer - 6 seconds and an image printed on very thin rice paper

lots of layer, scraping, chain impressions, dry brushing

lots of layers, circles made with torch and ink details

first days of March workshops

Check out my other blog to see photos of the work made in this workshop.http://ezshwan.blogspot.com

Judy Wise

Please check out Judy's blog. See the link at the right of this post.

New Youtube video

The Process of a Painting. I previously posted this on this blog, but now it is in video.