Birth, Death and Resurrection - of a Painting

I claimed and thought I was finished with the  series, Women Who Changed the World, but I was convined by another artist that the last painting I made when I was in pain, just didn't hold up to the rest of the series. I had to admit that it really didn't.

Now that I am feeling well, I decided not only to paint another Rosa Parks, but included a Mexican women in the series. That painting will shared in another bog posting.

Here is the first Rosa Parks

Next step; I asked my studio assistant to scrape off the oil paint, down to the encasutic.

Now, the new Rosa Parks is finished:

Christmas Eve at the Garbage Dumps

This is the second year that my daughter Cynthia and I have participated in Joseph's and Elli's project of distributing  food, clothes, water, toys, candy, cookies, sanitary products, dog food, baby products and more to the poorest of the poor who live in and around the garbage dumps in Dolores Hidalgo and San Miguel. All donated.

Hundreds of people line up to fill their bags with things that they need for survival. In the Dolores dump there is no water available, so that is a priority. The plastic tarps we use to spread out the goods are a prize to the few that get them.

Yesterday there were 15 cars, loaded to over flowing that formed a caravan to the 2 dumps. Cynthia and I were handling clothes. Hundreds of socks, coats, sweaters had been donated and were scooped up. There was nothing left when we finished.

I believe the photos speak for themselves.

My First Mexican Posada

Our Joseph and Mary

For years, I have watched children go to door to door reenacting  the scene of Mary and Joseph looking for shelter and being turned away.

Last night my daughter and I were included in an authentic posada with ponche (a hot drink made with dried fruit and sugar cane - and this one had a hefty dose of brandy.) We sang the songs, while the chosen couple played the part of Mary and Joseph. We held the candles, threw the lit sparkles ( to bring lots of light into the next year) and took turns at attempting to smash the piñta ( the devil)

A dinner followed and of course tequila and Mescal, not to be mixed. One or the other.

 

The beautiful table setting

The piñata before the attack

My first ponce

Rally for dessert and the tequilla

Recogition is nice

 Click below to see the short article about my my work in a local online magazine. It is nice to be recognized for all the years of showing my work in Mexico

http://loccal.org/articles/2015/december/ezshwanwinding.php  

Here are some more images from that series: all oil and encaustic on cradled board.

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private encaustic classes in San Miguel de Allende

I particularly enjoy having private students in my encaustic workshops. I can focus on each person's individual needs and desires. I work shoulder to shoulder with each one to produce an encaustic painting that is unique to them. I show them as many techniques as possible, depending on how many days we have together.

Here are some demo paintings that I created for the last 3 workshops. If you are interested in taking a class from me click this link:   http://ezshwan.blogspot.mx/

oil glaze over layers of encaustic enhanced with gold encaustic, using the hot pen

Many layers of color with blurred transfer in top

scraped transfer over colored encaustic

incised lines over many layers of colors

75 Paintings Made in 2015

 It's been a busy year. Even with suffering for 3 months with shingles, I managed to create a lot of work in 2015. Much of which is figurative., and one commissioned portrait. I thought the Women Who Changed the World series was finished, but I realized a couple of the images of the women I painted, were weak, and need to be destroyed and re-painted and I want to add one more woman.

I am happy with the 50 Faces, some of which I still have up in my home gallery. Sometimes, I look at them and wonder, "How did I do that?" I know that I get in a zone when I am working on a series and it is almost as if it becomes automatic painting.

Then there was The Messenger Series; Woman artists. All of these can be seen on my website, http://www.ezshwan.com

Now it is time to enjoy the holidays. I wish you all a happy and healthy season.

 Below is a link for a short article in an online event magazine for San Miguel.

http://loccal.org/articles/2015/december/ezshwan.php