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.

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Why Learn to Draw?

When I was a freshman in the University of Illinois, majoring in art, we had to spend the first semester drawing in black and white. We also worked from plaster casts and human skeletons. We kept drawing until the image was perfect. I loved it. One time I chose a dried corn cob to draw because it was the most complicated. I carefully rendered each kernel. 

Later in my career, I was sometimes belittled because I could draw. One comment I received in a group painting from a live model was. "That looks just like the model!" And it wasn't a compliment. I suppose that statement was supposed to undermine my creativity. Another opinion, from an artist working in a gallery was a scornful pronouncement was that drawing isn't necessary to paint. My answer was that since I could draw, I could paint anything using the same principles , and he could only paint non-objectively.

This classical training has served me well. If you can draw, it is the basis of all future art creations.

More reasons to learn to draw: Wrtiten by Hessam Moussavi, Lead Civil Engineer - Oil and Energy professional:

Improved Creativity

Improved Memory

Improved Communication Skills

Improved Problem Solving Skills

Stress Relief

More Positive Emotions

Release of Hidden Emotions

Increase of Emotional Intelligence 

Improving the Senses

Better Hand Mobility

Becoming More Observant of Details

I particularly agree with the last one: Becoming More Observant of Details, and I know it improves hand-eye coordination.

The images below prove that I am not stuck with just drawing realistically. I use everything I know about space relationships and composition that I learned in my classical training.

A pencil drawing done when I was 18 years old in my first year in art school

Oil and Cold Wax Abstract

From the "Her Journey" series

Encaustic and Oil

Cover of a Magazine

Seated Nude, Encaustic

Latest series, "The Lightness of Being" encaustic and mixed media.

Painting With Cold Wax and Oil.SOLD

The finished painting

The second day

            The painting pictured above was sold before the paint was completely dry. 

My work is in the Vandiver Gallery in the popular La Aurora that is the largest concentration of contemporary art galleries and design studios in San Miguel de Allende. It is housed in the trendy Fábrica La Aurora, a remodeled raw-cotton factory on the north end of town. And I am painting there everyday for the next two months. It is a good thing that I can work and talk at the same time.

I am paintings on small pieces of gessoed canvas, that I put in a white mat when finished. I also am working on abstract pieces. I'll photograph them and share later.

I am there Wednesday through Sunday. Since the Internet connection in the  Gallery is next to impossible, I have been working on small cold wax and oil paintings. There ventilation is not appropriate to use encaustic. When a painting sells, we have to leave the gallery and go to the coffee shop so I can access PayPal.

Along with wpainting everyday, I am getting to practice Spanish with the gallery visitors. I need to perfect the Spanish explanations of the technical aspects for painting with wax. 

I realized that many of the Mexican visitors to the gallery speak English better than I speak Spanish.

I am looking forward to teaching more workshops in cold wax, and of course encaustic. Even though, at this time. I don't have much time to work on social media , I did get my workshop blog updated: http://ezshwan.blogspot.com  

Follow me on Instagram. I post everyday. @eschwanwinding

How To Choose Art For Your Home.

A Williams Parks" oil in my bedroom

I worked as an interior designer for 10 years when I was the sole support of my three daughters and I always told clients that they should choose art as if they are choosing a friend. It will be something to live with for a long time, something that cheers you when you look at it, and is doesn't matter if it matches the sofa!

There are times when we outgrow our friends and our art collections. Both come from an increased awareness of what qualities we want in our associates and our homes. With art, often it comes with growing realization of talent, skill and message of the artist. You can learn about art by looking at a lot of it.

Whenever I was in a gallery or museum and encountered a painting that I didn't like, often I would sit down and study it. What was about it that put me off? What was this painter trying to say? What didn't I understand about it? Frequently, I changed my feeling about the work. Not always.

I share a home with a daughter who is also an artist and had been an art dealer in San Francisco for 18 years. She knows more about art than anyone I have ever met. We do confer about what gets hung in our home, and we know the importance of changing the placements of the art at least every 6 months. It is like seeing the art anew.
Here are some photos of the art in our home.

In the foreground are 2 of my cold wax paintings. In the background by the entrance, is an encaustic painting by Cynthia Hamilton

In the kitchen, yes art belongs in every room, is one of my favorites over a shelf. I do not remember the name of the Spanish artist, but I never get tired of looking at this moody piece. 

Living room. Left is an encaustic painting of mine. In the middle is an exquisite drawing of Arranz-Bravo, an artist from Barcelona. top right a Miró

Another of my favorites, "Carmen" oil on lead. 

An encaustic painting by Cynthia Hamilton in the guest bathroom.

Painting Portraits in Encasutic

setting up the hot palette and preliminary drawing

I have created and posted my encaustic online class, Painting Portraits in Encaustic. https://vimeo.com/ondemand/134921  It is an hour and 27 minutes of instruction, and step by step painting of a face in hot wax, encaustic. It is not slick. It is like standing next to me in my studio and watching me work. The whole class is $75 U.S and can be watched over and over.

If you have no experience in portraiture, you can learn the simple basics of drawing a face; how to measure and lay out the features from another class. https://vimeo.com/ondemand/21068

There is a Face Book page for the participants in the class to post progress, share and ask questions. If you have ever wanted to paint faces in encaustic, here is your chance. After you have purchased your workshop, contact me so I can add you to that Face book group. ezshwan.winding@artbyezshwan.com

Here is the portrait from the class

November Has Been a Good Month

 6 paintings and a print were sold in November.  I am completely recovered from the E-coli infection and parasites in the blood. I had been feeling listless, exhausted, with a daily headache and a queasy stomach. I didn't have the energy to create or plan future workshops. I felt as if some old person had taken over my body. I didn't know why until the lab tests.

Well, I am back, excited to make new paintings and to welcome students to my classes in encaustic; both beginning and advanced and oil and cold wax. I am even considering offering portrait painting in encasutic.

Tomorrow, I am off to Veracruz for 9 days. Life is good.

Encaustic Diptych

Oil and Encaustic on panel

Encaustic diptych

oil and encaustic on panel

6 paintings and a print were sold in November.  I am completely recovered from the E-coli infection and parasites in the blood. I had been feeling listless, exhausted, with a daily headache and a queasy stomach. I didn't know why until the lab tests.

A print of this painting was sold by Saatchi gallery

Not Too Pretty Anymore

If you saw my last post, you know I was not satisfied with the latest White Glove series. ( I am going to have to change the name, since I want to include black gloves also.)
I took a week's break from painting; 2 days for private  encaustic students, see  ezshwan.blogspot.com.
Then I took a few days off to nurse a sore throat. Today I got back in the studio and "unprettyed" several paintings.

beginning

Today- more work on this one tomorrow

working on 4. It's best that way so I don't over work,

from this...

to this.

What a Wonderful Surprise!

Today I opened the link to EmptyEasel.com,  This is an important site for all artists. Their tag line is "We are an online artist community sharing ways to create and sell art." If you haven't checked it out, you should.

 I clicked on the site and much to my surprise I found a wonderful review of my work. That was a happy surprise.

Silent, Beautiful Figure Paintings by Ezshwan Winding
By Dan in Featured Artists > Oil Paintings

 Ezshwan Winding is an incredibly talented artist  with over 60 years of painting experience (and over 9 years of teaching workshops).  Her extensive online portfolio showcases both her abstracts and figurative pieces, most often in oil or encaustic.

As beautiful as her abstracts are, however, today I’m going to focus solely on her figure paintings, and their amazing quality of silent communication.
A Moment in Time, above, is a perfect example of Ezshwan’s ability to somehow capture exactly what makes us human with just oil paint and brush. There’s no movement, no words, no music. . . and in fact, none of that is necessary.

I can still feel the moment, as if I was standing right there.
The model’s face is half-turned, one cheek resting on a languid hand as she slowly collapses into sleep. Her body is supported by the edge of a table, bunching her shirt at the shoulder while her arms and wrists sway in complete, silent, relaxation.

I feel my own shoulders relax, as I explore this painting. Maybe yours will too.

And Ezshwan’s other paintings are all just as full of quietly expressive moments just like that. . . Transformation #4 follows the dance of several green and gold butterflies, arranged just so around a woman’s face.

Clearly she is in motion as well. . . becoming something new; changing, transforming, her eye steadily regarding the future she desires.

Lastly, Transformed by Silence is possibly my favorite. The colors are especially vibrant; a wonderful contrast of orange and blue, warm and cool, with a patterned texture that blends the idea of abstraction with the truth of realism.

Just take a minute to relax, and breathe, and enjoy this painting. It’s worth it.

Then visit Ezshwan’s website to view more of her gorgeous work. http://www. ezshwan.com

Placing Art

viewing room

studio at sunset

viewing room and stack filled

Today I finally was able to place art in the living room. Now I have art in all the downstairs rooms and the viewing room upstairs.

Also, it was important to me to make a pleasant outdoor scene. The yard had been sorely neglected for 3 years and the area on the side of the house can be seen from all the windows, that are really all French doors.

A couple of trips to Home Depot for plastic grass and white marble rocks along with lots of plants quickly made this section of the yard more pleasant. It has been a lot of physical work, but there now is a special place in the living room to rest and enjoy the view.

Cynthia is painting her huge bedroom and arranging her studio upstairs.

hallway

high ceiling can take a lot of art

A cozy spot for an afternoon rest

2 paintings fo the "Messengers" series

back year where there will be a lot of real grass

Getting better