Wax workshops in Mexico

I have been teaching encaustic workshops in San Miguel de Allende for 13 years. It is a wonderful experience for me to share all the encaustic techniques that I know and use, and In the past couple of years I have included oil and cold wax classes.

The last 8 paintings of mine that have sold were oil and cold wax. I still love painting and teaching encaustic, but since I don't always use the same technique in my paintings, why not offer both encaustic and cold wax workshops here in magical San Miguel de Allende, Mexico?

Of course I have the online encaustic classes where I share 12 different advanced techniques.

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/4167?cjevent=196fa766da2911e8806800410a1c0e10

His first experience painting in encaustic

cold wax workshop

encaustic workshop, first experience painting in hot wax and resin

adding ink to the encaustic painting 

encaustic, ink, oil glazes, and transfers

studio with anti-fatigue mats for those hours on our feet

The online classes are just like standing next to me in the gallery. They are informal.

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

When Is It Finished?

That's the big question for a lot of artists. "Am I finished?'

Months ago, I re-worked an encaustic painting , I don't remember what it had been, before, but obviously I wasn't happy with it. I worked and worked; day after day. There was so much wax on it that it was getting very heavy.

When we moved in June, I put this painting away, still not completely satisfied with it; put it in the stacks in my viewing room, and then pulled it out a couple of weeks ago. I thought it was NASTY! I asked my assistant to put it out in the sun and scrape all the encaustic wax off it.
The sun began its work. 

Before the melt down

Oh No! Not Again

viewing room

Fun at the noisy, crowded Tuesday market. After a morning of shopping, sharing lunch  with friends.

 O.K, I might sound like the typical ex-pat that once she has been established in another country, wants to lock the door to the city to keep others out. I really don't feel that way, but for the second time in a few years the city of my home, San Miguel de Allende has won the top Travel and Leisure's vote for the best city in the word to visit.

Tour San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
'There’s a lot to love about San Miguel, a colonial treasure anchored by El Jardín, a leafy plaza marked by open-air cafés and the pink Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel church. Art and textiles are big here: Mexicans and expats alike pop into independent boutiques selling artisan-made goods, and no trip is complete without a visit to the Fábrica La Aurora, a former textile factory that’s been converted into a series of contemporary art galleries. Restaurants serving delicious Mexican dishes (rich moles, hot gorditas, stuffed chiles) are tucked along cobblestoned streets lined with historic houses. For one of the best views of the city, make a reservation at the Rosewood San Miguel de Allende’s Luna Rooftop Tapas Bar (this hotel also ranked as the No. 2 City Hotel in the country); margaritas pair well with the chiming church bells at sunset. " 

It is not that I don't think San Miguel is beautiful and special, but the town is getting so crowded that it is hard to walk through the center on the tiny sidewalks because of all the tourists taking selfies.
It has become almost impossible to drive any where close to the center because of all the big cars clogging the narrow streets that were not designed for monster cars.

The hotels, restaurants and bars are not complaining, but I avoid going to el centro unless I must get to the bank or post office.

Last Sunday, my daughter (who also lives here) and I decided to play tourist and go into town. After a wonderful brunch, I parked a distance away from the center and we walked slowly, admiring all the new fashionable shops, restaurants, and glamorous hotels. San Miguel has become very sophisticated and offers almost anything you could dream of wanting to buy - at a price.

The art scene is active and expanding. There are some wonderful galleries and shows.

I am blessed by having established myself 13 years ago when I arrived with just my clothes and paint supplies.

I have forgotten how many solo gallery shows I have had over the years; I have met wonderful people through the over ninety workshops I have taught and can't imagine living anywhere else. The art supply store has everything, I love my doctor and dentist and now the new house.

We are preparing to host more art tours. It took the longest time to arrange my studio, but now I have started my new series. Life is good here in San Miguel.

If you do decide to visit San Miguel, contact me for a studio visit.

latest cold wax and oil abstract

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Rediscoveries of Old Paintings

We still have a week before the moving day, but I have been going through things in the studio for 2 weeks. Yesterday my assistant and  I pulled every painting out of the stacks and I rediscovered paintings that I hadn't seen in years. One pile, I discarded. They had not stood the test of time, but others, I was happy to see again. Most of these were painted before I moved to Mexico 13 years ago and the encaustics were made the first years I lived here.

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.

Painting Prices Slashed!

It is time to go through all my paintings before the move and decide which ones can be discounted.
The new house is smaller and there will be a big painting sale, Saturday May 13th from 9 to 3 and many household items as well. Time to let things go! Here are some of the sale paintings. All will be at least 50% off retail and some even more. Come to the sale and choose one or more for your collection. If you don't live near by, I will arrange shipping. Contact me for individual prices.

Kai and Red, Nice, Jazz Festival, pastel on paper

"Almost Home" encaustic on board

encasutic

A Year of Painting

As the year is about to end, most of us review what 2016 has held for us.

For me health issues threw a few bumps in the road. The 5 months of shingles lasted into 2016 and then there were 3 issues with an abscessed tooth within 5 months.

Dec 28th while trying to make a left turn a truck crashed into the back of my car. I walked away shaken but unhurt. The car is a mess. The complicated negotiations with the police, the insurance agent and the other driver took 6 1/2 hours.

BUT, I am grateful for all the blessings that continue to flow to me; family, friends, clients, my spiritual path, a gallery show, a successful sale of paintings in July, and we have a precious new puppy;

 I completed 2 series, a portrait commission, some abstracts on paper and continue to teach private students who want to make encaustic painting that are more than just a nice surface:

Below are samples from the 2016 series and paintings:

commission

encaustic on paper

From Women Who Changed The World

Grandma's Picture In The Attic, form the series, "Memories"

Metamorphosis

From the series, "Pensive"