Own a Piece of My Soul

I reluctantly put away the 3 paintings I was working on and began pulling older art out of the stacks. Some of these paintings were like meeting old friends again. It will be a big job getting the gallery and studio ready for my big sale, Sat. July 16 & Sunday July 17, from 1pm to 4pm, both days. Fortunately, I have my assistant to help me. First of all I will choose what paintings will be on display and make sure that they are in perfect condition. Some of the edges of the cradled boards need touch ups after being moved around in the stacks.

 I sincerely believe that visual art is the only art form where a collector can actually buy a piece of the soul of the creator. I hope many people will take advantage for this opportunity to own a piece of my soul at greatly reduced prices.

 If you are not in the area, you can still purchase a sale painting and have them shipped. At the sale price, the collector will pay for the shipping.

I've posted some of the work that will be on sale

I will get back to work on these after the sale

José Luis, my student and assistant

Lots of paintings to check

encaustic sale painting

Heavy textured encaustic

oil on board

encasutic

encasutic

oil and encaustic

How Did I Do That?

After all these years of making art, I sometimes wonder "How did I do that?" I study the painting  up close and try to remember what I used to get that effect or what colors were on my palette during that series.

I always work in series, with rare exception.The exception being when I am experimenting with different mediums and tools. When I am in that special series zone, my excitement and energy pushes me to eagerly keep going . Waking up exhilarated with new ideas,  I work on 3 paintings at a time to stay fresh.

In the series, Women Who Changed the world, you can see the continuing style in each of the paintings:  http://www.artsyshark.com/2015/11/02/featured-artist-ezshwan-winding/

Here is one that I made in about 2010. I still move in close and try to figure out how I did it. This painting of a street musician remains one of my favorites. It was done entirely in encaustic and I recall that I did a lot of scraping.

I published a book, Painting Faces in Encaustic, that I had to look at recently to see how I laid out the hot palette. Of course I had been using oils, almost exclusively last year.

Here's one that sold almost immediately out of a gallery. I must have been in an encaustic zone.

I seem to be out of any zone at the moment. I am awaiting 4 portrait commissions and perhaps it is better to let my muse rest, until it is time to begin those.

Archives and Sold Paintings

A little 6"' x 6" that was sold years ago. A friend's poem, printed on a wood cut is the background

The model for this encaustic painting bought it in 2006

I have taken the last few weeks to work on updating my website. I have added images to my online galleries and archived older work; some of which I had forgotten about until I moved tables away from the art stacks and pulled out older work.

I also found old encaustic paintings that I didn't like any more. I put them outside in the intense April sun here in San Miguel de Allende and the layers of wax soften rapidly and can easily be scraped away. I have a mound of old wax piled up.

I am starting to miss working in the studio, but the weeks of computer work has left my clothes spot free and my finger nails are clean for a change.

I hope I can reuse some of this.

How I made a figurative encasutic painting

This painting, Sewing in Chiapas, almost painted itself. I was working from a photograph that I took on a visit to San Christobal de Las Casas. It was for a solo show for a gallery entitled "A Time of Witness" influenced by  my respect for the women of Mexico. This particular encaustic image took a different turn. I used transfers of slain Zapatistas, and images of Palenque throughout the background and the woman's clothing. They are purposely subtle. I just wanted the suggestion of the woman's history, not a photographic display. I then added oil stain and colored encausitc and scraped back with a razor blade to the under lying layers for the highlights. A black china marker reinforced the black details.

This painting sold Wednesday night. I especially was attached to this one  and was happy to have it go to its new home.