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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

The Truth Hurts

My daughter, Cynthia, came back from San Francisco last night and today I took her into my studio. She took a long pause and said, "Mom, don't sign that one. It is too pretty." She had other comments that I took as "never let this painting out of your studio and paint over it" ; also adding "you make beautiful paintings, not pretty ones."

The sad thing was that after an hour of mentally making excuses, I knew she was right. There is no saving this painting. I am posting it before it is destroyed. I will ask my assistant to sand it smooth and  gesso over it.

 I trust Cynthia to be completely honest with me. She is an artist, the most creative person I have ever met, and has had the experience of being one of the top art dealers in San Francisco for 16 years. She given me the inspiration for some my best series over the last 20 years. And she doesn't try to flatter me.

If you remember, I have been having a struggle with this paintings. I knew I overworked it. I faced it everyday with a bit of a knot in my stomach. I was determined to make it work. Trust that gut feeling! Just because there is a lot of time and paint on the surface, does not make it a good painting.

Particularly since I am in the last chapter in my life, I do not want to make weak, poorly painted art with no reason for being.

I have more ideas for the next paintings and I am glad that Cynthia is home to keep me on track.

"Foods and Flesh; Palette-able Pleasures"

In January and February of 2004, I made a series of smallish oil paintings of nudes and food. I associated food with nurturing and with women. I painted intensely, as I do with all of my series. When I am in a zone and engrossed the the energy of a series, I don't want to stop.  I stop when my muse leaves that particular zone.
 

If I were more commercially minded, I would make the same painting, with some variations, over and over, year after year.  I just can't do that. I get excited about a new concept and technique and just have to explore different subjects and styles.

Here is what an independent art curator in San Francisco said about this series:

"Foods and Flesh; Palette-able Pleasures"

"Throughout history artist have relied on nudes, food and landscapes for inspiration. 

In Ezshwan's body of work entitled, 'Foods and Flesh; Palette-able Pleasures', she blurs the image of food and body and their implications. The subject of food becomes a metaphor to the landscape of flesh (nakedness). The nude is more than a muse. The singularity of food is more than a prop in a still life.

For example, an empty banana peel lies at the feet of a sprawled female torso. It speaks of the vulnerability of the flesh vs. the ironic comedy of life. The nude floats at the feel of "nurture mort", unguarded.

In "Whipped Cream", the relationship between nudity is reversed; the figure is vigorous, commanding the composition of the frame and of the cream.

There is lusciousness of Ezshwan's brush that helps evoke the sensuality of the subjects and the connotation we have with the foods in question.

These paintings are not on my website. To see more recent work:http://www.ezshwan.com

Heavy on My Mind

Juicy Tomato, available

Game Hen, available

Apple, SOLD

Choice, SOLD

A Loaf of Bread, a Jug of Wine And... SOLD

Pomegranate, available

Broken Egg, SOLD

Clams, SOLD

The Banana Peel SOLD

Whipped Cream, SOLD

The Rewards of All That Work

March is women's history month and our show is part of that energy.

Months of work went into the open house we had last Sunday. My daughter, Cynthia Hamilton created our living room into a showroom for her pillow designs, "Once Upon My Pillow" and I showed my series" Women Who Change the World" to the public for the first time.

All the pillows are made from recycled natural fabrics, hand embroidered

Patti uses her treadle machine to construct the pillows. She has no electricity and can only work during daylight hours. Her husband has been without work, so she supports her family with her sewing

Candaleria does the hand embroidery so she can be home with her daughters

Just a few of the 90 pillows that were on display

Cynthia said “I created Once Upon My Pillow from a long-felt desire to do my part, my part for my community, for my fellow-woman, and for the environment.  With the help of women in San Miguel, and under my guidance, we created these pillows from cashmeres, silks, cottons, and the most unique trims and buttons, to design and make one-of-a-kind, boutique, pillow cases, all hand-made from 100% recycled materials. I had a desire to help local women work from home; stay close to their children, and explore and expand their natural creativity; hand embroidering and sewing with a treadle sewing machine, using 100% recycled materials.  I do most of the cutting and all of the designs and encourage my Mexican assistants to use their creativity.”

The attention that goes into each pillow is similar to a Chanel jacket but without the price tag.


Her Mexican assistants lives have become interwoven with hers. Of course it is challenging and time consuming for her to find the perfect garments to cut up to make beautiful designer pillows; however these are pillows with a purpose.

Ezshwan researched for months, deciding whom she would include in this series. ”I learned much about women that I knew of only superficially. I choose women whom I thought made significant changes in our world. There are many more, but I focused on 15. I could have continued indefinitely, but I felt it was time to move on to a new series.”

Creating Challenges and Solving Them

The last painting I posted posed a real challenge. After removing the offending figure, I was faced with what to do next.

I cut cake recipes out of an old, yellowed Joy of Cooking and collaged them over the figure. I added more encaustic and oil glazes and still I had a big empty space. I scraped with a razor blade and used charcoal to pick up the textures. Still not right. My daughter, Cynthia Hamilton, suggested words. You can see the result below.

Creating and Solving Painting Problems

I put a painting that I liked out in the sun to lightly fuse some oil paint into the encasutic. Ops! I didn't lay it flat and I forgot about it. I lost the freshness and had to scrap off the mess.

Working over it , I finally realized that the figure on the right was ruined and the best thing to do was get rid of it.  I created another problem. What am I doing to do now? I'll keep you posted on the progress. At least I hope their will be progress.

detail

detail

I realized the figure on the right was ruined

Now what?

Scraping away the dark

 I finished another painting in the Memories series, ( I think that is a better name than Remembrances ) . I am going to take a break and clean the studio and get ready for an encaustic student tomorrow. It's a good thing, because I feel as if I have stopped seeing the work. When that happens, the best thing I can do is put the work away and not look at it for a while.

charcoal sketch on milk paint on board

several layers of encaustic and oil glazes

transfers and charcoal

I did a lot of scraping. I though it was too dark

Feeding the Chickens

I thought this painting was finished, but when my daughter, another artist walked into my studio, she said "I love it", followed by "What are all the rocks in the background?" Since I had chickens in mind when I painted the background, the shapes looked like chickens to me. At first, I thought there was nothing I could do about the "rocks" since the ink drawing was under many layers of clear encaustic, but after checking Goggle images, looking for chickens feeding, I saw that I could do some scraping and draw a bit with very soft charcoal. I added some more oil glazes and carefully fused all that into the wax surface. What do you think?

first image

cradled board, so the painting doe not need framing

last version

detail

A Painting From Start to Finish

This new series is evolving in its own direction. The technique is something new and different for me. I am starting with an ink drawing over milk paint on a board. I choose milk paint because it creates a porous surface that is compatible with encaustic. After I get the ink drawing to meet my satisfaction, I apply several coats of clear encaustic medium. It has been challenging because my studio is cold and the encasutic hardens fast and is difficult to get as smooth as I would like. I've tried putting the painting out in the sun to warm the surface before applying the encasutic, but as soon as I bring it back in the studio, it cools off.

I use oil glazes for color and charcoal to get the blackest blacks. Both the oil and charcoal have to be fused to the encasutic for permanence. I then go in and do some scraping with a razor blade and/or a ceramic tool. Here is the result.

Me and the Boys, 100 x 80 cm. $2,800

Process of a New Painting

Do you remember the painting that I destroyed? I scraped off as much encaustic as possible and covered it as well as I could with milk paint, and started a new one.

Here is the process of the last several days:

You can see the ghost of the other painting

ink wash on milk paint

Iwill make some corrections on the drawing and I can start putting on the layers of encaustic

Grandma's Photo in the Attic

When I was a child, there was a large photo of my Mother's mother on the wall in the attic. My grandmother died before I was born, but I visited that image often and hoped she could hear my conversation and connect with me.

This painting is the second in my Remembrances series. The photo of Grandma is long gone, but this has been inspired by those memories of our time spent together.

It is 60 x 80 cms. ink, encaustic, charcoal and oil paint on cradled board. @Artfinder.

Starting a New Painting - Again

I got rid of the bad painting and began a new one. I found that I hadn't completely removed every bit of encaustic, so the ink wash is reacting a bit differently.  I am adding charcoal for the blackest blacks.

Here is the begining of the cover-up painting. The ghost of other one can still be seen under the milk paint.

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