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

I Need a Title

 I started this series, thinking of old black and white photos with a touch of sepia to add to the aged look. This is the 6th painting in the series. I started with a charcoal drawing, then layers of encasutic, that I struggled with because my studio is sooo cold. The wax sets up immediately and it is hard to get it smooth. After the encasutic, I add oil glazes and do a lot of scraping; then add charcoal to emphazise the blacks. All that needs to be fused for permanency.

I am missing color. The next one will be more colorful. I am planning 6 more paintings. I feel a series needs at least 12 paintings.

charcoal on milk paint, on board

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

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.

What to do with a bad painting?

 GET RID OF IT!

It is depressing to realize that after several days of work, the painting is not good and not fixable. I spent most of the morning scraping the surface, then put it outside in the sun to melt all the layers of encaustic and finally put a couple of layers of milk paint over what was left.

ink drawing on milk paint

3 layers of clear encaustic

melting

just the ghost left.

Thanksgiving, 2015, I am grateful.

In San Miguel de Allende, where I live, I am spending my 12th Thanksgiving out of the U.S.

Many times, I have joined friends in restaurants, once or twice I made a traditional Thanksgiving meals, including the turkey, just for the smell, and my carnivore friends. I have have been a vegetarian for over 30 years, but on this day, I miss the aroma of turkey.

This year, it will be simple and small, my wonderful neighbors will come here for a feast for just 3 people. I can't imagine better company on this day. I am grateful for this couple everyday of the year.

To get into spirit of the day, I have been listening to NPR with tales and reports of Thanksgiving in the United States.

I am grateful for the people I am privileged to meet through my encaustic workshops. I have been teaching this technique for about 10 years and have shared it with almost every artist who had an interest in San Miguel. The last year, I have had mostly students from the States and Canada who are visiting this beautiful town. My classes have been predominately private. I enjoy  these especially  because I can focus on just what techniques the artist wants to experience and get to know the student personally. These interesting people, mostly women, are people I would never have met without the Internet and teaching.

I am grateful for my returning health and energy. And so much more.

Lucy was here Tuesday

Carol had her day, Wednesday

How to End A Series?

I always work in series of at least 12 paintings. I made 14 paintings in Women Who Changed The World. I have lists of more incredible women, but my gut told me, 14 was enough. I have worked for months. It was not fun anymore. Of course struggling thorough weeks of the pain Shingles didn't help. I am feeling much better now and am thinking about my next series. In the meantime, I am welcoming 2 artists this week who are coming for one day private encaustic classes. That is a good way to move on to something else.

Here is the short video of all 14 paintings:
https://vimeo.com/user20221715/review/146562085/ece8ca8972

Let me know what you think and about a good venue for exhibiting them.

I am exhaling today.

Rosa Parks,finished

I know I shouldn't  work when it feels like a struggle. What happens is that I just start moving paint without really seeing the direction I need to go.

When I carefully analized the portrait of Rosa Parks with a fresh eye, I saw that not only was the mouth wrong, but somehow during the painting process, her eyes had moved and were out of line.
Here is the completed and corrected painting.

New Painting, oil over encasutic

I am able to spend an hour a day in the studio now. The pain and exhaustion of Shingle is lessening.

I am continuing with my series; Women Who Changed the World. This one is Rachael Carson.

As with all of this series, I am painting over older encaustic paintings that no longer hold any interest for me. I fuse the first coupe of layers of oil over the encasutic to permanently bond with the back ground. This requires very good ventilation and I wear a mask.

I will be making at least one video of the entire process of how I work. Below, is the starting place; a non-object color study  in encaustic, and yesterday's work. I am almost finished, jut need to work on her hair and the background.

Now, I am really finished!

Here is where it started

stage 2

didn't like the face of the model, so changed it.

couldn't leave this alone. I need someone in the studio to grab the brush out of my hand

I had this painting staring at me every time I walked int the studio and I just couldn't leave it alone.The eyes weren't right; it was ordinary... I wasn't satisfied, so I kept working. More time on a painting isn't necessarily going to make it better. I added encaustic around the head; oil glaze; carved into it and rubbed on copper leaf. O.K. Now it is looking decorative. Time to put it out of sight.

I had told myself that I needed a break from the studio - except for teaching, of course, and I didn't follow my own advise.

Another painting I have been re-working is calling to me. Maybe I can ignore that call for another day.

"Long Ago and Far Away" no more work on this painting!!!

From Boring to Bad Painting

I wasn't quite satisfied with one of the cold wax and oil painting I had made, so I decided to work over it. Well, it kept getting worse and worse. I am tired of seeing meaningless paintings, whether figurative or abstract and I want to make work that is more edgy and interesting. I did not succeed, but I sure used a lot of paint, before I scraped out the mess this morning.

Today is another day and I will choose a face that isn't so sweet, and start over.

This is the one I decided to improve

Good bye. There is no hope for this

Jazz Paintings

For more than 12 years, I painted and sketched only jazz musicians. I traveled with my late husband to recording sessions, jazz festivals and concerts and always had my sketchbook with me, I drew with ink, working rapidly. The musicians were in action and I wanted to catch the energy. I converted many of these sketches into paintings that I exhibited at the Nice (France) jazz festival every summer. I continued to go to jazz clubs to sketch even after Kai died, but realized after a couple of years that jazz wasn't a big part of my life anymore, and moved on to other series. It is nice to look back and remember that special time.

The paintings are no longer available. All have been sold. One is in a museum permanent collection; another is in a college permanent collection.