After the encaustic workshop

Well, my four day printmaking and encaustic workshop is officially over. We had a special visitor or two to the workshop to liven things up. Torbay Bight Studio is on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean in the town of Torbay, Newfoundland. Two humpback whales kept us company just outside the studio window giving us glimpses of their size and blowing prowess. I'm sure no other instructor has this kind of competition in their workshop history. The whales put on quite a show that caused participants to forget about their work in progress.

On close inspection I see the instructor, Laura Moriarty and her husband/assistant Wayne on the right whale watching! Not to mention Carol Bajen-Gahm who I partnered with to organize the workshop. Everyone needed breaks outside.

The workshop is over and its time to clue up and leave. Some participants stay around to unwind with a glass of wine/beer. Neighbours from up the street stroll down to chat and everyone gets in on the excitement of the day.

The following evening we had a BBQ and a bonfire on the beach below the studio. What a great way to wind up four days of sharing. The whales were still in the harbour and provided a calming backdrop to the crackling of the fire.

Being with the same seven artists for four days and having three different instructors gave great exposure to a range of techniques and individual applications. There's nothing like a workshop to get the creative juices going.

This is where all my creativity was unleashed. We had the best of materials, equipment and instruction for the workshop through the sponsorship of R&F Paints. I am excited that this partnering will continue for future encaustic workshops at Torbay Bight Studio.


It's good to know some of the participants are hard at work. Evelyn Peyton Murphy and Tara Bryan are enjoying their introduction to encaustic

I can't say that I produced any masterpieces in the workshop, but I did hone my skills in encaustic. I've done enough work in the medium to know what aspects of my application I needed to improve. I created small boards to allow me to do that . Some of them I will develop further into a finished art work, others will remain evidence of learning. I like to attach a sheet of paper to the back of work created in workshops to record what I learned and any new questions I might want to find answers to.

I'm in the process of photographing my work so it will appear in a later post.