Picking up the pieces

I'm back from the encaustic conference and my extended holiday.  There's nothing like being exposed to lots of materials, art, artists and discussion to rev your mind into overdrive.  Sometimes having too many ideas is as bad as having none.

I'm packing away my new purchases and hoping the Visa bill doesn't arrive before the glow of purchasing wears off. You know how it is!

 

 It looks so insignificant but encaustic paint is pricey.

 

 My favourite - transparent colours

 Evans Encaustics ( I love the shimmer ones)

And these little beauties almost didn't make it past security in Toronto airport. When I said it was pigmented wax for painting I got quite a disbelieving look as he proceeded to swab it and report it wasn't a dangerous substance.  Good thing.

 

Kama ( a Canadian company in Montreal)

And two pigment sticks for monotype in encaustic.I love the fact they feel like a pencil; I seem to have better control with them. I already have 10 from my spree last year.  You can see I already had a go at paynes gray.

 My next step is to reread all my notes and make new ones.  That's how I synthesize my experiences and decide on a plan of action .

 

  In a week I leave for my summer house where I have a quiet studio overlooking the ocean.  It is contemplative and has great  light.  This is the first summer I'll bring out all my encaustic gear.  You might say it will be a hot summer.  

Here are some experiments for my  new series - Surfacing- poorly shot and cropped.

 16 x 16

And all of these are onl6 6 x 8

Who knows where these will all go.  My initial work usually morphs several times before I create the real work for the exhibition.

Road Trip

It's a lovely day  in St. John's as I put the finishing touches on my packing.  We're  setting  out for our 10 hour drive across the province to get the ferry to Nova Scotia.  Not my favourite part of this trip, but very necessary when you leave from the east side of NL.  It will take us three long days of driving to reach Boston  where I'm staying for three days before leaving for Provincetown and the encaustic conference and a two day workshop.Of course there will be tons of art viewing along the way.

 I have high hopes of coming back from this trip ready to create again.  My mind has already leaped ahead to a new series of work which will result in an exhibition.  I think Surfacing is a perfect title for my new series.

 

The image above is work number one and it's already at The Leyton Gallery.   I feel like the real me is surfacing again after all my health woes of the last six months.  Bring it on!

Surfacing

I wish I could feel like I was surfacing, but instead I'm totally immersed in getting work packed up to send to Nova Scotia for a solo show at St. Francis Xavier University Art Gallery.  Remnants opens on November 23 and I plan to travel for the opening.  An hour and a half plane trip and then roughly a two hour drive will get me  to Antigonish which is a beautiful town.  I'm sure it will be exciting. Needless to say not very much new work is being created with all this sorting and packing happening.

This is the last of the pieces I created at my two day paint in several weeks ago.  It belongs to the Surfacing series presented in the last post. You'll see many similarities.

2011 (6x6 in. ) mixed media encaustic on board