The last three months were centered on family time, and their were memorable moments such as: our youngest daughter’s wedding, my husband’s retirement party, our yearly family reunion on July 4^th, and family visiting from out of state. Still, I managed to get some work done in the studio.

New works, new direction 

 In early March I finished a cat painting that started back in February.

Cat under the Eucalyptus  was meant to be a fun light painting, focusing on design, colors, and today’s décor .  The painting is a mixed media, using ink, wax and oils. 

Cat under the Eucalyptus 36x36"

The two following paintings were done in oil and cold wax.

Back in March I read an article by Janice Mason Steeves  about a workshop she attended working with cold wax medium.  Since I’ve worked with oils and encaustic medium, I was naturally interested in knowing more about cold wax. I had a hard time finding the material, but found the recipe on line and mixed my own, and began working with it, completing 2 pieces by late May. There must be many ways to applying cold wax, but my knowledge and technique is limited.  However what I found intriguing was the tactile surface I obtained as I laid the wax on the canvas.  These layers also made me aware of the visual layers that I was trying to illustrate below and above the water, which was the intent of the paintings.

Aquafarmwas inspired by a plein-air painting-sketch and photos, done in April at a friend’s aqua farm.  The second painting is Near the Surface, depicts our koi pond.

Aquafarm oil & cold wax on canvas 30x48"

Near the Surface oil & cold wax on canvas 36x36"

In these two painting, the water becomes the great divider from the dry world above to the wet world below. In Aquafarm, vegetation overlaping in layers above the glassy surface of the water, but below the water, the layer becomes murky. By contrast, Near the surface   focuses mainly on the multi layers of kois swiming above and below each other  unrestricted by gravity, plus the additional layers of aqua plants and leaves floating on the surface of the pond.

New Abstracts

 After completing these two paintings, I was ready to play with colors in an abstract space, combining them with tactile layers.  By doing this, I finally open myself to experimenting with abstract.  These four little paintings are the products of walking through that door.  I found the process intuitive yet intellectual and extremely enjoyable, perhaps because they were so small.

Pink Sand, oil on canvas 14x11"

Lawn Chair Oil on canvas 14x11

After a kildeer oil on canvas14x18"

Sun Spot oil on canvas 16x20"

                      

Plein air sketch.

Plein air sketch at Millerton Lake, Ca

 Yesterday I met with my Tuesday Plein Air Group from the Fresno area.  We went to   Millerton Lake, California.  We were just four of us, but the place was wonderful, filled with water foal, tree birds and an occasional coyote call in the distance, and the weather was delicious.  There I did some sketches while two of my friends painted with watercolors and the other used oil paints. 

I’ve been meeting with this group since March. Plein air painting is new to me, and I find it a chalenge to paint on a smaller format then what I’m used to.   I’m usually paint on formats, such as 26′x48′ .  also  my paintings usually focus on one subject or element.  But the great outdoors gives me so much information, that I need to weed out a lot.  Sketches will hopefully do that for me.  The plus of going out with this group is the comradery and the inspirations that I bring back to the studio.  Every time I go somehow I  capture and want to share something of God’s great creation.

                      

I just read an article by Daniel  Grant about  the dangers of painting outdoors and realise that I should post this little warning. 

This year, I’ve had the opportunity to go plein air painting on a weekly basis with the Tuesday Group, a group from the Central California Valley.  It has been fun, exiting, and somewhat challenging for a studio painter like myself. 

But plein air painting has it’s downsides as well.  Unlike the safety of my studio, I understand that I should always be aware of my outdoor surroundings and the possible  dangers from animals  such as  dogs, cattle , cuddly squirrels, pesky jay birds, snakes, bugs in general, and SPIDERS in particular,   possible sun burns and  heat strokes.   The list goes on…

 Three weeks ago, while plein air painting, I got bit by a spider.  I was not aware of it until the last evening when I though that I had the worst mosquito bite ever.  The next day I woke up to my finger throbbing and I discovered a big red pussy pimple over my knuckle.  First I thought that it may have been caused by a thorn, and then I suspected that it could be a bug  bite.  When I researched it on line, it was clear  that I had been bitten by a spider.  Thank God it was not recluse spider!  Time elapsed to 6 days when I Finally decided to see my doctor .  The infection was spreading instead of healing.  I got scowled for waiting so long, and ended up getting a tetanus shot and strong antibiotic for the next 10 days.  That seemed to have done the trick, yesterday was the last of my medication. 

I would encourage anyone to not wait as long as I did before seeing a doctor.  it’s not worth the risks.  In my case the infection could of spread into the bones,  since the bite was so close to the knuckle.  But go and see your doctor as soon as you can, you will have to anyway, so don’t wait.

                      

Graphite on canvas 14"X11"

Graphite on canvas 14"X11"

These  last two wednesdays I’ve  met up with the Wednesday Morning Live Drawing group at the Door Gallery.   The first drawing was of Angel White, our model that day.  Angel is also an experienced and creative photographer.  Her work can be  viewed at www.agelwhitegallery.com .  Yesterday model was Alexandra, a new model who also did an outstanding job.  These two drawings are on canvases.

                      

Well I’ve been experiencing a lot of frustration in the studio.  I have been working on the encaustic painting of the cat.  My vision for this work was not really coming trough. 

My first try

  On the first try, I felt that the colors were too soft and muddled, so I scarped them off. 

Second try

 I was pleased with the beginning, but, again, I felt that my large branches did not have enough contrast. 

Third try

I began loosing the clarity of my vision for this painting. 

Fourth try

This time it’s the same canvas, the same cat, but a different scenery.  Again it became muddled and confusing during the second stage.  I should have left it alone, or at least put it away, but oh no, by then I was so frustrated that I finally gave up on this painting and walked out the studio.  Yes, it happens to the best of us…

A new week

That was last Friday.  Now I’m on the rebound, and have renewed energy.  I’ve received my new order of bees wax, and have return to work, mixing my encaustic medium, and I’ve started a new painting.

                      

The holidays were wonderful, but it kept me out of the studio a little to long.  When I finally got back  in the studio, I remembered that the heater had broken down after the remodel, and needed repair.  Now that I’ve got heat back again, I’ve started some new work.  Here are the beginning of two new encaustic paintings.  On the green one I used the oil paint to define my design.  It’s on a stretched canvas, 30 x 24″.  The other one is on a smaller canvas 16 x24″

I’m constantly learning to manipulate encaustic as I try to paint my visions.  Encaustic medium is something I’ve pickup a little over a year ago, and play with it as I go along.  In my mid twenties I used to make batique paintings, so when I discovered encaustics I fell in love with the idea.  I went on line, read up about it, bought the supplies, got some information on how to mix it, and start painting with it.   Encaustic painting, also known as hot wax painting, involves using a hot damar resin and beeswax mixture to which colored pigments may be added, or it may be used as transparent medium. The hot medium is applied to a surface with brushes or metal tool. Pigments can also be applied between the layers of clear encaustics. Each layer is fused with heat.

I must admit I’ve experienced some frustration whenI think that the wax or the application will behave the way I want it to, but get disappointed when I discover that no, it’s not always so.  So  I start over again learning as I go.   Encaustic medium has a mind of its own, kind of like cats; they’re the ones training you.  Yet I love them both.

Talking about cats, I added one to the green painting.   I may also add a nest to the smaller paining.  My husband brought me this one that was left in our carob tree.  Isn’t it beauty?

                      

Yesterday, while I was going through my file cabinet, I was happy to find my little collage book that I began a few years ago with collages that were made when my children were young, some newer ones were added later.

The first collage is: “We shall soon find the way”

The second collage is Places to see

The third collage is: Places to see before you die

The fourth collage is: He knew he would have just one chance to impress her

The fifth collage is: Messing with Van Gogh

                      

Several months ago I posted “before” pictures of a studio in hope that it would embarrass me into accelerating my efforts to get going on the remodeling project. It’s all behind me now, and I’m happy to share some of the “after” picture of the project. Not everything is in place yet. The obvious thing that is missing is the art, which is stored elsewhere for now. My husband and I are still trying to come up with a system of hanging the work up without marring the walls. Meanwhile, he did bring in the old discarded library counter, and now it’s ready for me set up a large printer that my children had given me several Christmases ago, along with my old personal art computer. My sound system used to be a 1980 receiver and speakers which I was constantly playing with the wires in the back, as the music would fade in and out at will. Gone are those days! I would like to replace them with small computer speakers. I’m still scrounging around for a large 8’ rubber mat, and I’m thinking of bringing the old wicker rocker, which will be useful for visitors or me. Also, I’m so glad that my husband was willing to replace the lights; it will soon get dark by 6pm. Now every time I turn them on, it’s like “halleluiah… halleluiah, halleluiah, hallelu-u-iah!”

Entrance into the studio,  east wall

                                                                                                 Old library counter, north wall

                                                                                        Encaustic area, and book shelves, south wall

                                                                                                          Encaustic work space

Let there be light!

Looking at the entrance, west wall

Granddaughter’s mural and the crow that inpired her.

                                                                                 Crows eating from a red bowl  by Hailey, age 5

One of my favorite things in the studio is the mural painted for me by my 5 year old granddaughter. During her visits, he loves painting in the studio. I have been saving her works since she was 2 years old.  I even once added 3 of her early paintings behind a fish tank. It was  very attractive and unexpected to see abstract paintings as a background for gold fish. So when I was redoing the sink area, the idea came to me to put something of hers above the backsplash, making it less stark,  I also wanted something of hers as a reminder  that art is FUN. She was so thrilled with the idea that it took her a little over an hour to produce this painting.

 To see paint through childrens eyes is thrilling and wonderful! I must admit that I’m her biggest fan, and that I’m envious of her self-assuredness, and her innocence in loving what she paints. The painting is about crows eating from a red bowl. She tells the story as it develops on the canvas. What looks like a large eye is in fact her mother’s eye, she told me. The figure at the door is also her mother’s. Truth be told, I was expecting a large abstract, but by the age of 5, children are very keen at drawingand painting their world and adding an unfolding story as they go along.  In this picture,  Hailey was inspired by a stuff crow hanging from one of the cables stretching across the ceiling above her.

Now comes the question: How to protect the mural? Plexiglas or glass? I called around and found out that a thin piece of Plexiglas is actually the same price as a thin piece of glass. Also if you have a new drill bit it’s not necessary to pay $20 per holes for the screws to fix the Plexiglas. What I also found out is tightening the screw to tight is what actually what cracks the Plexiglas.

                      

Isn’t this a scary picture!!

This studio makeover project has taken a lot longer than I had anticipated. Now that the walls are repainted, the studio feels like a brand new canvas, and since I fully recovered from my knee surgery, it’s fun going back in and finish the project.

                                                                                                          Oh, Ok! Here’s a peak.

… it’s about crows.

My wish list to complete the studio:

                      

Bill and I first stopped by Aileen Imperatrice’s Ashtree Studio. There we saw her new paintings Shifting Boundaries. Aileen and I have known each other for at least 8 years. I also had opportunities to show my art in her gallery. It’s been interesting and enjoyable to see how we each have taken diverse paths on exploring our art. Her art is very thoughtful, and what also caught my attention is Aileen’s style. I feel that Her new abstracts have balance of contrast, such as between bright and subtle colors, and matt and sheen surfaces. They very deep and beautiful paintings.

We also stopped at the Fig Tree Gallery, where I was extremely glad to see some of Amy Kasai works. Amy was the single most influential art instructor of my entire college years.

Last but not least, Bill and I did not want to miss Marcos Dorado’s drawings of The 100 Faces of Fresno featured at Arte America in Fresno. I also met Marcos about 7-8 years ago during figure drawing sessions. Marcos excels and is skilled at portraitist, and in rendering the human figure. What I found so impressive about his graphite portraits was, that even though they were a hundred of them, Marcos found ways to render each of them with unique qualities, by making conscious decisions as to what to add or subtract from each compositions. Each drawings stands as very unique art work.