No Thinking, Just Making :: Back to Basics

Last week was mini week. I finished creating 40 5x5in encaustic paintings that are currently on display at Miriam's in Monterey on Lighthouse Ave. She is open everyday from 7am to about 2pm.

With the 'Back to Basics' theme in place and mini panels on their way, it was time to work and think about each series. I have 7 series inside this large mini series. The work can be purchased on an individual basis or in a collection of five. In addition to the minis I also created a large triptych, titled, 'Under the Sea and In My Head'

So, No thinking, Just Making? Well there is some thinking involved, or my coffee would never be created in the early mornings as the dawn arrives in the valley. I had a conversation with a painter a while back when I felt stuck in my work in all mediums and the painter told me in the midst of our conversation, don't think, just make. Let the painting paint itself. I keep that in mind when my brain seems to be getting too involved and I reached a point where Im mostly thinking, and not making, which, inevitably makes for no production. So, No thinking, just making, let's go! The work unfolded on its own. I was up before the Sun everyday having a nice dose of granola, bananas, and auto drip coffee. I did all my business, paperless paper work in the wee morning hours as I woke up and waited for the light to warm up in the studio.



Being challenged to create so many paintings in a small amount of time is an interesting experience. As I was working I came up with different ideas and started to pursue them. I then realized I'm on a time line and although it may be a good idea, it needs more time to achieve properly. So, I have stored those ideas and they might actually be more interesting on a larger scale. My friend J.R. Uretsky is having different but similar experiences with her work. Different as in she is working on receiving her Masters degree from UCONN, similar in that she too is creating a large amount of work in a variety of mediums in short time spans.

For those of you who will not be able to make it to the half way through party this Friday the 13th, here is a shot of show. The large painting is almost impossible to see in the photograph what detail and the story going on inside. So, if you do live in the area, stop by and check it out.




Well here are the naked mermaids I was writing about in my previous post. Enjoy. I also used beans from Miriam's and her espresso cakes. This was my most challenging series to create and keep the idea of contrast in mind and not go so monochromatic. The show is up for the month of November. Additional images of the work will be posted on my Facebook account.

The Painting Made Me Do It

The past few weeks I have been juggling different tasks in and out of the studio. Turning 26 seemed to have come as quite as that big beetle sneaking across my bathroom floor. These next few weeks are a few one year markers for a variety of things in my life. But for now, I shall write about my work. I am currently working on a mini series inspired by the world around me. I am using objects and my love of the grid format and organizing to create a series of paintings. I will have approximately 40 5x5in paintings showing during the month of November. I will also have one large triptych I have been working on.




The large triptych :: I had these panels for some time and i have been playing around with them ever since. I had created these interesting paintings, good ideas but they always seemed like they were lacking something. I sat with the paintings in my space for a few months and with the upcoming show in Monterey, I thought this would be a great opportunity to work on the painting and get it where it really wants to be, which is the sea.

So, I took my paintings apart. For me there is always an underlying feeling of nausea and unease when I look at a painting im about to knowingly destroy. Sometimes I feel bad, as I look at it, and it looks at me. The painting and I have this moment which I can not really explain, but there is a moment and within this moment, I know, I can feel that the painting is ok with the change, and I have to be as well. I have to let go of all my notions and just go for it, full steam ahead. burn baby, burn and don't look back. Here are the photographs of two of the panels. before I destroyed them, which you never saw before either unless you are in my crit circle. :) These paintings both have bones I was collecting on my walks. I used a masking technique and heavy pigmented wax to achieve the bold...unrelenting shapes.





And here I go, With one already destroyed, there is no going back. Im going to iron it out and see how it feels. The painting took a few directions before we found the path we are on now. Anyone who has seen my work, or talked to me knows how in love with the environment I am. I love to read a good book about the ocean. "The Deep" is one of my favs, I have had this book for over a year and I still learn new things every time i open it up. There are amazing images in the book that really keep my imagination flowing. Science is rad I just love it!

I love to paint, I really love to paint and the weather is really testing that love. Im a layers kinda gal this day was one of the first times in a long time that my fingers were extremely cold after painting...with heat...but my friends, the show must go on! There are sunny days, warm days, days full of the chattering quail, and days where my lungs breathe in the crisp valley air and my eyes take in the changing color palettes on my hill.







Well on to the next. The work above is in progress and I have these small graphite transfers of all things underwater and even a few naked mermaids, even though the mermaids are NOT in any of my science books I think their cool. The painting made me do it. On to the minis!












There goes the Sun and here comes the Moon. Until tomorrow studio!

'Spirit Boats' showing at the Kathleen McMahon Fine Art Gallery in San Francisco

My new series of encaustic work is currently showing at the Kathleen McMahon Fine Art Gallery at 18th and Treat in the Mission District in San Francisco, CA.


I am exploring new avenues and working with different forms. I have 6 of these 4x8" encaustic paintings that slightly resemble a wall sconce. They were challenging to figure out what type of feeling I wanted to portray on this small and unusual space. These 'wall sconces' are very rad and as you can see in the above image they jut out of the wall at an angle. In person they are very engaging, hanging at a slightly higher eye level than normal, the angle of the painting brings you into it, playing with your imagination you might have left at the door.

All of this work incorporates contour line drawing in combination with pigmented bees wax and metallic oil stick, o, yea, and fire.

'Vampire Squid'

4x8"

'Goggly-eyed Glass Squid'

4x8"

'Ocean Sunfish I'

4x8"

'Mako Shark'
4x8"

'Letting Go I'

4x8"

'Pirate Ship'
4x8"

'Wasted Seamonster'
8x10x2"

'Ocean Sunfish II'

8x10x2"

'Great White'

10x8x2"

'Dreaming Boat'
16x20x2"

CLOSE UP of 'Dreaming Boat'

'My Anchor'

8x10x2"

'Xiphactinus'

20x16x2"

CLOSE UP of 'Xiphactinus'

Within this body of work there is a 'Letting Go' series. Like many of us in the journey of life there are things, feelings, and people you let go for a variety of reasons. I have been letting go of feelings and notions. Being who you are and not what everyone wants you to be can be a lot easier said than done...like most everything in life, right? Working on this idea and in this series has allowed me to explore thoughts and feelings I had been keeping locked up for some time. For each of you these paintings will mean something different or nothing at all. My hand and yours are releasing those emotions that are built up inside. Letting the ideas fly away with the sea.

'Letting Go II'

8x8"

'Letting Go III'

6x6x2"

'Letting Go VI'
8x10x1"

Back at the Ranch

This October has been so full of new adventures, friends, and learning about all different aspects in my life. October is a wonderful month of changing weather and landscape and life.





I have been having an interesting time in the studio. I have been in and out just like the rainy days here in the valley. Packing up and setting up the studio every other day is keeping me on my toes. The canopy is gone and im truly plein air painting...in wax...

National Encaustic Exhibition "Embedded Light" in Michigan at the Grosse Pointe Art Center

In conjunction with my opening in SF I also had a group opening in Grosse Pointe, MI at the Grosse Pointe Art Center. I found out 'Monastery Moment' won 2nd place in the show. The show was juried by Christine McCauley.

Swimming in Inspiration

After the IEA Retreat, I headed up North. I truly love California. From one rocky coast, to the next, this trip opened my eyes and heart. I traveled about 5 hours North of the Monterey/Big Sur coast to retreat to another coast where I reflected upon my IEA experience and my rambunctious journey as a painter. These last few weeks have been so inspiring in every little nook and cranny of my life.

So, Swimming in Inspiration huh? Yes, really. I had an amazing opportunity to go abalone diving for the first time in my life. Even though I grew up swimming on swim teams, playing water polo for my high school, and college and I live in one of the best places to surf, I have only been in the California ocean once, to learn to surf. So I was excited for this adventure to hop into the sea and snorkel away with the dancing kelp. I am a confident swimmer, my event in high school was the 500 yd Freestyle. O how I love distance swimming, which is why I wanted to be a goalie while I played water polo. I think those sprinters are crazy, but those sprinters told me I was crazy. Everyone has their passion, working in teams can be a great experience.

Well here we are. Go ahead, take a look around. Let me know when you are ready and we will go diving together.









...O...you are ready? Okay. Let's go, don't forget your weight belt you will need that and you diving license. I see you are wearing long pants, that's great, I know you just got over your poison oak from dancing in the Carmel Valley forest, so I will not have to tell you to be cautious of the leaves of three.






The Sun is setting so it is time to climb out of the water. I finally saw all those cool little creatures I see at the Monterey Bay Aquarium with in arms reach. My favorite part of the experience was being under the water, listening to movement as the tired Sun settles into the seas horizon. The way the Sun rays hit under the ocean, gosh, just so amazing, I felt like I was in a painting. It was a dream like quality that I had not felt before in reality. I have been snorkeling off the coast of Maui and Cozumel near Rivera Maya, but to have this experience in California, in my state, on my coast line, just amazing. All the animals I had studied in college I got to see, swimming with me! I was just so excited...SO excited in fact, I wanted to talk about it in the middle of the ocean but after I gulped a few cups of some sea water I thought it might be best for me to keep my mouth shut and enjoy the view before the sun goes to bed.


Alright, good catch. Diving for abalone is harder than I imaged, when you touch them, they suck on even harder to the rock, so you have to do a quick, one, two pop off, slide in your tool and 'pop.' Well have you ever had fresh sea urchin gonad straight from the sea? Well, here you go. If you want to try it at sushi next time you go, ask for Uni. Wow and Yum! Now that you have had your appetizer let's go cook up that abalone.




Just like the one, two, scoop and pop in the ocean, there is a little trick to keeping all the guts of the ab in one place, I believe this method will take a few times for me to get down. After all that is done it is a slice'em and dice'em extravaganza. Abalone steak anyone?





Abalone, very interesting and can be cooked in a variety of ways, I had it raw the first night and then fried some up the day after, and after that the third meal I had a fried ab sandwich. I didn't realize how much meat really an abalone has. This was an amazing experience to be with the earth and live off it too, just taking what you need and utilizing it in a variety of ways to eat.

I was able to go to the most western point of the States, Point Arena. It is amazing.






After this experience it was time to venture on. I don't know if you can imagine, but by this time, my brain feels so overly saturated with thoughts, ideas, color palettes, IEA and everyone I met, ideas that were introduced are still in my brain. Spending a few days with nature was perfect but as you can see so inspirational. The colors of the sea, the tasty gonads...ha...it is just so much for my brain to soak up. So, what next you ask, well, time for the City. I had an opening reception in the Mission District. SF is in the middle of an art extravaganza. So, to the CITY!







I am currently showing 16 new paintings in the Mission District in ActiveSpace at the Kathleen McMahon Fine Art Gallery. This new work was a lot of fun to create and brought me back to utilizing drawing in my work. I have a 'Letting Go' series which utilizes my line contour drawing skills in conjunction with my wax. If you are in SF the show is up through November. To check out the work, go here :: KMFA ::



Onward to Open Studios in the Mission. I was with two lively painting creatures :: David Molesky and Micheal Ross :: They are having their open studios on Market Street this weekend. If you are in the SF drop in, these two painters are such a delight and will no doubt have some stories to tell you that will slap a smile on your face and make you think. Arbor Studio is the name and it is filling up with great talent.






At the end of the night I found myself in a sticky little SF bar, dancing to 80's music, in my cowboy boots, never a dull moment.

IEA Retreat 2009

Last week was the 4th Annual International Encaustic Artist Retreat and Conference 2009. It was held in beautiful Carmel Valley. This was my second retreat with the group. There were about 70 artists that attended the retreat this year and growing every year. The retreat started on Thursday with everyone from out of town, traveling, and getting cozy. I was in the middle of wrapping up and photographing my work for a show in San Fransisco. Friday and Saturday were jam packed with information, lectures, discussions, note taking, networking, and eating. I truly enjoy being a part of the IEA for a variety of reasons one being the interaction and education I receive. Our lectures were Andrea Schwartz, Tom Burns, Tony Scherman: keynote lecture, Fresh Paint Art Advisors, Richard Frumess, and Pamela Blum. There was a panel discussion set up with all the guest lectures as well which is wonderful. I enjoy the vast range of perspectives and ideas that everyone brings to the table and is willing to discuss.

This retreat was different from last years. I am also different than last year. This year I am a full time painter so I noticed myself paying attention to different ideas and thoughts than I did last year. This years retreat gave me a large goodie bag that I will be able to pick and pull from for the rest of the year in relation to my professional career as a painter in 2009 and beyond. IEA has such a welcoming spirit and is a wonderful group to network with and even find friends who are just as much a wax brain as you are, or, I guess, as I am. :)

Take a look at the photographs I took during the retreat. To check out the official IEA retreat blog go here :: http://iea2009retreat.blogspot.com/

Here we go, I hope you are ready, because it is time to check in with Wendy and Judy, get your name tag from Chris and start the wax extravaganza. Ye-Haw! Let's Go!





One thing has remained the same, no matter where you walk and who you talk to, it is always fair game to discuss art, technique, composition, color palettes and heck, if you don't want to talk about that, then walk five feet run into someone else, and talk about something else. The IEA group is diverse with subject matter, life experiences and working in the 'art world' there is never a shortage of topics to discuss and laughter to be had.

Chris Paschke gave a lecture on the importance of framing, thinking about your projects before wax, and mounting your work.

Our first guest lecturer was Andrea Schwartz, from San Fransisco. Extremely informative on her gallery and working with artist.


Onward to lunch... Margaret Berry and Melinda Fellini...I met these lovelies last year, I saw Margaret a few months ago in NE. It is great to catch up and listen to the new projects everyone is on.



Up next is Tom Burns.


Tony Scherman: keynote lecture. Great work, interesting story.




With a full day of discussion and note taking it was time to release some energy...PROJECT!


The soldiers that were left standing took place in the annual...umm....make cool shit on a person from random things event. Always a hit!



Well, we all had lots of laughs tearing up t shirts and making them into something different working with people you just met and getting creative. After that the remaining troops sat for one cup of tea before we were all on our way to dream land thinking of everything that was discussed.



Well, on to a new day. Fresh Paint was giving a lecture on who they are, what they do, and opened the floor for discussion with all artists who have worked in a commercial, private, and public settings with their art. I found this discussion to be extremely helpful. Fresh Paints works with about 300 artists from all over the world and in a variety of works, from prints, paintings and murals.


The events from after this start to get blurry, I'm sure it was time to eat and break for a little as my notebook was filling up and my ears started to ooze wax it was time for a family portrait. Documentation is key, "I'm ready for my close up Mr. Deville."

everyone say beeswax.

OK, lets keep it rollin...Hey...did you get your cookie? Cause I did, and well, I did grab three of them, cause that chocolate cake at lunch just was not enough. Sugar check, pen check, notebook check, water check, now for my favorite part. The Panel Discussion! This Panel Discussion was very diverse and extremely educated which allowed for a highly intellectual discussion on multiple avenues that encompasses this thing called, professional painter/artist in the now.


After the discussion I found myself with a group of giggling, story telling artist...that NEVER gets old, I love story telling, it runs in my boisterous family.









Dinner was devoured and it was time for the ever exciting painting exchange. Different rules this year, which was wise since there were so many artists in attendance. So here we go ...'to the theeeeeeeeater' which just so happens to be prepped are ready to roll for demos and play tomorrow.



Here are all the good little artists sitting so patiently waiting for the basket to come around so that they can place their creative hard working hand in a swirl of paper and pick a number for the exchange. O how i LOVE the painting exchange! I gave one of my sweet Asilomar series. I was and AM one happy little painter, I picked a Judith Williams! It was her blues painters tape that so nice wrapped around the wax paper covered painting. I love painters tape, i think just for the name. The painting is title 'By the Sea' which is so fitting. Thanks Judith!




Wendy, Judy, and Cari open their new collections. After everyone opened up, it was time for a little show and tell. We brought all the paintings back to the hang out and showed them off. This was a great time to talk about the art, process and ideas behind your own work and those that sparked you.

The last day was quite fun but always bummer knowing your little clan of waxy professionals have their suitcases packed and thier boarding passes ready. We started the day with Pamela Blum...WONDERFUL work... she sparks a side of me that has been itching for a few months now. O yes, dare this painter say, lets bring on the 3-D. Im ready for another dimension in all avenues of my life. After Pamela's lecture the floor was open for...painting, exploring, and learning. O Pamela had this very rad torch clip, I will have to invest in one, it is very handy and super sexy I might add.








After Pamela's talk the creatives were set loose to work with wax. We regrouped and then members gave demos as one of the last events of the retreat.

Linda Womack, working with Schellec.

Mari Marks, Berkeley painter

Kimberly Kent, Oregon showing Plein Air Encaustic Painting. Rad.

With the last demos, the food was devoured and time for the meeting to wrap up and discuss our future. Then off to the airports, beaches, or in Nikki May's case, off to the big city of SF.





Well goodbye, goodbye! It was wonderful to meet you, break bread with you, share laughter with you and talk art. I will see you on the internet...lets be friends on facebook...until then!