October is a big month for me every year, but this one has been busier than usual. First I attended the annual  International Encaustic Artists Retreat in Carmel and now I’m in the middle of Portland Open Studios.

The Retreat

For some reason I thought the retreat would be relaxing, but no so much. Thankfully what kept me so busy was meeting new friends, selling books, and opening my mind to new ideas and experiences. It was such a rush to be at “encaustic camp” with 65 other artists, all passionate about our medium. Our wonderful organizer, Cari Hernandez, has some wonderful photos on her FaceBook page.

Portland Open Studios

This beloved annual event turns 10 this year and is  stronger than ever! Visit the studios of a diverse group of 100 artists working in their chosen media including painting, sculpting, blowing glass and much more. last weekend was packed and I’ll be working again this weekend, so if you’d like to see how I paint with encaustic stop by for a demonstration:

Hive Studio
5417 SE Stark St.
Portland, OR 97215
Corner of SE 55th and Stark St.
Oct. 10, 11, 17, 18 from 10 am – 5 pm

I have the Portland Open Studio Tour Guides available for $15, which covers 2 adults for both weekends and the kids are free! Please contact me if you’d like to buy one, or come by my studio on the day of the event and pick one up. You can also purchase them at several other locations including ArtMedia and New Seasons.

Today I received the shipment I’ve been waiting for, just over 2,000 more copies of my book, Embracing Encaustic: Learning to Paint with Beeswax. I was anxious to get them because I was down to a mere 60 books from the previous two printings, but NOT anxious to get them all down the stairs to my basement for storage. Ugh. Sometimes I wish I had printed a brochure like a normal person.

Thanks to all of you who have supported my by buying this book, and all who have written me such nice notes thanking me for writing it. Please keep spreading the word at least 2,000 more times!

Beautiful work created by several students in my class including Suzanne, Zoey, Pat, Carol and Nan. Great work everyone!

I’m back from teaching a week long encaustic painting workshop at the John C. Campbell Folk School in beautiful Brasstown, North Carolina. Frontier Airlines managed to break most of my hot palettes on the way over so it was a very rocky start, but it ended with lots of new friends and 8 happy students. One of them even told me I changed her life, which is well worth the price of a few pancake griddles.

I’ve got some photos to share and even a short video tour of our amazing studio, then it’s back to reconstructing my own studio for classes in Portland. Enjoy!

Stephen masks out areas of his painting with tape while Lori experiments with a new color

Carol used alcohol inks on her board before waxing to get a nice effect

Guest artist Mary Farmer discussing her work with my class

Suzanne and Zoey look on as Mary and I ham it up.

My buddy Mary Farmer recently moved to nearby Asheville and was kind enough to join us for a day to discuss her process and approach to painting in encaustic. She brought two of her larger paintings which were a real treat to see in person. Mary is one of the artists featured in my book, Embracing Encaustic: Learning to Paint with Beeswax.

Stephens painting was a class favorite (left) and Lori was fearless in experimenting with color and line (right).

Patty explains the process to some visitors to the class.

Patty tried something a little more abstract here and it really worked (left) while this intriguing piece by Pat (right) was the result of one of her very first paintings.

Nan and Zoey try to finish a few more pieces before the show

At the end of the week each class shows work in the community room so we can see what everyone learned. I was very proud of the quality of art and how hard everyone worked all week. Even with long hours we still managed to have lots of fun!

And finally, here’s a short video tour of our very well appointed painting studio:

Thanks to all of you for a wonderful week!

Hey, look at me! I’m happy to be the featured artist on EncausticPaints.com! There are images of my latest work as well as a pretty extensive interview about how I got started and how I work. It would be a great exercise to take a look at these questions and answer them for yourself. I had a great time with it.

Here’s a big “thank you” to Jennifer at  Enkaustikos for taking the time to interview me!

OK, not stalking exactly, but I have been following them very, very closely since I was in college. The Starns are Mike and Doug Starn, identical twins who work collaboratively on photo-based art and more recently intricate art installations.

They made a big splash on the art scene when I was in collage way back in 19whatever by taking photographs, printing them with lots of dust, fixer stains and other “imperfections” then them ripping them up and putting them back together with Scotch tape. The visual effect was emotional and direct but everyone was screaming about them not being archival and falling apart in 10 years. I was totally torn on the issue until I saw their work in person. After that transformative moment, I spent as many hours with their work as I could for the final 3 days the exhibit was up. I was totally mesmerized! They taught me that you CAN break the rules of your medium, you just have to be open to what might come of it, good or bad.

My husband Bill and I had decided to treat ourselves to a couple of days in New York after the Annual Encaustic Conference and were looking for stuff to do in the area. I couldn’t believe my luck when I found out the Starns were having an open studio event for their latest installation, Big Bambu, while we were in town!

Their installation, Big Bambu, fills their huge warehouse studio

From their web site: “This artwork, in the realm of architecture and performance, starts as a massive tower created from lashed together bamboo poles and brings into space representations of complexity and chaos. Big Bambú will evolve through the continuous rebuilding and rethinking of the structure at all times.

The Starns are directing 8 to 15 rock climbers at a time, who are assembling the structure’s vernacular network in an ongoing action. Big Bambú is consistent with the idea of a self-healing organism; within this “fabric” of bamboo pole network, the artists expect that some poles will stress and fail, but that the structure will maintain some integrity. The tower represents the concepts of self-organization, adaptation and the interconnectedness of all things.” View their 3D Virtual video here.

Sadly, they weren’t there when we were so I didn’t get to meet them, but we did get to see the installation and so much more. Work from all eras of their career was hanging in the space along with several works in progress and some pieces that were in the middle of being packed for shipping. It was fascinating! Here are a few more photos from their amazing studio:

This is one of their color carbon prints which is about as tall as I am

Work from the Blot Out the Sun Series. Work from a later series incorporates clear encaustic medium as well.

Work from Attracted to Light, wrapped and ready to be shipped to the next show

I'm happy to see that even famous artists use regular pillows for packing!

We also made it to the Starns other new work called See It Split, See It Change (above), a multi-part, site-specific installation that encompasses the entire interior of the new South Ferry Terminal concourse, created for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Arts. Look for it at the South Ferry Station, 1 line.

The work features signature Starn artworks including silhouetted images of trees, mosaic maps of Manhattan, fused glass panels, and a stainless steel fence. It’s an easy ride to get there so if you’re in New York go see it!

Seeing Mt. Hood from the plane always signals that we're home

We’re finally back home in Portland, Oregon, and couldn’t be happier about it. It was a great trip but it was a little too long to be away from our furry kids and the studio. Bill and I both hit the ground running, already behind before we even left the airport. Since then I’ve unpacked and restocked my studio, finished and delivered two new small paintings (photos coming soon)  and taught a full day workshop. I also now have my work showing at one of my favorite galleries in Portland, 23 Sandy. What a week! If I owe you an email please be patient. I promise I’m working on it.

By the way, we had a wonderful time in New York and I promise to post photos as soon as I can. Look for them later this week!

After a wonderful day off with my husband Bill, I dove back into the wax world by teaching at the conference with my Stencils and Embossing class. Photos will have to tell the story this time, as I’m all out of words. Suffice to say that we had a wonderful time, laughing and painting. Thanks to all of my wonderful students for your enthusiasm when I  know you were already quite tired from the conference. Great work, everyone!

View other encaustic conference posts here.

In the Round featured the work of Kim Bernard and Deborah Kapoor, was installed in the Schlosberg Gallery. This two-artist show was curated by Montserrat’s Gallery Director, Leonie Bradbury who invited the artists to share the space. I’m sorry to have missed their gallery talk, but I can never get to everything I want to at the conference!

The Luminous Landscape, a self-curated group show show, was installed at Montserrat’s invitation in the second-floor hallway gallery. The Luminous Landscape collective is an international group that explores the subtleties of light and terrain via encaustic. Pictured above is my friend and fellow Portlander Kimberly Kent with her work on the left.

"Ah, What Then?" by Supria Karmakar, 2009

Wax Libris was a small exhibition that took place in the Paul Scott Library at Montserrat and focused on book forms, altered books and other small works in which text predominates. I missed photographing this one, but Supria Karmakar was nice enough to send along an image of her work from the show. Thanks Supria!

Cora Jane Glasser and Debra Ramsay offered their show, Material Matters, ingeniously presented in their own hotel room like an art fair! I love this idea which was referred to by many as “the rogue show.” I’m thrilled to have been able to purchase 2 small works on paper from Debra for my collection.

Julie Shaw Lutts had an engaging show called Artifacts at the Kensington-Stobart Gallery at the Hawthorne Hotel in Salem. Her paintings, collage and assemblage pieces  all have their own unique narratives that give you just enough information to get the story started and the rest is up to the viewer. Treat yourself to a virtual tour through her web site link above.

View other encaustic conference posts here.

I noticed last night that despite having a great time, people were starting to get really tired, with all of the (excellent!) demos, lectures and gallery openings taking a toll as we ran from place to place. I left dinner at 9:30 and went right to bed. (That last blog post went up at 3 am when I awoke and couldn’t sleep!) This morning people seem like they got some rest and are ready to go again. Every year I have to be reminded to pace myself.

I did the first demonstration of the day on Stencils and Embossing, showing how to use a variety of materials to emboss patterns directly into your wax surface, and then highlight that texture with wax, oil or pastels. I had full house with a very enthusiastic audience so we had lots of fun, I just always wish there had been more time to share my techniques.

Danielle demonstrated how to dip a photograph in wax

Photography and Encaustic, Danielle Correia

Danielle, who teaches for R&F Paints, encouraged us to break the rules of the traditional photographic print and explore the possibilities of combining photographs and wax in a variety of ways. She demonstrated color and b&w transfers and discussed archival papers, printing processes, and layering of photographic imagery.

I found the dipping process to be very interesting and realized that if I tried it on my own I certainly wold have done it too quickly. When you dip anything in wax it has to be in the wax bath long enough not just to coat the item, but to fuse to it as well. As she SLOWLY pulled the paper through the wax bath, she touched the edge of the hot fry pan, fusing the wax as she went.

Cynthis's extraordinary Firecracker book

Paper and Encaustic, Cynthia Winika

Cynthia, who also teaches for R&F Paints, showed us an amazing number of ways of working with paper and encaustic, include collage, transfer, dipping, pouring, working large, presentation techniques for paper pieces and applications for book arts. One of my favorite projects of hers was the Firecracker book where she paired another artist’s poem with her book pages created by setting off fireworks on sheets of paper then infusing the pages with wax.

Joanne's slide lecture on Wax at the art Fairs was a popular event

Wax at the Art Fairs with Joanne Mattera

(This talk was the next day, but as that was my “day off” I’ll include it here.) Joanne shared with us some of the painting and sculpture she saw at the art fairs in Miami Beach—not necessarily by “encaustic artists,” but by a range of painters and sculptors who have engaged wax as their means of visual expression.

I appreciated Joanne taking the time to show us the thought provoking work of these artists, many of whom I was not familiar with, but also to show us the setting in which work at art fairs is shown. It was an enlightening talk for me since I have never been to an art fair, and made me both want to attned and run away at the same time. It’s the same longing I have to attend the Olympics someday except for the cost and crowds!

Joanne is the founder of this conference and it would never happen without her tireless work on behalf of a medium she loves. Thank you Joanne, for all of your hard work year after year! And if you have not yet discovered her insightful art blog, and especially my new favorite Marketing Mondays articles, you are in for a treat.

View other encaustic conference posts here.

Please note: My internet connection is terrible from the hotel so I’ll get up what I can when I can. Links and other notes may need to be added later. Linda

Conservators in Conversation
Conservators repair and stabilize work, ancient or even relatively new, which has not withstood the rigors of time, storage, harsh handling or other stresses. The conservators on the panel have worked with encaustic objects and paintings–including ancient Fayum portraits, waxen murals, wax sculptures, and contemporary paintings. Contemporary artists can better plan for the future by learning how these experts have addressed problems from the past.

The panelists:
. Pamela Hatchfield, Conservator of Objects, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
. Carolyn Tomkiewicz, Conservator, Brooklyn Museum, New York.
. Kate Smith, Conservator, formerly of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
. Mimi Leveque, Conservator, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem
. Panel moderator: Joanne Mattera

My favorite quote this session was from Pamela who shared, “Jasper Johns once said he’d be a far richer man if he were the conservator of his paintings rather than the painter.” She also noted that one of the problems she’s faced in conservation is complicated corrosion issues when metal comes in contact with wax through metal armatures in sculpture or even certain metallic pigments.

Color Mixing, Hylla Evans
Why do mixed colors separate? Why does each color group behave differently in wax than it behaves in other mediums? What is a basic working palette ? This Q&A session was enlightening, discussing the use of split primaries and revealing the characteristics of certain pigment families and how they behave.

Stories Embedded in the Wax: Narrative in Collage, Elena De La Ville
An artist who works in a variety of mediums, including wax, Elena presented the work of 10 contemporary artists who use narrative collage, focusing on the storytelling element in their work. I was not able to attend this event, but Elena was kind enough to include several of my paintings in her talk.

Screen Printing, Jeffrey Hirst
This demo explored developing a hybrid image by using oil paint and oil stick screenprinting combined/ fused with encaustic painting. Screen printed imagery ranged from small fragments to full-scale images, and multiple printings were done on each painting, with the printed element functioning above and below wax surfaces.

Encaustic Collage Painting, Nathan Margalit
This demonstration included ways in which various forms of paper are altered through the use of the wax medium in combination with other media like printmaking, and assorted materials: gouache, chalk, oil pastels, watercolors and color printing inks, and how these prepared materials are applied and integrated into the surface of the work.

Show Openings

The openings for The Opposite of Beauty and Wax and Wane: Creation/Destruction, an experimental exhibition curated by Miles Conrad, were held in the 301 Gallery. They are both excellent shows and were very well attended.  The Opposite of Beauty was juried by Nicholas Capasso, Senior Curator at the DeCordova Museum. My friends, Gregory Wright and Elena De La Ville won the top prizes for their insightful work.

Wax and Wane is an experimental exhibition installed in Frame 301, the window space at the 301 Gallery. Conceived by artist and gallerist Miles Conrad, director of the Conrad Wilde Gallery in Tucson, it features an installation of the small dimensional objects made by his “Off the Wall: Encaustic in Three Dimensions” class at the conference in 2007. As conference founder and director Joanne Mattera explained, “You know the wax part of the title. As for the wane, we’ll see; it’s a sunny window.”  As you can see, even by opening night some of the objects had dropped from the wall because of the heat, but had not melted. The exhibition is under the direction of the gallery’s assistant, Maggie Cavallo.

View other encaustic conference posts here.