Artist Talk and Experiencing Spots of Time

Becoming More, 24 x 48, encaustic on panel, (c) Linda Womack

A show of my new work, along with the work of my student and friend Fred Swan, has been up for a few weeks now with a wonderful response. Fred and I will be interviewed by show Co-Curator Chris Haberman this Saturday at the gallery from 2 – 4 pm to give the audience some insight into how this show came about and how each of us interpreted the theme.

Seeking Solitude, 11 x 14, encaustic on panel

Artist Talk
People’s Art of Portland
700 SW 5th Avenue, 3rd Floor
Pioneer Place Mall, Portland, OR
March 31, 2 – 4 pm

The concept for this show comes from what the English poet William Wordsworth called “Spots of Time” which he saw as small, memorable events that occur mainly when we are in touch with nature. According to Wordsworth these spots have lasting quality and are capable of  “lifting us up when we are fallen.”

In that spirit, Fred and I collaborated on a window installation by creating multiple panels of paper and wax that are thin enough for natural light to penetrate, filling the space with energy and movement. In using this thin paper we traded some durability for dynamism, but we encourage viewers to gently touch the panels and make them move. Many of the panels also have holes which allow you to peer through and experience your own spots of time.

Fred and I worked in my studio to complete the panels we had each started separately, and bring them together into a cohesive concept for the show.

Spots of Time at People’s Art of Portland

Earthly Hopes, 12 x 28, encaustic on panel by Linda Womack

A show of my new work will open next month, also featuring the abstract encaustic paintings of one of my students and friends, Fred Swan. Many thanks to our curator Chris Haberman for coming up with the title of the show which comes from a concept the English poet William Wordsworth called “Spots of Time.” These are small, memorable events that occur mainly outdoors and in touch with nature. According to Wordsworth these spots have lasting quality and are capable of “lifting us up when we are fallen.”

Deja Vu Times Two at Oakridge Park

Do you think you could recreate one of your encaustic paintings in a larger size? That was my challenge recently and it was an interesting exercise.

Shadows Reveal, 36 x 48, Encaustic on panel, (c) Linda Womack, 2011

I recently sold several of my encaustic paintings to a local firm for placement and they chose four, including one of my largest ever, to complete a lobby in one of their new buildings. The only problem was that 2 of the pieces were too small. Their logical question was “Can you remake them in a larger size?” My answer to them was YES of course, but I wondered to myself just how closely I could really match the panels.

What Cannot Be Torn Away, 12 x 28 (top) and What Can Never Be Torn Away, 14 x 36, both encaustic on panel, (c) Linda Womack, 2011

These particular pieces had texture on the panels and a watercolor under painting as well as many layers of wax and pigment, so they weren’t exactly simple, but I thought the challenge would be fun — kind of a game — and it was. I was very pleased with the results and I’m happy to say that my clients were as well.

Call for Encaustic Art

CALL FOR ENCAUSTIC ART: Juried by Wendy Aikin and Daniella Woolf, WAX hopes to introduce the public to the diversity of methods and techniques currently employed by contemporary encaustic artists. Two and three-dimensional work will be considered. Show is at the Pajaro Valley Arts Council in Watsonville, CA. Deadline 2/3/12.

Finding Balance with a Quest Test

Happy New Year, or as we say in Hawai’i, Hauloi makahiki hou!*

Shameless Passion, 13" x 13", Linda Womack

I’ve been sick during the last half of December and haven’t had the energy to write a new post so I started reviewing my older posts from years past. I’m glad I did, because I really needed to see this one again. I hope you’ll enjoy it too!

As many of us do this time of year, I’ve been taking a look back at all I accomplished, but also those things that slipped away. I often hear from friends and even strangers how amazed they are at all I cram into my limited time. “You are everywhere!” is a phrase I hear often and while that can be good, it might also be a sign that I’m spreading myself too thin. I think 2012 will have to be more about balance. I made good progress with that last year, but more work can be done, and I have a plan to help me succeed.

One of my big problems is that I have trouble saying no. Big trouble. Can you build a web page for our event? Sure. Serve on our Board of Directors? No problem. Volunteer a few hours a month? Of course. Now don’t get me wrong, all of this is good stuff and I don’t intend to stop doing all of it, but if I ever want to make a living from my art and let the other job go, then I have to be more restrained about where I offer my time and energy.

Online Classes: More Time/Same Price

After living in a new house for a while, did you ever decide that you wanted to rearrange the rooms to make better use of them? Something like that has happened on WomackWorkshops.com. After some valuable feedback from students, we’ve decided to change our classes to better fit how you want to learn.

Starting now, you can begin any class immediately–no waiting for a class to begin! If you can buy it, you can watch it right now. What’s more, you have access to all the videos, class notes and community chat for six full months from your day of registration. Your instructor will answer questions online during the first seven days of every month, and you’ll be able to discuss your projects with other students in your class during the entire length of the class.

All classes are under $50 and gift certificates are available for the perfect holiday present.

Art in Abundance

What a week! It’s true that events in December tend to clump and overlap, looking for just the right day to stand out from the crowd, but last week was one of the busiest I’ve had in a while. I had art openings on 3 consecutive days, with lots of art and excitement to go around.

Portland Visual Art Exchange

Lisa Kaser, Tuque, wax & felt

I was thrilled to be invited again this year to the 6th Annual Portland Visual Art Exchange. A big thanks to Becca Bernstein, Sally Finch, TJ Norris and all their volunteers for all of their hard work!

Over 50 artists were invited to exhibit one piece of original work in a week-long, invitational show hosted at the Littman Gallery at Portland State University (PSU). The exhibit culminated in an art trade and public reception where the participating artists went home proud new collectors from some of the most talented artists in Portland.

I was thrilled to receive a wax and felt sculpture by Lisa Kaser, and my work went home with Bill LePore, Chair of the Art Department and Professor of Art at PSU.

Oakridge Park Opening

Four of my paintings are featured in the third floor lobby of Oakridge Park

Shadows Reveal, 36 x 48, Encaustic on panel

We celebrated the opening of Oakridge Park last week with 45 new apartments serving Lake Oswego area seniors who earn modest incomes. This is my second project with Northwest Housing Alternatives (NHA) who provide a wide range of affordable housing  options and have the foresight to include original art by local artists in many of their projects. I’m honored to work with them through Kent Art Brokers.

The Big 200 Art Show

One of my 10 paintings for The Big 200

A big thanks to Chris Haberman and and Jason Brown for inviting me to be in The Big 200 Art Show (formerly The Big 100), hosted by People’s Art of Portland. I’m guessing that name may change again as there were over 250 artists by last count and over 2,500 art work available at the show.

Invited artists are each given 10 small wood panels and let loose to create whatever they like, knowing that all panels will sell for just $40 each in order to allow just about anyone to afford an original piece of art. This is an exciting show because when the art is hung there are no names included with the work which evens the playing field. Art from a very well known artist may be sitting right  next to that of someone in their first art show, but all you need to care about is DO YOU LIKE THE WORK? I love this idea. The show was absolutely packed and my husband and I came home with 4 beautiful new paintings, all by artists who are new to us. The show is up through January 10 so check it out if you can!

One of my panels in place on the BIG wall, middle row, second from right

New Source for Collage Elements?

I recently received this wonderful note from a regular student in my online classes. Congratulations Jane!

“One of my encaustic collage pieces was just juried into a show at Artworks here in Richmond, so I wanted to let you know and thank you for the great online workshops……I used everything, including The Great Undo!* The skeletal leaf was brought into the house on the back of one of my dogs, so you just never know where you’ll get a collage element!”

Work by Jane Porter, a student in my online encaustic collage class

* The Great Undo is one of the lessons in my Encaustic Collage class which shows you how to quickly and easily remove parts of your encaustic painting that you don’t like. As you might imagine, it’s a VERY popular lesson.

Photographers Love Encaustic!

I taught my Encaustic & Photography class last weekend in my Oregon studio and had the pleasure of working with 3 amazing photographers who made beautiful work. None of them had much (if any) experience with encaustic but here is a small portion of what they were able to create in just two days:

This photograph by Lara Blair was already a beauty, but when she cut out the horse and made her own sky with the encaustic paint the movement was highlighted dramatically. As a great example of the sculptural properties of the wax, the mane of the horse is raised slightly, giving the painting more dimension.

This collage, also by Lara Blair, is a combination of photographs on different weights of paper and some faux gold leaf around the top edges.

The work above is by Sandra Nykerk who traveled all the way from Gardiner Montana for this class.  This image of a rock within a rock was printed on tissue paper then highlighted with pastels. It’s a shame how hard it is to photograph encaustic, and I didn’t do this piece justice. It’s so luminous!

This work is by Maro Vandorou. She rarely works with color so the image above is an exception and the one below is more similar to the rest of her work. In the photo of the roses, we poured the wax over the surface of the photograph instead of painting on layers of wax. That gives the image a dreamy feel and a perfectly smooth surface that is very enticing.

Maro’s self portrait was made on tissue paper and adhered to a board with wax, letting much of the clear medium show through.

If you’d like to join me for an Encaustic & Photography class, check the schedule online anytime at http://www.embracingencaustic.com/workshops/. If you can’t get to Oregon to see me I’ll come to your studio via my online classes. Check them out at http://www.womackworkshops.com.

New Video Based Online Encaustic Workshops!

I’m thrilled to make my big announcement — my new video workshops are now available online at WomackWorkshops.com!

Our online video classes bring an art teacher with international experience right into your studio. Work at your own pace, get personalized instruction, and interact with a community of like-minded artists. Best of all, every class is just $49 US with six months of access to videos and the class community.

I’ve been teaching in-person in my studio and around the country for years, but availability has always been limited to a handful of students per class. At the same time, so many of you have expressed interest in my workshops over the years with the regret that you live too far away to join me. To solve both of these problems my husband Bill and I decided to offer video classes, delivered online.

Here’s How it Works

• All videos are available immediately so you can work at your own pace.
• Your purchase gives you six months of access to the videos starting the moment you purchase the class.
• The class includes an online forum where you can chat with the instructor and other students, share photos of your work in progress and post finished work.
• The instructor will answer forum questions several times daily for the first 7 days of each month.
• You’ll also benefit from discussions with all of the other students throughout the duration of the class.

For those of you who haven’t tried encaustic painting before the new web site even includes a free video on how to set up your own encaustic studio.

Join our mailing list to be notified when new classes are added (click link and look in right column).

Can you help me spread the word?

Please forward this link to a friend or two who you think might be interested. I’ve announced this on FaceBook and Twitter recently too, so if you see those posts please “like” them or retweet. Many thanks…

5th International Encaustic Conference

I’ve just returned from yet another amazing trip to the Encaustic Conference, this time at a new location in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Conference Founder and Director Joanne Mattera outdid herself once again in terms of an exciting array of demos, lectures and events over the three days of the conference and the workshops immediately following.

This event attracts artists all over the world and this year there were 35 states in the US represented as well as artists traveling from Canada, England, Mexico, Brazil, Spain New Zealand. The conference was held in Provincetown this year which allowed for some changes to the format and new venues for post conference workshops.  I think Joanne found an excellent partner in working with Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill and its Executive Director, Cherie Mittenthal, who was wonderful to work with.

PROVINCETOWN

Our first night in P-town was spent at the Lobster Pot with my very happy husband Bill, Mike and Kathryn from Enkaustikos, Kimberly and Judy, my buddies from Portland. This was a great restaurant, not to be missed! They even had a nice steak for me (I’m allergic to seafood). Other restaurants we really enjoyed were The Squealing Pig, Bubalas, and the Portuguese Bakery which had real Malasadas like I get in Hawaii! Our best find was a place called Moby Dick’s in Wellfleet, where Bill said he had the best smoked oysters ever.

We managed to fit is several outings to the surrounding areas and I’m so glad we took the time to do it. Provincetown has so much to offer!

  

This is the view from the top of the 252 foot tall Pilgrim Monument in the middle of town. The web site  refers to the climb as a “heart-healthy walk to the top on 116 steps and 60 ramps,” which by the way is totally worth it.

We booked a dune tour which took us by the famous “dune shacks,” the simple beach cabins of numerous artists and writers during the past century. You can see one here in the upper left area of the photo. Below are cranberry bogs surrounded by sand dunes. It’s gorgeous out there!

Bill and I also treated ourselves to a sunset cruise on our last night, relaxing in the warm breeze. The Pilgrim Monument is way off in the distance.

GALLERIES

On Friday night we made our way to the several openings at galleries that were showing encaustic work in conjunction with the conference. We visited the Kobalt Gallery (above), Ernden Fine Art,  Bowersock Gallery and my favorite show, Surface Attraction curated by Joanne Mattera and Marla Rice of Rice/Polak Gallery (below).

Later we discovered the wonderful Galeria Cubana, which didn’t have encaustic work but did have some fine paintings we enjoyed very much. Nancy Natale has a nice wrap up of the gallery shows with lots of photos on her blog, so I won’t duplicate her excellent efforts.

CONFERENCE

The conference itself was excellent again this year, with so many wonderful events going by almost in a blur. I’m including some photos below to give you a flavor of the event, but you really have to attend to understand the importance of this conference to those of us who work in wax. I hope you’ll be able to go sometime.

This year I was on a panel called Mastering Media, a discussion about marketing the art we’re all working so hard to make. I spoke about getting my book, Embracing Encaustic, from and idea into reality and many of the successes and bumps along the way. The audience seemed to really like hearing about all the craziness that went on behind the scenes. My fellow panelists were (from left) Jeff Schaller, Nancy Natale, me,  Cherie Mittenthal and moderator Joanne Mattera. Thanks to Corina Alvarezdelugo for allowing me to use her photo here.

This was our little posse for the weekend. Back: Kimberly Kent, Bill Womack. Front: me, Judy Wise and Jess Greene.

Lisa Pressman gave a wonderful lecture with a behind the scenes look at several encaustic studios.

Greg Wright had the crowd cheering for his demonstration of working with shellac, inks and powders to make patterned effects. “Do you want to go a few minutes more?” he asked…

Jackie Battenfield, author of the excellent book, The Artist’s Guide: How to Make a Living Doing What you Love, was our keynote speaker. She got the crowd all revved up and organized in thinking about what we should be thinking about next in our careers.

Here’s part of my work in the hotel fair, a new addition to the conference line up. I’ll bring more next time, now that I see how much we all love to shop!

David A. Clark went all out with new work just for the hotel fair and a true installation style. Brilliant! Lisa Pressman has more photos of her room, which includes a piece I bought from Marybeth Rothman. Can you guess which one it is? It will be included in my next post along with my other purchases.

POST CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS

There so much to do before, during and after a class, especially one that you travel to teach. Because of that many teachers will offer to assist a colleague on a pay it forward type of arrangement as I did this year.

I was the assistant for Charly Weissbach’s Mainly Metals class at Castle Hill during the post-conference workshops. Charyl taught her students how to work with most things metallic, from paint to powder, pigment sticks and even metal leaf. Charyl was the assistant for my friend Kimberly’s class last year (see below).

  

Kimberly Kent had an adventurous class again this year with plein air painting in encaustic. See the little camp stoves and torches they are using? It’s not for the faint of heart, but if you’re up for traveling with your wax it will allow you to paint directly from nature. And who is that little rascal in the cap? Yup, our own Joanne Mattera trying something new.

And that’s a wrap for this post on the 5th International Encaustic Conference. Nancy Natale and Lynette Haggard surprised Joanne with two huge cakes and a card signed by all to thank her for her efforts in making each conference so special. Nancy is pictured here with Cherie and Joanne on the right, wearing special hats for the occasion. Indeed, thank you Joanne!

View my posts from all 5 conferences here.

Encaustic & Textiles at Kimball in Park City Utah

Upon A Singing Wind, 24" x 24", Encaustic, oil, fabric, foil

Usually the show comes first, and then the catalog. This time the process happened in reverse beginning with Daniella Woolf’s book called Encaustic with a Textile Sensibility which featured 4 of my paintings. This “gallery between pages” showcases the work of more than 20 artists from the US and Canada who paint in encaustic with techniques often used in printed textiles or woven cloth. That book is the basis for this unique exhibit.

Kimball Art Center
Park City, Utah
June 4 – July 31, 2011

My work, Upon A Singing Wind, was started while a friend was in hospice and finished shortly after he died. My work often reflects on the residue of our lives and what impressions are left after we are gone. In this case the frayed fabric pieces were the perfect material to  represent how my friend was slowly untethering from this world. After he passed I added the last bit of fabric to signify his departure from a life well lived. Though we will miss him,  the image is meant to be seen as more joy than sorrow, with all the chaos of this world far below his newly released spirit.

I’m honored to have my work in such amazing company, alongside several artists I’ve admired for years. If you’re in the area I hope you’ll be sure to see the show.

Navigating a River of Echoes

My new series of paintings called River of Echoes is finally starting to take shape. When I start in a new vein I always have to warm up and let myself just paint whatever comes out, then I see what’s of value to me and what’s not before deciding on a new direction. It’s kind of like a painting vacation.

This work has a weathered look that has a lot to do with memory and the artifacts left from simply living life. Do you ever hear that buzz in your head while you’re trying to go to sleep? I sure do. Its the sound of all those things you just couldn’t get to today reminding you that they are still awaiting your attention. The trick of course is the find a way to suppress the noise until you can pick up the thread again tomorrow. I used to make a list in order to “empty my brain” before bed, but now I process most of that visually and that potential buzz instead becomes those abstracted glyphs, full of energy, that you see moving across my paintings.

Rise Against the Wind, 12 x 28 by Linda Womack

We are constantly bombarded by information from the radio, TV, the Internet, even the guy mowing his lawn across the street. It seems likely that some of that background noise sticks around as well, not just the important words.  These also find their way into my panels, along with relevant stories of the day.

What Cannot Be Torn Away, 12 x 28, by Linda Womack

I started working on the piece above about a week before the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan. At the beginning it was painted vertically, with the intention of relating to water but the idea hadn’t totally come together yet. As I watched those enormous waves wipe out everything in their path in Japan I cloud barely comprehend what I was watching. It was clear that many of those families had lost all of their worldly goods and only their memories would survive. My mind replayed those images as I finished this work a few days later and after I turned it horizontally and added a few shadows this piece became a reminder of What Cannot Be Torn Away.

Fierce Thoughts, 12 x 12, by Linda Womack

One of the ideas behind this new work is that strong words leave strong impressions that can’t be easily erased. Some words are so hurtful that it may feel as if they’ve left a physical mark, like a slap in the face leaves a bright, red hand print. Other words are so loving that you still feel their caress years later. I think it’s important for us to decide which ones we allow to become part of our story, and especially which ones we unleash on the world.

Below are a few other pieces from this series. I’d love to hear what your interpretations are of them in the comments section.

Destinies Entwined, 18 x 24, by Linda Womack

Reclaiming Hope, 14 x 48, by Linda Womack

Fury Like Fire, 20 x 16, by Linda Womack

Replenishing My Spirit

My husband Bill and I recently got away for several days to my hometown of Kailua, Hawai’i. Until we arrived I didn’t realize just how much I needed the break. The unrelenting cold and gray of the Northwest takes it’s toll on me and coming from a sunny, warm climate most of my life it’s been quite an adjustment. We’ve been here 12 years now and I’m starting to wonder where we will retire. I love Portland, but IT WON’T BE HERE. I’d love it to be in Hawaii but that’s not practical just yet.

In the meantime, I use the islands to rejuvenate my body and spirit, and to feed my creative soul. Much of what I soak up here finds it’s way into my paintings, through color, texture or subject matter. We were very lucky with the weather and were able to get in lots of beach time and visit with family and friends. One of the most exciting things I get to do on these vacations is — nothing. I actually had time to sit and enjoy watching waves, clouds, shadows, foliage and yes, even a little rain — warm rain — and it reminded me that I can do these things at home too. And now I will.

Lanikai Beach on O'ahu is always my first, and last stop.

Views like this one from Makapuu light house inspire the colors in my paintings.

The blues in the channel around Rabbit island are even more brilliant in person.

I take many photos to help inspire color, light, layering and texture in my paintings.

This painting was directly influenced by my trip to Hawaii. Can you see it? It's called Long For A Moment, 18 x 24", encaustic and mixed mediums

The Message Becomes Clearer

Work from a new series. Flowing Forth, 8" x 8", (c) Linda Womack

In the last couple of months things have finally slowed down a little for me in the office, allowing me more time in the studio. It’s always an interesting balance between arranging the shows and actually creating work for them! In the new year I plan to teach fewer workshops so this trend can continue, so if you see a class you like take it while you can. One of the biggest benefits of this is time to consider what I’m painting and why, as well as time to experiment and play. And I think I’m on to something.

I’ve always had a strong connection to words and text in my work. It started maturing as full stories about my childhood in a loosely written text as you see below in my earlier digital work with “Knew You Could”. Yes, that’s me in my majorette uniform, determination etched on my face. My sister tells  me I often show the same face today which probably got me where I am!

Knew You Could, Digital Collage, 20" x 16", (c) Linda Womack

As my work changed, so did the text. Eventually my work had just a word here or there, or even just part of a word included in the work. There was a short time where there was no text at all, but it was always in my mind.

After a while I came to see that is was just the shapes of the individual letters I was interested in, and recently those have been sprinkled throughout my work (tiny gold letter on right side of the one below). For me the letters are a reminder that everything we say has an impact on those around us and that influence sticks around in one form or another. Once spoken, you can’t take words back. I visualize those words as breaking apart and falling to earth or floating on the wind where they become part of our history for better or worse.

Surrounding Courage, Encaustic and Mixed Media, 13" x 13", (c) Linda Womack

Songs Never Cease, Encaustic and Mixed Media, 48" x 36", (c) Linda Womack

In the painting above the letters are from stencils or handwritten script in the background (upper third, right and left), taking a back seat to the other imagery that became prominent in my work throughout the past year.

As the year comes to a close I’m finding the text is becoming more important to me again, but this time it’s an abstraction of the letter forms I’m interested in. It seems the look of the text is coming full circle visually, but the representation is the complete opposite. Instead of helping me preserve stories from my past these forms represent the stories that have been lost over time. Stories told too rarely become muddled and impossible to understand, lost to time.

The large painting at the bottom is called Mixed Messages, 25" x 25", (c) Linda Womack

I’m not sure exactly where this is all headed yet, but I’m excited to continue the journey. I encourage you to take a look at your own work and see if you have any patterns emerging that you might want to explore. Give yourself the gift of time and perspective to see what your muse is trying to tell you and you many have some wonderful surprises in store for the new year!