More Work in the Studio

These pieces are more like the work I have been making right along than those I showed in my previous post. However, they do complement the running stitch work and have a lot of the same elements but stronger color.

These first two pieces are untitled as yet. I am just calling them Vertical One (above) and Vertical Two (below). They are both 56"H x 16" W x 2"D on three panels. They are encaustic with metal, rubber, plant parts, oilstick, etc. The center panels were made earlier but I always felt that they were too short at only 20" high. The top and bottom panels express dimensionality in another way and extend the colors in the patinated copper of the center panel.

Vertical Two has a similar arrangement but I emphasized the copper's blue tone instead of green. The colors of the top and bottom panels are really beautiful in person, if I do say so myself. I think that this is actually my favorite of the two because of the color. The dots in the central panel are pearls but they have a very metallic look because of the transparent encaustic partially encasing them.

This one I am calling "Conception" because it seemed to evoke both a spinning star in the galaxy and a human egg. It is on two 24" square panels. Materials are encaustic, fiber, oilstick, oil paint, gravel.

Lastly, this is "Honey Glow" because the top part of the panel has a glow that seems like the color of honey with light streaming through it. This is 24" x 24" x 2" with the usual materials - encaustic, fiber and plant parts.

Here's a closeup showing texture although I'm not sure how much you can see and/or interpret from the digital format.


Thanks for making a virtual studio visit. The positive response I received on my last post was overwhelming and very much appreciated.


Next Tuesday: The Questionnaire features blogger and renowned interviewer Lynette Haggard.

Studio Visit With Myself

I checked in with Joanne Mattera's blog and enjoyed seeing a report of her studio visits to Pam Farrell and Steven Alexander - two of my favorite artists. Looking at studios is always fascinating to me and one of the main reasons for this blog. So I thought I would post a few images from my own studio that I took last Saturday since I am also one of my favorite artists. (Blushing modestly - but if I didn't believe it, why else would I bother?)

I took these photos because I had work hanging on one side of the studio that was all strong color and on the other side were the blacks and browns of the new rubber+encaustic constructions. Working between the two contrasts, I got a color jolt every time I looked up.

The color wall View 1.

Notice the third piece in - a vertical with red on the bottom. You will note that the top is now just brown wood with a spiral mark on it. That is the remains of glue that held a painted panel on it and that just fell off one day. The painted panel (encaustic) was undamaged except for a small chip. Just shows how durable encaustic can be if it's fused correctly. (I was glad to have passed the fall-off test.)

The Color Wall View 2 - the other end of the wall, complete with dying plant and photo area.

Here's the dark side - part 1.

And Dark Side Part 2. Above the piece at the right is a photo of great looking sculpture I pulled from a magazine. It's the same color as my piece but has an interesting shape.

This is a closeup of my worktable with one of the Subliminal pieces in progress. It all makes a wonderful mess - but that's what a studio's for, right? Oh, yes, a mess in service to a higher purpose.

More about the studio

I was looking at some photos to send to Pam Farrell for her studio image project (more about that later), and I started thinking about what a home the studio becomes for me - and I guess for most artists.

Here are some photos showing the first transformation of my current, luxurious space. I moved in at the beginning of November 2006 and had my first open studio the next month.

It's hard to believe that such an accumulation of crap could ever look neatly arranged and become a workable studio.

Yet, just a month later, this is approximately the same view.

Here's another "before" shot as you enter the studio. I was just setting up my storage shelves.

And here's the "after" shot with the conveniently-sized old painting used as a screen to hide the pile of crap still remaining behind it.

Of course, two years later, it has taken on that lived-in look.

Surprise - Happy New Year!

Wow, I forgot I even made this blog. What a surprise. Who knows what else I've forgotten?

So the last day of 2008 - not a bad year for me - how about you? Millions hurt but I had no money to lose and no house to buy or sell. I guess that's success, as redefined these days. I laughed, I cried, celebrated, mourned, all that stuff. I made a lot of work and sold some of it.

I was looking at that pristine view of the new studio I posted initially before I started to work in it. I actually took a few photos last week of the way it looks now, a couple of years later. These are three current views.

Lots of mess but lots of work, too.

It's amazing how much stuff it takes to paint a few pictures. It starts with a selection of canvases, but you have to have bubblewrap for everything and many paints and brushes and tools. Then you move on to panels so you need wood and a saw - maybe two saws - and more tools to add to the brushes, paints, cleaners, etc., etc. And if you work in more than one medium, you need all those supplies. Of course you have completed work and books about other artists. No end to it all. No wonder stuff always expands to fill any size studio.

I was reading about Sean Scully and the buildings he owns for his studios - thousands of feet. I could fill those easily.

I could probably fill those thousands of feet just with wax balls. When will I ever use them? They do make a nice centerpiece for Thanksgiving Dinner.

Being messy is one of the reasons that encaustic appeals to me. Amazing that such glossy, pristine-looking work can come from a mess like this. What fun!