New Paintings in the Works

I just thought I'd give you guys a peek at some of the paintings in the works. Some still need outlines, top glazes and frames, but you can see they are well are their way! I've got about a month to go until the show at Wesleyan....got to get painting some more.

Happy Birthday!

Yes, it's my birthday. I actually had to add it up in my head today as to the year it was. Let's just say I am closer to 40 than I was last year! It was a good day, lunch out, dinner out, calls in between. I've always loved birthdays, planning my own from an early age. My favorite, I'd have to say my 16th. I got a car. That's enough to stand out. I also didn't pass my driver's test the first time, another reason to remember that year. Ask me why next time you see me. Pretty darn funny, now. This painting is of Mattie on her birthday too. The last one I did in her party hat I entitled "Mattie Turns 30". I guess this year it will be "30 and Holding".

Rain, Rain Go Away!

Actually we could really use the rain down here in the south! It does seem though that every Tuesday for a month now it has rained! It must have inspried my Mattie in her Rainboots little painting.

Early Spring Blooms

This is the other painting I tried using the joint compound on wood. It is also 2' X 2' on a wood panel. Here is a detail so you can see the cool texture created by the compound. On this painting I actually used my oil sticks to color the green leaves and all the flowers. I only used the acrylics on the blue background.

Trying Something New

A couple years back I really enjoyed adding joint compound to my canvases as a way to achieve texture. Friday while at the mart buying for the store, Valerie and I came across some reproduced canvases that were just beautiful. The texture, colors and subject (birds in cages) really inspired me. I immediately recognized the background texture as being joint compound or medium. Needless to say I was at Lowe's that night buying 2' boards and a bucket of compound! Saturday the kids help me cover the 2 boards with the compound, it was messy fun! After I stepped back from the canvases, I decided that it just might work to carve into the compound with my woodcutting tools similar to the way I do with encaustics. So, here is a picture close up of step one. I've not done a nest in awhile, so thought I'd take a break from little flowers and Mattie birds. After patiently waiting almost 24 hours for the compound to dry, I painted with acrylics. Boy did the compound soak up the paint! I might try watercolor next time around! After this layer dried I filled all the carved lines in with oil sticks. Then rubbed, and wiped away all the excess with paper towels and a ton of canola oil. I still wanted more of the carving to show so I added silver and gold rub and buff to the ridges. This really popped the lines and added a little something extra.
I am really pleased with the end results. Overall the dimensions are 2' x 2' on pine board. It will be available at The Vintage-Flea for $300.

Painting with Wax

Those of you who don't know my background, here's a brief wrap-up of my art experience. I graduated from Auburn University with a degree in Fine Arts, many full moons ago. My concentration was in printmaking, the old fashioned, Albrecht Durer kind. I did lithography, engraving, woodcutting, linoleum cutting, embossing, etchings, and more. I loved it. Especially the photo transfer techniques in lithography, grinding the litho stones and carving the linoleum blocks. I've always been a bit of a doodler, not a portrait drawer, so carving lines was fun. But after college I was a bit lost on how to incorporate this printmaking degree into anything worth making a living at. I still had not quite developed my niche in the art world either, especially my subject matter. So, here I am 12 years out of art school and have found a new niche and love my subject matter! Oh how I wish those professors at AU could see me now. I think I could handle a critique 100% better than then! (Boy were those critques brutal back then!)

I've been working with acrylics and oil pastels for a couple of years now, and really like how they handle certain compositions. My best buddy and business partner Valerie started about 3 years ago painting in encaustic after taking an RF Paints workshop in Atlanta. She came back way enthusiastic about the medium and quite honestly, created some amazing works of art. Over the past few years I've watched her art mature and have been intrigued by her technique. The way she layers, then carves away, and creates these illuminating compositions is wonderful! (check it out at www.artbyvaleriedumas.com) So, when RF Paints offered a class this summer, I tagged along with her to check it out for myself. I still love my acrylics and oil pastels, but there is something about these waxes that is addicting to work with. And my favorite part? I love to build my board with wax so that I can then carve it with my trusty wood carving tools from my college days! This is my wax heating system, yes it's a pancake griddle. The wax melts and I use a natural brush to coat the panel with beeswax, medium and then colored wax.
After I get my background layer just like I want, I fuse it like crazy with a propane blow torch, manipulating some of the colors to mix together. Then I draw one of my little doodles on top with a pencil.
Once the composition is in place I dive in with my woodcarving tools, just like on a linoleum or wood block! It's so fun!
After all the marks are carved I stick it in my refrigerator to harden the wax quicker. Then I take it out and start the filling in of the marks with these really greasy oil sticks. Then just like preparing a printing plate for the press, I wipe and wipe all the excess oil stick off until only the lines are filled. My last step is coloring areas like the flower petals and leaves with oil sticks. Because I've used the oil sticks pretty heavily it usually takes a couple of weeks to really dry and be ready to sell. I forgot to take a final picture of this little flower field, but check back, because I will! I've not made too many encaustics, and the ones I do tend to be pretty small, but I use this medium as a great escape from the brush and canvas technique. And it gives my subjects a whole new texture, which I really love. It's also a bit cold in my garage studio right now so it keeps me warm!

Selling Art

Getting your art out there to the online public is a hard thing to do. I have noticed in my small collection of blogs I read, that once an artist is discovered by certain people, many doors open and their work appears on multiple blogs.....it's a total domino affect. I unfortunately have not crossed the path of such fame. Not for lack of trying mind you!

To make a long story a little shorter, about a month ago I contacted a company called wholesalecrafts.com to see about getting into their online catalogue. A very nice lady named Lisa Krause called and we spoke for awhile about the process and how to apply to get accepted (it is juried). She mentioned that I should call Lisa Kaus and speak with her about her success because our work had a similar flair and that I might like how her shop is set up online. Lisa Kaus??? Okay, she is one of my bookmarked favorite artists! So this wholesale crafts in my mind was definately legit if she was doing it. So, I e-mailed Lisa on a Friday afternoon and was busy playing in the store when she called me. Talk about a happy flea chick! You see, Valerie and I both get a little giddy at the site of artists we've admired, usually end up with a photo op, and place it on our website. So her calling was quite cool. We spoke for awhile about wholesale crafts, my website, and our art. She said she really loved my little encaustics and as soon as I got some finished up to e-mail her, she might be interested in buying. So.........I got motivated this past weekend and painted several little fellas and flower fields. I really like the flowers and will show you those later. I emailed her last night and BAM! She bought Corporate Ladder below. Yeah! I guess the circus visit is influencing my art a little now. How those guys walk on stilts I'll never know! So thanks Lisa! Hopefully this will open a door for me......time will tell. To visit her art go to www.lisakaus.com.