New work, new medium, new colors-

Row, row, row your own boat

cold wax mixed media

20"x20"

The Last Best Place

encaustic mixed media

20"x20"

Just wanted to pop in and share two new pieces I finished up over the weekend. I spent much of last week messing around with cold wax medium and oil paint.  Have you ever used it?  There's not too much information out there on it right now, but a new book is coming out later this year and on-line there seems to be a lot of interest in it as a medium.   I really like the texture and the matte finish it offers and the fact that is it speeds up oil paint dry time so you can work in many layers over the course of a week or two.  I used palette knives for mixing colors and for application, mixed in pigment stick, oil pastel crayon and collage elements.  It's fun to mix it up a bit and explore new ways to work.  The 2nd piece is straight encaustic on the bottom and pigment stick, collage and encaustic on top.  The colors of summer are making their way into my work and the tiny bits of color peeking out here in the upper midwest tell me that it truly is just around the corner.  And on that note I wish you a warm, bright and lovely week-

-b

Night Swimmers....

Night Swimmer No. 23, No.24, No.25 & No.26

H a p p y W e e k e n d !

-B

the road that leads to infinite possibilities and exciting news i think i forgot to share-

The Road That Leads To Infinite Possibilities

14" x 20"

 We make decisions everyday that lead us down one road or another.  This piece celebrates the way that yes changes everything. You know the old saying about 'everything in moderation'?  Well, I think I'm going to have to go with saying no in moderation and saying yes with wild abandon.  On that note,  I wanted to tell you about something I did last fall that took me way out of my comfort zone. I really had to push myself at each step of the process to say yes because no kept making a lot of noise.  I applied for an artist residency program at the Vermont Studio Center, and guess what...I got in!!!  It's something I had been thinking about for awhile but with the kid's schedules and Chuck's constant travel it never seemed within reach.  But this year my oldest is away at college, my middle child can drive and has a car and and my youngest is old enough to do everything but get himself to school and back.  I opted to do two weeks instead of four (baby step, right?) but I will be leaving just over a month from now and I'm super, super excited.  Now that I've gotten used to the idea that I am actually going,  I am starting to think about all the nitty gritty details like shipping panels and supplies and thinking about what series I will work on when I'm there.  I received a partial scholarship and will be doing a work study program to help cover the cost but I will have two full weeks to paint, meet other artist and writers, attend lectures, practice yoga and and paint and paint and paint some more in the gorgeous state of Vermont. What have you said yes to lately?

When The Rain Comes Down Like Truth In The Night

When The Rain Comes Down Like Truth In The Night

20" x 20"