mystery painting...

OK...I'm going to start off by admitting that there is nooo chance that I will finish all of the knitting projects from my last post!  I started a sweater for myself but it is already in a basket under a chair (with the other 5 unfinished garments).  My yarn is very jealous of my wax.  

Today I managed to start on a painting that came to me last night....can you tell what it is?  I am very excited about this piece and hope to work on it a bit more this evening (after I finish making my middle son's tree costume....).  Have a lovely evening!

three crowns and a party hat...

These four little ladies are coming along nicely but I have to put them away for the day (they still need a top coat of beeswax and some incising filled in with oil paint).  I'm hoping to finish them up tomorrow afternoon and get them into the shop....

My last post "connections" led to many new ones and I want to thank all of you who posted comments or convo'd me.  My small gesture made a small difference and my heart is smiling.

WIP....(again)

Once again I find myself only able to share a WIP...

I had every intention of painting a lot today but it didn't quite work out that way.  I've got a solid start with this piece and hope to continue work on it in the morning.  This painting includes repetition  and newsprint but is a bit more disheveled than my last few....I'm only 50% sure where this is going... 

houses hemmed into homes...

Yesterday I started with a group of houses....solid shelters clustered together to form a neighborhood.  Today these houses were colored with shades of ochre, connected with complex patterns and stitched into safe havens full of emotion, meaning and memory.

The Social Workers

Work, work, work...all they do is work!   The honey bee's constant production and storage of honey keeps the hive buzzing with activity day and night.   My house has been buzzing with activity over the past few days and it was only last night as I finished this piece that i started to think about what we can learn from this community of winged workers.   Honey bees actually cooperate to find food and use a pattern known as  "dancing" to communicate information about food sources. They depend upon one another and exist only as a community....they truly are "social workers"!   

A Crooked Path...

I used to get frustrated when I couldn't figure out where a particular painting was going.  I would get hung up on the fact that I couldn't picture the piece finished.  Lately though I have really been enjoying the process of letting a picture develop more organically until a light bulb goes off and I see what it wants to be....does that make any sense?  Here is a painting I started this morning and hope to work on a bit more later tonight.

I want to give a shout out to Jamie for mentioning my painting Cloud Study 2 in her Inspiration Post on Indie-Fixx.  She has lots of good stuff going on here and here.

Hopefully I'll have something finished to share tomorrow???

Sharing...

I am sharing a few things today that are not paintings.  A wet basement and a few other things have kept me out of my studio the past few days but today I was rewarded with a special and eagerly anticipated package.  The photo above is the sweetest picnic blanket ever!  It is made by friend Dana whose Etsy shop Leillilaloo is filled with all kinds of goodies.  The colors, fabrics and attention to detail (tucked into a basket) make this the most lovely and special gift ever (it's for my nieces).  There are more detailed photos of a new one of a kind picnic blanket here.

 The other thing I want to share is my excitement over the new etsyencausticblog.  An ever expanding group of encaustic artists who sell on etsy are joining forces and creating a place to share skills, ideas and inspiration.  We have many things in the works right now and I'm going to be heading up the monthly "skill share" page and the "monthly theme" page of the blog.  Anyone who paints in encaustics or is interested in learning more about the process is invited to check out the site here.  There's lots of information on the site and all are welcome!