Fun with Fire! Delving into Encaustics...

It is inevitable. I can’t go more than a year or two without adding another technique to my arsenal of processes!! Discovering the new possibilities is exhilarating for me, and fuels a whole new chapter of work. 

 Recently I want to open studio night at the fabulous Starline factory open studios, http://www.starlinefactory.com/ and fell in love with Carol Hamilton’s encaustic work. http://carolhamiltonarts.com .  I brought a piece home, and signed up for a workshop! I had worked with beeswax in the early 90s as a covering for the natural porous materials I was using, and loved the creamy, dreamy matte surface.  However- I remember sitting at an art fair on a 95 degree day and watching the wax start to melt.  I’m sure I did not add enough dammar varnish (or any at all?)  I can’t recall, so anyhow wrote it off as too fragile a medium to endure sitting in an aluminum trailer in Chicago’s hot or freezing weather.  Now, 20 or more years later, I am no longer sitting at art fairs every weeknd, so thought it was time to revisit this again. 

Hers a pictorial trek thru my latest dive into encaustics:

Workshop-

Carol gave us the basics, and then we to to play.  Was also good to look at her range of work (love the 3D aspect- still to be pursued) and seeing how she set up her studio to accommodate the heat and fumes encaustics make. (Great- another toxin. :(  )

I just LOVE how fire moves the wax paints around, creating fluid organic shapes and patterns. It reminded me of pouring ink-but you use fire instead of water to push things around. AND –big bonus- you don’t have to babysit them and monitor them for hours as they dry and change.  These set up pretty quickly- perfect for a manic impatient artist! I was hooked.   So the last couple weeks have been spent scouring resale shops for heating elements, begging for art supply coupons form friends, and setting up an encaustic set up in the studio.  It is growing…

Then the best part- experimenting when it’s all fresh and new. Just like at the beginning of a brand new relationship when everything is exciting and new… remember that?  So I am relishing that!

So here’s what I’ve tried:

Shellac:

LOVE this! Paint it on, place it in my beverage metal bucket, and set it on fire!! The resulting amber patterns that occur are so lovely I want to put everything in the bucket and set it on fire. Don't visit me right now.

What i set on fire today....

Incising:

So I love drawing back into my work- bit with acrylic, you had a small window to do that before things go too….plasticy.  Here- I can use a needle tool to stipple, scribble and write into the piece until the very end.  Then stain it- (LOVE staining too) to get an almost etching like mark.

Collage-

Can embed papers, leaves, rocks, pods and…..??

Pan pastels: 

So while impatiently waiting for the beeswax to melt, I pulled out the pan pastels and tried them on the luan. FUN! Erased back in…. then read later that they could also be applied to the surface of wax!! Finding more ways of folding this into what I already do…

Transfer-

SO darn easy to transfer images!!  Been looking for this my whole life. Don’t have to make a screen, or endlessly coat papers – just make a toner copy and burnish on to warm surface. Scrub off back and – damn! Right there.  Bonus- if you torch it- it will break up and move about (at least I think that's a bonus.)

Ok- I confess I DO have some pyro tendencies, apparently…

So- to be continued. Right now- I am working small and experimenting. I’m sure working larger will bring it’s own challenges, but for now, I am vey happy with making small “tests”.  I dream about it, wake up thinking “I’ve got to try incising with a linoleum cutter next…”  or something like that…

Here are some of my test babies: 

    

  

See more at www.Cherylholz.com, or https://www.facebook.com/HolzFineArt

BONUS- 

1. I don’t have to clean brushes!!

2. No waste- turn off the skillet, and everything is there waiting for you tomorrow without having to cover it up.

3. Transfer process is a dream!

4. Collage and mixed media capabilities are endless!

DOWNSIDES:

1. Beeswax taxes my patience waiting for it to melt-or I need better equipment.

2. Toxins- need to look into some better ventilation.

3. Fire risk- the fire dept. every year has told me to move my fire extinguisher out of the back room.  It is now very close to where I work!

4. Cost- pricey to start, at least…

Digging In….

OK, I’m frustrated I cant jump right into "work" yet again today, but must continue to dig out from the fracas left behind from flooding /leaking roof! 

A couple weeks ago, right as our new roof was being put on at the studio, we were hit with a torrential downpour, which resulted in lots of flooding at the studio.  Not too much artwork was lost- THANK YOU UNIVERSE!  Mostly materials and supplies I’ve been collecting over the last 20 years, some of which were tearfully parted with (how can I submit a receipt to the insurance company for antique topographical maps, grandma’s sheet music, and boxes of pressed leaves?)  

OK I admit I DO have some hoarding tendencies- but I can rationalize that impulse (can’t most collage artists?) because of what I work with.  When I am working on a piece in December that needs a green leaf to finish it off perfectly- I can’t run outside and get one.  I had to collect that earlier in eh year, press it, preserve it, and store it.    That bird’s nest I found on the walk with the dogs, the perfect paper wasps nest, and the maple leaf wings- none of these things can be ordered from dick blick. I relish their forms and meaning- but must figure out a way to store them so that they are accessible- and protected form the next natural disaster:) 

And now that I am over the shock of it, I am viewing this as a forced opportunity to reorganize, clean, and purge, and I reluctantly admit that I am kind of enjoying this process.  (But I am wondering- the next time someone asks me how long it took to make that painting- can I count this time spent getting studio back in working order?  But I digress.... I hate that question...) now I want EVERYTHIGN to be in a waterproof plastic bin, so have invested in dozens of clear storage boxes.  

When it becomes overwhelming and I need to take a break- I treat myself to a chapter of "Inside the Artist’s Studio", which shows the studios of 50 artists, and features interviews with them about how they work, what their favorite tools are, their creative practice and how they create a work environment for themselves.  

It is a great complement to reorganizing the studio, seeing how others have tackled their spaces. Gives me some ideas on how mine might work better…and reassures me that my studio is not the messiest one out there… Back to work...

Todays task is the collection wall- so here I sit, enjoying going thru the boxes of rocks, sea shells, and fossils, and reminiscing on their collection (remember that long walk in Marin county when I got that rock?).  These natural specimens are many times the impetus for new work, so as I go through, I am enjoying the process of revisiting why I chose to keep it in the first place, and consider how I might employ it today, years after it joined my collection. 

So here’s what was going thru my head as I purge/sort/organize: May give some insight into how my pieces evolve....

Questions while sorting thru:

 The rock shelf:

- The color in those stones from Sleeping Bear Dunes are so varied and beautiful- what about a piece about place that addresses the geological history that went into making them? 

-Why do most of the Lake Superior rocks have a red tint? Some research needed there...

-YEE HA!  I STILL AHVE SOME MARIN COUNTY MOUNTAIN rocks left!  Love that teal and ochre mixture....

The sea shelf-

--Just came across a gorgeous portion of whelk shell showing the undulating curves inside. Time for another golden proportions piece! Do the math, include it....

- The fossil shelf:

-How can I incorporate that shard of fish fossil into a surface - without damaging it? 

- The fungus on that crocodile scute is awesome, but so little. Could I reproduce that texture on a large scale, and have that featured in a little niche? Or adhered to the front? 

-Ammonites, ammonites, ammonites, I am in love with that swirly spiral..... How to incorporate: make a rubbing of it? Make a mold and press it into surface? Draw that math diagram that they instinctively know how to use...

-I HAVE PEACOCK ORE! Forgot that that was there, buried in a bag in a box....

- Could that ammonite dangle like a pendulum? 

-Small resin cast of turtle shell- stain back to bring out texture and use as focus, incorporate the screen of turtle, and the tracks they leave behind in the sand? And I just found a turtle shell fossil! Use together? 

Stay tuned to see how they develop!

Less talk - more action!!  felt the need to paint and pour… so here's a visual recap of the week at the studio….

a light layer first….

a water resist….

selecting imagery by laying transparencies on…

selecting palette

preparing for pour-being able to mist, spray, splatter and drip each color

pour, play, react!

set up to screen...

results...

drying time for pieces- and screens...

seal...

hang and contemplate

put scale version in sketchbook…

bark, leaves and inset planned for this one

butterfly wing needed here...

inset for fossil?

…and rest.

Happy Earth day!!!

I received lots of different feedback to last question I posed about re entering your creative process-and got a range of answers, very few of which are posted here.  Many were sent to my personal email, which reassures me I am not the only one reticent about putting it all out there :)  But I was inspired by those who just threw themselves back into the process with abandon, with out regard to result or product. Inspiring!!!

This week the battle continues to wage on in my head/studio between working on the new website, photographing and photo-shopping work, getting new pieces started, and being distracted by temperatures in the 50s.  That's +50 for those of you who lived thru last winter’s polar vortex!! A virtual heat wave, and time to cut back the grasses, divide the perennials, and put in another round of cold weather crops! 

But I digress..... again! See the pattern? Feel free to suggest a diagnosis. 

My one consolation is that the time spent making the NEW AND IMPROVED :) website is that it's a one time investment, and it will be done soon!  A colleague who is way beyond me in the digital world told me that no, it's never done... UGG! Don't want to hear that right now.  Need to keep going and at least get the basics up and out there! Hoping to be able to launch soon-so I can spend some guilt free time in the studio--and garden!! That is the goal, at least.... 

Those assemblages?  They are gathering some steam.... Here's my latest.  I went ahead and included last years grasses-just couldn't help myself...! And the palette just can't help but be lighter and brighter...Happy Earth day!!!

RE-ENTRY-or, IS IT OK TO WHINE ON YOUR BLOG?

So I have had a forced break from the studio after a much needed vacation, then moving my dad cross country- no small task! Came back home to organize, publicize, host, and hang a juried exhibition, and finally, FINALLY, get back to the studio!!! Which is what I wanted/needed, right?   But then I come back to this:

UG. Needed to dig out and find work surfaces before I could do anything!!  And meanwhile- I am behind in getting new website up and running, perennial beds need to be cleared to make the way for new growth, I should be starting seedlings in the garage, and when is the last time the dogs nails have been cut? Monkey mind? abso-frickin- lutely!!  When I’m at the studio, I feel like I’m neglecting the office (marketing business tasks never end, and catching up in the office is an illusion- I am sure of it!) or the house or friends or critters... arg.  I am thankful I don’t have children right about now!  Don’t know how mothers get anything done. But now I’m here, and I can see at least 70 percent of my big worktable, and in theory I should be gleefully pulling out paint or ink or concrete or??  Why do we put off what we want/need?  And so this is where mixed media can be daunting- which process is best to tackle first?  Tackle the burgeoning pile of works already in progress? (Which, if I was sensible- that’s where I’d jump in) but making art isn’t always sensible- rarely is it about expediency.  For me- I think one of he reasons I have developed this "arsenal' of processes is that I need to choose the one that best suits my frame of mind at that time.  Which is-?  Some times are better for careful study and consideration (researching and making screens for the next piece), others for loose abandon (throwing/spraying/squeegy-ing paint), others for a need for tactile messy (concrete!) or an urge to use power tools (cut a hole in that piece and build doors and a box into it!). 

Ah well this makes me sounds absolutely psychotic, which, well, I probably am. Who chooses to do this for a living that isn’t just a bit touched??  But- I do love my choices, and although it makes it harder to narrow down which one will win today- I can honestly say I don’t get bored- EVER! So today I think what’s best is to tackle it all (in theory) by creating a small assemblage that uses the "has beens", "would be-s", and "made especially for" surfaces.  oh yes- and some of the sticks that my studio neighbor thinks I’m building a beavers' dam with in my studio.... I think these are a good "daily study" for me that incorporates a little bit of everything…cause right now i can't commit to any one process- so gonna embrace them all….  stay tuned for end result. 

Ok- end of whine/rant.  Guess I am writing to other artists here- of all types-does everyone jump right back into the studio after time off and get running right off the bat? Do you have a re-entry period/process/procedure?  How do you deal with it?  I’m curious.....