- Johnson Creek Studio - Cheryl D. McClure

Migration of Blog

2011-02-04T15:55:00.000-06:00

I have been setting up a new website design and will have the blog contained on that server. The new URL is http://www.cherylmcclure.com/blog-johnson-creek-studio/ It may take me some time to get this all set for feeds and the like but please make note that the blog URL is changing.

OR you can find me through my website that has a link to the blog. http://www.cherylmcclure.com

Progress

2011-01-26T16:59:00.000-06:00

I got back to the studio and that painting looked better in the light of a new day. However, I decided to forget about theme show stuff and just lay down paint. I worked on the other prepped panel with other colors. So far neither are finished but I will get back to them later.

For the past two days I've been working on a 48 x 48 acrylic canvas..............got a couple of layers on with a detail pic and a distance pic.... Will post more when it gets more layering of paint. Looks like another Meander series painting to me....we will see as I progress but the bones are there.

two layers

detail of work

Good and bad

2011-01-22T21:14:00.000-06:00

Another good, sunny day around here. It's really nice to have after all the gray, drizzly ones. However, I guess even sunny days don't bestow good painting days every time. This was one of those days.

Not that it was terribly bad...........but I just don't feel good yet about what I want on this panel. That's what I get for having an inkling of an idea to start with. I gotta tell you I HATE themes. I had an idea for something along the lines of a show to enter for later in the year.....but ideas just never look and feel like what you thought they would. Oh well... if these don't work out... I have something else that I can enter in that show.

I haven't even done anything to the other panel but prep and lay down the first layers of plain medium. Maybe I should get over to it and work and leave this one alone.

THE PINK SHOW

2011-01-16T10:47:00.000-06:00

I'm happy to be part of THE PINK SHOW that Pam Farrell set up on her blog. Take a look at all the varied ways artists can use pink.

Think Pink

2011-01-07T11:10:00.000-06:00

Think Pink....that's what they say at Pantone for 2011.
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20110106/LIVING03/701069995/0/taxonomylist

Pink is not really MY color when it comes to painting. However, I am up to challenges when it comes to color since I almost always learn something by using a color not in my usual repertoire.

SO... looking through all my acrylic paints I came across a Golden color called Light Magenta. I figured I would just tone my big 48 x 48 canvas with this color and go from there. I don't have anything really in mind. I was considering...what can I combine with this color. A friend, Hylla Evans mentioned that it is wonderful with spring greens. That is really true... but it's not spring yet around here even in northeastern Texas.

I guess that thought stayed stuck though as I just started using random colors I already had on my palette..........and they are colors I do use a lot, oranges and reds, grays and pale ochres that are mostly mixtures and went from there. I made a lot of lyrical marks with charcoal and then with black/paynes gray mixtures to get going. I even decided to do these marks with my non-dominant hand. I was surprised when these marks started looking like plant like forms. I thought they would have been more ridgid and clunky feeling with my left hand drawing them.

I'm including a close detail..........and the 85% finished work in the pictures. This work will need more paint and when that happens sometimes I paint a whole new painting. It will just depend on how I like what is happening when I go back into the one that is there now.

detail, early process

Nearer completion.... 48 x 48 acrylic on canvas

Looking Forward, Looking Back

2010-12-30T15:07:00.000-06:00

Kind of a slow day...contemplating this past year and all the possibilities that could await in 2011. How odd that sounds "Twenty Eleven".

Husband and grandson doing some work around the ranch on the tractor cleaning up some things, breaking up the beaver dam again....no burning, as it is still too dry in our county.

And, happily, me in the studio, even with nothing momentous going on. All work now has the varnish, hangers and wire on it. Some distributed to one venue or another accounted for so I won't send it out to the wrong place..........AND a new canvas with ground drying.

What am I going to do with this new 48 x 48?? Maybe continue on with my 'meandering'. That's as good a thought as any I think. I need to stay away from definate horizons for awhile just to keep from feeling like all I am painting lately is landscapes in whatever form they may take. BUT, my main plan is to let the canvas, the paint and my intuition take over. The most fun is in the start and in the end.....all that 'in between' struggle between me and the canvas is just something that has to happen. I really wouldn't have it any other way.... I trust that it will resolve itself in time.

As most of us are looking forward and looking back, I want to wish you all a wonderful, fulfilling NEW YEAR .... TWENTY-ELEVEN. Bring it on! See you on the other side.

Cheers...........

Meander

2010-12-01T16:05:00.000-06:00

I finally got enough time to actually concentrate on my unfinished paintings in the studio. I started two 24 x 48 canvases before Thanksgiving. I THINK they are both finished now. You never know but I will post them both and if I change my mind....well you know what that means.

I started these both out on a ground of cadmium yellow medium. I don't use a lot of this value of cad yellow that much...........Most of it is covered over but I like the way a little peeks out now and then in these mostly monochromatic pale gray paintings. I also had a lot of fun making a lot of marks with pencil and charcoal in the early, middle and latter part of the process.

Not really having a title for sure yet...they are tentatively titled........Meander 1 and 2. The bottom image is a close up of Meander 1 on top.

Autumn

2010-11-05T17:08:00.000-05:00

I'm SO happy. Yeah... a lot of energy today for tasks around the ranch and also for the studio. I wish I still had this energy like I used to all the time. The good part is, I really appreciate it more now than I did when I had it all the time.

In the studio today I had already prepped a 36 x 48" canvas earlier...........toned it and could really get into laying that paint down.

It 'feels' good to me today at the end of the day........And I hope it won't need anything more tomorrow, unless it is just a little touch of a gem or two of paint in just the right spot.

For some reason, I have already titled it in my mind............ Autumn, Here Today, Gone Tomorrow.

New encaustic paintings

2010-10-23T15:32:00.000-05:00

I've been out of the studio the past two weeks almost. Eight days on the road with artist friends making the galleries and a few museums in Dallas/Fort Worth. No pictures I think since we posted off and on through FaceBook pages.

But, when I got home I so wanted into the studio to get back to my WIP of the two encaustic pieces. Today, was finally THE day.

I have been doing quite a bit of experimentation with graphite powder, oil paint, oil sticks and lots of wax. I think I finally have these two 20 x 20 x 2" panels finished except for a little refining, scraping and fusing.

They do still remind me of that day in Todi in 2006 when a big storm blew in. Up so high in the city, looking down, you got such a view of the dark stormy sky with the landscape almost like an aerial photograph. Not a true depiction of the scene, this is my lasting impression of it.

Plan or Flow...???

2010-09-30T17:58:00.000-05:00

Sometimes you go with the flow and not the plan or intent. I guess you might say I do this most of the time. It is my process.

Today, I decided to do a little work to get started in my 'pretence' to be at Colony. I'm sorry not to be there this fall.......I always get so much out of it.

I had started making collage papers with encaustic on the Hot Box. I continued until I figured I should just get to painting.

I had one 20 x 20 x 2" cradled board out already but decided to work on two at the same time. I applied the last of one jar of Evans Holy Grail and took a nap while it dried. Well...yeah, it only takes 30 minutes to dry but I only took a 30 minute nap. it's good to have a sofa in the studio.

SO, I started making marks with Conte crayon figuring maybe something would happen to spark something. Before I knew it I was applying encaustic paint and lots more medium, scraping with that nifty scraper I bought from Miles Conrad ( I LOVE that scraper)....and applying more medium.

I took a couple of pictures of the progress and went down to prepare dinner. When I came over to the computer I suddenly realized my inspiration was my screen-saver photo from Italy made in 2008. It was a stormy day overlooking Todi, Italy according to the title of the photo. IF the paintings finish up still looking like the inspiration, I'll let you know. The photo does not do justice to the sky that day though.

A book to enjoy!

2010-09-29T11:40:00.000-05:00

I'm really enjoying a new book or two lately. Right now......I can read chapters at a time or just one of , Inside the Painter's Studio, by Joe Fig. I had put this book in my Amazon wish list some time back and just now got around to ordering it.

Fabulous........love reading about the artists, their day in the studio and what inspires and influences their work. I'm on the chapter right now about Mary Heilmann. SO funny...she has fields outside her studio window in Long Island..........says she is painting a lot of green (like me) due to that influence.

Now time for me to get to the grocery store and back to the studio this afternoon.

Have a wonderful autumn day wherever you are.

Green Day, Johnson Creek

2010-09-10T14:40:00.000-05:00

It's finished... hauled it out on the studio porch to take a picture. Yes, no, yes,no...do other people find fault with "is it finished?"... when they take them out to take a photo.

After getting out into the bright light I begin to see places that might need a little finessing...but without ruining the freshness and the look that it just flowed with no going back.

I declare this one finished.... 60 x 48" acrylic on canvas, Green Day, Johnson Creek.

ps...if I do anything else I will not tell.

Green, Green, Green,

2010-09-08T18:08:00.000-05:00

SO.... green, green, green. Everywhere is green out on a farm or ranch...at least around here in north east TX if we aren't in a drought. SO, I painted the tone...chromium oxide green, touch of white and a lot of acrylic medium thrown in. Then I got out some black. I rarely use black paint so, why not? Any way I made all kinds of marks and shapes and laid on a few rolls of white, too, for good measure and called it a day.

Well.....as usual, I tossed and turned all night thinking what in the heck am I going to do with that canvas?? What is the next step? Maybe go buy some more rollers and add other colors. I did this...bought some more rollers. However, that will have to wait for another painting as I ended up coming back yesterday and just started in with a brush. I figured the best way to go (to start with) with this experiment was to use some analogous paint mixtures...so blue and other greens and purple violet came out. ( I don't know what happened to my picture of the under-painting.).

Yesterday I left with that whole painting just about complete. I took a picture as that is a great way for me to distance myself from the work and look to see how it's working....especially for large paintings. I decided upon looking at this picture that it needed some more darks in the right side, a little more of the purple and green.......very little. I signed it today but I didn't get a picture.I'll get on up over the next few days when the light is better.

When I came down from the studio. Curry offered to take me for a ride around the place as he wanted to look at some things. I took a few pictures with the I-phone camera. You can see why I paint green so much from looking at these. I can see parts of this from the south facing door of my studio.

The painting will be titled, Green Day, Johnson Creek.

A Walk Into Abstracts

2010-09-01T09:53:00.000-05:00

I received my DVD, A Walk Into Abstracts, from Sue St. John recently. I was so flattered to be asked to be a part of her compilation. So I sent her work images and information about my process when she asked.

I believe there are about 58 artists who work abstractly featured in the DVD.......... It takes a long time to go through really looking at the work and the artist's processes. I haven't finished yet myself.

If you want to see a lot of abstract art and learn more about what is behind the process, check out this video at A Walk Into Abstracts. to learn more about 'how did they do that?'

Thanks, Sue, for including me in this great DVD of abstract art.

Busy busy

2010-08-26T19:47:00.000-05:00

It's been a busy couple of days with two trips over to Longview. One involved taking work to a new gallery opening up there......yaaay! I'll get you the URL when it all gets set up. In the meantime, the address is 712 Glencrest..upstairs. The grand opening is slated for Oct 2....6-8. I'll be sure and remind you. Paula Davis is the owner...of P's Gallery. I got to know Paula as the events coordinator at the Longview Museum of Fine Art where she worked for many years.

Tomorrow....back to the studio. And it is a little cooler...slated to only be low 90's after all those 100's in a row. Maybe some wax will be heated along with prepping some canvas for acrylic.

The other thing I need to investigate is........where in the heck did all my 'blogs of interest' go from my blog when I changed the template? I just noted that today so I need to try to figure out how to get them back or I will just have to start a new list. AND, why do I have to have all labels showing in a long list like that? I need a search box I think if there is such a thing for blog posts. I'm not looking to re-invent the wheel here, so if anyone knows these things and can shorten the process for me, I'll be much obliged.

I used to enjoy all this techie stuff more than I have the past couple of years. I guess I just don't have the patience for it now...or I used to take more time and it seems like when I need the techie stuff done I'm in a hurry. These two do not mix for me.

I'm also about to come down with that old affliction....travelitis. I need some of that travelitis. Rome, Paris, New York....or maybe I'll just go to Dallas. I've been down on the farm too long lately.

Flow

2010-07-30T08:11:00.000-05:00

Some days flow. After all the days of struggling with a painting.....the next one just flows. I think that is deserved payback for all the struggle on some of them. Such was the day the day after I finished the Searching painting.

To backtrack.... My studio is getting a little crowded in the storage department so I went looking for another old canvas that had been there waaay too long. I found one from my early Little Pieces of Land series..........40 x 30 and no varnish on it so I just painted over the whole thing. It went from a horizontal to a vertical this time around.

This picture was just made quickly with my new I-phone camera so I will have to make another later with my SLR.

All I can think to title it at the moment is .......Blue Skies. If you have any good ideas for titles, let me know.

Searching

2010-07-26T15:31:00.000-05:00

Searching, acrylic on canvas......72 x 48 x 1.5"

This painting is done........

I hope so, unless there are tiny little adjustments upon more viewing. It sure came a long way from a gestural, wild, red under-painting. It seems that some work just demands a lot of searching with the paint, layering, scraping and trusting in your own mode of expression to come out. That's really always the key...trusting and no fear.

Another thing I noted that sure was a continual problem working on this whole painting is the way the paint would dry up on my palettes before I could get very far. AND, if you know me, or have observed me at work, that takes some fast drying.

Due to the 'search', I am really considering the title to be "Searching"....at least it will hold some meaning to me if not to anyone else viewing it.

As you might notice.... I changed my blog template playing around with the new stuff with blogger...not sure about this...what do you think??

Struggle

2010-07-22T16:30:00.000-05:00

Struggle Struggle Struggle..........Some days and weeks are like that and this is one of them. I had high hopes when I started this 36 x 72 canvas and toned it all with red. Only thing is, it suddenly just went south on me and became tired looking all over the center area. So I turned it in a horizontal and proceeded after thinking on it for a long time......just painted all of it out with more red. And we're talking a lot of cadmium here folks.

SO, today, back to the studio to make marks or just DO something with this thing. I made marks, I added paint...it started looking like I am surrounded by forest or something plant like.. I don't want to know what this is. I am not wanting to paint SOMETHING, I want to paint a good painting without a known subject.

I think it might look better here in my I-phone pictures than it does when I see it in the studio. So happy I added in all that violet. This is waaay too busy for my taste. NOW....where am I going to paint out and what color and value, that is the question.??? Sometimes looking at process pictures gives you some thoughts on what you have done right or wrong, or will tell you that you don't need any more or that you need a lot more. Sooner or later it will come to me but right now it's hot and I'm tired.

Working with the Hot-Box

2010-07-19T20:28:00.000-05:00

I finally got to spend a little time with the Hot-Box I bought from Paula Roland. I really don't now what I'm doing here, but it should be fun to experiment around. I have a lot of paper in the studio from other projects. That was another reason for wanting to try this technique of encaustic monotype.

I heated up the box to the approximate 160 or so degrees for working. I decided to use some of the new Evans Encaustic colors I bought at the conference...in the wonderfully subtle colors of Hylla's hen's eggs. I did add a few other colors ..that beautiful Cobalt Aqua from Encaustikos is the stronger color...and a green from R & F Encaustic.

Anyway.... I had some printmaking paper torn up into small sections, so I used it. I took a couple of pictures of the three pieces I think might work out into a piece I can mount on a panel possibly. These are just straight monotypes. I haven't done anything to enhance them other than brushing some plain clear medium on top to make a good surface.

I'll just lay them aside for now...and consider how I might work back into them. They make me think of sand and sea.

This is a picture that takes in one (first one) and a little of the bottom of the second one. Strange but it makes it look like a lovely little land/seascape arranged in this manner.

The second picture denotes the third monotype with a section of the middle one below it. It also has another feel to it with this arrangement.

The last is a picture of all three monotypes stacked up...If used in this manner, they will need some more work to unify all three into one design.

Trying to set up the encaustic studio

2010-07-10T17:48:00.000-05:00

I'm spending part of my Saturday trying to re-arrange my encaustic set-up in the studio. With an 80+ inch door topper to a table and a small porcelain topped cabinet for the Hot Box from Paula Roland lined up under the window, I'm wondering where in the heck will I set up my panels to paint on there is so much 'equipment' with power cords everywhere. I have a fan in the window for trying to vent out the vapors from heating the wax so that limits where you can set the melted wax paints. All those short power cords from so much kitchen equipment is also making a hazard to stumble or trip on as you work. I put a couple of crock-pots away as I think I may not need them all the time when I'm working now I have the 'skillet'. Whoa...did that skillet make short work of making medium. ..yes yes yes...I love it.

When I started working larger I brought in an old wooden drawing table...about 48 inches wide and raised it up way high so my neck/back wouldn't hurt from bending over so much. SO, that must be the only place left to paint on. I have it set up perpendicular to the table wall.

What I really think I need is a big huge U shaped work area with lots of electric outlets on different circuit breakers and a venting system coming down from the ceiling. What a pipe dream that is. I do have a vent from a dryer that used to be installed there on that wall with the long table. I keep wondering if I can have some kind of contraption made that will let me vent out through that vent...but I haven't a clue on how to do this.

Okay...so the other part of my Saturday...off to the grocery store.

Happy Fourth of July!

2010-07-04T15:48:00.000-05:00

It's been a quiet holiday here so far. I spent a good bit of time in the studio today. Don't ever put your finished work away without painting all the edges (if you paint edges)....what a pain it is to go back a month or so later to do it. I even had to mix up a whole new palette of paint to try to get the bottom edges to look reasonably like they were painted at the same time as the paintings......and I had to sign them. Later I will varnish and put hangers and wire and put them away until a gallery wants them.

While I was doing all this I started considering .....where am I going to place the HotBox from Paula Roland when it gets here in about a week? I moved the rolling kitchen cart over and moved the drawing table around there in the space I use for encaustic painting (the kitchen of the studio). I'm sure when it gets here and I actually use it I may have to do more re-arranging.

Then that got me thinking it was time to get back to doing more acrylic on canvas work. I still have some larger canvases to work on.......SO, I brought out the largest one...36 x 72" and started applying some texture. I got just about finished when Curry came to the studio wondering where the hot dogs were. That was a good time to quit and go back to the house to get something to eat and take a break.

I do have an idea what I might do with this tall canvas... I'm planning on a tall one here. If it works out I'll tell you all about it.

In the meantime, I hope you have a wonderful Fourth of July.

Blog Feature

2010-06-26T07:34:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a great day for me. One of my online web acquaintances featured me and my work on her blog.

Lynne Taetzsch and I 'met' through us both being artists represented by the same gallery in the hill country area of Texas. She was in Tennessee or somewhere like that at the time and I was in Longview, TX. She then moved off to New York state and we kept up our online friendship through groups, blogs and Face Book.

She is a wonderful, experienced artist and so generous to feature me on her blog. Thank you, Lynne.

The post she made can be viewed here.

http://www.abstract-art-blog.net/2010/06/fridays-featured-painter-of-abstract-art-cheryl-mcclure.html#tpe-action-posted-6a00d83451ded769e20133f1c60964970b

My work from Daniella's workshop

2010-06-25T14:23:00.000-05:00

I finally got the pictures taken of the small pieces I worked on at Daniella Woolf's workshop at the 4th Annual Encaustic Conference. Although Daniella gave us some real in-depth information about the techniques she uses in her own work, the main focus was using type and words in your work. The first thing she wanted us to do was to just write for a short time anything we wanted to write...not to be seen by anyone else but ourselves.
After that it was ....start working on the panels you brought. Some people made a great panel of the new techniques they were learning.....others like me just painted using something that we were learning to use...type or a few of the techniques along with our own style of painting.

Off the top of my head and wanting to be positive, I thought of "some days are good, some not, this will be a good day". I scribbled that across the three 5 x 7 x 2" wood panels I brought with me. They had already been coated with Holy Grail (Evans Encaustics encaustic gesso). The colors were just the colors Daniella gave us to work with or we could use any others we might have brought with us. I just used what was at hand. Funny how these are such 'southwest' colors and me being from Texas. I used collage papers in small amounts and even used some of the little 'dots' from the demo and stencil Daniella gave us.

Some conference pictures and such

2010-06-22T20:22:00.000-05:00

I am SO bad. Not taking pictures at the 4th Annual Encaustic Conference......at Montserrat College of Art, Beverly MA. I will say that I had difficulties as I mentioned before. I got all my stitches removed today and hope I am well on my way to totally mending.

I signed up for a workshop with the phenomenal Daniella Woolf on Tuesday after the conference........emphasizing words and text. The workshop was called A WAY WITH WORDS. She had so many tips for using encaustic and words/text in you paintings. I got carried away with painting and did my own thing using some of her methods and mostly just my own.

Thea Haubrich, a wonderful Canadian artist, and a member of International Encaustic Artists (IEA) was more objective than I and remembered to take a lot of pictures.
http://picasaweb.google.com/THaubrich/AwayWithWords?authkey=Gv1sRgCK2RgN_F-bebbQ#http://picasaweb.google.com/THaubrich/AwayWithWords?authkey=Gv1sRgCK2RgN_F-bebbQ#

It's wonderful she even has some captions for a lot of the pictures. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. It reminded me of things I would have forgotten.

Here's one of the images of the work she collaged on the hot palette and then lifted up. THIS gives me lots of ideas.

A funny thing happened on the way to the Encaustic Conference

2010-06-15T12:39:00.000-05:00

Hi guys... Did you think I had dropped off the edge of the earth? A funny thing happened on the way to the airport....Well..no ,not so funny! The taxi texted at 3:15 am that they were on the way to take Carolyn and me to the airport. We hurried to get all the bags down the stairs of my daughter's condo and close up............heading to our wonderful adventure of a first time at the 4th Annual Encaustic Conference.

Well...klutzy me did not remember or see the two steps in the foyer as I don't go out that door much. Fell full down hard of my left knee on Mexican tile and got a resounding bang of my ribs on the left side. Bruises are still appearing. We got to Love Field and I found a gaping 1" hole in my knee cap. I ended up in Beverly ER about 3:30 that afternoon. I'm still feeling it a little but I have been so busy day and night that I fell down on blogging and taking pictures. I hope I will be able to remember some of this whirlwind trip and make a little bit of a report later on.

I can tell you without reservation that these people here in Beverly and Boston are just as wonderful and friendly as I have met anywhere I've ever been. The Beverly ER is also a wonderful place to go if you really have to go.......and the pharmacist at Rite Aid, as well.

The shows here looked wonderful. Joanne Mattera has been wonderful to work so hard for all these four conferences. We have all made wonderful friends, learned so much from the demos, workshops and lectures. I definitely want to return.

Love from "Gimpy".

Gearing up for the Encaustic Conference

2010-06-01T09:43:00.000-05:00

Coming off a little break in the studio. I've been really busy for the whole of the spring getting ready for various juried and two person shows. I had so much going on I needed a little break.

Now, it's time to get myself back in gear to attend the 4th Annual Encaustic Conference to be held at Montserratt College of Art, Beverly, MA.

I've never been to this part of the country before, much less the Boston/Beverly/Salem area. I am SO looking forward to meeting many artists from around the country..and beyond who are coming to attend this conference. I, also, signed up for a post conference workshop with a much admired artist who will be teaching there.....Daniella Woolf. I use text or writing in my work now and then and would like to investigate this sort of additions to my encaustic or other paintings. This workshop addresses this subject in more depth.

I'm sorry my only day off will be a Monday when so many art venues are closed. OR, maybe this is good and I will get out of my art 'looking' and just be able to look at other interesting aspects of the area. it all leads back to art anyway for me....whether I intend to look at art or discuss art or absorb experiences that come through in my work at a later time.

I DO hope it is cooler there than it is here in northeastern TX at the moment.....mid and upper 90's.

Finished Encaustic demo painting

2010-04-28T14:17:00.000-05:00

I was headed off to Mississippi Art Colony right after returning home from the opening of the show at the Encaustic Center in Richardson, TX. .......SO no time to finish up the final touches. It did take very little to finish this painting. I am thankful to the powers that be that I could do so much in such a short time to make a painting I am happy with.

Here's the link again to the video...... 37 minutes so be prepared.
http://www.cherylmcclure.com/April162010Demo.avi

Here is the completed 12 x 12 x 2" wood panel encaustic/collage painting I titled Overlook.

Demo at the Encaustic Center

2010-04-18T16:34:00.000-05:00

http://www.cherylmcclure.com/April162010Demo.avi

This is a large file so I hope most people can see it. You will have to have a good connection as it is 37 minutes long.

Peggy Epner and I both did short videos at our opening reception at the Encaustic Center in Richardson, TX April 16, 2010. This is an unedited video of my demo.

(note ...this was first linked to Flip Video but the time expired so I have linked it to a file on my website)

Invitation to upcoming show at the Encaustic Center

2010-04-11T11:06:00.000-05:00

Friday, April 16th 6:00 to 9:00
Show continues through May, 28th

Peggy and Cheryl will be doing a demo on their intriguing techniques at 7:00 and 7:45!
We so look forward to having you here for an evening of art, food, wine and music!

Peggy Epner "The Red Thread"

Peggy Epner

Throughout human history, there have been cultures that have regarded trees as having spirits. It is not difficult to imagine why. Trees live, grow, adapt, and die, subject to the same forces of nature that rule humans. On a cellular level, humans and trees are made up of the same essential ingredients. We come from the same source, whatever you believe that to be.

My work assumes an interconnectedness of the world's life forms, particularly of man to the forest. Throughout my life, I have played, explored, and slept in the forest. It always feels like coming home. It is a spiritual connection that goes to the root of who I am as an artist and a person.

In my evolving visual vocabulary, wood and reference to trees have come to represent the bodies, spirits, and intentions of people. Sometimes mine. Sometimes yours. Sometimes everyone's. Does it really matter? It is all the same.

Cheryl D. McClure "The Green Heart of Italy"

Cheryl D. McClure

I have always been influenced by nature and the land. Living on a ranch in northeastern Texas for the past two years has moved that influence up a notch. I am surrounded by trees, pasture lands, sky, pond and a meandering creek. Looking out my windows in the house or the studio is such a pleasure...even in bad weather; I find something I never noticed before.

With all this said, I don't set out to paint what I actually see in nature. It just comes through as I work through my process. Whether in acrylic painting or the wonderful encaustic medium, I strive to let the painting speak to me. I make revisions when I see that is where the painting is going. I have a conversation with the paint and the process.

Without a social or political message, surface quality, color relationships and design are what I am most interested in when painting.

The Encaustic Center: http://www.theencausticcenter.com
580 W.Arapaho Rd. #271
Richardson, TX. 75080
214-405-5993
bonny@theencausticcenter.com
deanna@theencausticcenter.com

972-354-9968

Packing up for shows

2010-04-05T16:36:00.000-05:00

I've been busy in the studio all day with putting on all the hangers, wire, polishing, cleaning edges and finding boxes or not for work that is going to a show in Plano (see previous post on the Art Centre of Plano). tomorrow. I confess, most of the cleaning of edges and wiring is for my two person show with Peggy Epner at the Encaustic Center than opens Friday. I'll post more later on that.

I hate putting off stuff like wiring panels/canvas but it's one of those things I do. It's especially bad if you have a lot of them to do at one time and your studio is so cluttered you hardly have room to work.

I still don't have a good box for two 24 x 48" panels with encaustic so I just put glassine on the fronts of them, topped the top and bottom of each panel with bubble...and wrapped all that clingy wrap around each end hoping they won't move and cause any damage. If I ever ship this painting off anywhere I will have to have boxes custom made. In the meantime, they will go like this.

My little panels work quite well in the Uline literary mailers. I wish they made more sizes of these boxes. Others can fit in more standard size boxes. I can tell you that shipping, packing and hauling is the pits.......unless you are hauling something that someone purchased :>)

The work table is so crowded my two new 30 x 30 panels are still there from when I put them together last week. SO, I just worked on top of them. I won't show you what the other two rooms look like...disasterville!

In these photos I have a one piece I hope will get in a show soon and I'll be very happy to get the notice when ever it comes. All the rest are going to The Encaustic Center or the Plano show.

It will be SO nice when all this work is out hanging in shows so I can get a little room to work on more. Soon I may have to build or rent a climate controlled space for finished work if someone doesn't swoop in and say........ "I love your work and I want to buy it."

Melting Point - Art Centre of Plano

2010-04-01T10:13:00.000-05:00

Texas Wax - Dallas has a new juried exhibit opening at the Art Centre of Plano, April 9.. 6-8pm. Come by if you are in the area that evening. If not, the show will be up until May 8.

Fifteen percent of sales from this exhibit will go to the Red Cross for Haitian relief. Come out, buy a painting and do something good for Haiti all at the same time.

I will have three encaustic paintings included in the exhibit.....among them, Almost Winter, a 48 x 48' diptych on wood panel.

Almost Winter

48 x 48 x 1.5" encaustic, paper on wood panel

4 panel Encaustic painting, finished!

2010-03-09T16:40:00.000-06:00

It's finished....I think!. As far as I can tell it's finished although I might come back in a day or two and see little places that might be adjusted for some reason.

I had to remove one quote in the upper part. ....I decided since this was turning into an Umbria/Tuscany trip painting, I would title it, "The Green Heart of Italy", so I put that in the top over the other writing. The finished painting is 4 panels, 36 x 48" total.

4 panel Encaustic painting progress

2010-03-08T18:09:00.000-06:00

I'm finally making progress on the 4 panel painting..........collage, mixed media, encaustic. As mentioned earlier I noticed the panels are actually about 1/4" off so I can't turn them every which way to line them up as I thought I might be able to do. SO....they are definitely vertically oriented although the finished piece will be horizontal.

Last time I worked on these before the week-end, I left the studio thinking it was a good thing the last work flowed for me since this one is being a little more contrary. I really don't know where I'm going. Sometimes I like that...well really, I mostly always like that. BUT, some parts of some processes don't and they demand you either know what you are doing, or be ready to go with whatever happens...and heck, cover it up if it doesn't work out. SO, I'm giving it up to all the higher powers to guide me through this work.

I first just put medium on all the panels after I marked here and there all over the pieces with Conte. I had been rummaging through my junk, collage stuff and found some quotes that sounded interesting to include. So I added them to the panels...two of them, anyway. This is best done before adding the medium as you can't write with the usual pencils or chalks on top of the medium. (This is what I mean about knowing where you're going). Of course, as I applied the medium I changed my mind where the two with the writing would go.

I started tossing out a lot of papers..and pieces of junk I collected on trips. I just kept tearing and cutting the pieces of paper out and laying them down. Now...nothing really looked good or showed promise at all in my estimation.

This is a section of the farthest left panel before I applied medium to the papers lying there.

These sections are the ones to the farthest right. Yeah....there is my Umbrella pine again....I've used it several times...this is the first time I've used my photo as a transfer and I also added some to it. I have some other collaged elements from that same trip. So far there is not much encaustic paint on TOP of the collaged elements. First I lay down the pieces and then I have to just decide to add the medium over and fuse them. If it doesn't work out, I can heat it up and move it or paint over it later. I have to say...working with wax and collage elements is easier in that they don't go blowing and moving around quite so easily as doing them on paper with acrylic medium. BUT you can easily almost cover up what you want to remain so you have to be careful in some areas.....or do a lot of scraping back.

Now I have some encaustic paints starting to build up on the far right panel and some into the one to its left.

Parts of the far left panel.... nore work to be done and medium and fusing to do here.

I got back and held the camera up as far as I could. I was tempted to climb on a chair but my good sense returned and I put the chair back...nothing like falling down and then hurting myself for a picture of a work in progress.

This is how I left it at the end of the day. Can't keep working as hubby will be wondering if I've deserted him...and especially his dinner......Humm..what's that dinner going to be?

On to the next painting session

2010-03-04T12:14:00.000-06:00

On to the next painting...and a snafu or two. Today, I turned the old wooden drawing table over to see if I could raise it up a little more..............yaay, it seems I can. This is a lot better for collaged encaustic work...or any collage for that matter as it is much more exactly for placement of the elements.

I opened up my last box of panels... 4, 12 x 36" ones from CheapJoes. They are the extra deep prime panels and I like them a lot. However, in this instance, I noticed a snafu here when I laid them out on the table. I thought I would line them all up and work as a whole multiple...either verticle or horizontal...no matter. However, lining them up I began to see other possibilities UNTIL I noted that the one on the end placed vertically lined up next to the other three laying out horizontally didn't line up exactly. Finally, I measured and these panels are all the same size but they are 1/4 inch short of 36" SO, I can't play around with all the arranging I thought might be fun to do. Bummer. Guess I'll just go back to the first impulse and line them all up going the same way.

This is something to remember in case I ever do want to do the other arrangement sometime to make a little change-up in panel orientation in the future.

Encaustic Diptych Finished

2010-03-03T16:01:00.000-06:00

Some days, things just work themselves out. Today was such a day. I added some more paint, wax, papers, fused and decided it just didn't need any more work.

The title of this piece is "People Say". The reason for the title.......it's part of the quote included in the text/writing on the painting. The size is a total of 24 x 36" for both panels.

New mixed media diptych started

2010-03-02T20:31:00.000-06:00

Today I started working more on the new encaustic mixed media diptych. I got out the panels yesterday...both 24 x 18"....so the two will measure 24 x 36 like the last piece I did....only in two parts.

I laid out some papers I had after scrounging around in all my papers. Then I decided I didn't want the color of the wood to interfere in the relationships of the color or non-color. So I got out the encaustic gesso again......Holy Grail and then had to wait for it to dry. Today in the humidity, it took longer than usual. I fished around in all my mark marking crayons and pencils and found some pastels and that sort of thing. I made marks randomly after taking some papers off the panels. I did a little writing that might or might not be there when I get through across the tops of both panels. I don't like to be able to read the whole thing although I don't mind a few words here and there.

After taking all the papers off I hit the whole surface of both panels with clear encaustic medium and fused them. Then I got the papers back out and laid them down again. they never go back where you started...but that's okay in this instance. As you note the pieces look light. When you start laying the medium to them they will darken. SO, although I know they will be darker, I just go with it and put them down anyway. I will have to work with the relationships of the values and colors as they develop.

I went looking through all my papers again and found a drawing I did a gazillion years ago of an old elm tree. I don't remember if it is charcoal or graphite but I tried the transfer method and it worked great without having to wet the paper........I just rubbed the dickens out of the back of the paper and it went into the wax.

By the end of the afternoon, I had this to show for all the relationships and fusing...........

SO...I'll be back tomorrow to work on this some more....

Better photo of finished encaustic

2010-03-02T20:15:00.000-06:00

I think this is a better photo of the finished 24 x 36" encaustic I posted yesterday. Title will have something to do with Colors....I think.

Winding down on the latest encaustic painting

2010-03-01T17:57:00.000-06:00

I've been back for two more sessions working on this latest encaustic painting. Before today I was a little concerned about too much texture over all the panel. Now I have heated carefully, let cool a little and scraped over and over (thanks, Hylla, for the tips). I think now it has smoother areas to play against the texture....at least when you run your hand over it. This photo makes the sky look a little light to me now. I will just have to get more accurate photos later. There really is a touch of that ochre in the upper plane along with the pale, grayed blue violet.

Another thing that had been bothering me (and still does as a small thumbnail).......the greenish ochre areas in the foreground looked too much like big splotches. I now have and smoothed them out some and spread the color a little more across that plane. It might could do with a little more coolness possibly but it works okay this way as well since the warm advances.

I'll have to think about a title although this is making me think desert, colors of the southwest, etc. Any suggestions? I hate to title something too explicitly without a real gut feeling about it that is authentic.

Back to Hylla.......she is Hylla of EvansEncaustics.com. She is a peach and gave me some tips for the smoothing down of some of these textured areas. She also makes gorgeous encaustic paint and medium. Give them a try, I think you'll like them. Oh yeah....and it was her Holy Grail encaustic gesso I used at the first of this painting.

Encaustic progress

2010-02-25T10:11:00.000-06:00

I got back to work on the 24 x 36" cradled panel after a break for the week-end trip to Dallas.

I just couldn't leave this as a tree.......I love trees, and they appear all the time in my work ever since I started painting. However, I am not planning to revert to any manner of realism and this was going that way........IT IS NOW GONE.

First round in the studio I brushed on every conceivable color and range of red and orange, purple, golds......... Just covered pretty much all of the previous image. I started turning it all around and I need to remind myself to do this often so I don't get locked into a design that isn't going anywhere. OR, keep myself from doing something a little more out of my current box and comfort zone.

Next session........adding wax takes an enormously longer time that wiping out an acrylic under-painting....My back can testify to this.

Now the thing is horizontal and it starts looking like a landscape...(after adding a lot more color besides red). So much for getting out of the comfort zone, huh. The handling of the encaustic pigments IS out of my comfort zone for this size work.

This painting is beginning to mesmerize me with all it's little nuances of color. IT SUCKS. It is not a painting, it is a lot of color nuance. When you get away from it, it dies from no distinct value contrast.....anywhere. SO, I take it out to take a photo at this point.

Then I just bite the bullet and paint a whole 5" across the top WHITE.

Hum.... I didn't see this picture before I did the white....looks better outside...However this painting would not be hung outside. I may have made a mistake with the white...but what's done is done and I will have to work with it.

Here it is with the white across the top.......darn it, it looks crooked and I even measured. Oh well. It will not stay this way long......but that will come later as I have to run to the dentist, pick up a painting and make a run into the grocery store.

My thoughts are running toward putting that violet back in the top where the white is but this time it will be a paler, grayer value/hue which I hope with give more contrast without the lack it had before. We'll see next session.

New encaustic painting in Progress

2010-02-19T17:44:00.000-06:00

Back up in the studio today to start doing something with the 24 x 36" panel with the coat of Evans Holy Grail on it. If anyone doesn't know...this stuff is like gesso for encaustic painting. You cannot use regular acrylic gesso or anything acylic under or with wax or it might or most likely will pop off at some point.

This is a size panel I've never worked on before for encaustic painting. If I continue to work with encaustic a lot, I will have to have larger pieces as working on all these little ones is just not for me. I worked on the two panels for the 48 x 48" diptych and it was no more of a problem than a couple of small ones I thought other than the physicality of applying all that wax. Same with my other paintings....I like to make big gestures.

Well......this ain't gonna happen with encaustic.....the big gestures. It's dried and cooled by the time I can get it to the board....so no fluidity. (Unless I learn some way to remedy that.)

SO....with that nice white ground, I set about laying out some color all over and making some gestural marks with oil paint. I've never done this before as a beginning for encaustic. I didn't use any medium other than thinner and just painted a lot of it on. This took a gazillion years since I had to heat and unscrew all the dried on tops of the tubes. SO, I didn't use many colors being lazy as I am. I had it in mind to make a 2010 winter painting....don't know how and why but I had it in mind. Of course, I had to start with color though so I used violet, magenta, cad red light...kind of analagous, gorgeous colors.

Hum.... started out looking like my layout for lots of land inspired work....then I add more paints and squished them all around with a paper towel so they wouldn't be wet or have any thinner left when I added wax medium I don't know if this is kosher or not but I do know you have to have a ratio of a lot more wax than oil paint in your encaustic paintings if you want them to dry and fuse properly. Then I just added a good layer of a lot of medium all over this panel and fused it gently.

It's a toss up what this might become is my reasoning...thought about getting out some papers but then figured I'd just wing it and see what happened. I got out the flow tool, wax crayons, oil sticks and turned the whole thing around a few times. A real mess.

Looks like a tree or some other type of organic shape is emerging. I just kept adding paint, medium, marks and fusing until at the end of the day I had this going.......light is not good...all the clouds have rolled in again.

Taking photos does a lot to tell me that the black is too prominent in the photo...there will be scraping and fusing and more paint added...maybe another plane but this is looking like the old pecan tree I gaze down on from the studio...

Encaustic painting

2010-02-18T16:04:00.000-06:00

I'm continuing to work on the small encaustic pieces. I picked up a little piece I worked on in the workshop and didn't know what in the world I was going to do with this little painting unless I put in into a larger painting. SO, that is what I did. This little piece looked so much like the dormancy prevalent in winter that I went for adding a 'background' for it. This picture seems to look a lot more yellow that what I see in person.......but I think it worked out.

DEAD OF WINTER........ encaustic, 10 x 10" cradled panel

I work on a couple of pieces at a time so I had my eye still on this piece that I put a heavy matted paper on earlier. I also dug some stuff out of a basket and laid that out with it. It has a primitive face, beads and leather strings. What in the heck am I going to do with this I couldn't figure out. I see things like this off and on and I like them, but when I try to work with this kind of material I'm verging on not being my usual self. I decided I would do it anyway, so I just started adding papers and I made marks on the papers with charcoal. Medium was layered on and fused.......oops the little metal face wants to come loose when it gets hot. I just kept adding marks and made some with the flow tool as well. I liked the nice little 'accidental' green that came out of the tool before I added the white. Finally, I came up with this to photograph.

PRIMITIVE.....encaustic, papers, found elements, 10 x 10" cradled panel

I've got the Holy Grail ( Evans Encaustics ) applied and drying on a new larger 24 x 36" board now.........ready to go later. I love having that lovely white surface to start on sometimes.

2010-02-09T20:18:00.001-06:00

- Johnson Creek Studio - Cheryl D. McClure: More Encaustic work http://ping.fm/E9JOj

More Encaustic work

2010-02-09T20:15:00.000-06:00

Okay......the previous start just didn't work for me. SO, something to do is just paint over it. That I did, and I chose yellow since yellow was already there in the under-painting. As the work developed I could still see some of the marks I made and they continued to make me think of plants/trees/organic matter. By the time I got through manipulating the paint, scraping and adding more in variations.......it made me think of the fossils found of plant and animal life from eons ago. SO,.....tentatively, I titled this work , Yellow-Gray, Fossil.

I started to work on another small 10 x 10 x 2" panel. This one had a layer of natural beeswax or two on it and I drew and made marks with some oil sticks and pastels, added some wax, fused and manipulated it all around and added more wax. Yellow must be permeating my life today with the sun shining so this one also got a great dollop of yellow. I have titled this work, Yellow Sky Kinda Day.

Upon seeing this one...I may have to do a little more finessing of this band of blues...just a little too straight across without enough variation. We'll see!

Some benefits of studying art : ArtStuff

2010-02-04T10:13:00.000-06:00

Some benefits of studying art : ArtStuff

Comeuppance

2010-02-03T12:00:00.000-06:00

Yeah.... just get to thinking you know what you're doing and the powers that be will let you know you do not.

I went up to the studio today to work some more on prepped boards. I rummaged around and found some nifty paper I bought in Carcassonne France quite a number of years ago. Yes, I noted it has a glossy surface but I thought I should try it anyway after all I'm still learning to do this wax painting and transfer stuff. I like collage but sometimes it would be better to have a transfer of certain lines or designs instead of collaging them in.

SO, I just heated my surface, slapped the torn paper on and rubbed it to death. While doing this I noted I wasnt't see a lot of lines coming through the paper as this paper is a little thicker than just plain old copy paper. I kept on though until I figured it was time to try the water dissolve and rub off thing. I gotta tell you, you need a lot more water and rubbing with this paper and it wasn't entirely successful if you want a transfer that looks perfect. I can thank those same powers that be that I don't. My perfection is imperfection.

It was still a flat transfer since I rubbed away so much of the thickness of the paper but it might not be worth it really to use this kind of thicker paper with a sealer on it for this technique.

Then I thought....OKAY...where am I going next with this piece so I rummaged around for some more paper and came up with a dark navy almost black looking paper. I say black since it looked that way until I took a picture of it and it looks dark blue there. I assure you it is more black than blue. I tore, fused, cut, laid it down, fused. Painted yellow paint on places, fused. You cannot forget to keep fusing every layer.

I got tired, hubby was home, and so I decided that was it for the day. I made a bunch of my own kind of marks into the surface......OOPs, now it looks like one of my landscape marks in the middle so I had to do some negative painting. Finally I decided I would have to put it away and come back and see if a miracle would happen over night.

So lesson learned (although I already knew it).....never think you know how to do anything. Some days are flow days, some days are lesson days.

Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch workshop

2010-02-02T11:46:00.000-06:00

Oh my....what will I report from the Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch workshop held last week at the Encaustic Center in Richardson, TX (Dallas)? First of all, we had a fabulous time talking, painting and learning with a good friend from Mississippi, Cathy Hegman. Also, it is also wonderful meeting the artists you know already and the ones you don't in a setting such as a workshop where you are all sharing your experiences/knowledge.

Trish is a delightful person. She demonstrated several times a day the way that she uses wax, collage, embossing, transferring images, etc. We then all set to try out all these techniques we may or may not have done in the past. We all learned a few things or or a lot of new things (depending on individual experience) to take home with us and interpret in our own work.

I'd never really been fortunate in transferring images before. It was better to actually see someone do this instead of reading the instructions. With encaustic I think it is easier since the method we used used water to remove the extraneous paper left on the board. It was so much better to not have to worry about washing off more than you intended with the wax being waterproof. I found that I had not been rubbing the back of the paper with the transfer near enough. Also, pouring water on and rubbing it off is a lot easier and less time consuming than using a mister......at least for me.We also used a laser or toner based transfer......and water. No solvents to have to go outside for or anything special other than that. Have your wax surface slightly warm, lay down your transfer image face down into the wax and rub and rub and rub with the back of a spoon, etc. Finally, can start pouring on small amounts of water and rubbing with your fingers until all the paper residue is gone and your image shows. If there is a little left, the next layer of clear medium with cause it to just disappear.

I did two pieces this way to try to reinforce this in my mind for the future. I have a lot of things I might want to photograph and use this method on. All in all, I probably did about 7-8 smallish pieces running from 8 x 10" and down during the three day workshop. the two I'm showing here with the transfers are both 10 x 8".

During the workshop, I also worked with using fabrics as collage elements along with other stuff you find around...threads, slightly 3-d stuff to embed. Whatever interests you to apply to your work. As a painter I tend to forget all these nifty little techniques most of the time and keep just painting. However, now and then I want to know how to get a certain look for special paintings.....OR how to incorporate elements I haven't used much before.

The reason to take the workshop is that I've only taken a one day thing about 6 months after I started working with encaustic. I figured I might be making things harder on myself than I needed to so I was going to see if there were easier ways to do some of the things I was doing. Some like the transferring were good to show me a simpler way. Other things, looks like I'd been doing okay all along.

All of us need to get out once in a while and get together with other artists ......and maybe pick up a thing or two. That's the great thing about workshops, you get to do it all.

2010-01-16T16:25:00.001-06:00

- Johnson Creek Studio - Cheryl D. McClure http://ping.fm/tDhFK

Doodles

2010-01-16T15:28:00.000-06:00

As mentioned previously, I brushed on a few layers of encaustic medium on five small 10 x 10" cradled boards the other day. Today, I thought I would play around with the flow pen again with no expectations other than seeing how it works and getting used to the line it conveys. I'm used to doing this kind of thing........just mark making or doodling on canvas or paper and 'finding' the beginnings of a painting. I was kind of lost not being able to do this and just continually 'winging' it with brush loads of encaustic paint and medium.

I'm not complaining.... as being lost is sometimes a good thing. It can lead me to doing something and creating something I wouldn't have ordinarily if I did more planning or if I was more comfortable with my materials. I also like being comfortable with my tools as that kind of familiarity leads to a kind of automatism I find attractive. AND, if you don't like it, just scrape it away or cover it up and you have a quality of surface by the time you work through it.

Today, I cut some small pieces of Ivory Black encaustic paint off to put in the pen to melt. I just started with a kind of a doodle and just made organic marks. Oh yeah.........before that I put a good layer of red that was in one of my paint cans across the top. No reason, just somewhere to start. A color and some black and whites in their various forms.

I used a lot smaller brush to work back into the lines, into and over some of them, varying the whites, pale gray, etc. I fused, I scraped and I added and scraped some more.

The light isn't that good but I do know one thing from taking pictures of the large piece, Almost Winter, that white can really be tricky and look either not like white or too chalky. Gotta admit, in other mediums this happens as well but it seems like with encaustic it shows more in the photos. Something will have to be done about that.

This is for want of a title........Doodles 1. I think I may play around with this flow pen and the doodles some more on the other small panels.

How to Build an Art Career in One Year: The Simple Truth about Building an Art Career

2010-01-13T10:49:00.000-06:00

A new blog to read for me..... Betsy Lewis has a lot of great ideas.

How to Build an Art Career in One Year: The Simple Truth about Building an Art Career

2010-01-09T14:02:00.001-06:00

- Johnson Creek Studio - Cheryl D. McClure: Encaustic Collage..almost completed http://ping.fm/ncB1q

Encaustic Collage..almost completed

2010-01-09T14:01:00.000-06:00

I didn't work for very long on this painting today. I played arounnd with adding some linear work with the flow-pen tool, and added some more medium, fusing and scraping some as I went along.

When I reached this point I couldn't figure out anything more that would add to it without overdoing it. SO, I quit. It's possible something else will come to me...but I don't see it right now.

I'm also posting the close up of one of the areas of line work with the flow-pen. this painting is certainly got a southwestern or western flavor to it. With the aerial maps, shapes and colors, I'm still considering a title with some of these elements.

Encaustic Collage, continued

2010-01-08T19:38:00.000-06:00

I fired up all the wax today when I finally got up to the studio. At least we have heat up there plus the wax heat. Cold weather for days and the furnace goes out. That's always the way it goes. It will be next week before they get a new one here from the factory that fits our situation.

SO, on to working on the piece I started with the collage yesterday. I just kept pulling out more paper and tacking them down with more encaustic medium under the pieces...moving from one relationship of color and shape and size to another.

I'm now at this stage of the process on this one and will continue on tomorrow.

I really haven't a clue where I'm going so I hope it turns into a good place. This image is a close up of the area upper off center.

Encaustic Collage

2010-01-07T20:40:00.000-06:00

I worked in the studio all afternoon until the wind howling ran me out. We're expecting 17 tonight...and that's way cooler than usual for northeastern Texas.

Today, I started working on the other 24 x 24" cradled board as I think the other one I posted last time needs some think and observation time before I proceed further.

This one already had a little beeswax on it so I started looking through collage papers that didn't already have acrylic or anything that couldn't absorb wax. I find that if I "think' about all this too much it just stifles me. So I just started throwing a lot of paper around and came across some aerial maps from my trip to Arizona a few years ago. The pilot (Mr I fly for art) gave me his old maps.

Working with these should be fun...but it doesn't matter if they are there and readable when I get through or not. Probably for sure I don't want them to be there TOO much and TOO readable. I got out other papers and then started laying them out. I didn't really 'see' that much so I figured I might as well go for it and it would come as it darn well wanted to. These paintings have a mind of their own. And if I don't like it, I can just melt it all off or cover it all up.

SO, I have part of maps, and a big piece of dark blue paper. I cut some of the pieces of maps into strips and laid that down in places along the bottom. These strips and the blue do not have any wax on them yet............ I had to leave them all when I had to start closing down all the window blinds for the cold winds coming in.

This time I triple checked I turned off my encaustic medium that had finally gotten ready after being stirred what seemed like all afternoon.

We'll see how it goes next session........

2010-01-04T22:09:00.001-06:00

- Johnson Creek Studio - Cheryl D. McClure http://ping.fm/SSh4H

Studio Time

2010-01-04T19:51:00.000-06:00

Cropped/Close up almost is a whole painting in itself, huh!

Cowboy country....that's what I get to thinking as I get to work on this painting in the studio today. I've been playing around with the encaustic again. I'll continue to play some more as I have a show of encaustic coming up at the Encaustic Center in Richardson, TX in April.

First this is.......I ordered some nifty tools from Fine Art Store Enkaustikos quite a long time ago and just haven't used them at all yet. I got a Flow tool...kind of like a batik pen, some hot point thingies and the regulator so they don;t burn everything up. Doncha just love all my real great descriptions and names for everything. Well.........I have to do this since I can't run all the way out and upstairs just to see the names of this stuff.

So... I played with the Flow Pen first. Well not exactly first, I did have to put something on that board beside some wax I laid down the other day. I rummaged into some collage stuff and tore some paper up and just started putting it down with wax. I know I may not be doing all this the right way (which might be the easiest way) but I'm bumbling along doing it as I figure it will work. I saturated the paper with wax and put it on the already waxed board. Then I fired up the Flow Pen with some wonderful orange paint they sent me as a bonus when I ordered the pen and whoa........this is great! You can make all kinds of little squiggly lines and dots with this thing. Only bad thing is my cord is kinda kinked and I'm trying to figure out how to not waste paint by laying it down the wrong way.

Mentioning kinks..........there are a ton of electric cords everywhere when you work with encaustic. There must be a better way to organize all this stuff but I haven't found it yet.

So...then that all looked fun but it is not a painting to make a lot of fun stuff playing around. I finally just had to start adding some more papers and then I added paint and on and on. At one point it made me think of all the fences here at the farm and the view down to the lake.......then I saw mountains which we do not have here although we have rolling hills. Oh well......who cares as all this will get layered over several times I imagine before it it is through.

Here are the in process pictures......and one up-close that looks like a mini-painting.

Happy New Year TWENTY TEN

2010-01-02T11:19:00.000-06:00

to celebrate the new year 2010, I decided this was as good a time as any to import/export my old blogspot blog from http://artstudio75604.blogspot.com/ to the new one to correctly designate my new location here on the farm. The new blog is called Johnson Creek Studio - Cheryl D. McClure.

Hum...it seems to have imported all my old 300+ blog posts and comments but I will be testing it out. Oh my... I forgot to actually look to see what the new URL is. I think it should be http://www.johnsoncreekstudio.blogspot.com/ but I will check it out and make corrections if needed.

Oh yeah........back to the new name/title. I thought and thought about what to call this blog with our move over here from last year. I guess I was just talking with my husband about the place and it occurred to me that with this creek running across our property.......I even named a new painting with that title, that this is the perfect title for the blog.

Almost Winter

2009-12-18T14:22:00.000-06:00

I finally drug the two encaustic panels out to the studio porch to photograph them. I was somewhat worried about the wind blowing all of us off but I made it back in before the big gust came. It wasn't easy as I had to back down some stairs and hard to get the two pieces to line up for the photos. While editing, I could almost crop out part of the edges of the images. I think this is close enough.

They are finished except I will need to paint the edges with something (not wax)to blend with the front of the paintings. It will be considered a diptych.....and I've played around with various titles. I think "Almost Winter" will do.

Studio stuff

2009-12-07T15:59:00.000-06:00

I've just been refining some on the panels...polishing etc. I made a boo boo one evening and left my pot of medium on low in the crockpot and now I'm having to get it out of the pot and probably never use it. What a waste that is for that much medium.

BUT, I have also been working on putting together some panels I ordered before ever moving. I'm not sure I'm doing this right but I'm gluing and clamping the mitered corners. Then I will use finishing nail/brads and glue to attach the front plywood to the top.

While doing all this little studio stuff I kept glancing out the window out to the south and west of the studio. I'm on the second floor so I have a good view out. I just couldn't resist taking a couple of pictures with my telephoto lens. One is looking toward our small lake and the others are looking toward the creek bottoms.

2009-12-02T21:10:00.000-06:00

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Panel Progress, continued

2009-12-02T18:32:00.000-06:00

I realize you may not see differences in today and yesterday......BUT, it IS there. I even did some scraping. For one thing, I'd been working on the second panel more so today I looked and the first panel (which was my favorite) was looking a little rough in comparison to the second one. Now.....do I want to refine the first one more or add more to the second one???

Maybe do both....so I added some more orange and yellow to the second one, camouflaged the edges of the left side of the second one. Edges are SO important in this as in all painting....sharpen some, soften some.

So much to my shoulder's distress, I kept moving them from wax station to painting wall. I scraped some but I like a certain amount of raw look and texture and not all smooth refined surface. Smooth can be beautiful...on someone else's painting..not necessarily on MINE.

Looking at them together..if I really want this to be a conjoined two panel painting I might add some more linear work and wax to the right one to connect more to the left side. As a separated diptych or just two panels in the same group, I could just leave it alone. If I 'connect' them, I might want to add more neutral white in the right one as it has so much less and is more than a little yellow in the background areas compared to the left.

Decisions, decisions....all is decision and looking at the relationships.

Panel Progress, continued

2009-12-01T17:24:00.000-06:00

The bottom photo is after I've been working for a short time adding color and neutral pigments. The one above is a closer in shot of this second panel.

As mentioned yesterday, I wanted to get both panels to about the same amount of finish so they would be compatible to be hung together or NOT.. I work this way with my acrylic on canvas or collage paintings as well. I can complete more with less effort ( I think). I, also, don't get too bogged down with detail or
too much nuance at the wrong times in the process of working. The work will remain fresher.......and oh yeah, my neck will appreciate it a lot.

The top picture is of the two panels at this stage of the painting process. There is a lot of wax and pigment on all parts of the panels now. The next stages will be to refine or cover/expose. I haven't done ANY scraping. This is mostly positive painting with a lot of negative painting into it just as I do with acrylic. ..oh yeah and fuse, fuse, fuse.

Negative painting sure does turn on the right side of the brain...and time flies.

Panel Progress

2009-11-30T16:15:00.000-06:00

I started back in on the panels again today. I made some progress on one of them.

First, I did decide that I thought I would go with yellow as the accent with these black, gray and white (whitish)paintings.

SO...I got out my oil sticks and made more marks and scribbles around as is my general method of working. You do have to start somewhere. ..and this was it for me. I did this on my wall easel again so I could actually see what I was doing. It is near impossible to see anything working on something fairly large laying flat out on a table.

I did say yellow........but that means all kinds a varieties of yellows from lemon to ochre.....AND I LOVE orange.

Then I took one of the panels down and carried it back to my studio kitchen aka encaustic painting area. This place is never going to be the same..in the sunlight I could see fine drops of wax flying in the air..off to furniture and almost certainly to the floor, my jeans and shoes. I wouldn't have know for some time if the sun hadn't come raking through the windows just so.

Anyway...this one panel has a good second layer of scribbling, scumbling, and more laying down of encaustic medium with various pigments glazed in.

I think I will work on the other one next to keep these works going in tandem and try not to get too finished on one before moving on to the other.

Panel Progress

2009-11-28T16:21:00.000-06:00

I've had a good day although it must look like I haven't done that much. Those of you who work with encaustic know that working on 24 x 48" panels takes a little more time than throwing some acrylic around for one layer. There are two panels here. I decided to load them all to a folder in Picasa for viewing. There are labels for each picture.

As I mentioned before...I mounted watercolor paper to these panels so that wax would absorb into the surface. I was afraid the old surface might not work for wax painting. I had space left at each end so I put some paper I found that probably came from all those gorgeous papers I find at art supply stores. I tore off some charcoal colored heavy paper and mounted it at the bottoms.

OK..where to go from here?? Guess I'll just do what I do with other paintings while forgoing the toning I usually do.........I get out the willow charcoal and just make marks. Whatever marks are my marks for the day...just depends on the mood. I don't analyze it or put any intellectual thought into what kind of mark I'm going to make. You can cover it up later if you want to anyway. One good thing about encaustic and acrylic painting...guess that is my attraction to both mediums.

I'm also attracted to the use of collaged elements in paintings and with wax, no glue is needed since the wax with hold it down...and you can cover as much or little as you like.

I don't know yet if there will be any more added or not but for unity, there probably will be some since that is a heavy element there in the bottom of the picture plane right now. One bad about having a panels with hangers already on them...might make for a problem if I like them better horizontal or upside down. Oh well...I will face that problem if it arises later. I can remove those hangers and move them for sure.

Humm..now to dream...what color or no color or what?? Guess I'll find out as I go.

Panel Prep Continued

2009-11-27T16:52:00.000-06:00

I finally got back up to the studio to work on the other panel I am preparing for encaustic. I took a couple of pictures the other day...then the camera battery went dead earlier when I was going to show the sanding, etc. Oh well, ...here are pictures of the panels prepped, drying and waiting for the wax..tomorrow, I hope.

Oh yeah, you will note that the d 'Arches is not quite wide enough to go the full 48" length of the panels. I (on purpose) did not cut into the paper to make it a full coverage. To me that would have been more of a problem to cut straight...and I always figure a little bit of a challenge to work on a project adds dimension to the project in the end. It forces a little more innovation to work with materials in a different way. It makes me come up with a new wheel so to speak.

The second panel didn't glue down quite so easily as the first. Finally I have it all down though and it looks fine. Then I looked around for more papers or wood strips or anything that might work in that space at the end with no w/c paper on it. I found some good thick paper with lettering on it. This paper will be heavy enough (like the d "Arches to not have medium seep through and ruin the bond with the wax later. I cut and tore it off un-evenly and am now leaving all to dry overnight.

The sides of the panels still have some of the gold covered canvas, slightly sanded. When I get through with the work I will decide then what color to paint or stain them to go with the work. For now, I'm doing nothing to them.

Panel Prep

2009-11-19T15:02:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I decided I had procrastinated enough with some recycled panels my daughter found me...both 24 x 48. I want to use them for encaustic since good panels are expensive. I also want to paint with wax larger. I knew that whatever was on them was not going to be conducive for working with wax as it has to be an absorbent surface. I thought at first it was gold metallic paper but it turned out to be canvas.

SO, instead of heating and sanding it off, I just sanded it and covered it with some of the roll Arches paper I have here and am not using. It turned out that I'm about 3 1/2 inches short on the long end with 44 inch wide paper. But, why not use something else there? That way I won't have to cut up all that paper into unwieldy strips. I used Nova gloss medium pretty heavily on the panel and weighted down the paper until I could roller/brayer it out. I actually found that the big 12" wall board knife worked great for this.

This morning I looked and it looks like it is going to stay flat and looks great. SO, will need to do the other one but I will wait until I get this one going first so see if I want to leave that extra edge a little different than on this one so they will work well together as a diptych or pair.

Woo hoo...should be fun to work BIG.

2009-11-12T17:01:00.000-06:00

Art Calendar | How to Network on a Daily Basis by By Ligaya Figueras http://ping.fm/ChuKG

Johnson Creek, Pasture Land

2009-11-04T08:01:00.000-06:00

I just didn't know what to do with the first painting I started at colony. It was going the same way as many of my Little Pieces of Land paintings. Toned it with a warm ground and drew marks and shapes in my usual mode. That's the problem...I need to get out of my usual mode now and then. i can't find the picture here in the house on this computer as I think it is on my laptop in the studio.

This canvas is 48 x 36 and I just broke out a couple of brayers and some left over neutral mixtures of paint I had out from a previous painting and was going to just paint over it and start again. What's another layer, huh!

Anyway, in the process of covering up, I found something else........that little bit of land peeping out of the colors I just kept mixing up intuitively. I like it. It's softer than my usual pieces but that stronger design does come though here and there and marries with the top layer to become its own.

The ranch where we live is about 200 acres and I look out on all this every time I look out the windows in the house or in the studio. There is a creek that runs through named Johnson Creek............SO, this painting is titled, "Johnson Creek, Pasture Land".

Joy In A Sunny Day

2009-11-02T11:19:00.000-06:00

OK.........yeah, taking a new picture this morning of the painting from yesterday. It turned out much better and to show the brightness of the day.

I think "Joy In A Sunny Day" is an appropriate title. AND, it does have imperfections...and I like that. In photographing it I noted I did it on it's intended side....and I kinda liked it that way, but I will leave it as is and let anyone who wants to buy it decide how they want to hang it.

Painting on a sunny day

2009-11-01T17:06:00.000-06:00

After a really good day of sleeping late (good time change to fall back), I had a lazy day baking bread and just generally lazing around. I finally did get up to my studio. I have two paintings started up there. One of these was weird for me..I threw paint on it, graphite, sprayed it to seal up the graphite and then had to head home from Colony. Colony was a whole week of rain although a wonderful painting trip.........I've been waaaay tired of rain. Anyway, the start was a rainy day painting, this is a sunny day painting.

The past couple of days we have had the good old autumn cool days with SUN. Anyway, this is just to let you know why I planned to title this painting, "Rejoice in a Sunny Day". Well, best intentions...the picture was taken in cool light and shade and so the colors are waaaay off. If they aren't that is not going to be the title. I'll go back up and see if it 'died' tomorrow. If so, I'll have to work on it again or change the intended title that popped into my head.

This is just a quick pic taken off the porch of the studio..........more later in better light if all goes well....cause this does not look sunny in this picture.

Happy November 1.

Diptych finished

2009-10-28T14:10:00.000-05:00

Finally got the diptych done ....two 36 x 36" canvases. I guess they could be stand alone, too, I haven't decided. Anyone want to think up some good titles for me? I've already got a Little Pieces of Land diptych from the past although I guess I could title another one.

Now, I'm hoping that it's just my monitor but these pics today I made outside seem a mite light and washed out. Anyway...........here's the finished piece(s) I'd been working on before Colony.

Only two more Colony starts to go to be finished with all of them and then into the wax studio again as cool weather should be hitting.

The Alchemy of Encaustic

2009-10-22T11:04:00.000-05:00

I have some work in a Texas Wax group show,The Alchemy of Encaustic, at Kilgore College in Kilgore, Texas. This is one of the three encaustic paintings I will be showing. It is titled, Patina 5......12 x 12" x 2", collage, encaustic

October 30 - December 10, 2009

Opening reception Friday, October 30, 6:30 - 8:30 pm

Kilgore College
Anne Dean Turk Fine Arts Gallery
1100 Broadway
Kilgore, TX 75662

October 30 - December 10, 2009

Opening reception Friday, October 30, 6:30 - 8:30 pm

Progress

2009-10-21T16:26:00.000-05:00

Progress is being made on the current diptych.......no magic genie came in over night though. I'll have to keep looking at it to see where the few touch ups and corrections might be..........OR, worse comes to worse, larger corrections if I find it needs them.

In fact...maybe it shouldn't be a diptych but two paintings xyz title 1 and 2 and could be used that way or not.

The Uglies and other things

2009-10-15T09:03:00.000-05:00

well...it's happening as usual..................the uglies. This diptych has reached this phase. Funny how looking at the white canvas is not my worst moment....it's a new beginning where I can put on all those beautiful pigments. They look so wonderful with the white showing through the transparency as I build up color. I almost hate to cover them up. SO, when this ugly stage hits, it's almost a relief to just let them go. The beginning and the end are the most fun. It's when you don't know where you're going..............and when you finally know where you are going. It's that muddling lost feeling you have in the middle that is the pits.

Sorry that ugly picture is up in the studio. Maybe next post the painting will be on it's way to a better state.

Oh yeah...that nice clip I posted of Wolf Kahn talking about his work and how color and texture conflict. A good friend and fabulous artist, Cathy Hegman, mentioned that must be why she is painting with neutrals lately. Yeah...they do conflict since you can hardly concentrate on more than one element at a time without taking away from the other. Sometimes you give up something to make an emphasis on the other.

2009-10-14T19:05:00.000-05:00

Contemporary Art - NewArtTV: Wolf Kahn ( http://ping.fm/QFw5a )

Watery 2

2009-10-10T15:44:00.000-05:00

Ahhh...I never did get back as promised with the other 30 x 30" painting I was working on. It was about 90%finished but needed a little more finessing as most do when I come home from Colony.

I have a good excuse........60-75 mile per hour winds came through and knocked out the power for the majority of the day and took out some good trees as well as blocked in my new asphalt driveway into the farm. I posted some photos on Face Book.......oh yeah, and you can follow me on FB by just running a search on my name. I have no idea what or where the URL is to do it directly. I guess I should do that.

Back to the painting. Here it is...I suppose I must title it "Watery 2" since it is so similar to another larger piece I did a short time ago.

Asphalt and art

2009-10-08T18:32:00.000-05:00

Asphalt or art!

Today most of the day is spent in household stuff..........AND getting our long uphill drive and area near the garage and under my studio asphalted. It was LONG overdue.

I did finally get upstairs to the studio to work on another 30 x 30" canvas. No pics since it was too late to get a good one ..for one reason. For the other, I have to make sure it is finished.

Here's a couple of pictures of asphalt...I KNOW you will love to see asphalt. Tomorrow if the sun is right and the painting is finished I'll get one of it for you.

Oh yeah...pardon the second pic taken through the window screen.

In between I made a fine pot of baby lima beans........yum!

2009-10-08T18:04:00.000-05:00

Hail the Heils (http://ping.fm/2iILC)

2009-10-08T18:01:00.000-05:00

Isn't this an absolutely wonderful story!

2009-10-06T19:35:00.000-05:00

Glasstire: Texas visual art online (http://glasstire.com/)

Two paintings finished

2009-10-06T09:44:00.000-05:00

Finishing up a few paintings from COLONY.

I decided there was a lot of time between working on the diptych from the previous post and the five pieces from Colony. SO, I needed to finish up a couple of them and get them squared away.

These two needed very little...slight color variations to make for a more interesting variety was about it.

No titles yet...take that back..the 40 x 30" painting is probably Little Pieces of Land 32 and the other one,30 x 30" has something to do with Turquoise matrix but I'm not sure yet that will be the title.

It was very cloudy yesterday...these may need new pictures later when we have sun and I have time.

Back In The Studio

2009-10-03T08:04:00.000-05:00

I don't even want to look to see how long it's been since I posted to this blog. SO many things come up. I have worked, but just not taken pictures or time to write anything.

Just before heading off to Colony I applied another layer to the beginning of a diptych I started. However, I never posted the last picture of the progress.I wanted to take it to Colony to work on but just ran out of space in the SUV to carry that many canvases.

Now here I am getting all those things that pile up while you are gone done..........and had to have a new central unit put in the studio.

Yaaay.....now I have not two paintings in progress, but SEVEN. That might be a few too many. I like keeping more than one thing going at a time so I can flit around between them all when I find I don't know where else to go.............but SEVEN and the smallest is 30 x 30"......so lots of visual conflict.

SO..it's a beautiful day so far so I better get into my painting clothes and out to the studio.

American Artist Series

2009-09-18T18:02:00.000-05:00

If anyone out there has purchased my work as a giclee from American Artist Series, please contact me as I have some questions of you.

2009-09-15T19:27:00.000-05:00

Ping.fm / Your Dashboard (http://ping.fm/dashboard/)

Bee Season at the Texas Discovery Gardens

2009-09-08T14:34:00.000-05:00

At the Texas Discovery Gardens, Bee Season - Dallas News - Unfair Park (http://ping.fm/TAgAa)

I have been running like mad for a month. I went today over to Shreveport to trade out paintings with my gallery (Brunner Gallery) in Covington, LA.

But, got home and found this wonderful little review of the TX WAX -Dallas show that opened on the 4th.......and a little mention of my work from the "Paved Paradise series" included in the show. I was out of town when it opened. I know the group did a fantastic job of hanging the work as usual so I look forward to getting back to Dallas later this month to see the show. It will remain up through the first of January 2010.

2009-08-27T09:00:00.000-05:00

Global Swarming: An Exploration and Reflection of Colony Collapse Disorder | Texas Wax (http://ping.fm/UUhcF)

2009-08-22T08:21:00.000-05:00

Encaustic Painter interviews at Encausikos (http://ping.fm/lllr0)

2009-08-20T14:00:00.000-05:00

Valley House Gallery & Sculpture Garden (http://valleyhouse.com/)

2009-08-19T15:38:00.000-05:00

If you don't want to waste your money...don't fly SW airlines Business Select. I did and I know it's not worth it.

It's a "Start with Red" day!

2009-08-04T20:16:00.000-05:00

Looks like today is a 'start with red' day. I'm back to working on the two 36 x 36" canvases on the wall easel.Tired of waiting for painting payment to finalize. It will just have to wait while I paint since it's too late for shipping today anyway.

Texturizer (Nova Lightweight Texture paste) is on already and I started to pull out paint, thinking, "hum ..what undertone for this one?". Then I decided on Napthol Crimson.....good a color as any and it's transparent which I like in under-painting tones. Then on to the Cad yellow. Hum..kinda liked those first shapes. Why doesn't the end 'product' turn out as spontaneously? WELL.....it can't, of course, because you have to make a painting, not just play around when it comes down to it.

At first though...fun to just start somewhere, anywhere, color or a mark. This one started with color and may not have any resemblance to the beginnings when I finally finish with it. I like color under my neutrals.

Oh yeah....that sale finally completed............will ship tomorrow.

2009-08-02T20:01:00.000-05:00

Hum...not a clue or maybe I should say too many...what am I taking to Santa Fe?

2009-08-01T15:39:00.000-05:00

Mary Heilmann: Season 5 Preview (October 2009) | ArtBabble (http://ping.fm/SOEEE)

2009-07-31T20:24:00.000-05:00

Testing the Ping.fm dashboard

Photographing Paintings

2009-07-22T15:05:00.000-05:00

Hum....I don't like this photographing of long or tall skinny paintings. Out here at our new location, it is even worse since I don't have a set place to photograph. SO, call on your husband to hold them...thank goodness no more slides on felt and they can be cropped.

Well...I spoke too soon on that one as my program kept wanting to crop off the top of one of the panels when I applied the filter to straighten. I think I finally got it okay. However, a 12 x 72" diptych is not easily seen when you have to get back far enough to take it's photo. SO, I took a full length and separate ones of each panel.

I decided to title this diptych, Familiar-Unfamiliar. I started this painting some time ago. I kept staring at it ...just like the previous painting until I just couldn't stand it any longer. Fix it or cover it all up. It was 98% done or it would have to be re-painted. I was fortunate that it worked. My mantra again........Just DO it.

A wonderful new product!

2009-07-21T12:08:00.000-05:00

I sat down to watch the weather since we finally have a little thunder and lightning in the area. Instead I found another one of those endless infomercials for "whatever" can make for a better life, more energy, and of course, not least...lose weight, and especially your tummy...or yeah, and throw in get rid of cellulite and wrinkles.

SO, I hit on a fabulous new way to make some money......Paint a painting, sculpt a new sculpture, etc that promises if you buy it and look at it every day in the morning, noon and night, you are guaranteed within 15 days to lose that middle, get more energy and have a wonderful, successful life. And this is free, all except you have to pay your small shipping and handling charge...oh yeah, it (new small paintings/artwork) will be automatically be sent to you quarterly so you can renew all this wonderful effect on your mind and body.

Anyone want to help me develop this wonderful new product?

Finished painting

2009-07-19T14:39:00.000-05:00

Little Pieces of Land 31
acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas, 48 x 36"

I finally got the painting photographed outside today. Here is the finished painting from the demo of the past few days.

Painting demo without video continued.........

2009-07-17T09:32:00.000-05:00

Okay.......so I went up to the studio. This time I just eyed that darn video cam and left it alone. I started working on the painting again 'cause as anyone familiar with acrylic knows, it can 'die' on you overnight even if you thought you were so brilliant the day before.

Before more paint........

I decided the part above what could be called the horizon line needed more paint, something. So I set to work and quickly added some more.

Oops....not the right feeling here...off in color. I am not sure about all that gray in the bottom left either. There is more here and there throughout the painting, but from a distance something may be needed. I have to guard against getting things TOO balanced though. Anyway...this layer is not right. What to do, what to do!

The only thing you can, just DO IT. If it's wrong, do it again until something looks better. You can always paint over it. Layers only add to the feeling of good paint quality with this kind of work.

SO..........this is what I ended up with....for now...the gray stays although there are some subtle changes not too noticeable in this picture. Looks like another "Little Pieces of Land" painting to me. Nothing wrong with them, but I have done quite a few (31) and none of them small. Maybe it's time for a good talk with myself about where I'm going from here.

Painting and stuff!

2009-07-16T14:48:00.000-05:00

So much for stretching my brain cells. I bought the little Flip video camera thinking I could take short clips of me working to post on the blog. HOWEVER, no one wants to see me just standing there mixing paint out of sight for all this time in between putting the paint on the canvas. It is supposed to be SO easy to clip out little parts but for the life of me I can't get it to do it. and still leave the parts I want to leave. The videos are too long for Utube unless they are 10 minutes or less. I'd planned on having several 10 minute ones. Oh well...the best laid plans don't always work out. Corel VideoStudio Pro X2 has me completely overwhelmed. Too much time has been devoted to trying to cut/edit and figure out how to do all this stuff. I could have painted two large paintings.

There are several things to think of when you video.....or for me anyway. I talk to myself, I sing and hum and dance around when I'm in a good mood painting. I listen to music. Now how can a person do all this for a video cam I ask you?? SO, on the first one I talked some but you can't really hear me well. On this one, I didn't talk but turned up my stereo....can't really hear that either in the other room on the video. The powers that be would sue me if I put any of the music I listen to on my video since it is copyrighted. What's a person to do and still make the whole thing authentic?

Oh yeah...and my friend Pat said she didn't want to hear music anyway, she wanted to know what I was thinking. SO, must I tell everyone, that the best painting days, you don't really 'think' consciously, you paint and you 'know' what you are doing or you stumble upon the answer as you go along? Now I'm not saying I can't tell you what I'm doing some of the time....that's what all that talking to myself is all about. I tell myself when it's working or not working so to speak.

So much of my grumbling. Here are a couple of pictures....... one of my palette. This is about what it usually looks like except sometimes I have special mixtures for some paintings...or also a couple of these palettes and little dishes of large neutral colors when working on especially large paintings. This one is only 40 x 30".

I can't show the beginning since it's on the video..I cut a still but can't get it out of the program :>(. But, it was a textured canvas that I slopped a lot of leftover paint on as I was leaving Colony some months ago and didn't get back to. It had a basic feel of a landscape though but the colors didn't work.......so I used it for my tone.

Step 1 (that I can show you)..... Now that I look at it, except for that pinky color...not too bad. First though I drew in some lines with willow charcoal to give me a starting place.

I just kept adding paint...acrylic dries fast.

This is a picture of the top of the painting made yesterday..............this might actually be the best for the whole thing but I can't cut the canvas down like a piece of paper.

This might be all I can get in one post so I will post the changes made today.............tomorrow unless something keeps me from it.

To be continued......HUMMM, does anyone know how big a video file Blogger will allow?

Meltdown Exhibit

2009-07-01T17:11:00.000-05:00

With the kind of weather we have been having here in Texas, this show's title is certainly appropriate. If you get a chance, come by the opening or closing receptions of this show by members of TX WAX-Dallas at the Art Hotel Gallery.

More waxing

2009-06-22T17:06:00.000-05:00

I bought a little FLIP Ultra video cam last week. I don't really have a clue how to work it yet. The first video I made I turned it sideways to get in more field of vision but then had the devil of a time figuring out in a program how to turn it vertical again. Finally, I figured it was just taking too much time for now learning how to cut and edit so much of it for YouTube. So you can't see the first part of the demo of working on the paintings I showed you in the previous post. SO, I made two little short ones from another angle and left as much of ME out of it as I could. I have no idea who that old fat woman is in the video. (smile) Anyway, it was hot in my studio kitchen...good place for hot wax, huh! I'm also uploading the two 12 x 12" panels that I'm titling They Paved Paradise 1 & 2 since I got some of my inspiration from that old song, Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YlRpOZ3J_M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5CdF_nmY5Q

Waxing Day

2009-06-16T18:34:00.000-05:00

It wasn't too long a day in the studio. However, the time spent was fruitful...although it got hot with all the wax medium making and the palettes heated up. Almost 100 degree heat and hot palettes...yow!

I started working on two small panels for the Global Swarming show the other day and just had to wing it on what I was going to do next.

Months ago I was driving down the road and I heard the old Joni Mitchell song..."Big Yellow Taxi". It hit me like a ton of bricks..maybe I could use some of the lyrics as a part of my work for the Global Swarming show. I DON'T DO THEMES....I keep saying. Anyway...I have to for this show. So last week some of us worked on a couple of collaboration pieces but I still had to do a few of my individual pieces.

These pictures are about a 1/3 - 1/2 of the way into the process probably. ...maybe more.

I used collage papers and some of the lyrics.... "Put away that DDT now
Give me spots on my apples ..But LEAVE me the birds and the bees, Please!" along with others like... "Don’t it always seem to go That you don't know what you’ve got ‘Til it's gone. They paved paradise And put up a parking lot."
Okay.......so it's cheesy...but that's all the ideas I have on themes. I just do what I do with paint and collage and hope it will work out.