River Garden Studio: July 2011

July 19, 2011

The Magic of Encaustics, EncaustiCamp 2011

When I walked down the sidewalk to my first workshop with Judy Wise at Encausticamp almost a week ago I had no idea what to expect! This little daisy caught my eye.

How would I make this medium fit into my art? Like many others, I had no idea what was in for me, only that I thought the art of encaustics was magical and beautiful, mysterious and a little scary.

This woman, Trish Seggebruch, had a dream to share her love of encaustics with the world, and orchestrated EncaustiCamp 2011. The camp was creative, well organized, had amazing food. Everyone there was positive and helpful and filled to the brim with energy!

I soon discovered days of colorful hot wax, the smell of beeswax, new friendships and new experiences were awaiting me. The fear of the unknown quickly abided and soon I, like everyone else, was covered with wax!

This painting is by Anna.

Workstations were filled to the brim with supplies. Judy had us paint our faces upside down.

Bridgette taught us how to layer wax and make transfers.

Here are our beautiful teachers!

We were all so happy and exhausted.

Already looking towards next year.

This piece is by Don.

And these by Dianna.

And I don't know who made this book!

This is mine.

And another collage of mine using wax, plaster, tar and shellac.

I came home and spent all day yesterday playing with art. I made lots of backgrounds for collages or ?. Today I spread all my "stuff" all over my dining room table, then tidied it all up for a photo shoot.

And my art bag is patiently waiting for it's next adventure.

You wouldn't believe how much I can fit in here!

I have to say that I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked, but I was making ART, and my camera just sat on the table, sadly proud and forgotten.

So, I will leave you these links to websites/blogs with more photographs of EncaustiCamp 2011:

Judy Wise

Trish

Jessica

And, check out the art work of Michelle Belto and Chrystal Neubauer, two of the other amazing instructors!

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July 09, 2011

ocean blue

This week has been crazy. We are getting a new roof, (it leaked from all the rain we had this spring), and there is a constant sound of pounding overhead, not to mention the buzzing of machinery and hearing workers walking back and forth on the roof all day. A little un-nerving!

But, last week we were at the ocean, part of the Oregon coast at Seal Rock, near Newport. These are some pages I started in the car. The book in the background, Drawn Stitch, was inspiring me as I sewed my way west to the Pacific coast.

This is the first trip to the coast that my husband and I have taken with out children. It turned out to be a great trip, sunny and breezy, lots of walks on the beach, relaxing on the deck of the house we rented with the ocean below.

sipping wine in the evenings

Our views were spectacular.

And there were fun things to photograph inside too.

There were wild foxglove everywhere, my favorite flower! (but in my garden they are bushier, and many different shades of pinks.)

This is Jimmy with our dogs, we found a new way to get down to the beach, not as treacherous as the "Psycho Trail" we used to take.

Everyone smiled when we walked with the dogs, they match their steps together, side-by-side so close... and obviously they adore each other.

I can never believe how colors, especially reds, stand out at the ocean.

Or how huge the ocean is,

and how it changes colors.

Since I've been home I have been meeting deadlines, and finishing some pages in my "come to the ground" book. I try to sew everything in it, and use minimal glue.