Trying to set up the encaustic studio
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.
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Happy Fourth of July!
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.
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Blog Feature
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
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My work from Daniella’s workshop
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.
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Some conference pictures and such
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.
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A funny thing happened on the way to the Encaustic Conference
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”.
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Gearing up for the Encaustic Conference
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.
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Finished Encaustic demo painting
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.
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Demo at the Encaustic Center
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)
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Invitation to upcoming show at the Encaustic Center
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!
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.
580 W.Arapaho Rd. #271
Richardson, TX. 75080
214-405-5993
bonny@theencausticcenter.com
deanna@theencausticcenter.com
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Packing up for shows
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.”
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Melting Point – Art Centre of Plano
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.
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