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New paintings. These are in the same vein of the work I did last summer, though more raw and saturated. These three remind me of animals.

Tusk, encaustic and ink on panel, 5″ x 4″

Using a new pigment here, Burnt Scarlet from R&F.

Serpent, encaustic and ink on panel, 5″ x 4″

This one, Chalice, could be a cup or a snout/trunk.

Chalice, encaustic, gold leaf and ink on panel, 5″ x 4″

I love white encaustic.

Breaking news in the encaustic world. Joanne Mattera, founder of the Montserrat Encaustic Conference and author of The Art of Encaustic Painting has decided not to renew her contract with the Montserrat School of Art. You can read the whole story in all its juiciness on Nancy Natale’s blog.

Joanne says,

“I am thinking about what to do next. I don’t want all you fabulous artists to jump off the cliff with me–this is not “Thelma and Louise”–so while I have departed, I want to see what I can come up with next, and where, before I make any big pronouncements.

In the meantime, you can follow what I’m up to at www.encausticconference.blogspot.com.”

Hang in there, Joanne! We are with you.

My friend and colleague Monika Edgar designed this postcard for our show coming up in Louisville, Colorado next Friday. It was a challenge getting two images of such different scale to work together on one card. (Her fairy tale images are 48 x 24.” My beeswax abstractions of plants and flowers are 5 x 4.”) But she did a great job, I think.

The opening is coinciding with the Louisville Street Faire, a small town food and music fest, so there will lots to do and see should you choose to stop by. There’s a nice little arts community budding in Louisville. If you’re in Colorado it’s worth checking out.

“A ballsy choice!”

That’s what co-exhibitor David A. Clark said about juror, Joseph Carroll’s decision to give these three paintings a wall of their own at Flow & Control. I agree. It was ballsy choice and as the artist it was thrilling.

Three paintings anchoring the main wall at Montserrat’s 301 Gallery

I have a large gesture. It’s my tendency to draw things larger than they appear in life. Encaustic, however, encourages smallness. The paint cools quickly and it’s not unheard of for it to harden mid-stroke. Though it’s possible to work large in wax, I have better success rate, more of my paintings get completed successfully, when I keep my panels small.

Three paintings, 5″ x 4″

I knew when I shipped these pieces there was a chance they’d get relegated to smaller wall in a supporting role, especially if the show was more crowded or arranged more timidly. That’s the chance one takes when submitting diminutive paintings.

“Old Fashioned Rocketry,” “Castle,” and “Rainforesty”

Though small in size, my paintings read large (an inheritance from the drawings they started as, I suppose). I am thankful to Mr. Carroll for boldly giving them a wall of their own.

Though you can’t see them in the above image, the two pieces that hung on the wall to the right are wonderful. Hot and cold glyphs by Michele Thrane.

Gallerist Joseph Carroll chose works by ten artists to show at Flow & Control, the juried show happening at the Fourth Annual Encaustic Conference in June. I am honored and delighted to be included. The other nine are:

Jill Skupin Birkholeder
David A. Clark
Shelley Gilchrist
Ken Gold
Ruth Hiller
Nancy Lowe
Kelly Steinke
Michele Thrane
Robin Van Hoozer

Beginning Encaustic
Date: Saturday, May 15th, 2010
Time: 1:00 to 4:30pm
Place: Studio Monika, Louisville, Colorado
Cost: $125, includes materials
Details: Class is full. Please email me to get on waiting list.

Soft Flower, encaustic and ink on panel, 5″ x 4″

I made this imaginary flower last winter during one of those bitter weeks when spring seems so far off as to be impossible. Now, here we are! It’s a pleasure to remember what it felt like to imagine spring while enjoying the real thing.

Can you guess what this is?

Wax lace, March 2010

Whenever I make encaustic medium I spill a bit in the water bath where I heat my wax. The spilled stuff rises to the top in a bubbly white scum. When it cools and hardens it looks like this.

Hardened bubbles in encaustic medium, March 2010

I imagine if I were to press these bubbles together with my hands when wet they’d flatten themselves into hexagons (would they?) just about the size of the ones bees make when building wax comb.

This fragile thing crumpled after I photographed it but was beautiful for a few short moments, nonetheless.

Beginning artists are invited to learn the basics of encaustic painting with me at my Boulder, Colorado studio in March.

Encaustic for Beginners
Date: Saturday, March 20th, 2010
Time: 1:00 to 4:00pm
Place: TBD
Cost: $125, includes materials
Details: Here

Those of you arriving here via the Montserrat Encaustic Conference blog, welcome! It’s a joy to connect with you. I write about beeswax, honeybees and painting from an appreciative and (hopefully) curious point of view. Your comments are always welcome.

The last few weeks have found me blogging about a Wayne Theibaud interview transcript (here and here). Thiebaud’s supportive yet rigorous attitude toward painting as an endeavor worthy of spending one’s life on inspires me. He’s for painting with awareness of the world around you; an understanding of how your work fits in; and the ability to assess your own work and receive feedback and inspiration from your friends.

According to Thiebaud being a painter, a relevant painter, means participating in the conversation about what painting is. It’s a yearning for painterly conversation that draws me to the conference and spurred to me to make Wax Fetish, the talk/slide show I’m giving at on Sunday, 6/13. My hope is to elaborate on what many of us intuitively know about beeswax but have a hard time saying. That it’s important. That it has something to do with the body. And how neatly it fits into the story art tells about human beings.

Please, join in the fun.

(023) Wax Fetish: Beeswax, Materialism and Encaustic Paint
Talk: Yes, beeswax is beautiful! But have you ever wondered, beyond beauty, what your art is about? Wax has physical and symbolic properties that engender a cult-like appreciation. Find out more about why beeswax is special and how art made with it refers to the viewer’s body in this image-rich talk about encaustic painting that draws on art history, experimental film, philosophy and honeybee biology.
Level: All

Presenter Laura Tyler uses encaustic to make elemental, abstract images of plants and animals. She is the producer and director of the documentary film, Sister Bee and speaks nationally about beekeeping and honeybees. She earned a BFA in filmmaking from the Massachusetts College of Art and is a co-founder of the Boulder, Colorado, based honey company, Backyard Bees. She is a lover of sunlight, flowers and alizarin orange.

The Road, encaustic and ink on panel, 20″ x 16″

A new painting. The subject was a dill plant and while making it I had a reverie about plants growing up in a landscape of wildly abandoned concrete. The white band along the bottom is what makes this a painting and not a drawing, to me.

One of my students brought a brand-spanking-new copy of Patricia Seggebrush’s Encaustic Workshop to class. Though I didn’t get a chance to read the whole thing, I DID page through and can tell you it’s a juicy one. It’s a technique book chock full of lush, inspiring how-to pics. We passed it around the class (lots of oohs and ahs) and everyone seemed to find something take inspiration from.

Happiness! Joanne Mattera just posted the preliminary roster for the 2010 Encaustic Painting Conference. I will be there (presenting “Wax Fetish” a new talk/slide show about beeswax, materialism and encaustic paint, more details later.) Readers, If you plan to go, let me know. I’d love to connect with you.

A new painting.

“Psychopomp, Gold and Blue Bird,” encaustic, ink and gold leaf on panel

psy•cho•pomp
noun
In Greek mythology a guide of souls to the place of the dead.
The spiritual guide of a living person’s soul.
In Jungian psychology the psychopomp is a mediator between conscious and unconscious realms personified in dreams as a wise man or woman or sometimes as a helpful animal.

Please join me for a lecture/slide-show about beeswax at BMoCA on Tuesday evening. I’ll be speaking about beeswax, how it is made by the bees, its uses in contemporary art and what it means. Free and open to the public.

Wax Fetish:
Beeswax, Materialism and Encaustic Paint
Tuesday, October 20th
7:00 – 9:00 PM
Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art
1750 13th Street
Boulder, Colorado