PhaedraJean ArtMachine

Encaustic Workshop: August 5th and 6th

2011-07-22T16:26:00.000-07:00

Guess what? It's time for another Encaustic Workshop! It's been a while and I definitely want to fit in one last encaustic workshop before our little girl comes along in early September. It certainly won't be the last workshop I do, but I plan on taking a little break in the fall to figure out how to take care of our baby girl. The exciting news is that I have a new studio mate who is also an encaustic artist and she will be offering workshops in my absence. She will even be expanding the kinds of workshops we are offering to include weekends where you can learn more advanced techniques and explore the exciting world of encaustic sculpture.

I'll be back teaching in November, but I would love to have you in this next beginning encaustic workshop so you can get started with beginning techniques. If you are at all interested in painting with hot wax a workshop is the best way to learn the basics. After you take an initial workshop it's easier to add techniques to your knowledge base from a book or a video. Here's the scoop:

Description:

10 instruction hours with plenty of studio work time to experiment and make complete pieces. Instruction in buying supplies in an affordable way, making encaustic medium and colored waxes. You will learn many varied encaustic techniques, some color theory basics and composition direction. All supplies provided for your use in the studio: wood panels, heating tools, carving tools, paper, colored wax, encaustic medium, blow torch, brushes, tins for color, oil pastels, string, yarn, found objects. You will take home multiple pieces from your work time.

Location:

Golden Belt
Building 3, Studio 103
807 E. Main Street
Durham, N.C.
27701

Schedule:

Friday August 5th

6-8pm - Introduction to encaustic, applying medium,

preparing your panel, fusing, and first tries at the technique

Saturday August 6th

10-12pm - Using color with colored wax and oil pastel, embedding paper and objects.

Studio work time

12-1pm - Lunch Break

1-6pm - Transfers, carving and incising instruction. Studio work time.

Cost:

$300

All supplies provided!

Registration:

4 spots available only! !

To register please email me at: phaedrajean AT gmail DOT com

Tuition in full is required to hold your spot in the workshop.

What to bring:

A great way to add personality to your pieces is to collect collage material that you are drawn to. Paper, found objects, sticks, buttons, cloth, string, ribbon, photographs, flowers etc... You can also bring photocopies of photographs, text or images to transfer into your wax. Please only bring Xeroxed or laser printed images, not ink-jet. Color or black and white both work wonderfully. It's also wonderful to collect and bring old pieces of wood to paint on. Coming with a stash of things you've collected will mean your pieces will be more interesting and more you!

You may also want to bring a lunch on Saturday. There are not many places to eat near by, but there is a microwave that you can use to heat food if you wish.

Extra supplies will be for sale. If you are interested in starting your own Encaustic set up we will have encaustic medium, wax, tools, panels, and oil paints for sale. Because we buy wax in bulk we are able to offer encaustic medium and wax at a significant discount from what you will find in any art supply store in the area. Bring some cash if you want to take advantage of the chance to build your own supply and keep working after you go home!

Do you know someone who would be interested in learning how to paint with wax? Please share this information so we can be sure to have a full class!

Hope you can join us!

New work!

2011-04-26T18:00:00.000-07:00

My studio pretty much always looks this crazy these days!

The internet connecting in our house has decided it wants to live in the stone age, so I'm way behind on anything that happens online. But I'm taking a few moments, while at a coffee shop catching up, to post some pictures of new work completed and in progress.

I'm excited about starting to work more sculpturally again. If I can ever find the time, I have ideas for large pieces along these lines. I've also been obsessively collecting old pieces of wood, as I'm in love with the way it looks against the wax. I sort of want to cover an entire wall of my studio with old wood and wax!

Here is a little peek at what's been going on.....

I've been doing some simple drawings of organic forms to try brainstorm ways that sculptural work can take on similar forms. It's been a great exercise.

These are all done on watercolor paper that I used to make mono-prints. I love the smokey, watery colors against the tight and clean drawings.

The drawing is done with colored pencil and my favorite gold paint pen.

This one has some red thread sewn into the drawing.

These are some of the pieces that have come out of the drawing exercise above. I have plans for at least 3 more of these 16x20 pieces. I'm enjoying working with naturally bleached beeswax. The milky skin color is perfect for these piece which are about the body, fragility and containers.

The color in these is made by applying oil paint into places that have been incised. The 3-D elements are cast paper forms that I've been creating using glass medical vials and test tubes as my molds.

These are two door lintels pulled from an old home. I'm planning on using a little wax in the crevice to attach the paper forms. I'm also thinking of adding some gold leaf to this to play up the rough and decaying texture of the old door frames against the clean and bright gold. My favorite things about this piece are all the rusted nails in the top and bottom.

This pair of diptychs started me using the old wood without covering it with any wax. I really like how it breathes out the dense color and texture of the wax panel.

These 6x6 collages are the beginning of a collaborative project that will soon be announced!

I created this commissioned gold leaf and acrylic piece for a couple who asked me to design/decorate several spaces for their wedding. It is 20X42 on a wood panel with a 2" cradle.

Encaustic Workshop April 29th and 30th! FULL

2011-03-29T15:35:00.000-07:00

* This workshop is now full! The next workshop is in June, please email to be put on the waiting list! Thanks! *

It's time for another Encaustic Workshop! I had a great time sharing my obsession with wax with some eager and creative students when I taught a workshop in January. I was again impressed by how easy it is for people to make beautiful things right off the bat. If you are at all interested in painting with hot wax a workshop is the best way to learn the basic. After you take an initial workshop it's easier to add techniques to your knowledge base from a book or a video. Here's the scoop:

Description:

10 instruction hours with plenty of studio work time to experiment and make completely pieces. Instruction in buying supplies, making encaustic medium and colored waxes. You will learn many of the basic techniques, some color theory basics and composition direction. All supplies provided for your use in the studio: wood panels, heating tools, carving tools, paper, colored wax, encaustic medium, blow torch, brushes, tins for color, oil pastels, string, yarn, found objects. You will take home multiple pieces from your work time.

Location:

Golden Belt
Building 3, Studio 103
807 E. Main Street
Durham, N.C.
27701

Schedule:

Friday April 29th

6-8pm - Introduction to encaustic, and first tries at the technique

Saturday April 30th

10-12pm - Using color, embedding instruction. Studio work time

12-1pm - Lunch Break

1-6pm - Transfers, oil pastel, carving and incising instruction. Studio work time.

Cost:

$300

All supplies provided!

Registration:

~~4 spots available only! !~~
*Workshop now full! Next one in June! *

To register follow this link: Encaustic Workshop Registration

You will receive a pay-pal invoice for a $50 non-refundable deposit to hold your spot. The rest of the workshop fee is due Friday when class starts.

If the class is full the registration link will be closed. Please email me to be put on the waiting list for the next workshop! The email is: phaedrajean at gmail dot com

What to bring:

Do you know someone who would be interested in learning how to paint with wax? Please share this information so we can be sure to have a full class!

Hope you can join us!

ArtMachine Classes in January!

2011-01-19T16:04:00.000-08:00

Here is some information on two new kids classes beginning in January. If the class you are interested in is full, please ask to be added to our email list. Email me: artmachinestudios at gmail dot com.

**If you subscribe to my ArtMachine Studios Newsletter please note that the Encaustic for Kids class has been moved to Wednesday at the same time. **

This year I'm changing the model of classes to offer more technique based classes. I realized that so many of my students are already confident artists and what they really loved were chances to explore media and new techniques. So, to that end I have reduced the time spend on art history and basic art ideas, and increased the technique exploration opportunities.

The format is also changing a bit, instead of an on going class that you can jump into at any time I'll be offering shorter blocks of classes on specific techniques. Each class will go for 5 weeks. When the 5 weeks are over I will start two new classes in a different technique. You can sign up again if your child is interested in the next class subject, or take a break for those 5 weeks.

Classes for the 5-8 age range will always be on Tuesdays, 8-12 year olds will always have class on Wednesdays. Classes will always be from 4-5:15.

Tuesday Class -Mixed Media Exploration: THIS CLASS IS FULL

Tuesday afternoons for 5 weeks starting January 25th and going to February 22nd.

4pm - 5:15pm

All kinds of 2-D mixed media techniques with a heavy emphasis on collage. We will be using lots of papers, encaustic (wax), acrylic paints, coloed pencils, markets, etc... We will work on paper, wood, and canvas.

Age: 5-8

$100 plus $25 supply fee per student.

5 spots available only

Class located @ Golden Belt Studio 103

Wednesday Class- Encuastic for Kids: (The only encaustic class for kids in the area!)

Thursday afternoons for 5 weeks starting January 26th and going to February 23rd, no class on February 16th.

4pm-5:15pm

Basic encaustic (painting with wax) techniques including, painting, carving, embedding, collage, and drawing into wax. We will work on wood panel.

Age: 8-12

$120 plus $50 supply fee per student

Students must be able to respond well to instruction, have good attention skills, and be able to be responsible with hot items and heating tools. Please make sure you child is prepared to work slowly carefully with items that could be dangerous if not handled in the right way. We will work with wax at 150 degrees and use a heat gun (highly supervised).

5 spots available only

Class located @Golden Belt Studio 103

Registration:
If you would like to register for a class follow the registration link under the description for each class. Once I have received your registration information I will send you a pay-pal invoice for the amount of the classes. Once you have paid for you classes you are officially signed up and no one can take you spot.

If you don’t have a pay-pal account it is very easy and quick to set one up. If you have concerns about paying by pay-pal please contact me to talk about it.

Classes are filled first come first served. Please contact me to be added to the waiting list if the class you are interested in is full.

Golden Belt:
Golden Belt Studios is a large studio complex east of downtown Durham. Over 40 artists are currently working at Golden Belt and it is a great creative environment for your kids to learn in.

Please make them aware that because other artist will be working in neighboring studios while we are holding classes, they will be expected to work calmly and quietly just as they would in their classroom at school. For directions and more information please follow this link to the Golden Belt website: Golden Belt.

Adult Encaustic Workshop in January

2010-12-19T16:18:00.000-08:00

Exciting news! I'm offering an Encaustic Workshop January 28th & 29th at my Golden Belt studio (studio 103). Come learn how to paint with hot wax. It's sure to be great fun. Here's the scoop:

Description:

10 instruction hours with optional open studio time on Sunday. Instruction in making encaustic medium and colored waxes, and basic techniques, color theory basics and composition direction. All supplies provided for working in the studio: wood panels, heating tools, carving tools, paper, colored wax, encaustic medium, blow torch, brushes, tins for color, oil pastels, string, yarn, found objects. You will take home multiple pieces from your work time.

Schedule:

Friday January 28th

6-9pm - Introduction to encaustic, and first tries at the technique

Saturday January 29th

10-12pm - Using color, embedding instruction, studio work time

12-1pm - Lunch Break

1-5pm - Studio work time, transfers, oil pastel, carving and incising instruction

Sunday January 30th

2-5pm - OPTIONAL open studio time (additional $50 fee)

Cost:

$275

$50 fee for additional Sunday open studio time

Registration:

6 spots available only!

To register follow this link: Encaustic Workshop Registration

You will receive a pay-pal invoice for a $50 non-refundable deposit to hold your spot. The rest of the workshop fee is due Friday the 28th when class starts.

If the class is full the registration link will be closed. Please email me to be put on the waiting list for the next workshop! The email is: artmachinestudios at gmail dot com

What to bring:

Do you know someone who would be interested in learning how to paint with wax? Please share this information so we can be sure to have a full class!

Thank you!

New stuff in the shop!

2010-12-03T15:05:00.000-08:00

The light is fading much earlier around here. That early darkness, along with some nights in the 20's, makes me want to cozy up in my house, drink hot things, and listen to christmas music. I love how still the air gets when it's dusk on a cold night. I hope you are able to find some quiet moments in this busy holiday season!

Just for fun here are some photographs to entice you to take a look at some new things in the Ambrosium etsy shop. Perhaps you'll find something special for someone you love.

"The way a crow

Shook down on me

The dust of snow

From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart

A change of mood

And saved some part

Of the day I had Rued."

-Robert Frost, Dust of Snow

The Strange Things that Christ Holds Together

2010-11-29T11:45:00.000-08:00

Below is today's entry from an Advent devotional put out by our church here in Durham, All Saints Church. Advent devotional guides are such a great way for me to slow down and to pay attention during this season. I especially appreciate that All Saints had invited artists to create visual works to accompany the entries. I hope you enjoy this short reflection I wrote and a new piece I created for this Advent season. You can find the entire booklet online here.

"The Strange Things that Christ Holds Together"

This art piece is made from a strange family of elements: beeswax, sticks, string, a book page, some pieces of a dress pattern and gold oil pastel. In much the same way that strange events and characters combine to form the story of Christ’s birth, so these art materials form a cast of “characters.”

Layers of hot wax have been painted onto a board. Embedded in between these layers are bits and pieces of a dress pattern. Together they allude to the mysterious pattern that God lays out for us. His Word, symbolized by the beeswax, secretly but certainly holds all things together inside that pattern.

Sticks appear as a reminder of Jesus the Vine Dresser and the Root of Jesse. From both this Vine and this Root we receive our real sustenance. String is tied and stretched in a cruciform pattern. Pages from an old Bible re-tell four narratives. John leaping inside of Elizabeth’s womb. An account of the Ascension. The wild birth of John the Baptist. The incarnation of God in Bethlehem. These stories remind us of the fantastical elements in the events surrounding Christ’s comings and goings. All these events are incredible and, across the board, un-expected. Surely we can only expect God to enter into our lives in a similar way—mysteriously entering when we least expect him, appearing, then disappearing, leaving us open-mouthed but always disclosing his everlasting love for us. God uses such strange and wild ways to accomplish his purposes. He fills people long empty. He astonishes us, as the Gospel writers might say.

Gold marks the center of the panel. This symbolizes the kingship of Christ. It is a kingship that appears at every point that we allow him to assume a place of preeminence in our lives.

Why did I make this piece? I did it to remind myself, despite my sometimes feeble faith, that all these things are true. His mother, for example, was a young woman like me, like many, who did not expect God to come in that way and at that time. While I wait for Jesus to answer my prayers—and to answer prayers that I have yet to even pray—he is at work in all kinds of unexpected ways. If I only look for him to come in the way that I want him to, then I miss all the mysterious, beautiful ways that he is already present. I need to remember to wait for him. I need to trust that, like the string threading itself throughout this art, he holds all the strange, often puzzling parts of my life together, and the frustrating parts too. When I do trust him, I find that my heart is filled with gratitude. Some days it is filled with wonder.

Innocence

2010-11-27T10:33:00.000-08:00

"Innocence is not the prerogative of infants and puppies, and far less of mountains and fixed stars, which have no prerogatives at all. It is not lost to us; the world is a better place than that. Like any other of the spirit's good gifts, it is there if you want it, free for the asking, as has been stressed by stronger words than mine. It is possible to pursue innocence as hounds pursue hares: single-mindedly, driven by a kind of love, crashing over creeks, keening and lost in fields and forests, circling, vaulting over hedges and hills wide-eyed, giving loud tongue all unawares to the deepest, most incomprehensible longing, a root-flame in the heart, and that warbling chorus resounding back from the mountains, hurling itself from ridge to ridge over the valley, now faint, now clear, ringing the air through which the hounds tear, open-mouthed, the echoes of their own wails dimly knocking in their lungs.

What I call innocence is the spirit's unself-conscious state at any moment of pure devotion to any object. It is at once a receptiveness and total concentration. One needn't be, shouldn't be, reduced to a puppy. If you wish to tell me that the city offers galleries, I'll pour you a drink and enjoy your company while it lasts; but I'll bear with me to my grave those pure moments at the Tate (was it the Tate?) where I stood planted, open-mouthed, born, before that one particular canvas, that river, up to my neck, gasping, lost receding into watercolor depth and depth to the vanishing point, buoyant, awed, and had to be literally hauled away. These are our few live seasons. Let us live them as purely as we can, in the present. "

- Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (pg 82)

Three Announcements!

2010-11-16T14:08:00.000-08:00

ONE: The Shop!

The Etsy shop is officially open for business. Acknowledging that my goal to post hundreds of items for sale before I announce it is just plain silly, I'm opening it with only a few items. But the promise is that there'll be more to come. The shop is called The Ambrosium in honor of St. Ambrose, the patron saint of wax workers, and it can be found here. I'll be concentrating on filling it with more things after this weekend when we have....

TWO: "3rd Friday Open Studio"
and
"Durham Art Walk and Holiday Market"!

Friday from 6-9 PM the Golden Belt Studios will open its doors to the public, and there'll be plenty of artists working away and selling their wares. Food trucks are likely to be hanging out and there should be a new show in the gallery. It's bound to be a great time.

Saturday from 10 AM - 5 PM and Sunday from 1-5 PM the Durham Art Walk will be happening all over town. The Golden Belt artists will participate in the walk by offering art and christmas gifts and ornaments galore. It's a great place to do your Christmas shopping and to find unique--and, yes, affordable--things for all your special people. I'll be selling....

THREE: Prints!

For the first time I will have available prints of my watercolor series. They'll come in two sizes. This is a perfect gift for someone looking to spend $20-$35 dollars on an art print. You can find images of the series here. The prints will be smaller in size than the originals, either 8.5 X 11 or 11 X 13. They will be printed on heavy weight paper with white border perfect for framing. The printer uses archival inks so they're sure to last for a long time.

If you email me a pre-order form before Friday, then you can have a print for $15 or $30 instead of the full price I'll be offering over the weekend. If you live in another state and would like to pre-order, I can send you your prints next week for a small shipping fee. To pre-order: look at the images here and email me the titles of the ones that you would like to purchase. I'll send you a pay-pal link with your order so you can pay remotely if you live outside of Durham-Chapel Hill.

So, to recap:

1. Etsy shop now officially open.

2. Studio open with fun things for sale: Friday 19th 6-9, Saturday 20th 10-5, Sunday 21st 1-5.

3. Prints available--first time ever. Pre-order by Friday for discounts.

Week One in a Working Studio

2010-11-09T14:35:00.000-08:00

Dried lichen from last spring that hangs above my work table. It's still neon green!

Last week was pure craziness. I had so much work to do. I'm glad I was able to squeeze some art making in between everything else. Until I have time for a real post, here are some shots from things I'm working on right now:

Ink dried in the bottom of a glass dish.

I'm making small paper forms and experimenting with sewing on them in different ways. My plan is to sink the paper forms into wax in clusters. Sort of like a 3-D version of my cellular pieces I've been working on.

I've been using all kinds of glass vials, test tubes, and small beakers to mold my forms onto.

This is one of my favorites. I love the red thread underneath one layer of thin paper.

I'm trying some sewing with my own hair. It's pretty tricky to get it knotted, but I bought some cheap magnifying glasses to help me see the tiny ends. This takes total focus and good music in my i-pod.

I've been doing tons of simple cellular type drawings that I am going to turn into either watercolor/drawing pieces or encuastics. So far it has been too difficult to get really clean and simple details using the encuastic process. But, I'm going to keep trying different things to try and see if I can't figure it out. I'd love to have these drawings translated into wax somehow.

My many to-do lists. It's great to have a whole wall that I can use for lists.

Wrapping up and sending off my first (trial run) etsy sale. I'll announce the etsy shop opening soon. This sale was to a friend who kindly agreed to be my guinea pig. This way I could walk myself through the whole process and make sure I'd gotten everything right. As soon as I finish filling the shop I'll have it open to everyone.

Making hundreds of business cards for the various events I have coming up. I love the process of tearing down and stamping each card. I'd never change to machine made cards, I just love these deckled edges too much!

Studio 3-103

2010-11-04T13:42:00.000-07:00

Guess what? I moved. I am now a proud resident of Golden Belt Building 3: the Artist Studios. I moved in last week and spent days painting over a very dark fuchsia to get the walls bright and white. I'm having a great time working away in my new space this week. It's amazing how much more productive I am when I can't get distracted by laundry, cooking, plants to water, and other various and sundry chores.

I'm really excited about this chance to expand my creative pursuits to include teaching adult classes, doing more elaborate projects in my kids classes, and making bigger art! The building is open to the public each week day from 10-7 and weekends from 10-5. Come by and visit me and the other 40 artists working here. I'd love to see you!

The Golden Belt building opened in 1900 as a textile manufacturing company. I'm so glad it's been renovated and is being used. It's beautiful and it would have been a tragedy if someone had torn it down to build apartments or something depressingly worse.

Can you believe this color? Two coats of primer and another of white paint to cover it!

It feel so much bigger now that the walls are white. Even with all my stuff in here I feel like I could teach a whole class without having to move a thing. It's great to have some space to welcome people into the studio with me.

All moved in! Photos of stuff I worked on this week coming soon.

My first event is the 3rd friday Open Studio on November 19th and the Durham Holiday Art Walk on the 20th and 21st. That whole weekend I'll be selling art and other things that make wonderful holiday gifts. I'll also be selling prints of my watercolor series for the first time. I'll have block prints for sale that I haven't printed in a while as well as ornaments, new encaustic works, and other things I'll be making over the next few weeks. Most of the artists will be here in their studios, so it will be a great time to come visit and see all that is being made in this creative space. Spread the word!

House Show, Prints, Cake!

2010-11-03T13:36:00.000-07:00

If you live in the triangle area, here's some information on a fun thing happening this weekend. This house is for sale and it's super cute. Anyone you know that is looking for a house, likes to eat free cake or enjoys art should come and be with us Sunday afternoon. Also there will be Prosecco to sweeten the deal.

The really exciting news is: I'll be pre-selling prints of my watercolor series for the first time! The prints will be ready by November 19th, but you can pre-purchase the prints at the open house to ensure you get some before the holidays. I'll also be selling the prints at a holiday sale happening on the 19th but if you pre-purchase at the open house, you will get a discounted price and you won't have to fight the masses to get one, or five. :) Hope to see you Sunday!

New work and a Cupcake.

2010-10-19T14:47:00.000-07:00

Interlacers (cellular series: 4)

Encaustic on wood panel, red thread, 5x17

Here are two finished pieces from my current cellular series. I just returned from NYC where I was filled up by all the amazing art I got to see. I'm excited to see how this affects the next pieces in the series. I did eight new drawings on the plane ride home; so I know something is certainly cooking in this brain of mine. I love the long and skinny format of the piece above. I have thirty cedar boards this size. My inclination is to make a whole bunch of pieces like this. I'd like to hang them as one big installation, sort of like a ladder of images. This one underneath has given me fits from the start. I'm actually quite glad to be finally done with it. It's not my favorite but I learned a lot while I was doing it and I'm ready to move on.

Collectors (cellular series: 3)

Encuastic on wood panel, 8x10

I also ate this gluten-free cupcake that was so good it almost made me cry. Really, tears formed in my eyes.

Coming soon: More NYC pics, including a whole slew of images from our mad dash through the Met; the launch of my Etsy shop; and a fun announcement.

Etsy Shop: Sneak Peek

2010-10-12T17:11:00.000-07:00

Exciting news! In just a little over a week I will finally launch my Etsy Shop.

The vision for the shop is to provide beautiful devotional objects that will help people to cultivate their interior and devotional lives. Hopefully the sale of these objects will allow me to make art and not to worry so much about selling it--although who doesn't love to sell. The Etsy pieces are my bread and butter, so to speak, while my other artwork--for example, my new cellular series and my "Adventurers & Adventuresses"--represents the arenas where I seek to stretch myself aesthetically. The Etsy shop hopefully will provide artistic aids to people's spiritual formation. The other art is a way for me to explore more difficult conceptual and formal territory. Here's hoping that one will support the other.

The Etsy shop will be called "The Ambrosium" in honor of St. Ambrose who is, among other things, the patron saint of wax workers. I love the idea of a kind of visual scriptorium where images are made in the same way that the monks would have illuminated the manuscripts they copied. The scribes were not necessarily thinking about making great works of art; they were thinking about the creation of beautiful things that complemented the devotional practices of the people who would have read the pages. I am excited about offering these art objects to serve your space. I think that having more time to work with wax and all the lovely things associated with it will only make me a better artist over all.

I have been crafting the aesthetic for the shop and have landed on wanting to evoke the feeling of ancient, earthy, iconic objects. Think illuminated manuscripts, old books, icons, wood altar pieces and reliquaries, and you'll be in the right place.

These are just some sneak peaks of the inventory I'm building before I officially open. I'm also working on some pieces inscribed with word meditations as well as a whole line of goldfinch images. I'd love to know which photographs draw you in. If you see something you like, please let me know.

Cartographers and Carriers

2010-09-21T10:44:00.000-07:00

Microscopic eye candy!

During the home residency I conducted in June, I worked on some pieces in the new Cellular Series. Below is the finished version of one of those pieces. I have titled it Cartographers because it is mostly about the cells of our body and their ability to follow a map to do their particular work. I imagine our bodies as a busy hive of perpetually moving pieces. We walk around carrying all that activity and we don't even have to think about it most of the time. It's quite incredible to think that I will never really see the inside of my body; I'll never see with my own eyes what my cells look like; I can never hear the noise that must be made when everything is pumping and pulsing and moving around in there. It's a whole internal world that makes me into me, but it's also a complete mystery. I have absolutely no control over what happens, or does not happen, on any given day inside my body. But I have to trust it to make me walk and see and eat and think. It boggles my mind a bit, and I like how small it makes me feel.

Cartographers: Cellular Series 2

Below is the other piece I worked on during that concentrated studio time. It's still giving me some problems, but I think I know how to fix it. "Simple, simple" is what I keep telling myself. I'm still mulling over some ideas for titles, so I don't have one nailed down yet. These pieces have proven to be very hard to photograph because they are so subtle and foggy in spots that the camera just wants to blur everything together. Any thoughts on how to get some sharpness??

Cellular Series: 3

I've been hatching an idea that includes tiny paper-mache forms embedded in to wax. I can't wait to have some space and time to finish the next pieces in this series. Hopefully this week and next will provide a little more time than the last few weeks and I will have some new things to show!

Cellular inspiration!

Art Camp Extravaganza!

2010-08-10T15:00:00.000-07:00

Well, I am so behind on updating things here! Before it gets too long between posts, here is a brief report of three weeks of art camps at the North Carolina Museum of Art and my own little studio. It was a blast to teach these kids and also completely exhausting. I learned a ton and made a whole lot of new friends. Can't wait to do it next year!

Found and Ground Bound (6-8yrs):

This camp focused on making art with found objects. We painted with sticks and other collected natural bits and bobs; we made plaster tiles with rocks and things imbedded; we did small encaustic pieces with imbedded found elements; we collaged with leaf mold and glue and paper; we played a lot of art games and looked at tons of pieces in the galleries.

On the last day of the week all the students set up tables to have an art show for the parents. It was great to read the signs listing and titling their creations. Everyone was so proud to show off all their hard work.

Art Camp at Home: (Marlee and Elliot)

I wish I could have these two girls come over every single afternoon. Oh, the fun we would have!! Marlee and Elliot came each day for a week to make art till it came out of their ears. We worked on an altered book project all week, and in between made huge mono-prints, splatter painted, collaged, plaster tiles and did a little encaustic project. It was superb!

Mold, Shape and Manipulate: (9-12 yrs)

We also made altered books in this camp. The kids loved getting to rip up and paint over old cookbooks. Except one kid who painstakingly kept every page of recipes he ripped out to give to his mom. We made pockets, bent wire clasps, glued in fold out pictures, and created creatures out of pipe cleaners that hung out of the books. We also did mono-printing, origami, and encaustic. Only three kids were brave enough to use the heat gun on their own, but all were completely enamored with wax when they left.

This group really loved talking about art, so we had a great time in the gallery every day. On the last day I let them choose which gallery to spend time in, and they all wanted to see the Dutch and Italian art. After walking through the Italian gallery, which housed paintings from the 12th century and on, one student commented: "Mrs. Phaedra! Such a lot of killing happened then. Everyone is dying in these paintings!" I guess all those depictions of martyrs got to her.

One thing I learned while teaching this age group is that kids are not being taught how to practically use a lot of the math and reasoning skills they are learning in school. For example, using a ruler to measure and cut a square was really hard for these guys. It just made me feel more strongly that art in school is much more than a fun optional experience. We need art to learn how to measure and cut, how to fold something straight, and how to make something in real space. How are we going to make new engineers, mechanics, builders, inventors, architects, and designers if we are not giving kids a chance to really use a ruler?

Lots of hugs were administered on the last day, and I enjoyed being with all the kids so much I got pretty sad knowing that I'd probably never see them again. Hopefully they will remember some of our time together and at least they will be proud to be able to explain art works to their friends and family. How many 10 year olds do you know that understand enough about abstract expressionism to explain why a painting made of drips is art?

Home Residency: Day 5 (belated)

2010-07-19T16:13:00.000-07:00

Well, I am finally posting the pictures from the last day of the home residency! I have not worked on the pieces much since then as I have been teaching art camps for young artists. In the little moments I can grab I have been experimenting with more carving in and trying to simplify, simplify, simplify. I'll post more pictures at the end of the week when I (hopefully) finish. I am so ready to be done.

A.M. - Piece No. 1

P.M. - Piece No. 2

Lunch

P.M. - Piece No. 1 (I know it looks almost the same but trust me, a lot happened)

P.M. - Piece No. 2

A few things I learned during my five days of concentrated working:

1. Art takes a lot of time and a fierce concentration.

2. Working every day gave me a better idea of just how many tiny decisions you have to make to create one thing.

3. Being immersed in your work for hours each day does not make you a very good conversationalist during the off times.

4. I need to make sure I am protecting more of my weekly hours to art making if I'm going to make any progress.

5. I have to be ruthless about cutting out, covering over, and scraping down the things that are not really working with the whole piece. No matter how lovely the are by themselves.

I am sure I will have more thoughts later. Now I'm off to make dinner.

Home Residency: Day 4

2010-07-09T13:50:00.000-07:00

Here's a progress report in pictures. Still more work to do, but no one ever said making art was easy!

Line drawing warmup

A.M.

P.M.

New Piece: A.M.

New Piece: P.M.

This beautiful lady visited me on my coffee break. A muse perhaps?

Home Residency: Day 3

2010-07-08T09:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I made some progress on the new piece. I think it's trying to figure itself out and I am not sure that I am helping very much. Can't wait to see what happens with it today. Here are some images:

9:30 am

11:30 am

1:00 pm

3:00 pm

5:00 pm

7:00 pm

Right now my gut says I have too many colors going on. I would like a more natural feel. I want it to feel sort of organic, almost like it could be alive. Today I am going to take out some of the small blue and gold dots, and carve down through to the map paper underneath in a few more places. I think it also needs some line work, so I might play around the inscribing some straight lines and filling them with color. I've done that a little with the blue circles and I like how delicate it feels. I am also considering getting rid of those red spots layered underneath. So much to learn!

Home Residency: Day 2, Part 2

2010-07-07T15:11:00.000-07:00

Before I went to the museum I spent the morning working on some new little experiments. These will be in the forthcoming Etsy shop. I'm filling my inventory with small devotional/inspirational objects that will, hopefully, aid people in their contemplative and interior life. Making these also serves as a great warm up before art making. I'm learning about drips and dots, so these have lots of both.

This the beginning of the next piece in the Cellular Series. More pictures on how it develops coming tomorrow!

Home Residency: Day 2

2010-07-07T08:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I took a quick trip to the Raleigh Museum of Art. I am teaching a children's camp there next week. I wanted to spend some time preparing for the lessons and checking out the offerings.

The museum just re-opened, after an extensive renovation and expansion, so I was excited to see the new space. The new building is really beautiful: a clean metal structure with lots of windows and natural grass landscaping. It reminded me a bit of the aesthetic of the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Tx. The ceiling is full of skylights and the space is filled with plenty of light. Natural light in a museum makes for a wonderful viewing experience.

While the collection is small, they have a nice broad representation of everything from functional African art; to huge Robert Motherwell paintings; many sculptures by Rodin; two large Henry Moore pieces outside; some wonderful religious paintings from the 12 and 13th century, and a lone Picasso. It was a lovely two hours of looking, learning, and paying attention. Here are some highlights:

Ledelle Moe, Congregation

2005-2008, concrete

This is my favorite piece. I love that each of the heads has a unique face, and that they are all facing in different directions. The slight variations in color come from the different colors of sand found in all the places the artist cast the concrete. I so enjoy the look of clusters of similar objects; calm but not monotonous. This is the kind of piece you can stand in front of and look for a long time. In fact you could look at it every day and not get tired. Its simple aesthetic pulls you in to examine the details and discover the surprises in each face.

Alison Saar, Tippy Toes

2007, wood, cast bronze

Anselm Kiefer, Untitled, 1980-1986,

Oil, acrylic, emulsion, shellac, lead, charcoal, and straw on photography; mounted canvas; with stones, lead, and steel cable; in three parts.

Juame Plensa, Doors of Jerusalem I, II, & III

2006, resin, stainless steel, light

These pieces are just amazing to stand under. The figures glow in this delicate ghostly way. The first thing you experience as you walk through the museum doors suggest a solemn invitation to quiet yourself. They sort of remind me of a sphinx, or an oracle. I almost expected them to open their mouths and intone some prophetic statement upon us all. I think it's quite wonderful how objects this large can be made to seem light, but not airy, not like they could float away, but more like a soft white blanket settling down upon you.

Patrick Dougherty, Out of the Box

2009, red maple saplings

All the wonderful movement in this piece feels like the beginning of a storm. Pressure and wind and sound and water all swirling together waiting to drop. I loved looking at it and feeling its weight. My eye just roved and flew all over. I felt like I could get swept right up into it. It would be wonderful to eat underneath these lovely, lively lines, but I don't know that I would be a very good dinner companion. I might forget to talk to whomever I was with!

Home Residency: Day 1

2010-07-06T10:14:00.000-07:00

While David is in Michigan taking a class at Calvin College I decided to give myself a little home residency. I am taking a week to concentrate on learning some new things about encaustic painting. I also want to be filling my head and eyes with inspiring things each day.

To get ready I re-designed my studio space, making it larger and more efficient. The first day working in the new space proved that just a little more space really makes a lot of difference. It's so nice to have a wax table, a cutting table, a drawing table, and a computer desk! Before this week I was balancing my computer on two biology textbooks, an atlas, and a big book of birds!

I hope this concentrated time will give me a great kick start into some new pieces. I am going to post pictures of each day's events and activities. Here are some from yesterday:

New tables and clean surfaces!

A.M. Table

P.M. Table

Playing with drips and color

Today I am off to the Museum of Art in Raleigh to soak up the collection and check out their newly renovated space. I'm also going to the art store for some more gold oil pastel! More tomorrow!

Bill Woodrow and Sidonie Villere

2010-06-22T12:43:00.000-07:00

Rack - 2000

Canvas, wax, bronze, gold leaf, wire, glass.

63 x 15 x 15 cm

I am incubating a new series. Part of my process is to look at a lot of images from other artists with similar aesthetics, or who are working in similar materials. I have been envisioning pieces in wax and gold leaf, with line drawing and string embedded. I am curious to see what actually comes from all this ruminating. In the mean time here are some images of work from two artists who are inspiring me:

Bill Woodrow is a british sculptor, printmaker, and drawer. His pieces remind me quite a bit of the work of my friend Shannon. Her interest of honey comb shapes, books, sticks, and all things bee, line right up with these beautiful pieces.

Cell - 1997

Steel, wood, fabric, wire, wax, glass, paint.

260 x 216 x 155 cm

Honey Flower - 1997

Bronze, paint.

94 x 44 x 20 cm

Closed Book - 2005

Mixed Media

165 x 67 x 64 cm

Open Book - 2005

Bronze, paint.

160 x 73 x 79 cm

Winged Box 2 - 1998

Wood, wax, steel, canvas.

86 x 60 x 40 cm

Sidonie Villere lives and works in New Orleans. She also teaches, curates, and is involved in some large sculpture projects. I love her use of texture and space, and her quiet palette.

Untitled Triptych

Acrylic, gauze, wax, plaster, liquid gold, leaf, string, nails on plywood.

25 x 36 x 2 "

Untitled

Mixed Media

41 x 30 x 2 "

Untitled

Mixed Media

42 x 61 x 2 "

Untitled

Acrylic, gauze, nails, wax, oil, pencil, war, paper, mirror, wire, muslin on plywood.

24 x 24 x 3 "

Untitled

Gauze, metal wire, canvas, wax, oil, liquid gold on gesso board.

18 x 24 x 2 "

Be inspired, friends!

New work from the Guild and things to come

2010-06-13T18:08:00.000-07:00

I was able to squeeze one day in the studio, making my own work, while I was out at the guild. I wish I had been able to stay a whole week, working every day, getting settled into a good rhythm. But, I am happy with what came as a result of that one solid day. Working next to Shannon was a great reminder of the invaluable resource of critique. She encouraged me to push farther, and edit tighter than I would have on my own. Thanks Shannon!

I have been thinking about all the cells that make up our world. I wanted to find a way to celebrate their shape as well as their function as carriers of all manner of information. The shapes are layered with pieces of book pages. I experimented with carving down into, and building up areas in the wax. I am excited to keep exploring this kind of shape making and revealing in my next pieces.

Detail

Since I came home I have been working on, of all things, sheep! I was asked to make a piece that included sheep and it was such a challenge to figure out how to make them look elegant. I have been taking pictures of lambs this week while spending time on a ranch in Texas, so I am ready to make a whole series of sheep pieces this summer.

This piece is the kind of thing I will be selling in an etsy shop I am opening this summer. My goal is to provide a source for beautiful devotional objects. I think the embedding, carving, and layering techniques used in the encaustic tradition lend themselves so well to this kind of work. My hope is that the sale of this type of object would support me in the making of art pieces that don't appeal to such a broad audience, and might not be as affordable. I'll have more news on this endeavor in the next few weeks!

Texture

2010-05-27T07:21:00.000-07:00

A mountain lake has to be one of my favorite types of places. Something about the combination of water, mountains, forest, and beach provides such amazing visual texture. When I was at the Grunewald Guild I visited the Wenatchee Lake State Park twice. I could have taken pictures all day! Here are some texture shots that are inspiring me in my work.

A Grunewald Guild Report

2010-05-25T10:34:00.000-07:00

The view from Plain *

A few weeks ago I flew up to Washington state in order to co-teach an encaustic workshop weekend with my good friend Shannon. We had a fabulous time teaching, making art, and enjoying the gorgeous environment. We were at the Grunewald Guild, which is an art center nestled next to the tiny town of Plain, Washington, just 10 minutes away from the Wenatchee Lake State Park. Our students arrived on Friday afternoon and we finished up Sunday morning. They were such troopers to endure our long hours in the studio. We decided that we really would need a week to teach all the wonderful details involved in encaustic painting. We crammed a lot into a short amount of time! Here is a little photo report of our time at the Guild:

We stayed in this building: The Homestead. *

The guild is made up of individual buildings each designated for a different function. This is the fiber house. *

Most building have dorms or sleeping lofts up stairs. *

Stained glass/mosaic studio*

Ceramics studio*

Sleep nook! *

We taught in the studio next door to the mosaics and upstairs from printmaking.

The setup: one for each student. *

Heat gun *

Blow torch *

Adding color with oil pastels. *

Teachers in aprons. :)

Our outdoor fusing station. *

Fusing masters

Introduction to the medium demonstration.

Preparing the oil paint to make colored medium.

Pairs of students shared hot plates for melting the medium.

Yum

The students made amazing pieces. We were very impressed! *

Wenatchee State Park

Our favorite new friend!

Photographs taken by Shannon Newby are marked with an *.

Julia Humpfer: HerbstKind and Dreams

2010-04-23T08:55:00.000-07:00

This morning, while I was drinking my coffee and browsing the web for some inspiration, I stumbled across these wonderful prints. I love the simple palette and intricate line work of Julia Humpfer's illustrations. Her drippy watercolor backgrounds remind me of the series of drawings I made last spring.

I have had some very vibrant dreams lately. I am hoping to put some of the images into some new drawings. Last night I was befriended by a beautiful deer, after I had run away from home and sought refuge in the wild forest. When I was re-captured, I hid the deer in my room between my clothes hanging in my closet. I could talk to the deer and it could understand me, but it couldn't talk back, it just made soft grunting sounds. I was quickly sent away to a mountain school for witches, housed in a cold stone castle, where I learned to interpret secret messages coming from a small silver figure of a woman with a large bell skirt. The messages were from Xena the warrior princess.

Spring Bird

A few nights before this, I was escaping from two talking mountain lions who had the ability to walk on walls. They were after me because I had not packed my suitcase fast enough. Interestingly, gaudy costume jewelry was the only thing I packed into the suitcase. The whole dream took place in a retail store that had closed for the night.

As I remember, David was calmly shopping in the dark while I was being attacked.

Dragon

Of course my favorite dream of recent weeks is the one where I am living with giant (as in the size of a house) talking bunnies in the woods. The rest of the dream was pretty complicated and it involved escaping (yet again) from bad guys who I believe were trying to smoke us out of the forest with torches. There were some gruesome scenes that took place in a castle, but the talking bunny part was pretty wonderful. I believe Albus Dumbledore also showed up at one point.

Balloons

So: themes of forests, bad guys, castles and talking animals. Pretty good material for some new pictures I think. Today, however, I have to make a trip to Raleigh (30 minutes away) to stock up on some panels for encaustic work and an encaustic workshop I am teaching with my friend Shannon in Washington State next week. I am sure I won't even get to start on any new drawing today. But the ideas will roll around in my head while I am driving back and forth from the art store. I hope that actually being in a forest next week will provide the perfect environment to begin the new series.

Have a happy, creative Friday everyone!

Gird with Birdy

One more lenten piece

2010-04-19T18:02:00.000-07:00

During Lent I made two pieces but never posted pictures of the last one. Here are some images of that last piece. I am super happy with it, in fact it's hanging in my bathroom and I don't have plans on moving it any time soon.

"Purity of Heart"

These are square nails, which were made in this country during the period from 1820-1910. My friend Geno found them on the property where we live. I think they are quite beautiful.

Made from wax, paper, book pages, square nails, oil pastel, and red string.

This piece excites me because I feel like it's an indication that I am finally starting to work more intuitively. Sometimes I work hard to fit so many layers of meaning into a piece, that it just becomes too full. I love the simplicity of this piece. It is usually hard for me to stop while a piece is simple enough; I often feel like I have not worked hard enough to stop. I am thrilled that I might be learning how stop and be content with things sometimes not being so much work.

I think it might be about trusting myself and all the years of art making behind me, and believing that it does not always have to be hard. Maybe I'm also learning about grace. Soren Kierkegaard said: "Purity of heart is to will one thing". I think about that quote when I feel my mind is scattered and over-run with all that I have to keep up with. Perhaps in trying to work more simply I am practicing this muscle of willing one thing. Any way that that little gem can wriggle its way into my heart is welcome.

Panels Part Two: Completion!

2010-04-19T17:35:00.000-07:00

Well, after a rather lengthy delay, here is "part two" of the images from the large panels project . Thank you to All Saints Church for allowing me to do these wonderful pieces. Thank you North Carolina for a few weeks of perfect spring weather that allowed me to work on my porch. And thank you house for having such a great porch for me to work on!

After the first day of applying gold leaf -- one panel down.

It took 250 sheets of gold leaf to cover both panels.

I love the dark red paint peeking through the gold leaf; this stuff has such gorgeous texture.

After the second day both panels have most of the leaf applied; still pieces to apply in the center to make the transition from gold to color more gradual.

From the street--so shiny!

Finished and in their new home: All Saints Church, Durham, NC.

After we delivered the panels we celebrated with Tacos from a red school bus! Check out the size of that grilled green onion.

Easter Morning!

It was so amazing to get to work this large again. My brain is spinning with all kinds of ideas for large art works. Now I just need homes for them all. Anyone have a huge raftered ceiling that needs a hanging installation? Anyone have grant money for me to make it with? :) I dream of 50-foot ceilings and unlimited budgets.

Good Friday

2010-04-02T12:24:00.000-07:00

Tenebrae - Erica Grimm Vance

This Word played life against death and death against life in tournament on the wood of the most holy cross, so that by his death he destroyed our death, and to give us life he spent his own bodily life. With love, then, he has so drawn us and with his kindness so conquered our malice that every heart should be won over.

Catherine of Siena

Wall of Breath

From the Studio/Porch

2010-03-30T11:08:00.000-07:00

I am working on some big wooden panels this week. It is so much fun to work big again! The weather has been really beautiful, so I am working on my porch. It has been great to have such terrific light, and lots of fresh air. The windows in my studio are painted shut, so until we get them open I am trying to work outside when I can. Here are a few in process shots:

3X8 ft. panels - I brought these home in my Vibe!

Sometimes the most gorgeous things happen by accident

The red is a base layer for gold leaf

After the first day - base layers

I have been working wet on wet to get lovely drips and bleeds

At the end of day four

Text in the center

Text along the sides

Today I am applying gold leaf over the red, as long as the wind stays calm that is. On Friday I will have pictures of the finished pieces for you. I can't wait to see how they turn out! I love that not matter how much I plan, the end result is always a surprise for me as well.

Catching up

2010-03-25T09:18:00.000-07:00

I really need to write fifteen blogs to catch up on everything that has been going on this past month, but here is a start at least. My little Friday/Monday blogging schedule crashed and burned when we left town for a retreat at Laity Lodge and I am just now recovering! Here are some photos from the retreat. We had a terrific time out in the Texas hill-country: hanging out with like minded pastor/artists, making art, and soaking up the great talks and panels. Most of these photos were taking by the super talented Erik Newby. Thanks Erik!

We spent time in the great hall listening to David, Luci and others talk about mentoring and naming.

Luci talks about thumb prints.

Steven shares on Sunday morning before communion.

Luci, Andi and Vito discuss naming and names during a panel.

People lining up to put layers of wax onto their encaustic pieces.

Jeff Guy takes a look.

Brain storming and making plans.

In the studio with Shannon. Happy teachers are we!

Works in progress.

Finished encaustic pieces.

Ceramic demo in the next studio over.

The Welcome Wagon gives us perfect bedtime story songs on Saturday night.

Miriam and Charlie inspire us on Friday night .

Happy campers!

Friday in the Studio

2010-03-01T10:52:00.000-08:00

Wedding Cross Detail

Friday ended up being one of those days where nothing worked. I think I learned a lot but, at the end of the day certainly I did not have much to show for all my hours. I told David when I picked him up from school: "Making art is hard!" The myth of the artist who, sized by inspiration, creates something amazing in a flurry of subconsciously fueled activity, is pretty damaging. It is especially offensive to those of us slogging through the hard work of trying to pull something interesting, beautiful, meaningful, AND unique from our minds and hearts.

I ended up working quite a bit on Saturday and Sunday, trying to recover something worth showing. Here are four pieces that came out of my little Friday of Frustration, and one quote that is perfectly encouraging for times like these.

The final version of the wedding cross

First Lenten piece - "My Child"

Sketchbook pages for "My Child"

Second Lenten Cross

Lenten Cross Inscribing Detail

Third Lenten Cross

Third Lenten Cross Detail

"On a final note, for any of you pursuing something that you feel deeply, something you know you need to do in order to be truly alive, something that requires every iota of courage you can muster, something that makes you at times forget there is a clock meticulously ticking, something that requires you to risk losing everything familiar, something that excites you so thoroughly that is sometimes becomes impossible to sleep, know that it will make perfect sense to quit hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times along the way and get on with something else. Know that you will certain days be numb and exhausted and joyless. Know that perseverance is infinitely greater than talent. Refine the work. Hone the work. Mercilessly cut away the parts that are not vital. Then let your growing body of work speak for itself. And hang on for dear life."

- Linford Detweiler, Over the Rhine

Amen to that!

Susie MacMurry and Olivia Jeffries

2010-02-26T09:40:00.000-08:00

Argus - Made with peacock feathers

I am having a rather slow start to my studio day this week. This morning I got distracted by, of all things, my bible study! Who knew you could get so lost in Judges chapter eight and nine? Well I did, and now my head is full of all kinds of crazy old testament goings on.

Now I am trying to bend my brain back into the pieces I am working on, which have absolutely nothing to do with ephods, brambles, or millstones. Although those things together might make an interesting piece all on their own. Hmm, I'll just file that away for another day.

So, without further distraction, here are some artists that inspire me, may they inspire you also:

Susie MacMurry's work was sent me almost two years ago by my friend Kate Van Dyke. I continue to look at her pieces when I am in need of something visually interesting. I love her use of materials, and how very ethereal all her work is. The portfolio on her website is only updated to 2008. I so hope she is still making work!

Echo

Echo (detail) - Yes! These are hair nets.

Shell

Shell (detail) - Velvet filled mussel shells - Why did I not think of this?

Gauze Bandage - Can you believe this is a drawing? Gorgeous.

Olivia Jeffries is another artists whose drawings I have been enjoying. She draws on pages from old books, how could I not love it! The way she keeps thing so simple makes her drawings wonderfully mysterious. I think I would use the word ethereal for her work also. In a world so over-stimulated, I love looking at quiet whispers of things.

Something so Utterly Sublime

My Secret Self/At Rest

Everyone Wants a Piece of You When You're Pretty

Surely I Don't Exist if You Can't See Me

Drawn

Enjoy these two talented ladies. I smell my melted wax, so I am off to tackle my own creations. Have a happy Friday!

Friday in the Studio

2010-02-22T08:10:00.000-08:00

Friday is my studio day. It is the only day I have to spent entirely working on art, and I am trying to be militant about protecting it. I had a great time last Friday because I had just rearranged and reorganized my space. I love a fresh and clean space to work in! I am working on a new encaustic that is a wedding gift for some friends who got married last fall. Here are a few shots from Friday:

Starting my inspiration page in my sketchbook

The Beginning

Trying something new on a second layer

At the end of the day ... not finished yet!

I am also working on an encaustic piece for Lent. It is still in the incubation stage, but I am excited about the ideas that are tumbling around in my head. I am thinking on the text from some Lenten Hymns; using purples, violet-golds, and red-violets; and looking at a small collection of nails I have from the 1900's.

Lenten inspiration on my cork board

Hymns

At The Grunewald Guild - Waxing Poetic: Painting the Psalms

2010-02-19T08:51:00.000-08:00

I am very excited to be going to the Grunewald Guild in April to lead a workshop with Shannon Newby. I met Shannon at the Laity Lodge during a retreat for pastors to artists. For a year I had been using her images when teaching workshops on combining found objects with wax. When we met (and I realized this was the woman whose work I loved) I was thrilled! By the end of the weekend she had introduced me to my new love: encaustic. I am so grateful to have met her and for our growing friendship. It is an honor and a delight to be a part of this workshop with her.

If you are in the area (or not), please think about coming. There are only eight spots available and I know it has already started filling up. I think it is going to be a really rich few days. The Grunewald Guild is a retreat center located just outside of beautiful Leavenworth, Washington. The Wenatchee River Valley holds some of the most glorious landscape in the country. The setting alone is incredibly inspiring. Here is what the weekend will look like:

"Waxing Poetic: Painting the Psalms"

with Shannon Newby and Phaedra Taylor, April 30-May 2

Wax is mentioned several times in the Psalms. Each time, it’s used to describe something different. For this weekend, we’ll begin uncovering what the wax imagery in the Psalms is saying about God’s character. You’ll learn how to paint with hot wax at the same time (a process called encaustic painting). Come with your Bible and a willingness to be creative!

Day 1: Trusting our Creator, Trusting our creativity. Trust your creative instincts! As we talk about painting with hot wax, we’ll unpack what Psalm 22 says about our need to trust in the Lord. We'll discuss the question, "How can we begin trusting God in our creativity, especially when our hearts feel defeated and 'melted'?"

Day 2: Righteous God vs unrighteous self. Watch the wax melt away, as we learn to use the heat tools to fuse, mold and manipulate the wax. We’ll discuss Psalm 68’s depiction of righteousness vs. unrighteousness and how that relates to the melting wax imagery. We'll ask the question, "How can we, as Christian artists, strive to be more righteous?"

Day 3: God's glory and not our own. During this study, we’ll learn to embed mixed media elements into the wax, as we delve into Psalm 97. We’ll also be talking about laying down our art as an act of worship, and asking, "How can we give God the full glory in our art-making?"

Cost of the workshop is $200 with room, board and materials included, $75 for class and materials only.

More information and registration can be found at the Grunewald website. Hope to see you there!

From the Kitchen

2010-02-15T16:28:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I posted anything about food. Lately, I have been in the habit of making things that are easy and hearty. Most of my energy is being taken up with teaching and art making; food creativeness has slipped to a lower priority. On a rather trim (student) budget I am just focusing on packing as much nutrition as possible into our meals. On Saturday I made this Yellow Pea Soup for the fifth time and it still made me do a little dance of delight when I tasted it! I figured it was worth sharing, especially with all this cold weather we are having. Soup is always comforting and this one is especially nourishing.

The recipe is taken from the book: Vegetable Soups from Deborah Madison's Kitchen. I usually don't like to post many recipes directly from cookbooks. I think it is always a good idea to support hard working writers and buy their books. However, I find that I am more likely to buy a book if I have tried at least one recipe from it. So think of this as a little introduction to a cookbook that I absolutely love! It was a gift and one that I have used and enjoyed very much.

Yellow Pea and Coconut Milk Soup (with spinach, rice and spiced yogurt)

2 cups yellow peas, rinsed and soaked for at least 1 hour if possible

2 bay leaves

3 cloves

sea salt and fresh ground pepper

2 to 4 tbls of butter, light sesame oil or a mixture (I used butter)

1 lrg onion finely chopped

1/4 cup cilantro stems minced

1 1/2 teas ground turmeric

1 teas ground cardamon

1/2 teas ground cinnamon

pinch of hot red pepper flakes

1 15oz can coconut milk

juice of 1 large lime (I use two)

3 tbls shopped cilantro ( I used more)

Cooked rice

1/2 teas EACH ground turmeric and paprika

1/4 teas EACH cumin seeds and fresh ground pepper
1/2 cup yogurt

large bunch of spinach washed

1. Drain peas (from soaking) and put in pot with 2 quarts of water. bay leaves, cloves and 1 1/2 teas salt. Bring to boil, lower and simmer. Cook partially covered while doing next steps.

2. Melt butter in skillet over med heat. Add onions and cilantro stems. Cook until onion colors and softens (about 10 min). Add spices and cook for a few minutes. Add 1/2 cup water from the cooking peas. Cook until water has cooked away.

3. Add onions and spices to the simmering peas and cook until both are very soft, about an hour. Remove bay leaves and cloves and puree. Return puree to stove and stir in coconut milk. Add lime juice and season salt and pepper by taste. Stir in chopped cilantro.

4. Make rice. Combine spice with yogurt and set aside. Wilt Spinach. Spoon into each bowl some rice, some spinach, some soup, and then a spoonful of spiced yogurt.

Yum!

In Deborah Madison's book you will find no less than ten lentil and pea soups. She has a whole wonderful chapter on bean soups. Many other delights await you in these pages: Rutabaga and Leek Chowder; Silky Roasted Yellow Pepper Soup; Roasted Squash, Pear, and Ginger Soup. I could eat these soups every day! I hope you enjoy eating this one.

What is your favorite soup?

James M. Smith

2010-02-12T09:02:00.000-08:00

Orion

For a while I have been wanting to write a post on having a schedule. Making a schedule for myself has really helped me to accomplish artistic things each week. However, this week did not play by my schedule rules at all. So perhaps it is not the best time to go on about the benefits of my schedule keeping. Another time.

In my schedule for the spring there are two blocks of time to write on the blog. One on Friday and one on Monday. Fridays are also my studio work days, and my plan is to post a short blog about an artist, picture, or quote that has been informing my work. Just something to warm me up and get me thinking before I start working. So today, at the beginning of Friday Inspiration posts, I have James M. Smith to share with you.

Gros Ventre

I love the layering and texture he achieves in a way that looks effortless. Can't you imagine him just sticking these pieces of fabric and paper on top of each other at random? I know it took much thought, but I so enjoy its feeling of spontaneity. I am trying to learn from him about using color in the midst of a mostly neutral palette, and including texture while retaining simplicity. I really like texture and I tend to either go over-board, or not include it at all.

Green River-R

I also am drawn to how abstract these are; it encourages me as I try to move in that direction with my own work. I am having trouble navigating the question, "What is it about?", as I try to make things that are more visceral and intuitive. I want to practice making things from my gut, but when I know that people are going to ask me that question, I get distracted trying to answer it. In that distracted place I am tempted to give them something more representational to hang on to. These are so beautiful that it encourages me to keep trying.

Gunnison-R

My wax is now melted in my crock pot, my is desk clean, and I am off to give some of these ideas a try. Happy Friday!

...the whited air hides hill and woods, the river, and the heaven...

2010-01-30T14:41:00.000-08:00

This afternoon I took a walk down nearby Carver Street, which feels very much like a country road with its houses set back and hidden by the woods. Everything was so quiet because we have had a foot of snow and more of it is falling. The few cars that passed me held tags from states like Colorado and Washington, all southerners home with doors tight shut against the cold. The drivers wave, and we smile at each other conspiratorially, as if to say: "Isn't this wonderful, this secret winter moment." After each car passes, its noise fast disappears, absorbed into the cushion of snow, leaving me to enjoy a peaceful quiet and the empty road.

Trees along the road stretch out their hands toward me offering snowballs ripe for the picking. Small firs in their new white coats bow down before the King of winter. I felt like I should bow down too, and so I do, writing my name into the bank along the road, saying, "I see you" to the snow and the gentle beauty of the woods. The trees stand straight up out of the snow like great sticks in a giant piece of Styrofoam, all the messiness of fallen leaves and roots hidden. Little fat birds twitch around the trunks, staying warm, and leaving tiny triangle footprints in lazy, meandering lines.

When I reach the stand of eight very tall and stout evergreens, I can only think of them as proper officers, standing at attention with their barrel chests pushed out, saluting winter's King with a "Well done Sir!" The wind blows and I hear a thousand twinkles of ice hitting my coat. I realize that my face is very cold and the scarf in front of my mouth is, of course, wet. So I flip up a dry end and cover my nose, remembering the blue balaclava of my youth, and how when it would freeze on my face I knew it was time for drying my socks on the hot radiator and drinking a cup of tea.

A white mist lifts off a tree and floats wraithlike across the road in front of me. I follow it and then I see a flash of color through the woods. Orange and blue coats bounce around at the top of a hill, and I hear booming laughs and silver screeches as the colors swiftly disappear. When I round the corner I expect to see a group of children sledding, and instead I see seven adults throwing themselves down the hill with abandon. I stand watching them running to push each other, sledding into bodies flung down at the bottom, enjoying, reveling. I feel a joyful rush and lift my head up in praise for a day when our hidden child-like hearts are allowed to come out and play. I long for a more simple time when entertainment on a snowy day was all outside and no one would stay home, hidden away from the gift.

Walking back up the road to my house I listen to the crackle of the ice underneath the thin snow left from the snow plough; I plunge through the high banks, smooth mounds like marshmallows along the side of the road. I stand and listen to the heavy still of the woods, covering me like a wool blanket, steadying my heart to love one thing. Crossing the road to walk through the front yard and onto the porch I underestimate the depth of the ditch and slide down, sitting hard into the soft snow. Surprised by the cold wetness pushing suddenly up my back I sit very still. Then I just smile for the joy of it, for the chance to feel it, to let my warm skin under many layers be startled and uncomfortable. Knocking the snow off my boots and brushing off my red pant legs, I prepare to come into the house. Quickly participating in the universal post-snow-walk ritual of shedding wet snowy clothes, I feel suddenly over heated.

Later, in t-shirt and leggings, with my hot tea I stand at my front window, I watch the little Bob-Cat snowplough clear the parking lot of the church across the street for the service tomorrow, and I think: "You don't have to do that, we've already had church."

The Snowstorm

Announced by all the trumpets of the sky,

Arrives the snow, and, driving o'er the fields,

Seems nowhere to alight: the whited air

Hides hill and woods, the river, and the heaven,

And veils the farmhouse at the garden's end.

The sled and traveller stopped, the courier's feet

Delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sit

Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed

In a tumultuous privacy of storm.

Come see the north wind's masonry.

Out of an unseen quarry evermore

Furnished with tile, the fierce artificer

Curves his white bastions with projected roof

Round every windward stake, or tree, or door.

Speeding, the myriad-handed, his wild work

So fanciful, so savage, nought cares he

For number or proportion. Mockingly,

On coop or kennel he hangs Parian wreaths;

A swan-like form invests the hiddden thorn;

Fills up the famer's lane from wall to wall,

Maugre the farmer's sighs; and at the gate

A tapering turret overtops the work.

And when his hours are numbered, and the world

Is all his own, retiring, as he were not,

Leaves, when the sun appears, astonished Art

To mimic in slow structures, stone by stone,

Built in an age, the mad wind's night-work,

The frolic architecture of the snow.

Ralph Waldo Emerson -1835

Things to love and St. Thomas

2010-01-27T09:40:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is the feast day of St. Thomas Aquinas. He once said: " The things that we love tell us what we are." In honor of that idea here is a quick list of some things I love. I don't know if they will tell me what I am, but I do think it will be a fun exercise. What things do you love?

1. Green things

2. Poems

Jiyong Song - Poem Pavilion

3. Old Paper

4. Books

5. Red Stitching

Cathy Cullis

6. Seeds

Carol Kingsbury Gwizdak

7. Scarves

Vaida P.

8. Kids

9. Food

10. Words

Frank Plant

11. Tablecloths

12. Maps

13. Birds

14. Old Boxes

15. Wax

We are fields before each other

How is it they live for eons in such harmony–

the billions of stars–

when most men can barely go a minute

without declaring war in their mind against someone they know.

There are wars where no one marches with a flag,

though that does not keep casualties

from mounting.

Out hearts irrigate the earth.

We are fields before

each other.

How can we live in harmony?

First we need to know

we are all madly in love

with the same

God.

-St. Thomas Aquinas

Just pieces of paper...

2010-01-24T14:15:00.000-08:00

Brian Dettmer : Book Autopsies

While rummaging around on the internet looking for images to put in my "altered books" slide show, I found these amazing book creations! I could not wait to share my treasures, I almost exploded with excitement when I found all these beautiful things. Art works like these make me want to go into my studio, lock the door, and bury myself in a world of paper and exacto knives. Oh, these are so much more than pieces of paper my friends, these are worlds of thinly sliced imagination! Unfortunately, the kids in my class were only mildly impressed. But really, until you have tried to slice into a book with this kind of precision and planning, how can you appreciate the degree of complexity inherent in this kind of finger-numbing work? Maybe some will catch a little of my enthusiasm and go on to be paper cutters extraordinaire! Hope you enjoy!

Georgia Russell

Sophia Michahelles: Vanity Fair

The Physiological Basis of Medical Practice, 2006", Altered book, 9 x 7-1/2 x 3-1/4 inches.

Oferenda a Iemanjá para um Feliz Ano Novo, 2007

Atlas cortado
17cm x 11cm (livro fechado

Jennifer Khoshbin

Betty Pepper: Where

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)

2010-01-18T10:50:00.000-08:00

Today we observe the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. (who was actually born on the 15th). It also happens to be the birthday of A. A. Milne, the author of the much beloved childrens classic Winnie the Pooh. What follows is a collection of quotes, images, and a video from the amazing gospel singer Mahalia Jackson.

Peace Memorial - Martin Luther King Jr Park

“Whatever fortune brings, don't be afraid of doing things.” - A. A. Milne

The time is always right to do what is right. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. Christopher Robin to Pooh” - A.A Milne

Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

'Supposing a tree fell down, Pooh, when we were underneath it?' 'Supposing it didn't,' said Pooh. After careful thought Piglet was comforted by this.” - A. A. Milne We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear. - Martin Luther King Jr

Ps: My blog formatting is really acting wacky so I apologize for any ugly disunity in font and size and spacing. Times when I wish I knew HTML....

Joyeux Noel!

2009-12-26T17:25:00.000-08:00

Immensity cloistered in thy dear womb,

Now leaves His well-belov’d imprisonment

There He hath made Himself to His intent

Weak enough, now into the world to come;

But O, for thee, for Him, hath the inn no room?

Yet lay Him in this stall, and from the Orient,

Stars and wise men will travel to prevent

The effect of Herod’s jealous general doom.

Seest thou, my soul, with thy faith’s eyes, how He

Which fills all place, yet none holds Him, doth lie?

Was not His pity towards thee wondrous high,

That would have need to be pitied by thee?

Kiss Him, and with Him into Egypt go,

With His kind mother, who partakes thy woe.

—John Donne, Nativity

Then may we hope, the angelic thrones among
To sing, redeemed, a glad triumphal song
He that was born upon this joyful day
Around us all His glory shall display
Saved by His love, incessant we shall sing
Of angels and of angel-men the King

An Advent Gathering of Thistle Birds

2009-12-11T10:43:00.000-08:00

An Advent Gathering of Thistle Birds

Encaustic collage: beeswax, found paper, colored pencil, ink, oil pastel

11x14, 2009

Advent is a chance to intentionally gather our hearts, bodies and minds together. The twenty eight days of Advent give us time for a gradual collecting of all the disparate and disjoined parts of ourselves. Advent traditionally signifies a coming, especially of something extremely important. But Advent can also mean a coming into to place, view, or being. My prayer is that Advent would be a time for us to collect ourselves gradually toward the place that Christ makes for us; that Christ would come more beautifully into view; and that we would come more fully into being in Him. Traveling through the gradual collecting of Advent better enables us to be present to the celebration of the birth of Christ at Christmas. We have more of ourselves to give to Him because of the slow work of gathering. The feast of Christmas is made better by the quiet, meditational days of Advent.

The center of this beeswax panel contains a Chi Rho surrounded by fourteen Goldfinches. Dating as early as the 2^nd century, it is one of the oldest monograms representing Christ. The Chi Rho is made up of the first two letters making the Greek word for Christ (khristos). Before it was used by Christians, pagan Greek scribes used the Chi Rho in place of the word “chreston” (which means “good”) to make note in the margins of important texts. Christians using the Chi Rho symbol would have been reminded of the pre-existent Christ and his earthly cruxifiction. According to the medieval bestiary, birds who are pictured with a Chi Rho symbolize human souls meditating on Christ. Goldfinches in particular represent victory over death. The goldfinch, which lives on a diet of thistles and thorns, reminds us of the suffering of Jesus and His resurrection. Sometimes called the Savior Bird, the goldfinch speaks to us of endurance, fruitfulness, and persistence. Embeded under the Chi Rho are pages from the gospels telling of pivotal moments in the story of Christ: His entry into Jerusalem, His first miracle, the Last Supper , the Transfiguration, His resurrection, and His return. At the bottom of the panel lies Latin verse from the Advent hymn "O Come Emmanuel", translated: " Be our soul advent, disperse the dreadful clouds of night. Come!" Purple and blue, the traditional colors of Advent, mark the panel as a reminder of the season in which it was made. Beeswax holds all the layers together and works as a symbol for the word of God, which, in rabbinical schools, is said to taste like honey. As I painted on over 25 layers of wax, my soul got quiet and my heart centered. My prayer is that your journey of Advent be full of the same quiet, gathering work.

Jesus, make us like a gathering of thistle birds.

Help us to gradually collect the pieces of ourselves around your coming, crucifixtion, and resurrection.

Be our soul Advent, our only place, our true view, our fullness of being.

Fill us with your honey, making us hold together inside your story.

Remind us of your goodness, you our amarantine Savior Bird.

Amen

Christmas Holiday Boutique Report

2009-12-08T08:49:00.000-08:00

We had a great time this weekend at the Christmas Holiday Boutique. Drinking warm mulled cider, looking at all the great things the other artists brought, chatting with lovely customers, knitting scarves in the in-between times, listening to christmas music, what more could you want? Thanks so much to everyone who came out, it was so much fun! Here are a few pictures from the day:

PS: For all you Austinites and others who could not make it out - I have some things left over from the sale: ornaments, handwarmers, bookmarks, encaustics. We are coming to Austin for Christmas and I would love to hand-deliver some treasures for you! If you're out of town, but not in Austin, I am happy to put somethings in the mail for you this week before we leave. Let me know if you're interested in purchasing any PhaedraJean ArtMachine creations. Thanks!

Christmas Holiday Boutique This Weekend! You're Invited!

2009-12-02T14:01:00.000-08:00

In case you are in the triangle area I wanted to invite you to join myself and other local artists, this weekend, for a Holiday Gift Boutique and Open House. You will find one-of-a-kind works of art and craft for offer. So come and support your local artist, it's so much more fun than the mall!

We will have all kinds of treasures- watercolors, mohair scarves, Felt pocket handwarmers, jewelry, hand-bound books, hand-painted ornaments, cards, prints, hand-printed and calligraphed bookmarks, beeswax artworks, and paper ornaments, and a good deal more!

Mohair Scarves - $32.00

Snacks and friendly faces will be on hand. Do stop by on either of these days:

Saturday: December 5th 1-6 pm

Sunday: December 6th 1-5 pm

LOCATION

704 Greenwood Road

Chapel Hill, NC 27514

Fragrant Pocket Handwarmers: Small - $7, Large - $9

Microwavable!

Artists include

Skyler McGee - visual art

Phaedra Taylor (Art Machine Studios)

Lisa Harrington - jewelry

Rachel Freyer (Paper and Pearls boutique)

Eleatta Diver - visual art

Andrew Stillwell - sculpture

(The piece on the right has already sold)

Small Encaustic Artworks - $30 - $50

Hand Painted Ornaments - $3.50 or 3 or $10

Paper and Beeswax Ornaments - $6 for a bag of 7 (2 large, 3 medium, 2 small)

Hand Printed and Calligraphed Bookmarks - $3 - $5

(sorry this image is so yellow!)

Framed Linocut Prints and Original Watercolors - $150.00 - $475.00

ArtMachineStudios: A Fall Semester Report

2009-11-30T17:41:00.000-08:00

I have two more classes to teach this semester and I am a little amazed that it is already over. I have loved teaching my little artists. I did not have any full classes this semester. But I guess for starting off in a new town I think I did pretty well. In my Little Machines class ( 4-5 yr olds) we had a fantastic time learning about some famous artists. We studied George Seurat, we made pointillism finger paintings, and we learned about mixing colors at the same time. We were introduced to Pablo Picasso. We had a great time talking about his silly faces. And we made some crazy face-collages of our very own.

Pablo's

Mine

Marc Chagall taught us about space and we made big dream drawings together. We also looked at the use of the line in recent art history. We saw images from artists like Dan Flavin, to the well known Piet Mondrian, to the very minimal Fred Sandback, who makes his quiet installations using string.

Dan Flavin at the LACMA retrospective in 2007

Fred Sandback string installation

We explored the world of Van Gogh, reading books about his life, and made wet chalk drawings of a swirly night sky. We also talked about the way he used color and aggressive marks in his paintings to make them so compelling.

Van Gogh, The Red Vineyard, 1888

At the end of the class I was pleased to hear my four-year old chanting, "George Seurat, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Vincent Van Gogh!" over and over to herself. I bet she's the only one in her pre-school that knows that little ditty.

With my Big Machines (7-10 yrs old) we dove right into mono-prints the first day, squishing paint, spraying water, and smoothing paper with delight. It was so fun to hear the exclamations of: "Wow! I love mine!" and "Awesome, this is so beautiful!" When one of the students said she had decided she was staying with me--for the rest of the night, in my house--when class was over, I knew it had been a success.

Over the course of their classes they tackled a very challenging blind contour drawing lesson, made their own decorative paper using all manner of utensils to apply paint, and created fantastic animal collages in the style of Eric Carle.

Our paper

They also loved learning about Abstract artists like William DeKooning, Jackson Pollock ("Those drips are so cool, this one is my favorite."), Cy Twombly, Alexander Calder ("He looks like a grumpy grandpa."), John Chamberlain, and Robert Motherwell ("Wow, that's a giant splat!"). While we worked we talked about school, what their Halloween costumes would be, and what they love about art. We do lots of laughing, encouraging, and collaborating. Thursday has been my favorite afternoon of the week.

Alexander Calder

Robert Motherwell

John Chamberlain

I have students signing up for next semester which starts mid-January. I can't wait to get started with some new kids, and some who are continuing from this semester. I am dreaming up paper mache sculpture in the style of Claes Oldenburg, Sistine Chapel drawings done lying on our backs under the tables, and more "teaching our eye-balls how to see" drawing lessons. I have just discovered a whole slew of new books to read in class, and I am ordering some art games from Amazon this month. I can't wait until January!

For more information on ArtMachineStudios, or sign your 8 children up, go here. :)

A Pictoral Birthday Report

2009-11-10T14:55:00.000-08:00

Well, I am woefully behind on every form of communication these days. Starting your own business a pretty demanding task I tell ya! But, I did have time to have a birthday and it was quite a wonderful one. I felt positively run over by love and cheers and sweet cards and notes and gifts. It was kind of a birthday week as things trickled in, and I relished each day full of its own surprises. A BIG thank you for all my dear friends and family who loved on me. I feel very cared for and supported. Here are some pictures of the birthday festivities.

A gorgeous old book in its new home.

A new favorite piece of art work - A human heart with flowers drawn/painted on quilted fabric! Love!

3 Beautiful new icons. One for the dining room, one for the bedroom, one to live above my desk in the studio.

Some super fun gifts.

Some of my new books! So much to learn and read. I am so excited.

Other pieces of visual wonderfulness to inspire me.

The writing on this card is equal to about $1000 in the bank of phaedra's heart.

Cheery birthday cards!

These packages came wrapped in my favorite color combination.

This is a super creative Korean birthday tradition. I loved it!

This city of mushrooms captured my fancy on a walk with David.

Look at this crazy seed/berry/pod thing!

Assorted Fungi to delight my eye.

These birthday flowers from David lasted until yesterday! They smelled amazing. Looking at them from above was like looking onto some crazy-beautiful planetary landscape.

A fig tart with cardamon frangipane, pomegranates and a graham crust! So amazing!

A beautiful story with equally beautiful illustrations.

Wrapping to delight my eyes.

Dinner at Sitar: lamb korma, vegetable fritters, chicken saag, lentil dosai.

Coffee, mandelhornchen, cards and journaling at Gugelhupf.

Indian deserts at Sitar.

Wow, I ended up with quite a lot of pictures. I had so many lovely things happen I just could not decide which to include. I'm off to plan an art lesson, make some muffins, put a chicken in the oven, and try to ignore the gloomy rainy day . I hope your day is happy!

Heart Sleeves

2009-10-04T17:52:00.001-07:00

Heart Sleeves

This piece is titled "Heart Sleeves" and it is mostly about my memories of myself as a child. I drew the girl based on a photograph from my first day of school. We wore gray pinafores, black and yellow striped ties, and white shirts. I am pretty sure the pinafores were awful itchy, and I probably hated wearing them, but I don't remember now. What I do remember is that I was not afraid. This is important because later on I was afraid a lot, and it is good to remember a time when I was only brave. I also remember that walking to school, through the park, I usually found interesting things to entertain myself. One day I remember stopping for a very long time to watch a butterfly open and close its wings. It probably made me late to school, but I don't remember.

With my brother, wearing our uniforms

I remember a long row of coat hooks where we hung up our coats, and put our outside shoes into our shoe bags. We only wore Plimsolls inside the school. Scotland is a muddy place most of the year. The shoe bags were bright neon colors. They had black images of butterflies, or flowers, or cars on the front, along with a place to write your name, so you didn't end up wearing the wrong shoes home. I remember my teacher's name was Miss Rose and she had rosy cheeks. I also have vivid memories of wooden, ladder-type structures attached to the wall of windows in the large gym room. I have no idea what their function was, but I do know we were not allowed to climb on them, ever. It was so terrible being tempted by a whole huge wall of ladders, knowing that real trouble was in store for you if you so much as put a foot on one. It must have been excruciating for the boys.

I remember there was a boy that sat behind me named Andrew, who used to ping eraser bits at me all day. Another boy, whose name might have been Barry, used to talk to me about how spicy American hot-dogs were. One time he made me guess if a lump on his hand was a wart or a blob of dried glue. I guessed glue and I was wrong.

We had hot lunches on real plates, and I think there was usually some sort of wobbly British custard for desert which I avoided. I did lots of playing house in the little scratch of forest at play-time. Outside in the cold we ate our play-pieces (snacks). Mine were usually bags of salt and vinegar, chicken, or prawn-flavored crisps (chips). I remember a girl named Lisa who lived on the hill by the church. Her father was the rector, and I always thought it was strange that she was not afraid to live next to the graveyard. I also remember that she was quiet and kind to everyone. She was really good at drawing people.

It was quite wonderful I think. I know that I enjoyed school, and the other students. I talked a lot, I got in trouble sometimes for it. I liked reading, and learning, and reciting the poetry of Robert Burns. I liked walking to school, lining up to go in, putting my shoes into the bag with my name on the front. All of this is to say, I rather wore all my hearts on my sleeves at that age. Unabashedly soaking up my life, enjoying what was happening around, and as far as I could tell, unafraid. Unfortunately the world beyond that time proved to be a little spiky, just like that Hatpin Sea Urchin in the top corner of the drawing. It was waiting for me, made with poisonous protrusions that could puncture all the soft and vulnerable hearts I wore on the outside of myself.

Between me and the spiky world there must have been something. Something good and true and beautiful. Something that made it okay for me to wear my hearts on the outside, and something that I would not really know until much later. If there had not been anything between me and the looming sharp points, I think that today I would be a cracked and torn version of a human. Today I am not the girl in the picture on her first day of school, but I hope I am still a girl with hearts on her sleeves. Perhaps not as many. I think I might have lost some in the war with the Hatpin Sea Urchin. But I am glad to have retained some of the hearts, and I hope the others will grow back as I learn to be unafraid again.

On Going Goings On

2009-10-03T13:56:00.000-07:00

Sand Dunes at #2 beach, Cape Hatteras National Shoreline

Last week my parents came to town and we visited the Outer Banks. It was glorious and calm and beautiful. I collected sea shells, stuffed myself with fresh seafood, and felt like a kid walking with my barefeet in the soft, warm sand.

A Pier in Nags Head

The clean, long Nags Head Beach

Right before the visit, David and I flew to Texas to attend the wedding of a dear friend. It was fun and strange to be in Texas. We ate Tex-Mex three times, played with some of our nieces and nephews, had mad, fast, catch-up conversations with family, and hugged a lot of lovely people that we miss.

Ready for take-off

Now we are back, and life is swirling. A big thanks to all of you who suggested names for my art classes. I have decided to go with ArtMachine Studios (thanks Leslie!) It's simple, and memorable, and playful. The new website can be found at: www.artmachinestudios.net. Right now I just have a temporary page up, but early next week it will be filled out with class information, fun links, my ideas on teaching, and lots more. David wrote a fun and very kind blog about it here. If you know anyone in the Durham or Chapel Hill area that would be interested, please feel free to tell them all about it. I can't wait to meet my new students!

My flickr page has also been updated with images of my new series. I am posting two blogs tonight. This little update, and a blog about a piece in the new series. I always love learning about what is going on inside an artist's mind when they are making work; it helps me enter in to their world. Hopefully this next blog will help you enter into mine. I really enjoyed making these new pieces, so I hope you enjoy hearing about them.

Have a lovely week!

Dunes

Inspiration Tuesday!

2009-09-21T10:12:00.001-07:00

Good morning!

These delightful pieces are by Toshiyuki Fukuda. I just found this illustrator/artist through another fun blog (Majeak Ann) and I must say I am quite smitten. I love his whimsical, textured, colorful, clean pieces. I would own them all. I wish I could figure out how to get my hands on some of his postcards. I think I might have to go to Japan to find them, but I have been wanting to go to Japan anyway. :)

I am posting lots of images for you to enjoy and swoon over. You can find many more at his website here.

Enjoy! Be inspired! Make art!

Oh my! Don't you just feel giddy?

Laser wounds...

2009-09-20T20:05:00.001-07:00

This is a very brief post dedicated to my brother. When we were younger he would run through the house with his toast eaten into the shape of a gun. His toast gun always made a "pew" sound because I guess that's what it sounds like when you get shot with dry toast. Some humor for your Sunday evening. :)

St. Francis meets his match

"Seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness..." (Keats)

2009-09-16T07:10:00.000-07:00

For me it is a new kind of September. We are beginning to see the edges of the trees change color and the morning temperatures merit a sweater. Not having ever lived in a place where the trees change in the autumn, I keep thinking "oh no, that tree is dying". I still have to remind myself that I am not in Texas anymore!

Oh! come October!

Today it is cloudy and grey in Durham. This is great for my nasturtium seedlings, but not great for feeling zippy and getting lots of things done. I certainly need that zippy feeling as I have lots of things to accomplish. Now that we are unpacked, and life has pretty much settled into a good rhythm, it is time for me to work. On my studio bulletin board I have three to-do lists. The first list is for my art making projects, it is full of things like: "color correct photos", "write blog about new pieces", and "work on commission". I also have a general to-do list, which is populated by things as varied as: "make jazz c.d for grandparents", "set up Skype", and "finish thank you cards".

The other list I have posted is the one I am most excited about. It is titled: "To-do list for art classes". Yes! I have been working hard to start my own little business teaching art classes for children. I have a terrific space, some interested families, and a brain full of ideas I can't wait to put into action. My days are full of making slide shows of art works sorted by color to use to teach color and art history together. I have been finding children's books about famous artists, working on my teaching philosophy, and writing answers to questions like "Why should a 4 year old take art?" It is so much fun and so much work. I am very excited to begin.

Here is where you come in: I need your help brainstorming a name for my classes. I would like to use "Art Machine" as part of the name. That way all my art related endeavors are connected. My plan is to add something to make it attractive to kids and families. All kinds of silly things rhyme with art machine, but I don't think I want to name my business: "Green Bean Art Machine". Do you have any ideas? I would love to hear your thoughts. If you wish you can leave me a comment with your suggestions. Thank you!

The classes are due to start mid October and I have a lot of work to do between now and then.

I will eventually get to the line item on my art to-do list that is: "write blog about new pieces". In the mean time here are a few more pictures to tide you over. I am off to write a lesson plan on the color blue. Enjoy your day!

Heart Sleeves (6x14)- Watercolor, colored pencil, paint pen

Stavanger: Birth (6x10)- Watercolor, colored pencil, paint pen

PhaedraJean ArtMachine

Encaustic Workshop: August 5th and 6th

New work!

Encaustic Workshop April 29th and 30th! *FULL*

ArtMachine Classes in January!

Adult Encaustic Workshop in January

New stuff in the shop!

The Strange Things that Christ Holds Together

Innocence

Three Announcements!

Week One in a Working Studio

Studio 3-103

House Show, Prints, Cake!

New work and a Cupcake.

Etsy Shop: Sneak Peek

Cartographers and Carriers

Art Camp Extravaganza!

Home Residency: Day 5 (belated)

Home Residency: Day 4

Home Residency: Day 3

Home Residency: Day 2, Part 2

Home Residency: Day 2

Home Residency: Day 1

Bill Woodrow and Sidonie Villere

New work from the Guild and things to come

Texture

A Grunewald Guild Report

Julia Humpfer: HerbstKind and Dreams

One more lenten piece

Panels Part Two: Completion!

Good Friday

From the Studio/Porch

Catching up

Friday in the Studio

Susie MacMurry and Olivia Jeffries

Friday in the Studio

At The Grunewald Guild - Waxing Poetic: Painting the Psalms

From the Kitchen

James M. Smith

...the whited air hides hill and woods, the river, and the heaven...

Things to love and St. Thomas

Just pieces of paper...

Oferenda a Iemanjá para um Feliz Ano Novo, 2007

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)

Joyeux Noel!

Then may we hope, the angelic thrones amongTo sing, redeemed, a glad triumphal songHe that was born upon this joyful dayAround us all His glory shall displaySaved by His love, incessant we shall singOf angels and of angel-men the King

An Advent Gathering of Thistle Birds

Christmas Holiday Boutique Report

Christmas Holiday Boutique This Weekend! You're Invited!

ArtMachineStudios: A Fall Semester Report

A Pictoral Birthday Report

Heart Sleeves

On Going Goings On

Inspiration Tuesday!

Laser wounds...

"Seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness..." (Keats)

Encaustic Workshop April 29th and 30th! FULL

Then may we hope, the angelic thrones among
To sing, redeemed, a glad triumphal song
He that was born upon this joyful day
Around us all His glory shall display
Saved by His love, incessant we shall sing
Of angels and of angel-men the King