more waxing

Two more encaustic pieces, 8x8".

These turned out oddly much warmer in tone than the last two.  The only thing I did different (I think anyway) was melting the encaustic medium in a different container.  And the medium is a bit thicker although I put on fewer layers.  I guess I wanted to try encaustics to introduce a bit more unpredictability into my work so...success :)

I like that using the TAP transfer paper in and on the wax instead of on paper is that the transfers tend not to dominate the piece so much.  The photos I included in these pieces would have ironed on about 5 times darker than they look here.

feeling fall

In between the encaustic experimenting I was working on a couple of pieces on paper.  This piece had an unexpectedly autumnal sort of pink when I came back and looked at it again.  I meant to just make a toned-down pink but it feels like a fall color to me.

I bought some 300 lb. hot press watercolor paper on sale and I really like that ironing on the image transfers is less likely to warp it.  The other pieces usually came back to being pretty flat but this is even smoother.  And obviously it's less prone to buckling when it's wet since I don't like to have to stretch the paper.

mad scientist-ing!

Hey there!  I've been busy since I last posted - did some art walks at a couple places and I did my first outdoor art fair.  And then I picked up something new and was just doing test pieces and experiments but at long last I have something done that I'm happy with.

I've wanted to try encaustic for ages but I was always concerned about how fragile the finished pieces are.  I happened to pick up a book on a 50% off table at the local craft store and it reminded me how much I love the look of it.  So sheer yearning won out over practicality and I got the book.  I had to get a few supplies like an electric griddle and so on but it's not too terribly difficult to get started.

It took a while to figure out how to incorporate the collage bits and the image transfers.  I came up with a few things I liked - there's lines drawn straight onto the panel in colored pencil because regular pencil smudged when I put the first layer of wax on.  Guess how I found out...  You can see a bit of the smudges still on the top piece.  I picked up all the graphite on the second one and redrew in colored pencil and it stayed put.

There's watercolored and colored-penciled pieces of cut paper and then obviously image transfers.  Surprisingly I can use the same transfer paper as before - just burnish it on and then apply heat once it's down.  It's iron-on for everything else but it comes off without heat onto the wax and then smooths out nicely under the heat gun.

The triangles are graphite pencil transfers onto the top of the wax.  They burnish on nicely and then set with a little zap from the heat gun.  The top piece is 8x10" and the bottom is 8x8".

It's super fun and so far I'm pretty excited about having collages that are flat but with lots of depth.  And I'm glad to have something finished finally that I can post here!  I definitely feel like a mad scientist :)

art opening and art walk round up!

Soooo...I had my opening last month and took some pictures!  And immediately forgot to post them.  And I took some more pictures last week!  And I'm actually posting them!  Here's some from this month and last month.

I made this skirt a couple of weeks ago and I want to make at least one more...looks here like it could stand to be a little longer?  Also maybe it would go nice with a tank top?  I'm really bad at putting things together...I digress.

Emily and Andie!

Look at all this fabulous stuff!  I've got my eye on a couple of things that might find their way home with me when I pick up my art...

The opening and art walk were really fun!  I love talking art with people :)  Andie and Emily have made an amazing space at Assemble and I feel incredibly lucky to have gotten a chance to show there!  Thanks ladies, you're fabulous.

show time!

I'm going to be showing at Assemble Gallery and Studio in Seattle for June and July.  It's possibly the most delightful place on earth (sorry, Disneyland).  Gorgeous gallery space?  Perfectly curated shop?  Classes and workshops on awesome crafty things?  YES.  I could live there - would that be weird? :D


The opening is June 8 from 6-9 as part of the neighborhood art walk.  Hope to see some of the local peeps there!

more knitting

Graphite, watercolor, gouache, and image transfers on paper, 11x14".


I think this is the last sheet of this more off-white paper - not sure why it doesn't match the other pieces.  I have a maddening variety of white mats, frames, and drawings...I go to swap something out and I realize that the paper looks icky against the mat or vice versa.  If I wasn't so cheap frugal I would have a mat and frame for every piece but instead I switch them out for shows.


I've discovered that using a gridded ruler works really well for making the lines match up with each other (at least the ones I want to be parallel, anyway).  I already had one for my rotary cutter so now I use it for drawing, too.  Of course, I only have one and I'm too cheap frugal to buy a second one so it's usually in whichever spot I'm not :)

colored pencils

11x14" colored pencil, watercolor, and gouache.


I was poking around in my paper supplies and I wanted to use up some more of this lovely heavy cold press paper.  I got a smokin' deal on a 10 pack but I didn't realize it doesn't take pencil all that well.  It's ok but it's not great either.  So I tried a few different things and it seems to love colored pencils.  Graphite looks dull but the Prismacolor pencils turn out really nice and rich.


So I made this to experiment with the pencils and see if the wax would make too much of a resist for the watercolor, etc.  I think I like it but it's definitely harder to do a really fine line like I'm used to with the smooth hot press paper and regular graphite pencils.  It does make a little bit of a resist but not to the point that it's distracting (I hope).  Plus lines in color!  Very exciting.  I'm going to do a few more of these and see how I feel about doing linework in different colors.


I realized (before I tried it, fortunately) that ironing transfers over the top of colored pencil would probably melt the wax and turn it into a mess.  Although in the interest of science I'll have to try that on a scrap sheet of paper...

mauve-y oil

Here's an oil painting I finished a couple weeks ago...haven't been at my computer as much lately and I forgot I hadn't posted it.  It's 8x10".


I met some of my neighbors that have horses and have been exploring some new trails (new to me, anyway).  I don't think Miss My was ever ridden on tight, narrow trails before where it's hard for her to even turn around because there's so many trees and blackberry bushes and such.  So I've learned the hard way that she needs to be taken down them on her own first to look around and learn that the muddy spots aren't quicksand and she won't be sucked in :P  We had some...interesting rides.  


But once she's gotten a chance to investigate and I've walked alongside her she figures it out and relaxes.  So that's been my big project lately to work with her on the trails.  It's challenging and fun but I haven't gotten much finished in the studio lately.  Several pieces in progress though...more on that to come.

knitting! (drawn)

I finally managed to round up some knitting photos to use as reference thanks to a friend who agreed to model. I think I've been looking at this piece for too long now and it's started to take on that sort of unreal quality.

I'm still doing image transfers over the top and generally trying to loosen things up somewhat. There's nothing like slightly uncooperative transfer paper to add something unpredictable to a piece...mostly it works great, but some of them just sort of crackle up and fail to stick properly. I'm starting to suspect that has more to do with my iron than the transfer paper, though. Anyway, I'm printing out some transfers that I've scanned and altered in Photoshop so that they're basically clear apart from the text or diagram that I want to use. I think this lightens them both literally and metaphorically so the transfers don't tend to dominate the watercolor.

third camera-as-model

This is the last of the three vintage camera drawings...unless I unearth another old camera at my parents' house, I suppose.

In other news, I went to the big Gauguin exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum with Letha! So fun to look at art with another artist and a very thoughtful and thought-provoking show.

first piece of 2012! (finally)

I've had a very hectic last few weeks but it's so good to get back in the studio again! Nothing like multiple out-of-state trips, crazy snowstorms (with power outage), and piles of house guests to throw off your schedule. Anyway.

This is my mom's little Brownie camera again posing for a drawing. Can I just say again how much I love it? It's so adorable.

I wanted to get a little different effect than the last drawing so I tried a more subtle monochromatic wash-y thing with the watercolors and the gouache. I thought I would see how the image transfers worked over the top and I think I like what happened. There's nothing like being able to take the things I use in Photoshop and plop them straight onto a painting. Incidentally, the "Drug Store" stamp is from the back of a photo that my grandpa took and that was where he and my mom got their film developed when she was a kid.