Thursday, September 17, 2015

Resurrection . . .

of me. Friends will know what this means. For others, it's immaterial.

I have been painting since mid-August. Since the workshop I took with Susan Abbott in August, I have been painting, reading about painting, making watercolor paints every day except one. I am still devouring information about pigments and binders.

S.O.F. Blue plus Phthalo Green
A particular search of mine has been for a turquoise that is deeply rich at full strength but still a clear turquoise when in a pale wash.  I got it last week: S.O.F. Blue with Phthalo green. Liking it so thoroughly, I went back to Earth Pigments to order more of the S.O.F. Blue only to find it discontinued. I wrote to them asking if they might still have some left, or knew of another source. They didn't, but are sending me a sample of a new blue they will be carrying though it is not up yet. I will test this as soon as comes to see if I can get a turquoise as happy as this one! I am impressed that they offered to do this for me.

Several months ago I worked a turquoise and ochreish red into this image, which I actually like very much.

Turquoise and Red

Very recently my encaustic work Backyard Bahamas was juried into The 5th International Encaustic Exhibition in Sante Fe, NM. The show will be up for the month of October (2015).
Backyard Bahamas - encaustic on 8" x 8" panel
I owe much to three friends who have helped enormously in my return to painting: Susan Abbott, Steve Weinert, Maggie Triggs. And for the constant support of my life partner Mary Jean who knows first hand the difficulties of the last few years.