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.

OT - but Interesting

As someone who loves looking at dishes in department stores, or anywhere for that matter, and who thinks one should not have a "set" of dishes, but rather plates, bowls, cups, etc. that are all different and simply selected because the owner likes them, I offer this link to a fine article in the New York Times about the recent troubles of Wedgewood.

It's a nice view of commercial "art" and business history, though quite sad.

And, also OT, but a bit less, I spent my $25 Barnes and Noble gift card yesterday and happily came home with a small, lovely book of Walker Evans photographs. (I already own the Getty Museum book of his sign images.) This one has a broader selection. I also scooped up another book: Color by Victoria Finlay. This is going to be a real treasure trove of trivia. Ever since I mucked about making my own etching inks years ago and just for the hell of it, immersed my hand in a bag of vermilion, I've never stopped drooling over naked colors. That was around the same time I discovered Winsor & Newton gouache on a paint chip card in my local art store. I came home with as many as I could afford, and put them all on a piece of tracing paper with a toothpick. Years later, I still like it. It's about the only thing I've left from my days in art school. (The brown is the masonite showing through.)

The cover of the Finlay book looks like a shot of pan watercolors in a ceramic framework, but it is actually an image of the front of some (cursedly unidentified) building with windows of unpatterned color--I can't tell whether they are glass or paint. The bibliography and notes are extensive which makes the non-identification of the cover shot all the more frustrating.