From Funked to Pumped

I think that most of us suffer a funk every once in a while. I certainly have for the last few days. I have come to accept that funks are part and parcel of the artist's personality. We just cannot create all the time. We are emotional beings and with that comes not just the highs but the lows.

I have twelve panels prepped and ready for designs but I have just been looking at them. I know what they are going to look like but it is nowhere except my head.

Pictured is the only one of the series I have completed. It's simple and stark, black and white. The whole series is going to be. I'm feelin' like a colorless child. I hope I still have the black and white series in me after this weekend. I know the color will return.

What is taking me from the funk is that tomorrow morning I begin an advanced encaustics workshop at Dakota Art Workshops. It's with Larry Calkin who I have heard nothing but good about. He usually teaches at Pratt in Seattle but that is an awful city drive. I'll take back roads to LaConner the next few days and see nothing but Washington's majesty on the trip.

Wish me luck. I've never had an encaustics class so I'm really excited to be learning instead of teaching. I am pretty experimental so it was all fun for me. Wax on. Wax off. I think having a sign shop for so many years has given me a leg up on process and paints of all sorts.

This class will benefit my students also. I know some of the stuff I'll learn about will not be practical to teach in a retail setting but I will be able to offer the whole ball of wax out of my home studio.