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.

Busy Week

Yowza! Have you ever had one of those weeks where you don't have a minute to stop and breathe? This was one of those for me. I have a real love/hate relationship with those weeks. I feel productive but I don't feel mellow and relaxed which is my favorite frame of mind.

Saturday was a teaching day. I LOVE teaching. I love the students and I especially love watching them get excited about encaustic. They always do. It's such a sensual, tactile medium that you can't help but fall in love as you work it. Though teaching is incredibly rewarding , I am drained when it is over. Encaustic is not a very portable medium so I end up packing up suitcases of stuff for a day of teaching at Everett Artist's Supply and Framing, http://www.everettartistssupply.com/ and then packing it all back up to take it home.

I have a couple private teaching sessions coming up and it's a treat to have someone come to my studio to learn. All of the tools are at our disposal and I can get farther along when they are close by. I have allot of equipment here that can't be dragged to the store.

My friend Karon, http://karonleigh-stilldancing.blogspot.com/, and I installed a small show at Uncle Elizabeth', right on Pike on Capitol Hill in Seattle. It will be there for two months. Though it was a bit of work we did get to spend some time visiting at dinner. Seattle has a great vibe. I feel the energy of the people there. I live out in a rural area so I travel just to go to Starbucks. I do fantasize about living above a retail store in some funky loft and spending my days painting. I don't think that will happen. I do love the birdsongs out here at beautiful Storm Lake.

I'm very excited about a show coming up in September. Karon and I are at Local Color right in the heart of Pike Place Market. The place feels good. It's comfy and well lit. We'll send out cards for that one and have anice opening. I hope some of you can make it to the opening which will be announced here soon.

Ooh ooh ooh. I almost forgot. I was dying for some small bisqe or porcelain dolls that had been dug up from the grounds of an old factory in Germany. I think they are from the 1800's. I saw them at Artfest for more money than I had, but Kecia at http://lemoncholys.blogspot.com/ had some on her etsy for $15.00 I am so excited about them. They make wonderful necklaces.

Lastly, I will have Karon show me how to link to everyone I mention in this blog. It can't be that hard. I don't care for you having to look at all the web addresses I've added.