The year coming to an end and I haven’t told you about the great time I had in Santa Fe, New Mexico last September when I attended the Encaustic Expo. My friend and instructor Bev Goldie and I toured the Georgia O’Keefe Museum and the Museum of Encaustic Art run by the Encaustic Art Institution (EAI), before attending the Expo. We took workshops, visited the Vendor Area (where I won paint supplies at a drawing sponsored by Enkaustikos), and got to know encaustic artists from all over the country. I have also just been notified that I won a raffle of over $200 worth of paints and mediums as part of an EAI fund raiser.
I took my second Oil and Cold Wax workshop in November in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Jerry McLaughlin and Rebecca Crowell (co-authors of their new book Cold Wax Medium: Techniques, Concepts, & Conversations) taught this advanced workshop which turned out to be as inspiring as the one I took last May. I was lucky to arrive a day early and got to walk around the historic colonial town and buy some souvenirs before classes started. Most nights were warm and dry enough to eat at a roof top restaurant but by bedtime I was grateful for the space heater in my room. The rest of November Roy and I spent in Idaho where it was chillier.
One of the workshops I took in Santa Fe was on Acrylic Pours like my niece Joy Duff-Sims makes. I’ve been doing some experimentation and have really enjoyed the quick start-to-finish turn-around. Even allowing time for curing and varnishing, a piece is complete in about one week. I was looking for something more immediate as I got ready for the holidays; but I had not expected acrylic pours to be so artful and process oriented. They are like my oil & cold wax “daily” paintings. Generally, completed in one session these quick paintings require planning and insight.
