New Work

3 Papyrus - 11 X 14 - $150

I'm going to start releasing some photo's of work that will be part of my upcoming show as Featured Artist at Trails End Gallery for the month of June, opening night is June 2nd 3-6pm.

This piece is of course beeswax, color, collage, oil and raffia and  it is the piece I started at the Dot's and Doodles demo on April 28th. Luckily I've recovered from the cold I had and applied my attention to completing this so those great folks who were in attendance can see how it finished up. I've include the price if any of you are interested in purchasing just email me at www.bmallon@centurytel.net.

I will be doing another demo during the opening of the show at Trails End and it will be a somewhat abstract rendition of tulips but will allow me to demonstrate some of the techniques we'll be doing in the workshop I'm going to be teaching later on in August at Trails End.

Today, I'm finishing up some smaller sized paintings in the 12 X 12 to 11 X 14 range that may be included in the show so that there are plenty of pieces and price ranges. Tomorrow I'll be finishing the sides of the cradles with stain and Monday I'll be wiring up all of the pieces. I am going to be submitting work for the International Encaustic Association juried show "EncaustiCon" to be held in San Antonia, Texas in September 2012. These shows have encaustic artists from all over the world submitting and it's all very interesting.

It's cool and humid out and I wouldn't be surprised if rain were in the works for today - in other words a perfect day for working in my studio. Have fun yourselves!

Working, working, working

I've been doing serious head down work getting a nice group of encaustics completed for my show at Trails End Gallery in Gearhart, Oregon where I'm the Featured Artist in June. So far I've got 18 pieces completed in a range from 12 X 12's on up to 18 X 24's. All hang together pretty nicely I think. I'm going to be finishing up 4 or 5 smaller ones in the next several days just so I'm sure I'll have enough work to go up. So all of you are welcome to come to the opening on Saturday June 2nd, from 3pm to 6pm when I'll be doing a demonstration as well as meeting and greeting people.

Also, after the show is up, I'll be putting the work on this blog for people to see. The shot of these great pines figures into one of the encaustics I completed. In every batch of paintings I do, there does seem to be one more realistic one and that is invariably the one that sells at shows down here. Not much interest in abstract work out here on the coast but that's the way the beeswax resin mixture takes me so I show it here at Trails End before shopping it to other city/mainstream galleries.

I really can't complain about the weather at all here this last week. It's just been raining buckets but the grass and shrubbery is a beautiful vibrant green in probably 25 or 30 shades - achingly lovely this time of year. Also, being that wet means that gardening chores are pretty much out of the question so without guilt I use that time well in my studio. Next week though there will be plants to plant, pots to get seeded and hung up, and feeders both hummingbird and yellow goldfinch to set out! Watch for some great pictures.

See you at the Trails End Gallery opening!

Land of the Living

Am finally now just starting to feel a whole lot better after nearly 4 weeks of being down with a bad cold or possibly whooping cough. The weather has shifted away from cold rain and wind to more mild days with sun and up to 68 degrees though we are still having pretty cold nights - which is unseasonable for us. But then the seasons are doing their own thing these days. It has certainly brought out the tourists.

Now I'm raring to go and have already started producing some great new work for my upcoming Featured Artist show in June at Trails End Gallery in Gearhart. I'll be doing a demo there during my 3-6pm artist reception on Saturday June 2nd, and I'll be hanging a lot of encaustic work. I will also have a catalog for the 2011 Encaustic Masters Show of which I was one of the artists showing some of the finest encaustics work being produced so ask to see it for inspiration and all the varied ways that this medium is being used. All of the artists at Trails End Gallery really pull out the stops for the summer months when traffic through the gallery is high and the prices are reasonable for such talented artists so stop by frequently and see the varied and interesting work.

All of a sudden 3 species of birds are really flocking here and they always seem to arrive at the same time - hummingbirds, gold finches and bald eagles. Below is a picture I took last year of the arrival of the gold finches. We don't actually need to put up feeders for them since there appears to be plenty of food for them but it does lure them closer for some nice photo's! They like the thistle seeds but the second picture has them sitting on top of the hummingbird feeder. The background is Willipa Bay with the tide out. We do get lots of flocking sea birds - lots of various sand pipers doing their lovely, fascinating flocking behavior as the tides come in each day though that is hard to see with a camera.

Will be adding a few teaser photographs of wax work I'm doing but will be saving most of it for the show, so you have to come and see! Also, I will be entering 3 new pieces for the 2012 EncaustiCon -International Juried Exhibition to be held this year in San Antonio, Texas.