Wonderful Opening

Rocking & Rolling - 12" X 12" - SOLD

We had a wonderful opening for my month long Featured Artist show at Trails End Gallery in Gearhart, Oregon, yesterday - June 2nd.

It was a terrifically nice surprise to walk in at 2pm to set up my demo and find that this piece had already sold. This was probably my favorite piece as well, both at the time I was making it and when I was finished and looking at all the art work hung up.

It has my signature carving, bold coloring in an earth tone palette, some interesting new ideas for expanding the carving and an opportunity for bringing in a realistic shape with primitive motif's which for me enhances the story line of the painting.

I ended up with 19 pieces in the show and a "not for sale" grid of 4 small 8" X 8" (my sketchbook) blocks. We had a real nice turn out and I sold another painting during the show which I'll show next entry.

It was interesting doing the demo too, during the reception. Though I missed talking to all of the people coming in to see the art, I was able to talk more in depth to people who had questions about encaustic itself and how it felt and what tools I used and etc. I brought with me a catalog from my last group show with International Encaustic Artists in Troutdale, Oregon in 2011 called Encaustic Masters, and in that catalog where everyone who juried in had 1 piece included, you were able to see the breadth and depth of what modern encaustic painters are doing these days. This was a wonderful way to show people what can be done with this great medium.

This show will remain up through June 24th I believe and the gallery itself is open Wednesdays thru Sundays 11-5pm and you are all welcome to go and browse. Many of the artists in the Trails End Art Association only show in the summer months so right now there is a ton of great art up on the walls - from beginners to long time favorite artists, in watercolor, pastel, oil, acrylic, printing and more. Artists have tried to keep the prices approachable so you will find some excellent buys of original art. Enjoy!

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.