Cold Wax Painting for Sor Juana

I did this oil and cold wax painting recently, inspired by the poetry, plays, essays, and life of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz. I painted it over an old acrylic painting I did of this great writer of Spain's Golden Age. I loved the wabi-sabi process of recycling this wood panel while keeping the essence of the original painting.

La Ruespuesta     20" x 16"

Michelle Gets Wabi-Sabi Inspiration

It Made My Day!

I received a wonderful email the other day from an artist, Michelle, Wecksler, who disovered my book by accident at the Denver airport. Heres what she has to say on her blog about this discovery:

On one of my recent trips through the Denver airport, I stopped in a shop on concourse B called Mosaic. The shop carries art created by many different artists - jewelry, pottery, glass - and they also have a section in the back with books. Since I had time before my flight, I started looking through the books and came upon one called Wabi-sabi Art Workshop by Serena Barton. I was immediately attracted to the title since the Wabi-sabi philosophy was something I had recently been investigating. It didn't take long to decide that I was going to purchase the book and take it with me on my trip! I am still only half-way through the book and I am bursting with inspiration and motivation!!!!!! 

In the book, Serena presents a wonderful technique of combining glazing fluid with reinkers to create beautiful landscapes. As soon as I got home this week, I decided to give it a try in my art journal! It started out slow, but I followed her step-by-step instructions and improvised a bit and this was the result! I am sooooooo happy with how it turned out and I can't wait to begin work on a canvas or panel that I can hang in the house! Thank you Serena for the amazing inspiration! And for those of you fortunate enough to be going to Art and Soul in Portland in September, I wish I could join you! Serena will be teaching a few classes that I would LOVE to take!!!!! And maybe one day I will because after all...if you put your mind to it, anything is possible!!!!! 

I love that Michelle did her first wabi-sabi piece in her journal!

Wonderful affirmation! And delicious use of re-inker glaze.

Here's the delightful work Michelle created. Visit her blog and her YouTube videos and you will see that while she is an accomplished artist, wabi-sabi was new to her. Her bravery in trying something new was certainly rewarded by the process and the result of her free flowing experiments! 

I love seeing your wabi-sabi work, so keep it coming through my website.

Blog reader's wabi-sabi art on flickr

 Linda left a comment on my other blog. You can see her wabi-sabi work (beautiful) on flickr!

Some of us Art and Soul instructors are having a blog roll to celebrate the upcoming Art and Soul Retreat. I get to be first! Visit my other blog where I'll be telling you about my classes and offering a giveaway. Here's the lineup of all the blog roll participants and blogs:

 August 20: Clarissa Callesen

http://clarissacallesen.blogspot.com 

August 21: Liz Kettle 

http://www.textileevolution.com

 August 22: Jen Crossley and

http://amarkintime.blogspot.com/

Barbara Worth Rainey

 http://fireflypress.blogspot.com/ 

August 23: Jill Berry 

http://jillberrydesign.com/blog/

Some of these folks are having giveaways so check them out and learn about their upcoming classes!

 I'll be teaching two Wabi-Sabi based classes at Art and Soul. You can see a full description on the other blog, but here are some images from the two classes.

Papers Wabi-Sabi

Papers Wabi-Sabi

Wabi-Sabi Wax

Wabi-Sabi Wax

Get thee to Serena Barton's Blog, enter the giveaway, and check out my classes!

Date Change for "Wabi-Sabi Buried Treasure" at the Oregon Coast

The date for my upcoming workshop at Bloom Artscape in Yachats on the Oregon Coast has been changed from August 17 to September 21. Here's more about this delightful venue run by Sandy Mier:

Come play on the edge!

You deserve a creative getaway, and we have  just what you need at BLOOM! an artscape.  Nestled between the Pacific shoreline and the lush Siuslaw forest, our cozy art studio is bubbling with creative energy!  The combination of artful teachers and artistic adventures will nurture your spirit. Join us--we have a bouquet of art experiences, just for you!

--Sandy

 

Here's more about the workshop:

Saturday, September 21, 2013

WABI-SABI BURIED TREASURE

Encaustic Exploration with Mixed Media

with Serena Barton

Combining mixed media and 3-D embellishments with Encaustic.

"a kind of archaeological excavation in reverse!"

Working on wood panels plus transforming an old book, Serena will lead you  to create a primal, mysterious work that invites the viewer to imagine a story woven into the piece with each layer and each element.  

Some of the techniques this workshop will cover:

imperfection and happy accidents

Saturday, September 21, 2013

10am-4pm

with lunch break

$135  All materials provided!  

Bring an old book for transformation

Register through Sandy

Join us for a Special Event:

Sunday, September 22,  1pm-4pm

Reception and Book Signing

Come meet  SERENA BARTON, enjoy a special showing of her artwork, and pick up a signed copy of her recent book!

Refreshments will be served.

Wabi-Sabi Mobile

I feel so lucky to have won this wabi-sabi mobile by Pam Nichols in a silent auction at her last show. Like me, Pam is a lover of rust--she even has a "rustorium" in her studio! I love to sit on the back porch and stare at this mobile--there's always something more to see.

Each of the squares is made of garment pattern paper encased in encaustic medium. You can see the elegantly rusted metal elements in this photo and the one above it.

Whether the mobile is still or moving in the wind, it is a joy to behold.

More Wabi-Sabi Instruction on the Way!

This piece was featured in one of the two DVDs I filmed earlier this week at the North Light studio in Blue Ash, Ohio. I demonstrated adding 3-D elements to this encaustic collage, including vintage wooden buttons and several fish vertabrae.

Though I've made my own videos for online classes, I had never been in a professional filming studio before--I'll admit I was a little nervous! My editor, Kristy and the film crew, Rick and Christine, I had met before when I went back to North Light to photograph the project steps for my book. They are warm, and funny, as well as being highly skilled. They soon put me at ease, and I had a lot of fun creating the videos. They even used a clapper, like in the real movies, which made me feel so very cool.  

The lovely and talented Kristy

One of the videos features Kristy and me going on a walk to find wabi-sabi in nature and objects along the way. We did find some cool stuff that served as inspiration for some of the projects shown in the DVDs. The DVDs will include using acrylics, collage, re-inkers, alcohol inks, coffee, encaustic, cold wax and oil, plaster, 3-D elements and more.

I'll keep you posted on the release date for the DVDs. It will likely be the middle of December. Now that I've overcome my nervousness, I hope I get to do this again some time!

The table where I demonstrated techniques. You can see my "mark" on the floor.

Some of the set dressing with book prominently displayed

A blurry photo of some of the camera equipment--lots of it in this studio!