So I Gathered...

Encaustic Lighthouse Workshop-Student Work!

So, don't fall out of your chairs, but here I am posting within TWO days of my last post!  Incredible.  The planets must be aligned or something...that something is probably the fact that my 8 year old is at summer camp and I have long hours to fill and no excuse not to blog.   

The second workshop I taught at ArtFest earlier this year was Encaustic Lighthouses!  I love houses and am always looking for ways to create 3D pieces.  I noticed some double-sided, fusible interfacing while wandering through Hobby Lobby one day and wham (!), the lightbulb flashed on!  I could make stiff fabric panels that could be sewn together to make a stand-alone house!  I made a few of these, then one day, when the encaustic medium was warming on the griddle, I thought that it might be fun to coat the houses in wax.  Voila!  A new class was born!  What's really cool is that you can put one of those electric tea lights inside and watch the flickering light through the translucent fabric walls!  

In this workshop, the students learned how to create their own printed fabrics,  make fabric panels and decorate them with various media.  Basics in using encaustic wax medium were covered, along with how to create inclusions in the wax, carving and back-filling with oil paints.

So, get ready to view some amazing home improvement projects!  If only my own house were this easy to put together, lol!  Preparing the walls...

I love these close-up photos of hands at work...

This student drew all of her own designs on blank panels!

This house is a good example of how you can use the wax to "stick" things to the surface...note the puzzle pieces...

This detail shot shows that the fabric panels are stiff enough (even before the wax is applied!) to enable you to add decorative elements with cold connections such as brads, nuts and bolts or stitching!

And now for some village shots!  I love seeing all of the tiny houses standing together...

Notice the stitching detail in the houses below...

This student cut out the image from the business card I gave her!

Stilts!  What fun!

Fantastic detail stitching!

Butterfly!

The "Party House"!  'Nuff said...

I wouldn't mind doing time in the "Big House"...

Here is a note I received from a student after this workshop:  "I just wanted to let you know again how very much I enjoyed your class!   I just loved the little houses and cannot wait to finish decorating mine and to make more of them.  I really appreciated your teaching style and how available you were to help out and answer questions.  I hope to join you for another class somewhere down the line."

This workshop is one that I will be teaching at several venues this fall!  Check out the front page of my blog for a list of dates and locations.  I hope to see you there!

 

 

Encaustic Homebodies Workshop-Student Work!

So now it is August...and I suppose I should start blogging about the new workshops I debuted in the spring of this year.  First up is Encaustic Homebodies!  In this workshop, students learned some new techniques for creating and using their own fabrics and photos in their encaustic work.  We also covered some basic principles in working with encaustic medium such as fusing, layering, carving and back-filling, to name a few!  To augment their 2-D work, students also hand-stiched a small fabric 3-D house that was attached  to the cradled hardboard with wax.

  

Here is what the lovely students from ArtFest 2012 came up with!  Be ready for some serious eye-candy!

Wonderful skeleton leaf inclusion above and some great inscribing and back-filling below!

Hard at work...

A paper ruff is a wonderful accessory...

Real butterfly wings and a lovely gem tintype!

Some had to sacrifice for their art...the electrical system in the classroom gave us fits!

But definitely worth the sacrifice!

 

Love the idea of a cut out window to showcase the tintype!  And beautiful color added with colored pencils!

Looking great!

Leaving the threads free for added interest and dimension!

Carol works on adding some inscribed wording to her house...

The edges of this fabric house were treated with ink!

Pencil doodles in the background and wonderfully inscribed words...

As always, one of the biggest joys I receive from teaching is watching all of the creative students come up with new ideas, each one going in a unique direction to make their art their own!  Look at how each photo was treated differently...

Here is what one student wrote to me (unsolicited) after the workshop: "I would love to be on your email list and would definitely love to come to more of your workshops...  I must tell you that I have been inspired by your work. Your recent workshop at the Artfest was stimulating and gave me confidence in my own abilities to express myself through my art. I too work carefully and methodically and sometimes I felt that those were not qualities found in a 'true' artist and their work. But you showed me that the way you work is part of your style and your artistic voice and yes, there is room for artists like us in this world! Thank you!"  It is comments like this one that keep me sharing and teaching...thank you.

If you think this workshop looks like fun (and it really is!), I will be teaching it at several venues later this year, along with several other encaustic classes!  See the schedule on the front page of my blog to find a location near you...or one you might like to travel to!  Stay tuned...my next post will be on student work from another encaustic workshop, Encaustic Lighthouses!