Even though it hasn't officially arrived yet, my birthday is over and it is time to get back to work. Thursday, the 30th, is my actual birthday, but all the celebrating happened this weekend. It was a sad day yesterday when I took my 22 year old son to the airport to return to Miami. I really miss having him around. Today arrives with much to do. I have to pick up brochures from the printer to take with me when we leave on Sunday. I have to pack up paintings and prints for show opening on the 7th. If anyone is in the Wilmington, DE area on Friday, 9/7, please drop by KevinMelloy.com Art Gallery on W 7th for First Friday Art Loop. I would love to meet you.
I am hoping to get one more painting done before I leave. That would be great.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Monday, August 27, 2007
Life's little surprises
The rest of last week didn't end up anywhere near what my plans were at the beginning of the week. After dealing with printer issues, cards for the gallery, brochures and other things, I didn't get any painting done. Sat. I managed to get to my figure drawing class and headed out with a friend to San Juan afterwards. Upon my arrival back home, I was surprised to find that my husband had arranged for me to stay in San Juan for the afternoon so that he could surprise me with a birthday party. I had my suspicions that he was up top something, but the topper on the surprise was that he flew my son in from Miami to surprise me. And surprised I was. My son heads back to Miami tonight, so I get to spend the day with him. Visits with the kids are never long enough but he has to get back to school and to work. It was a great weekend and painting will have to be postponed until tomorrow.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
My Journey...stunted
A case of the flu has had me in bed since Thursday. A big pot of chicken soup has kept me company while I recover from fever and body aches. No work in the studio and I feel horrible about it. Today I am up and must venture out to San Juan to pick up a friend from the airport and am hoping to get a bit of work done on my return. I have just ordered more beeswax and damar resin and am so excited about receiving it so that I can continue my new journey with encaustics. I also need to get an exhaust out in my studio for fumes. These can be toxic.
If I accept you as you are, I will make you worse. However, if I treat you as though you are what you are capable of becoming, I help you become that.
Carl Gustav Jung
If I accept you as you are, I will make you worse. However, if I treat you as though you are what you are capable of becoming, I help you become that.
Carl Gustav Jung
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Mantra 4
I really had a fabulous time today playing with the encaustics. I know I am really going to enjoy this medium. The possibilities of what one can do with it appears to be endless.
My journey today was to continue my Mantra series while experimenting with the new medium and allowing my muse to drive my direction. I took to the tools very quickly and felt comfortable with the heat gun. I painted with a pallet knife or brush in one hand and the heat gun in the other. I sat up my panel in the same manner as I do my canvases. I have a big wall at the end of my studio and I painted the same way as I always do. I don't think sitting at a table and having the panel in front of me would work. I enjoy the process of walking back and forth to evaluate my work.
This is my progress so far. As for an image, I thought I would use a familiar one that I had just been working with. I like the way it is juxtaposed on the canvas, but it still needs some more work so that someone will know that it is an iris. I am calling it a wrap today, but perhaps after dinner I will come back out and see what happens.
My journey today was to continue my Mantra series while experimenting with the new medium and allowing my muse to drive my direction. I took to the tools very quickly and felt comfortable with the heat gun. I painted with a pallet knife or brush in one hand and the heat gun in the other. I sat up my panel in the same manner as I do my canvases. I have a big wall at the end of my studio and I painted the same way as I always do. I don't think sitting at a table and having the panel in front of me would work. I enjoy the process of walking back and forth to evaluate my work.
This is my progress so far. As for an image, I thought I would use a familiar one that I had just been working with. I like the way it is juxtaposed on the canvas, but it still needs some more work so that someone will know that it is an iris. I am calling it a wrap today, but perhaps after dinner I will come back out and see what happens.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Begin again
After dying to get busy with my encaustics, I haven't quite been able to play yet. I spent the weekend out at Home Depot buying wood supplies for my panels that I will be using and then the afternoon today putting them together. Of course, I tried it the hard way first, trying to put biscuits in angled pieces of wood that would support my panel. To not avail and after ruining a good cut piece, even after testing it on a scrap piece, I discovered that all I had to do was miter the ends and glue them on the panel. Duh!!! Anyway, tomorrow will be spent laying a wax layer on the panels and then I can begin to play.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Thursday, August 9, 2007
No studio time so far today. Busy running errands, one of which was picking up my package of encaustics from the post office. I cannot wait to start playing with them. Probably should be next week. Maybe over the weekend if I am lucky. Spending the rest of the day preparing things for my show in Sept.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Preparation for the Day
"In art the search for a content which is collectively understandable is false; the content will always be individual" -Piet Mondrian
Gessoeing canvas this morning for more Mantras. I definitely need to go bigger.
Gessoeing canvas this morning for more Mantras. I definitely need to go bigger.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Studio Day
"If the eyes of a Rembrandt are upon her, she will rise in response and Rembrandt will draw what he sees and it will be beautiful." - Robert Henri
"What is a personal calling? It is God's blessing, it is the path that God chose for you here on earth. Whenever we do something that fills us with enthusiasm, we are following our legend. However, we don't all have the courage to confront our own dreams. WHY? There are four obstacles. First: we are told from childhood onward that everything that we want to do is impossible. We grow up with this idea, and as the years accumulate, so too do the layers of prejudice, fears and guilt. There comes a time when our personal calling is so deeply buried in our soul as to be invisible. But it is still there." -Art & Fear, David Bayles & Ted Orland
"What is a personal calling? It is God's blessing, it is the path that God chose for you here on earth. Whenever we do something that fills us with enthusiasm, we are following our legend. However, we don't all have the courage to confront our own dreams. WHY? There are four obstacles. First: we are told from childhood onward that everything that we want to do is impossible. We grow up with this idea, and as the years accumulate, so too do the layers of prejudice, fears and guilt. There comes a time when our personal calling is so deeply buried in our soul as to be invisible. But it is still there." -Art & Fear, David Bayles & Ted Orland
Friday, August 3, 2007
Encaustics
I am a little bummed this morning as I know I will not get any studio time until Sunday. I have a meeting in San Juan this morning and won't be back home til this afternoon when I have to deal with my broken refrigerator, once again. Tomorrow I have a commitment to play golf with my husband and business assoc. which I will enjoy.
I have been contemplating working with encaustics for several years now and believe that by painting my Mantras will allow me a natural course to develop this technique. I ordered my first set of encaustic paints from Fine Arts Store. I can't wait to get them. I bought the instructional book, The Art of Encaustic Painting: Contemporary Expression in the Ancient Medium of Pigmented Wax by Joanne Mattera, a few years back and have been waiting to get the courage p to experiment. So now I have. I will be using an old electric frying pan with an external temperature control for the time being to see how I adjust before ordering the electric pallet from a supplier. I have admired the work of Tony Scherman since I was college. I can't wait to get started.
I have been contemplating working with encaustics for several years now and believe that by painting my Mantras will allow me a natural course to develop this technique. I ordered my first set of encaustic paints from Fine Arts Store. I can't wait to get them. I bought the instructional book, The Art of Encaustic Painting: Contemporary Expression in the Ancient Medium of Pigmented Wax by Joanne Mattera, a few years back and have been waiting to get the courage p to experiment. So now I have. I will be using an old electric frying pan with an external temperature control for the time being to see how I adjust before ordering the electric pallet from a supplier. I have admired the work of Tony Scherman since I was college. I can't wait to get started.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Mantra #2
Having fun playing once again. Not quite finished with this yet. Something just doesn't "feel" right yet.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
New Work, New Beginning
I am so excited. I have been feeling a pull to go in a different direction with my work, and today I finally had the courage to play and try. I wasn't expecting much with this as it is my first attempt at dealing with only color, composition and space, void of subject matter. 
I was just playing in my studio today, which is something I have been trying to get to for years. I loved the little accidents that happened with the paint and the freedom of not "getting it just right". I am hoping that this new freedom will spill over into my figurative work. But I will be doing a series of these "Mantras" so that I can just deal with space and color right now.
"The word "Mantra" is a Sanskrit word combining the two syllables: man, meaning mind, and tra translated as deliverance. A mantra is a pure sound-vibration intended to deliver the mind from illusion and material inclinations. The Mantra's (or mantram as it is sometimes refered to) purpose is to assist your mind to focus when it is scattered. By chanting mantras (in my case it will be painting), one is able to produce a spiritual effect which is associated with the physical sensation of the vibration the chant(painting) produces. Thus when the mantra is chanted the effect is felt. This is an easy way to obtain peace of mind, but takes much practice. (Painting)Chanting mantras is also used to make the intent of the mantra a physical reality. Energy naturally follows intent and thus the chanting of a mantra will eventually lead to the physical manifestation of the mantra. (Painting)Chanting mantras affects your subtle body (electromagnetic energy field) which holds your consciousness. Since your subtle body is made up of small vibrations, chanting directly affects the energy vibration of your subtle body. Mantras start a powerful vibration which corresponds to both a specific spiritual energy frequency and a state of consciousness in seed form. Over time, the mantra process begins to override all of the other smaller vibrations, which eventually become absorbed by the mantra. After a length of time which varies from individual to individual, the great wave of the mantra stills all other vibrations. Ultimately, the mantra produces a state where the organism vibrates at the rate completely in tune with the energy and spiritual state represented by and contained within the mantra. By slowly understanding how mantras work, our understanding of the universe which is composed of energy is broadened.
Hmmm...Is there such a thing as too much Yoga???
I was just playing in my studio today, which is something I have been trying to get to for years. I loved the little accidents that happened with the paint and the freedom of not "getting it just right". I am hoping that this new freedom will spill over into my figurative work. But I will be doing a series of these "Mantras" so that I can just deal with space and color right now. "The word "Mantra" is a Sanskrit word combining the two syllables: man, meaning mind, and tra translated as deliverance. A mantra is a pure sound-vibration intended to deliver the mind from illusion and material inclinations. The Mantra's (or mantram as it is sometimes refered to) purpose is to assist your mind to focus when it is scattered. By chanting mantras (in my case it will be painting), one is able to produce a spiritual effect which is associated with the physical sensation of the vibration the chant(painting) produces. Thus when the mantra is chanted the effect is felt. This is an easy way to obtain peace of mind, but takes much practice. (Painting)Chanting mantras is also used to make the intent of the mantra a physical reality. Energy naturally follows intent and thus the chanting of a mantra will eventually lead to the physical manifestation of the mantra. (Painting)Chanting mantras affects your subtle body (electromagnetic energy field) which holds your consciousness. Since your subtle body is made up of small vibrations, chanting directly affects the energy vibration of your subtle body. Mantras start a powerful vibration which corresponds to both a specific spiritual energy frequency and a state of consciousness in seed form. Over time, the mantra process begins to override all of the other smaller vibrations, which eventually become absorbed by the mantra. After a length of time which varies from individual to individual, the great wave of the mantra stills all other vibrations. Ultimately, the mantra produces a state where the organism vibrates at the rate completely in tune with the energy and spiritual state represented by and contained within the mantra. By slowly understanding how mantras work, our understanding of the universe which is composed of energy is broadened.
Hmmm...Is there such a thing as too much Yoga???
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