Encaustic Crows...

MMMMMMM, I have been havin' more fun in my Encaustic Art Studio than a girl should! I had an idea to paint Two Crows in the Snow with some round reddish berries. The most challenging part of this painting was working with the pigments and encaustic medium to achieve the nuance of color and tone of the snow. The birds are almost multi dimensional due to building up with the wax and pigment and etching. This piece is 24" x 12". Encaustic + Oil Pastel on a Birch Cradled substrate.

Encaustic "Abtract Eggs", 2 of 12...

Today I spent the day in my new Encaustic studio, here in Topsham, Maine.
I have been studying birds, eggs and nests ever since I can remember. They are very interesting. So many shapes, colors sizes, habits and habitats. Oh I love that birdie world! The colors of the eggs happen to be my favorite color palette, mostly muted greens, buffs and blues with many flecks and fields of browns, ecru, white and creme. In studying eggs under a magnifying glass the spots became abstract, the edges defined, becoming a series of edges and shapes.









This piece is what I envisioned. Today I finished 2 of the 12 panels, now it is off to the art store for 10 more substrates!
"Abstract Eggs" is 12 separate 12"x12" paintings. They will be connected to form 1 large piece.
BeesWax+Damar Resin = Encaustic Medium, add the color pigments and then the magic happens. This is an interesting medium to work with, using a heat gun and hot beeswax creates an artistic environment that is filled with experiments and happy accidents. The challenge of Encaustic is the more you learn, the more you just don't know. Love It.

Newsflash: Marketing Your Art...

News Flash...
Read all about it.
I am going to be giving a talk on "Marketing Your Art".
It will be fun, informative and you will meet other folks in the "Art Community". Hope to see you there.

"On Monday, April 12 “Guerrilla Marketing” is the topic of Five Rivers Arts Alliance’s Member Meeting with Karen Dominguez-Brann. The presentation is at 6pm at Frontier Cafe, Cinema + Gallery, 14 Maine St., Brunswick. KDB is an artist and designer who lives and works in Topsham, Maine. Her talk will tackle the question
“Does marketing your ART make you crazy?” KDB will talk about Web, Print, E-news, Blasts and Newsletters. In an hour-long session she will teach how each component works and more importantly how well they work together. According to Karen, “We will discuss many options, most, which take very little money and basic minimal effort. You will learn about Blogging, and why, what you say and how you say it, is important for the search engines. You will also discover the beauty of “Viral” marketing on Facebook in conjunction with an e-blast and your just published blog article. Most of all you possibly will leave with an understanding of your place in your identified “Art Market”. See you on Monday April 12th , 6 pm at the Frontier Café.”

Log onto the Five Rivers Art Alliance website FMI.

Encaustic Painting in Maine...

I have become totally enamored with Encaustic painting. Studying the Encaustic's Realm, a tutorial and some inspiration from Jasper Johns, Miranda Lake and other Encaustic Artist's sealed the deal. I am in love with this medium. The sweet smell of honey and the rich colors of pure pigment are absolutely intoxicating. I recently finished a workshop at MECCA (Maine College Of Art) with a fantastic

instructor Kim Bernard. She is brilliant, fun and very talented. If you have a chance to study with her, do it.
The workshop was "Technique" driven. Brushing up on the the basics and also many new tricks with color, heat, fusing and transferring images. This was the perfect 2 day Art Workshop.
Each piece featured in this article is 5x5 "The Bee, Butterflies,Dragonfly, & Nest". All feature different techniques, approaches and colors. My Art Studio here in Maine is a very busy place these days!

Science & Art...

This mixed media portrait was a fun and interesting project. I have featured the physicality as well as some of the "interior' stuff that makes me tick. I am amused by most things and love the analytical and scientific, the natural and celestial world and of course, quirky and beauty. This incorporates many of those key "me" elements. I am looking through a monocle, haloed by a map of the starry sky, with a radiometer perched above, which when hit by the sunshine whirs about giving the piece instant motion! A paintbrush with dried paint is balanced atop of 2 eggs (Yes they always seem to show up!)
This piece also features a California coastal map, covered in some of my favorite Fibonacci numbers. I used a variety of color mediums, pastels, paint, grease pencil and medium gel. All in all it is fun, interesting and makes me smile. This piece is 16x21.

Three Feet of Goldfish, Sweet...

This has been a very productive 2 weeks of painting. One of the finished pieces is 3, 12" canvases with 9 Goldfish swimming happily along. This piece has an abstract style water background and the fish are painted with thin layers of Translucent Golden Acrylic paints. Ahhh, swim little fishies!

Goldfish, at Last...

I have been studying Goldfish for well over a year. My goal was to figure out the shimmers and glimmers of these beauties. Goldfish have a unique shape and they come in many sizes and colors. So after slogging through numerous photos, books and other paintings I was ready to paint these fish myself! I created a background that has the colors of water with plant, light and sunshine affecting the shades. Fun.

After sketching the fish, loosely with a pencil onto the canvas, the moment arrived. All of my theories and techniques came together in a perfect storm and 5 Goldfish appeared on the canvas.. Yes I am joyous, I am happy to look upon my canvas of Goldfish, finally!



Goldfish #1.... 2'x2' Acrylic on canvas.