Recent work, and Moving News

It's been a little while since my last post so here's an update for ya, Montana we're coming back! Yep, Daniel's company needs him up there more frequently than the monthly trips so we are moving... again. This doesn't stress me out or anything... especially since the Artwalk show is fast approaching! So, my to do list grows long while I am waiting for the temperature to creep up in the studio this morning...

So many things to do!
Pack
Clean
Pack for my girls trip to Cabo (YES, so needed right now but I don't have time to relax do I? yes always make time says Daniel, my relaxing guru)
Figure out the logistics of moving cars and stuff
Figure out the logistics of getting myself in the studio as much as possible so I can be ready for my ARTwalk show in Little Italy April 28th
Paint
Paint
Paint!
Find daycare for my kiddo in MT (so far this is the hardest thing)


and in the meantime, doing all the little mama, hairbrained odd jobs that seem to never end ;)
but I finally finished this piece which ended up taking a few more months than expected, phew!
Love it though.

 Sometimes its so hard to sell these more intricate works, you want to look at them for a year first.

 These three little paintings are so juicy. Loving the orangey red tones.

I've done about 50 monoprints in the last month and this one is my current fav.

Mountains baby!

 I did a few like this, I suppose it's time for a large format photo shoot because this photo is terrible

 This one might get put into my Studio Sale area on the website, I'll see if any more

come out like it first though. Classic Minton right? ;)

 This is the big mama I'm workin' on right now. Just stuffing it with blooms.

Many more in the works, but they aren't ready for their close up yet.

Let's see, what else is new.... Jolie is turning 5 soon, which blows my mind, she is such a fun kid, she falls asleep with every last children's book we own. I think she's trying to teach herself how to read by osmosis. Sometimes she wakes us up in the middle of the night shouting "MORE BOOKS!" 

 Which reminds me I need to write that on the to do list :-)

Speaking of Children's Books,  check out my friend Amelie's children's book site, Amelie's Bookshelf  I love reading her book reviews for suggestions on what to get for Jolie

Until next time... Thanks for reading folks!

Encaustic Mono Prints

Just before Christmas, I got addicted starting learning how to do a mono printing process with encaustics. Here is a peek at the latest prints. I am doing as many as possible in preparation for Artwalk.   The reason I started looking into doing these, was because I wanted to offer an affordable print alternative to prospective buyers. Encaustics are expensive, and a large investment for most folks, and I've noticed that many artists offer limited edition prints, but... if I think about it,  I would personally much rather have an original piece than a digital print if possible, so I started experimenting with this process as a way to do that. I have been using all sorts of handmade papers to try and hit on the one I like the best but it's tricky, and so far the best is a japanese rice paper traditionally used for painting with ink.  Here's a step by step photo guide of what the mono print process involves:

 

 An anodized aluminum plate is placed on the heated palette and the

painting is done straight onto the plate.

 

 A sheet of paper is cut to size and carefully placed over the heated wax paints

and the paint is pressed into the paper.

 Voila! Beautiful, frameable, encaustic paintings on paper!