Red Mare Wines

Exciting news! The wine label project I have been working on with my talented winemaking sister Anne Vawter is about to be printed and bottle-affixed (for my lack of a better term) very soon!

Here are a few images of the front and back label I created for the delicious 2007 cabernet sauvignon.

Check out her newly finished website redmarewines.com





and here are some shots of the embossing die and printing process...

Change is Scary. But Fun

We had such lovely weather this last weekend, and wouldn't you know it we all came down with sore throats, which is disconcerting for many reasons, the worst being that our first downtown gig is tomorrow night. I hope I don't literally croak... ahh but that is a story for another day. Maybe Friday... (It's Thursday night at the Crag if you want to come see us, look for the Cannonball posters)

It was a stressful week yes, but today my dear readers, something wonderful happened! I finally laid brush to wax! That's right, the encaustic side of the studio is now in use... well sort of. You see my ventilation system is not installed yet, so I cheated a little, and froze a little with all the doors and windows open, but it wasn't too bad. I will post sneak peeks soon I promise.

My but it is exhilarating doing something new in one's own studio! I learned many things;

1. I probably should have changed out of my good sweater (will I ever learn?)
2. The Opal Aqumarine hotcake by Enkaustikos is AWESOME
3. Making your own medium is really not as intimidating as it looks
4. Burning your fingertips is part of learning how to work around hot plates
5. I must remember to inspect and pick out on average 5 dog hairs between each layer of wax
6. I need a bigger studio. Just kidding... but not really
7. I almost got scared and started painting on an unfinished acrylic painting I have on the other side of the room right before I fired up the hot plates, I had to give myself a pep talk. Change is scary. But fun.

Working on the Studio

Jolie and I in the studio, working on a birthday banner

I always love to see other artist's working spaces. So here are a few pictures of my little art studio, which is undergoing some changes right now. Besides a much needed spring cleaning, I am re-defining the space to include an encaustic painting area (photos of that still to come).

There are some challenges with this space. It has to be many things; a laundry room, a potting shed of sorts, guest room (sorry Mom), and horror of horrors... a dog kennel for two big hairy and farty dogs. A situation I am living with but plotting to remedy.

Painting area before picture, cluttered and in need of some furniture editing

After (with the lawn chairs inside because it's been raining so much)