Beeswax is yunky on those brushes

On Saturday, 26 May, I picked up 10-year old Nicole, who would be my helper during a garage sale, and set her off on many chores.  But, she loves art so I decided we'd do a preliminary trial  using the beeswax I have been hoarding for ages, warming it up in a little pot, and letting her choose her own substrate. 

Potje for Melting Wax

Nicole used mat board and cut out some animal photographs from an old Antique magazine.  I think she enjoyed it and brought it home.

I am using the Art Media board, although I suspect it is too light weight for much manipulation.

Before I slapped on three coats of beeswax, I drew an outline of my intended image; it is still visible and will serve as a guide.

Set up outside on Judson's Guerrilla easel

Yesterday, 30 May, I stopped into Cynthia's to see how the honey products were laid out, and it is terrific and includes blocks of wax.  I also talked to the beekeeper later.

It is a cozy corner on a counter in the middle of the store between the gallery and the art shop.

BeesWax Challenge

Several months ago,  Cynthia, my friend and art supplier, gave me a sample of Multimedia Artboard to try out and compare to mat board as a possible substrate for a series of collages.  A US manufactured product always appeals to me, and the products data sheet indicates it is versatile.

As it seems I often get to town when she is not available or the shop is closed, months past before I was able to share my results with her.

On Friday she asked me to take on a challenge.

Would I do a beeswax or encaustic collage to accompany her product line of these art boards and the local honey she is selling.  She then gifted me with 5 8x10 sheets of the board.


Today I found the remains of a bumblebee on the back porch, an oddity.

And I also had a very edifying conversation with my neighbour.   At 82, CS, is our local beekeeping expert and extremely knowledgeable about all things nature.

All in a very bee-ful day.

Bee, Wikipedia

 Bee Anatomy, Wikipedia

It is my intention to do an abstract collage of a rhododendron arrangement in a Le Creuset jug

Cobalt blue Le Creuset jug

 on my dining room table, and possibly include the real, but unfortunately, now deceased bee.

Rhododendron leaves

Rhododendron blooms

A beautiful and rather mature rhododendron is growing outside my stairwell window and lovely to behold when in bloom. I pruned it a week or more ago and cut the top blooms for the jug.

(I have a new camera and haven't figured out how to view, capture and then post photographs yet.)

A magical unicorn

Saola ©

This horned animal was discovered in Vietnam and is nearly extinct.  More about the Saola can be found at the World Wildlife site.

Who is my guest?

Raven

Crow

I'm not certain if it is a crow or a raven that came today.  If he comes back tomorrow, I have to really pay attention to the beak and the shape of the body.

A similar or the same bird came to my office window for weeks last year, jabbering and peeking at the glass. 

I was so curious I rang up the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and spoke to the crow expert.  He may have lost his mate and is searching for a new one.  The crows generally travel in pairs.

Birds: Red winged blackbird

Red Winged Blackbird

This is one of several bird species that have been visiting.  He swoops down onto the front porch railing but he/she moves so quickly I can barely capture him in a photograph let alone by eye.

About Red Winged Blackbirds here.

What is art, and what attracts me to an artist?

Kurt D. Holomon
I ordered and received today, "On Foot, a Journal" not because I needed a journal to trek with, but because I am fascinated by Kurt D. Holomon's work.

via Amazon (where it was purchased)

If I'm not mistaken his journals were included in Danny Gregory's An Illustrated Life, but I either discovered or rediscovered Mr. Holomon serendipitously.

I often review blog lists and discover artists or sites that inspire, and that is how I came upon Kurt D. Holomon.

The 4x6 spiral bound trekker journal, On Foot, is a most pleasant surprise and I will be using it this summer, but it is not a true representation of his work.  The journal is fun to look at, has heavy weight paper, sort of paperbag colour and two roomy pockets at the back to collect those "on the road" collections.

Lisa Le Quelenec
I discovered Lisa Le Quelenec of Seaside Studios in a similar roundabout and rewarding way.  It was during a period when several bloggers were discussing and sharing watercolour mixes, and in particular those under explored colours like Payne's Grey, Neutral Tint, Indigo et al.

I had myself just done some smears here and there with those same colours and get into a small discussion about their value and their differences, stark in some cases, between brands.   I love the mystery associated with colour and how we relate to different colours and several colours in juxtaposition to one another.  Lisa and I shared some of our tests.

Midnight Stroll,  Lisa Le Quelenec, 2012 ©

Lisa is a remarkable artist whose work can be purchased at her Elsy shop.

I've always loved images of the sea, and the sky, and even have several works on my walls of quiet, and somewhat near and remote places.  Lisa's acrylics make me want to plunge into the painting and swim with the tides of her time and place.

Laverne Black
I am equally intrigued with the dense, the dark and the hidden.  I had the great pleasure of meeting Laverne Black, a Catskill photographer recently.  We first met at The Old Stone House in Hasbrouck, and as I was driving the Hasbrouck roads, a hamlet of Neversink,  I felt I understood where Laverne got her inspiration.

Fogging Day, Laverne Black ©

Then this past weekend Time and the Valley's Museum had its opening exhibit featuring some of Laverne's local barn photographs, and although the museum is not within easy reach, I made it a point of getting to see the exhibit and seeing Ms. Black again--a huge pleasure.

The Famous Artists
I've never been taken with Monet's haystacks, although I've seen them in Boston and Chicago.

It took me forever to appreciate van Gogh, and I lived just a stone's throw from the museum created in his name.  I finally understood him during a visit to Arles.

I loathed Picasso until I truly studied his work close hand and not just on a museum wall or an art book.

Messina's l'Annunciazione (Siracusa)

But I was taken with Rodin immediately; fell head over heels in love with Dali, and stopped by Messina's l'Annunciazione for hours.  It sits in Siracusa (Sicily) and is being slowly restored.

Detail (left) Messina l'Annunciazione (Siracusa)

There is no accounting for one's taste, and mine is eclectic.  I admire the Romantics as much as the Modernists; I am fascinated by the Surrealists, and admire the Post-Modernists.  I found Conceptional art intriguing especially as I had many Dutch friends in the movement who did excellent work.

Illustrations captivate me.  Children's book illustrators in particular

The Little Stranger, Willy Pogany
1882-1955

 Queen Guenevere, Jesse Marion King, 1875-1949

My own calling card (business card) is based on a King illustration; one I've used for about a decade.

And I continue to look and learn about art and what attracts me to a particular artist.

I'm really...Rosie

Why be happy when you could be normal?

I got it.  Yes, the Western Sullivan system came through this week with two of the three books I wanted, the first Winterson's memoir, the second Silas House's novel, Eli the Good.

I started Why be happy immediately, and I savoured every word, all of which fly off the pages with a contagious energy.

I haven't read Winterson since the 90s, but after I heard the interview she gave on Bookworm I knew I had to read this memoir. 

I had a difficult time returning it to the library and seriously think I will buy my own copy.  So many passages were brilliantly resonating that I wanted to highlight, underline and dog-ear pages.  Of course I didn't.  Of course I couldn't.

Jeanette Winterson didn't have a picture perfect youth, and from the memoir I gather she's had struggles just like the rest of us as an adult, but she is able to take her struggles and wrap them into sensitive sentences sprinkled with evocative thoughts.  She writes straight up, no pretensions, no allusions or illusions about her life, her background in Northern England, just outside Manchester and what it's like to be adopted and possibly unloved and unwanted.

She also has the gift of memorized or recalled poetry and the garnish of her reading material only adds to the overall whole of a writer writing about her life.

A masterful memoir, and worthy of many stars and fulsome accolades.

RIP: Maurice Sendak

The illustrator and children book writer blogospheres are all commemorating Maurice Sendak who died today, aged 83 (1928-2012).  Neither an illustrator nor an artist myself, I have always been a great admirer of Mr. Sendak, and his work. 

My favourite, where Mr. Sendak drew on my old stomping grounds, sending me back to my own childhood where Rosie, dresses up and performs from her cellar door--in Brooklyn, New York.

One of those books I always buy and bought for all the children dear to me, and in my life.