Encaustics in my studio: Day 2

Today's encaustic session went very well. I spent some time sketching and thinking about the process yesterday evening, and went into the studio with some idea of where I wanted to go. And these two 8"x8" panels are the result. I'm very happy with them. I feel like I'm learning how to make this medium my own. Can't wait to see what happens tomorrow!

Encaustics: The Beginning

As I mentioned in my last post, I took some encaustics workshops from Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch this past weekend. Had a blast! Intended to take more pictures than this, but I was far too involved in playing with the wax. Trish is awesome, and the other attendees were too! Lots of great energy and laughter. And The Ranch! I want to go back there again and again. A big hug and thank you to everyone there!

These are the pieces I came home with. Learned lots of techniques, and I need A LOT of practice. It's an interesting feeling to be a beginner again.

And this is my setup in my home studio, which I got set up and played with today. Still lots to learn, but I didn't set fire to anything, nor did I pass out from fumes, so I'm doing pretty well so far. :)

At the workshop and today I've just been getting used to the medium, seeing what it feels like, what it will do, and making myself get out of my comfort zone by trying something totally new. Tomorrow I'll start planning a bit more, see what I can do with the medium toward expressing my vision.

um, helloooooo

Just wanted to write a quick note to say hi. Still recovering from moving upheaval, and really, really sick of it. It's sent me into a free-fall funk. Feeling totally disconnected from most of life. Feeling totally disconnected from my online connections here (I miss you!). And though I've managed a couple of painting sessions, I'm also feeling disconnected from my art and all the activities that surround it. Bleh.

I need some dynamite to get me out of this.

Fortunately I think that dynamite is waiting for me just around the corner. I've signed up for a couple of encaustics workshops with Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch at The Ranch in Snohomish this coming Saturday. I cannot wait!

Our new home!

We are now homeOWNERS!

Wade took this photo with his phone when he went to pick up the keys yesterday. More photos soon.

testing the waters

I went to my studio for the first time in about a month this morning. Many factors contributed to my absence there (and here too, and maybe I'll write about those in the near future) and even though I had sensed a need for a break a few months ago, I resisted taking it because I knew how hard it would be to go back. It was a truly nerve wracking experience to step through those doors again - my heart was pounding, my hands shaking - but it finally felt like time to get back to work. I tried to keep my expectations low and just allow myself to play with putting paint on canvas. And while I did manage to do that for the most part, I never really let go of the self-consciousness and anxiety that I entered with.

Even so, it still felt good to be there and I'm planning to go back tomorrow. :)

Call to Artists: Signs and Portents

The word "advent" is defined as, "the coming or arrival, especially of something important." In the church year, the season of Advent is a time of looking forward to something greater. It is a season of preparation, a time of waiting and watching for signs and portents.

Some of these are signs of a beginning. The three kings saw and followed a star to Bethlehem. Mary and Joseph and the shepherds received visitations from angels. Other signs and portents of the season foretell that something is coming to an end: the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and other visions of John in the Book of Revelation.

But signs and portents aren't limited to Biblical accounts or religious seasons. Astrologers read the stars and planets. Comets have been linked to life-changing historical events. Shamans seek the visions of the trance. Farmers scan the skies and consult almanacs for signs of rain or drought. Fortune tellers read cards, palms and auras. We all have dreams and visions. We see pictures in the clouds, and have favorite colors and lucky numbers.

Our gallery seeks artwork that expresses the theme "Signs & Portents" for a juried art exhibit that will be on view in our nave throughout the liturgical seasons of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany, with an artists' reception planned for the evening of December 5th. All genres and media considered. Artwork needs to be two-dimensional – it can extend into the third dimension, but it must be able to be displayed on a wall.

Where: CR Gallery, Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, Kenmore, WA

When: December 2 – February 2, 2010

Opening Reception: Saturday, December 5, 6:00– 8:00pm

How: Submit up to 3 jpegs (72dpi, 600 pixels on the longest side) via e-mail to arts@redeemer-kenmore.org. In your e-mail, please include your name, contact information, and a few words about your work. Also include title, medium, framed dimensions, and retail price of each image submitted. Submission deadline is midnight, November 8th, 2009. The work will then be juried and acceptance notifications and delivery instructions will be sent out via e-mail by November 16th.

Entry fee: There is no entry fee for this exhibit.

Please take note of the following:
•Artwork must be ready to hang, preferably from a wire. Photographs and
artwork on paper must be framed with a wire attached for hanging. Canvases
do not need to be framed, but the sides should be painted, either a solid
color or as a continuation of the image, in order to give a neat,
professional appearance, and must have a wire attached to the stretchers
for hanging purposes.

•For work that is shipped, all shipping costs will be the responsibility
of the artist.

•Artwork can be for sale. The gallery will direct buyers directly to the
artist and takes no commission.

•The gallery will take care of advertising and publicity, and artists with
accepted work will receive postcard announcements to distribute
themselves.

•In addition to being displayed in the nave gallery, accepted artists will
also be featured on the church's website.

•For ease of transport, and so we get to meet you, we are especially
seeking artists in the Puget Sound area, but this call is open to all
artists over 18.

•For more information, please visit our website at www.redeemer-kenmore.org/artsblog.
If you have any questions, please email Angela at arts@redeemer-kenmore.org.

Please feel free to pass this information along to other artists you think
might be interested.

Searching for the Light

Into the sunset

"Vashon Sunset", acrylic & pencil on canvas, 7" x 5", ©2009
available for purchase here on my small art blog

This has been a crazy couple of weeks. For those of you that follow me on Facebook (you can find me there as Angela Wales Rockett) you've seen hints of what I'm talking about. So here's the whole story.

Last Tuesday my friend Sheila and I were talking about our careers (she's a musician) and our goals and the conversation naturally started turning toward what the future holds. And without my brain even being aware that this thought was even lurking in the vicinity, my mouth popped open and said, "who knows, maybe we'll even be moving to Tacoma." Sheila lives there, so we joked for a while about being neighbors and I thought that was all there was to it. (for those off you not familiar with this area, Tacoma is about an hour south of where I live now, and a half hour south of Seattle)

Woke up the next day and the thought of Tacoma would not leave me alone. So I decided to look at real estate options there just for the heck of it. What I found nearly knocked me over. Homes going for less than half of what they go for in my neighborhood, and half of what foreclosures gof for in Seattle! I had no idea there was such a huge difference. Suddenly, the old dream I thought was long dead of owning a home, strangled by ever rising outrageous home prices, came to life in a big way. I told Sheila about it and she recommended her real estate guy. (Since she and her husband are both musicians and he found them a house, I figured he might be able to do something for us too.) I called Wade (who was away on a business trip) and told him that we really needed to think about this and I could almost hear the thought "I can't leave her alone for a second…" through the phone lines. And I made an appointment with the Realtor and a date with Sheila and her husband for a tour of Tacoma.

We met with him on Saturday morning, talked about what we were looking for, and about what we thought we could afford and where we wanted to live. After about 2 hours we left his office with about 40 property listings in our price range to look over when we got a chance and a recommendation to take a look at some of the neighborhoods to get a feel for the place. Then we drove over to Sheila's place, had lunch, and started driving around. We really thought we'd just look at a couple and leave with some impressions and work from there, but it turned out that they were pretty determined and by about 8pm, we'd seen them all (some of which were truly scary), and absolutley fallen in love with one. (Yes, we've been warned not to fall in love, but how could we not?)

It's a beautiful old 2-storey home, 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath in a nice neighborhood about 4 miles from downtown Tacoma and a little over a mile from Sheila's place! It's not perfect, but it's in decent shape so we could move in without having to perform any major renovations first.

Then Sunday - a day of rest. Saw new Harry Potter movie!

Monday, got pre-approved for a loan. Tuesday, drove down to Tacoma and walked through the house, decided we still loved it and made an offer. Wednesday, offer accepted! so back to Tacoma to fill out more paperwork. Whew. What a whirlwind. Next week is the inspection and soon after that, the appraisal. If those go well (oh please oh please oh please), we should close in early September.

So, now I'm in an absolute state. I'm not sleeping well, I'm having trouble painting, I'm even having trouble getting into reading! What I really want to do is sit and watch HGTV for hours on end, but we had to give up cable in order to afford the house we're renting. (Oh, did I mention that we'll be paying a lot less on a mortgage payment than we are on rent?)

Of course, in the meantime, money will be very tight. We're scrounging every corner and looking under every seat cushion to make sure we have enough for the necessary up front costs and the move, and the gas for the drives to and from Tacoma, and still be able to meet our obligations at our current address. This all means that I don't have any money to buy art supplies with for a while :P, and our groceries might have a much higher proportion of Top Ramen and Mac & Cheese in them than they've had since our college days.

So, if you've been thinking about buying art from me, or starting a purchase with a downpayment, now would be a great time! :)
(Seriously. I might even consider making a deal – I'm what's known as a motivated seller in real estate terms. Check out my website and my Flickr, email me at arockett @ gmail dot com to let me know what you're interested in and we can talk, or you can buy some of my small canvases directly from here on my small art blog.)

this and that

It bothers me when there are no pictures on my blog, and the last two posts don't have pictures! So here's a bit of this and that of what I've been up to lately. (you can click on the images to enlarge them)

In early June I went to Ocean Shores, WA for the first time, with my husband and our friends Glenn and Sheila. We had a really lovely time in spite of the constant fog and mist that descended as soon as we arrived. And I took lots of misty photos which you can see here on Flickr.


I've been gardening. This photo is from a couple of weeks ago, and everything is so much bigger now. It's so satisfying to get dinner from the backyard! And with the berries, breakfast too. :)

Starting a new altarpiece for church - actually got to start this one from scratch and make a new canvas! More on that at Redeemer's Arts and Music blog. I'll be updating the progress on that as we go.

And, of course, I've been painting. I haven't managed to photograph everything yet, but here's one I completed a few weeks ago. It's kinda different for me, isn't it. I saw this composition in a vase on a table next to a window, and I had to paint it. So I guess it's an abstract still life.

Great blog and artist opportunity

Check out this amazing opportunity for artists over on Tony Moffitt's blog:

Independence Showcase

I've just recently discovered his blog myself and I am so impressed by it and by Tony's generosity.