Survival…

Survival of the fittest! It is always a physical and mental challenge when I participate in summer outdoor festivals, from the packing and loading of work to exhibit, the loading of tent and panels required in order to hang and display work, to the unpacking and setup at the actual festival, and then the re-packing…

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Summer’s Arrival

It rained and rained and it was cold, damp, and dreary… and I woke up July 1 and finally summer is here! Despite the horrendous weather of May and June, art festival season is upon us. Two festival exhibitions are behind me now with four more to go. My next exhibition will be filled with…

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It’s almost show time, Folks!

It’s hard to believe that a month from today I’ll be exhibiting at the Wells Street Art Festival in Old Town, Chicago. The weather has felt more like Winter than Spring, it’s one of the biggest factors that contribute to the success or failure of a show. My newest work is focused on organic patterns…

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Revival; before and after

Springtime is when I have to start planning my exhibition space for the upcoming summer festival season. It forces me to review art inventory, and re-assess what paintings are “show worthy”, and those that need to be re-worked. Ever since I started incorporating alcohol inks into encaustic medium, I have found a new way to…

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New-Old Direction & Holiday Shows

This past weekend, I taught an encaustic “sampler” workshop at the Evanston Art Center. We used various mixed media materials that combine effortlessly with wax. In the demo painting below, mulberry paper creates a translucent linear wave pattern, I then added white shellac and oil pastel to highlight the setting sun over the ocean waves.…

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3 down … 2 to go!

I am in the midst of summer art festival season and now have a three week break before my next exhibition in Evanston. I already started work on new miniature paintings, (they were a big hit at my last show on Michigan Avenue). I also plan on painting more Buddhas in order to completely fill…

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Meditations & PR

May is the month when I finalize my plans for upcoming summer festival season. I confirm I have enough work to fill my 10″x10″ tent space, and I usually try to create new marketing materials to promote the shows. This year I created a poster featuring the Face of Buddha in addition to my usual…

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Summer Festival Season

March is the month most summer festivals send notification of acceptances. It’s actually quite competitive and I usually apply to one or two shows as backups in case I don’t get into my first choices. I’m pleased to share that I have been accepted and will be participating in the shows that were at the…

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New Oil Paintings

I continue to be inspired by my visit to the Burren in County Clare, Ireland last September. A new body of work is slowly starting to emerge in my studio, and I am in the midst of it all. One of the challenges for this series has been my desire to incorporate a variety of…

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Overcoming the Fear of Painting Portraits

Finally, after at least a decade (or two) of apprehension, I decided to take a workshop to learn how to paint portraits. Lora Murphy is an Irish artist I met a few years ago, and in September I attended the “Art and Soul Journey”, a 10 day trip to Ireland to learn about the people, places,…

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