November follies

It has been a true pleasure to experience a fall season with leaves. Living in the Mojave Desert for a decade meant living without this seasonal marker, so New Mexico has given us something we had almost (not quite) forgotten about. I am heavily influenced by my surroundings, and I expect the colors and shapes of New Mexico to begin appearing in my paintings. But it doesn't happen all at once. Usually, it's a slow process that unfolds over a period of months, perhaps years! I have always been a slow thinker, I suppose. 

I have been working in encaustic, for the past month or so. I took two workshops with Ellen Koment, a gifted encaustic artist who lives close by. She has helped me with some of the finer points of transparency, as well as some basic practical skills related to studio set up. I am grateful to her for sharing her knowledge with me! So far, most of my encaustic paintings are small, but I am gradually working up in size as I get more comfortable with the medium.  The three paintings below are all 7 x 5 inches. (Sorry for the quality of the photos, as I took these in a hurry with my phone.) Already, I can see the gold and orange in these three pieces. 

My online class, "Intro to Realism" is now over as a live class. I enjoy having a chance to share some of my art knowledge with other artists. The students who took my class worked really hard and posted some fantastic work! The class is now available as a self study, along with the three other classes I have taught through Carla Sonheim. You can learn more about them by clicking here. 

​I hope you all have a happy fall! I'm going out to see and smell more leaves now!