Atlanta

If you happen to find yourself in Atlanta within the next few weeks, be sure to stop by Pryor Fine Art. This Friday is opening night for what looks to be a gorgeous show with new work from Atlanta artist, Dusty Griffith paired with one of my favorite Seattle artists, Michael Schultheis.

And, while you're at it, check out my six new paintings delivered to Pryor Fine Art this week. I've been fortunate to have great success with my work here in Seattle at the stellar Patricia Rovzar Gallery, so it has taken me over a year to get new art to Atlanta. I am pleased to have the great fortune of representation by the patient and professional people at Pryor Fine Art.

"mon ange", 36x42

"village beat", 36 x 34

"let go", 32 x 42.5

"honey pie", 36 x 34

"du jour", 36 x 34

"a delirious dance", 32 x 42.5

Openings, Mid-Show, and Final Days

Erik Zener,"Reaching In Reaching Out", 40 x 60, mixed media

June is a great month to view art in Seattle. I've been following Erik Zener since I viewed his work at Hespe Gallery in San Francisco about 5-years ago. And now you can see some of his remarkable pieces here at Foster White Gallery in Pioneer Square. Erik combines photography, paint or dyes, gold or silver leaf, and layers of resin to create these irresistible underwater images.

Betsy Eby, "Nocturne 2", 45 x 35", encaustic

I can never resist a Betsy Eby show. This weekend I'll be visiting Winston Wachter Gallery to view her newest work on display through July 3.

William Morris, "Drum", 24 x 15 x 12, blown and hot-sculpted glass

You'll have one more month to visit the William Morris show at Abmeyer+Wood Fine Art. DO NOT MISS THIS SHOW.  Many of the pieces in this collection have been exhibited in museums, archived by the artist and only now released for sale. This is a great opportunity to see a large group of sculpture from a Northwest Master.

Junya Watanabe, "Comme des Garcons", polyester organdy jacket and skirt. Photo by Takashi Hatakeyama

June 27th marks the opening day for "Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion" at the Seattle Art Museum downtown. I can't wait!

Joyce Gehl, "be still", 52 x 48, photo encaustic

Finally, one more shameless plug for my own show at Patricia Rovzar Gallery through June 30th. Just a few days remain to see my newest work. The gallery is conveniently located across the street from both Abmeyer+Wood and the Seattle Art Museum. Come next week and you'll get the trifecta: A museum opening, a William Morris show in full stride, and the final days of Forgotten Garden.

Opening Night, Thursday, June 6th 6pm-8pm

Tomorrow is opening night, forecast is sunshine and 70's. I'm loving it. Hope to see you there.

Click on the images below to view our featured work.

Countdown

"untamed", 48x64

I have been working hard in the studio and sadly neglecting my blog.  It's now just ten days until opening night on June 6th, and all of the work has been delivered to the gallery. I have a long list of subjects to write about, so hopefully you'll see more of me on these pages very soon.

But now I'm entirely focused on the upcoming show. In "Forgotten Garden" I have released the constraints on myself and my garden to create a sort of chaotic abundance. It is a collection of fifteen new works that compositionally explore the garden as metaphor to life. By freeing our lives from self-constraint, we become more like that forgotten garden: self-propagating, self-nurturing, and self-flourishing.

This year, my paintings will be shown in conjunction with new dimensional work from Morgan Brig. I have admired Morgan's work for years, and am excited to witness the synchronicity of our two very different approaches to life's personal reflections.

Morgan Brig "sitting here risking being more me", 28 x 39 x 5

The show will be up the entire month of June, and I hope you will join Morgan and myself for opening night on June 6th at Patricia Rovzar Gallery, 6pm-8pm.  

simple pleasures

Most of the time, studio organization takes a back burner. Until the burner starts really burning.

This is one of those projects that I should have completed years ago. When brushes are left to float in the molten wax they will slip to the bottom of the pan. When the bristles touch the metal of the pan, they burn, causing the entire tray of wax to alter color. I purchase pre-mixed medium in bulk from R&F Paints. Not cheap. So every time I discard a pan of tainted medium, a little bit of profit slips away.

I made this simple brush rack out of scraps from my studio and the workshop. The base is a piece of flat plywood. Attached are two metal brackets from one of my industrial shelving systems. I've screwed some scrap filler wood into the brackets, and attached long screws to hang over the tray of wax.

It's not very pretty, and it's incredibly basic. But I'm oddly proud of my modest handiwork.

Special thanks to Larry Calkins for reminding me how easily influenced wax is to foreign material.

A Back Breaking Labor of Love

I'm currently working on a large (50in x 66in) commission for the lobby of a hospital here in Washington State. I love commissions. And although challenging, I love working large.

The panel was expertly constructed by Matthew Olds of Hold Studios. And this time I also outsourced my large format printing from The Color Group. All of the pieces were beautifully produced, and everything is coming together just as planned. On schedule.

And then today. Instead of waiting to ask someone in the building to help me glue the large sheet onto its substrate, I decided I could handle it myself. I slopped the glue onto the panel and quickly squeegeed it across the board to a smooth, level finish.

I carefully picked up the large sheet, and was immediately engulfed by the mass. To avoid the sheet falling onto the sticky surface, I flopped the thing over my head and blindly lined up the edges into the correct position on the panel.

Stick. Remove. Kink. Crease. Tear.

Then finally, it rolled into place and I began frantically burnishing the surface. Dabs of glue spotted everywhere. This will require sanding and covering with some R+F Encaustic gesso in areas.

Whew. It will all work out in the end, but next big project, I'll be enlisting a helping hand. For now, I need a back rub and a martini.

leftovers and a little olive oil

 poppy leftovers on the easel

Thanks in part, to a severely overcooked bird, none of our guests returned for seconds, and we were rewarded with an enormous amount of Thanksgiving leftovers. The leftovers were turned into all sorts of turkey related concoctions. Some edible.

"a very large meal" 12 x 24

Same thing with poppies. After completing such a large body of poppy paintings, I found the studio filled with bits and pieces of cropped images and odd-sized boards. 

detail from "a very large meal"

I don't usually like working with smaller sizes, but I also wasn't anxious to jump back on the computer to develop new large imagery. And the beauty of working small, is that it gives me a sense of freedom to work on new techniques. 

detail from "a la folie"

The details above illustrate how I'm developing my mark making through scraping and rubbing. Keeping in the spirit of the season of cooking, I used olive oil to rub off excess paint. Reheating the area with a heat gun caused the paint to separate in areas, adding texture to the work. 

"a la folie" 12 x 24

Pryor Fine Art

I am honored to be accepted for representation by the prestigious Pryor Fine Art in Atlanta, Georgia. I join a talented and mature group of artists including encaustic artists John Folsom, Jeff Cohen and Tom Brydelsky; mixed media artists Andre Petterson, Todd Alexander, Paula Landrem, Michael Barringer and Michael Moon; and painters Susie Pryor, Amy Cannady, Peter Bruega and more! If you find youself in Atlanta, be sure to stop in to see my work, and give my regards to gallery director, Tiffany Hay.

Stephanie Hargrave at Patricia Rovzar Gallery

Stephanie Hargrave "imbricate 1", 40 x 60

Last night was opening night of the Hargrave exhibit at Patricia Rovzar Gallery in Seattle. In this new body of work, Stephanie has rediscovered her skill with transparency through layers of color, line, and organic shapes. The resulting compositions have both tranquility and energy. The line work is stronger than ever, and the addition of little dimensional spheres of wax drop like jewels onto the surface. They are perfectly placed. Like all encaustic, any form of reproduction is a woefully inadequate experience. Do yourself a favor, and skip the online show and go directly to the gallery to view the work in-person.

The show will be up until August 4th. Enjoy!

Patricia Rovzar Gallery. 1225 Second Ave, Seattle

Atlanta Bound

"secret signals", 36" x 40"

Call me crazy. I'm absolutely thrilled to have my work shown by the prestigious Pryor Fine Art in Atlanta Georgia. But am I out of my mind sending encaustic to the hot south in June?

"my interesting neighbors", 48" x 40", diptych

I've decided to use the professional packaging and shipping services of Artech for this first batch. A small fortune, but I wanted to get my first national presence off the ground with confidence.

"a capricious little breeze

", 36" x 40"

When I know the final cost for crating and shipping 5 panels (4 paintings) I'll be sure to post it.

"gaia's window", 36" x 40"

Apres Show Work in Progress

The show is over, and I'm busier than ever. I have 10 new paintings in the works, with lots more concepts banging around in my head waiting to get out. The two above combine the poppies with the grass series. I'm incorporating more of the layers of colored shadows and deep layers of wax.

The photo above shows one of my grass images layered with some of the smokey colors and shapes from the willow paintings. The wax application is about 50% complete.

My plan is to have five paintings out the door by end of May!

Studio Visit with Alicia Tormey

I just returned from a wonderful visit with the talented encaustic artist, Alicia Tormey. We met at Patricia Rovzar Gallery where my solo show is on view until May 2nd. We then trotted across the street to Taste Restaurant to enjoy a lovely lunch enhanced by Alicia's beautiful work on display until mid-June. We finished the afternoon at Alicia's working studio in the enormous Inscape artist building in the International District.

A great thing about visiting working studios is that you have the opportunity to see the little personal projects and new developments and experiments that you won't see in a gallery. One of her workbenches (above) had several small works in progress. They are sweet little paintings that she refers to as her "truffles". Yummy.

Everywhere I turned there was a new discovery. The photos above are a rather poor representation of one of these fascinating projects. Alicia first created a ceramic form and then applied her unique encaustic approach to the surface. The dimensionality of the form combined with the texture and depth of the encaustic is incredibly seductive. It's as if one of the forms has popped right out of the painting and set itself squarely in the middle of the table. I can't wait to see how she continues to develop this approach.

www.aliciatormey.com

The Final Four

"and so it will ever be" 36 x 36

The final four panels for opening night on April 7th are completed and delivered to the gallery. In these paintings,

I create a surreal landscape

, where reality and imagination live together. I find the many layers of transparent wax and oil glazes incredibly seductive. As I gaze at the paintings I begin to feel as if I am inside the paintings, looking back out at the world through layers of fog. I invite you to visit Patricia Rovzar Gallery Seattle, during the month of April and share your own impressions with me here.

"beyond the wild wood comes the wide world" 36 x 36

The Light of Morning Curls Forth

Left: 'forest spirit'. Right: ' the light of morning curls forth'. Total size: 43.5 x 72

Two paintings recently completed from the series of birch trees enveloped in fog. Rather than a direct representation of what the camera sees, this series is an impression of my memories of the colors and atmosphere on my late summer barge trip through the canals of France. None of the actual photos captured the spirit of the experience. Through photo manipulation, wax and paint, I more accurately portray the view that I saw in my minds eye.

Although this was created as two individual paintings, I liked the way the two work together as a single diptych. I really love the blue tones, and I'm hoping Seattle has a heat wave during my show to encourage collectors to purchase more cooling images.

Detail from ''ight of morning curls forth'

Repairing a Scar

It seems that some lessons I'm destined to learn over and over and over. In my excitement to begin work, I was not careful with blending the seams. The photo below shows a detail of an area where the seam is most apparent.

Because the painting consists primarily of transparent yellow, it is almost impossible to completely cover the offending scar with paint and clear wax alone. I painted a semi-opaque white wax, mixed with a tiny bit of yellow, over the seam. But I also had to add the wax over other areas of the painting, so that the resulting texture would be more unified.

I call this the ugly stage. It takes me a few days to actually build up the courage to attack the painting in this way. After applying the patch, I scraped it to a smoother consistency, and then started re-building the painting.

This detail of the area now has four or more layers of oil paint rubbed, painted and burned into the surface. You can see where the underlying wax was added, because the area is more textural, but I think it is richer and more complex than the original. It's a time-consuming approach which requires a lot of patience and trust. Check back later to see how the patch integrates with the rest of the painting.

Home At Last

Upside Down Martini, 70" x 54" x 3"

Last week, I finally removed the painting from its shackles, filled the holes where the handles and eye bolts were screwed into the wood frame, stained and cleaned up the edges and sides. I decided to leave the painting flat on the work bench until delivery, to protect it from potential damage. The finished piece weighed in at about 60lbs.

Patricia Rovzar Gallery brought their van to transport the work to the customer. I covered the surface with glassine paper, and made some corners out of corrugated board for protection. We decided not to bubble wrap the piece, because the fit in the van was going to be tight. Two of us were able to lift and carry the work to the van. Thankfully, it wasnt that difficult.

"Upside Down Martini" now lives in its new home. The client loves it, and I'm a happy artist.

Tomorrow I'll add a post to explain the name, and talk about how completing this painting is taking me on a new conceptual journey with my work.

Three Small Encaustic Paintings

These paintings begin as studies for larger paintings. Sometimes they just seem to want to stay small, sometimes I'll take them larger-scale, and sometimes I'll paint over them and come up with something entirely different.

"Path" (above) is currently on the boards to be scaled up into a large painting. The study seemed sweet, so I bolted it onto another textured wax background.

The image on this panel is only 4" x 4", mounted to a 9" x 12" panel that has an old study of intertwining branches beneath the surface. I enjoy the look and feel of these textured backgrounds, and am considering doing something a little more abstract, where the background becomes the object itself.

A Dogs Eye View

"Ahhh, To Nap in the Tall Grass of Summer" 36 x 48

"Bound Through Uncut Meadows" 35.5 x 48

"Twigs Tangle in Feathery Tails" three panels, 6 x 48, overall 18 x 48

"Dive Into Scent-Covered Blades" 35.5 x 48

These are my current paintings from the Solstice Park series of work. My dog Rocky and I visit this park daily. He spends the morning in absolute bliss. The paintings are sighted in the low four-legged vantage point of a standard poodle. The titles are words from my talented friend Lisa Wogan's book Unleashed. I'm delivering all four pieces to the Patricia Rovzar Gallery today.