A Month Of Highlights

Its been an extremely busy month with so many exciting things happening. I haven't been good about getting posts up for any of it so this one will hit the highlights.

I wrote a fun article for the July/August issue of Cloth Paper Scissors on a great way to show off your vacation photos combining digital collage and acrylic painting. Head over to this link to order your copy if you haven't picked yours up yet and catch the online freebies - three digital download image transfer sheets I've created from original antique ephemera and illustrations.

I just turned in another article that will be published in the November/December 2011 issue about using plexiglas as a support for Encaustic Wax. I took advantage of my time in Oregon at EncaustiCamp and challenged the other teachers and some of the students to join me in creating work for the article. Can't show you what we came up with, but you won't want to miss it!

I had the opportunity to interview for the American Craft Expostion Blog, where each of this years emerging artists are being featured. I really made the poor girl doing the interview work for it as I was extremely busy getting ready to leave for EncaustiCamp and had a ton of packing and shipping to do after my clearance sale but it certainly was an honor!

I've been having fun the past few months with my Tumblr blog where I feature art that inspires me along with my own recent works. You can check it out here.

And of course the biggest hightlight of the month was my trip to Oregon where I taught my Wax & Wire Adornments class at EncaustiCamp. It came and went so fast I've hardly had a chance to catch my breath since I've been home, let alone manage to put into words the experience. It went beyond workshops and teaching. The atmosphere was a true summer camp environment on the grounds of the Western Mennonite School in Salem, Oregon and many of the connections made there were the beginnings of lifelong friendships - for the students as well as the teachers. Many of the students have posted outstanding blog posts about their experience there so I'm going to link up to some here. Take a look at the pics and links..

Jessica Greene has an excellent blog and website called "Seek Your Course" where you can find course offerings and workshops from all areas listed and writes reviews from her personal travels and experiences. Check out her review of EncastiCamp part 1 and part 2.

This beautiful piece is by Roxanne Stout. She has a nice write up of her experience and plenty of pictures of art, students and teachers at her blog River Garden Studio here.

This shot taken on the last full day sums up the entire experience - real bonding and pure joy! Check out Don in the middle there. Look how innocent he looks while everyone around him is cracking up. I won't tell you what he said to cause such a raucous - it was a group moment among many. The beautiful woman with her head tipped back on Don's right is Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch. Our fearless EncaustiCamp leader and founder. Down in front clapping and cracking up is Judy Wise and Mary Beth Shaw. Judy taught a great class and Mary Beth came to partake of the camps goodness as a student. Trish has several great write-ups each day of the event with gobs of great photos of the event at her blog here.

 Here I am in the middle with the other teachers, Michelle Belto, Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch, Bridgette Guerzon-Mills, and Judy Wise.

 This is a great shot of nearly the entire group of students and teachers. We are all keeping in touch via our facebook group now. Its never too early to start your planning - same place next year for EncaustiCamp 2012!

By the way, if you are regretting you missed EncaustiCamp this year, you can get a mini-version in Michigan in September with Trish and I as we team up for a Foundations in wax experience at The Maranatha Conference Retreat Center in Muskegon, Michigan right on the shores of Lake Michigan. Check out Trish's blog post or go here for more details on registering.

And now I am off and running - just a month to go to get ready for the American Craft Exposition. I'll be hiding out in the studio trying to produce some new large pieces of work along with additions to my Uttering series. I'll try to get some pics up here and on my website of new works and more highlights this month.