Thursday, August 29, 2013

Plastering Tips


Armadillo, 2013
Today I learned some plastering tips from Father Moses at St. Seraphim. One of the reasons I was getting an uneven surface was because I did not keep polishing - essentially compressing the surface every 45 minutes or so with a trowel before painting. By doing this you break up the crystallization happening on the top and allow the pigment to seep into the surface.

Even though I sometimes get a blotchy or uneven surface I like the effect. It just makes it look more like an old fresco. However, it is good to understand how to get a perfectly smooth surface when you want one.

Before plastering I got to climb up the scaffolding to the top of the dome to see how they started their Christ figure. Exciting!

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Sardines

Sardines, encaustic, 36x48, 2013
Reflections on my obsession with the head and the brain. Visual metaphors of feelings. Here's a new piece using encaustics and oil pastels. Looking back over the last 20 years I see  a constant theme.

Self-Portrait, encaustic, mixed media, 1996


This is my first encaustic. Originally I had painted brains spilling out of my head. Maybe I should have left them there.

Brooding, photo watercolor, 1990



Another self-portrait when I was making clay sculptures, photographing them and painting them with watercolors. A time when I felt the weight of the world upon me.


Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Indignant Rabbit

Indignant Rabbit, Fresco 2013
Here is the latest fresco from my creature series. I may fit one more in this summer. If you are in the area I've got a few frescoes hanging at Studio Barn Diva in Healdsburg for a month or so.

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Working on another Book

 I am winding up teaching my second class on Lost Techniques of the Ancients and am in the process of making a book with Blurb http://bit.ly/ZvR8Ae   If you click on the link you can get a coupon for $20 off your first book. I've made several and love the quality. It should be done this summer and will include images and projects from the classes of 2012 & 2013.
My amazing students painting their first frescoes.
Karishma starting her fresco.

Karishma doing detail work. The painting is a detail from an Indian wall painting.

Luisa copying a Diego Rivera piece.