Couldn't stir'em with a stick!

You couldn't stir'em with a stick! That's what I told my friend Robin Walker at the opening reception of the TXWAX-Dallas opening reception last night here in Dallas.In Texas speak that means we had a big crowd.

What a wonderful start for a new organization of artists. We had a big turn out and on top of that we had Joanne Mattera come by our reception. It was such a treat to finally meet her. Also, in town for the CAA conference was the RF Paints owner, Richard Frumness...gosh, got to check name spelling here and Mike and Katherine from Encostikos (Fine Art Store). What a treat for us to meet these people who supply us with wonderful paints and tools for encaustic painting.

The show is just wonderful with a lot of variety from all the artists. Many times in shows emphasizing one kind of medium you see influences among the artists but for this show it seems that encaustic was only the medium, not the art........the concept was different from artist to artist using wax in a myriad of styles.

If you didn't get by to see it...it will be up until March 16 so get on down to C.A.M.P, 2631 Commerce St, Dallas.

TX WAX - Dallas show

Call me hyper....been drinking way too much coffee until I feel like I'm running around in circles.

I snitched the image of the TXWAX-Dallas show from Robin Walker's blog to put up on my blog so maybe someone who lives in the Dallas area can see it and come down to the show. The opening reception is Friday night, 6-8 pm. C.A.M.P (Collaborating Artist Media Project) is located at 2631 Commerce St. in Deep Ellum.

I'm fortunate to have three small 12 x 12" panels of encaustic in that show. Here is one of my collage/encaustic paintings.........Patina 10 - Salute to Whistler.

If you don't hear from me again for a time, I'm either on the road to take paintings to galleries, or painting walls (I'd rather be in the studio) out at the farm again.

All this is going to keep me young or kill me, don't know which but I hope the former.

Waiting for Ugly paint to dry!

Waiting for paint to dry. Not that exciting either, but at least it's acrylic and it won't be long. A long time ago I observed that many of my paintings have to go through the uglies. So, this is what I tell myself when the current layer is just about one of the worst I've seen in some time. I guess I was due since I had a couple in a row come along without a whole lot of bad layers to cover up. They tell you there really isn't a bad color, just not the right juxtaposition of color, value, intensity, etc. Right now looking at some of this it's hard to believe "them".

At least it's painting on canvas and not the laundry room walls today.

NO, I'm not going to take a picture of it either!

Plans and non-plans

The work I have on the wall right now must have 4 layers of paint. Oh well....right now it's waiting for me to make up my mind what to do with the next layer. Oh yeah....and it's red so next rendition might be neutral with red peeking through.

But on to the other news or...maybe non-news. We made an offer for the other half of the 200 acre farm we inherited and are still waiting to see what happens. So, I decided this is the time to get that yellow floral wallpaper I hung in the front bathroom in a weak moment stripped off. I always say I am NEVER going to put up wallpaper again when the day comes that it needs stripping off. Never mind that it might be making a comeback right now....but not for me.

I've tried to figure out what I want to do with this non-descript room but finally just went and got some paint my daughter recommended. I might as well have painted it SW Khaki again as it's so similar...but is the Martha Stewart Georgia Beach made by Valspar. My husband hates it so we argued through the whole process of stripping, cleaning, and painting....he wants light, bright, clean and colorful and I want neutral backgrounds for bright paintings. SO, I said, if we buy the farm, are we going around and around like this??? Cause I tell you right now I want neutral with all white wood trim. He said not, ....we'll see.

Well...back to refreshing the grout around the tub and I don't want to do that again either......one more step to go with the caulking.