I have a few new things for you today. They are in two series, all in need of new names!

Triptych, 12 x 12 each, Encaustic and Oil, 2013.

Diptych, 16 x 16 each, encaustic, 2013.

I have just gotten back from the International Encaustic Artists conference, EncaustiCon, in Santa Fe. I was so moved and inspired by the beautiful work by my fellow artists.  I don't have anything to compare, but I do have a few new pieces to show you.

Primeval Soup

16 x 16 inches, Encaustic and mixed media

Sunspots

Encaustic and mixed media

16 x 16 inches

Let There be Light

Encaustic and Oil

12 x 12 inches

Some new paintings for you

I've returned to an avenue of exploration that looks to create texture through many layers. I had some fun with this! I feel as if I am uncovering some new alien life forms, or prehistoric fossils.

As always I am grateful for your visits and comments.

The Breath of God, 2013

9.5 x 12.5 inches

Encaustic

Primeval Soup # 1, 2013

10 x 10 inches

Encaustic and Mixed Media

Cave Painting, 2013

12 x 12 inches

Encaustic and Mixed Media

Kelp, 2013

12 x 12 inches

Encaustic and Mixed media

Fossil, 2013

12 x 12 inches

Encaustic and Mixed Media

Road Runner, 2013

12 x 12 inches

Encaustic and Mixed Media

Amber, 2013

12 x 12 inches

Encaustic and Mixed Media

Primeval Soup # 2

10 x 10 inches

Encaustic and Mixed Media

Exciting times!

I have some exciting news and a few new paintings to share today. First of all, my painting, Hummingbird, was selected as a top 10 entry for the Caring with Colors art gala and auction to be held in Wichita, KS, September 22.
http://caringwithcolors.com/caringwithcolors.com/ART_Event.html
I'm so pleased! I'm reposting Hummingbird here:

Hummingbird, 12 x 12 inches, Encaustic and Oil.

And now a few new paintings.

Splash, 16 x 16, Encaustic and Oil.

Ancestors, 16 x 16, Encaustic and Oil.

Baby Hoodoos of Red Rock Canyon, 16 x 16, Encaustic and Oil.

Baby Hoodoos, detail.

Ancestors, detail.

Works in Progress

I'm not sure I'm ready to call any of these finished yet. First up is another attempt at Moonlight Madness. I think it's more madness than moonlight, and still am pondering whether to just scrap it and start over.

El Niño Canyons, Aerial View

16 x 16 inches, Encaustic and Oil.

Wood Sprite

12 x 12 inches, Encaustic and Oil

Seahorse at Play

12 x 12 Inches, Encaustic and Oil

The Lady in the Lake

12 x 12 inches, Encaustic and Oil

Water Nymph

12 x 12 inches, Encaustic and Oil

Fire on Ice

12 x 12 inches, Encaustic

Many of these were inspired by the colors and gemstones of the southwest, and I had originally planned to do something with more metallic influence. I'm still debating that one.

What a month!

I'm very excited to say that my piece "X Marks the Spot" shown in the post below was invited to a juried show, "The Art of No" to be held in September at Diablo Valley College in Concord.  And my piece "Global Warming" was juried into a show at Las Laguna Gallery, Laguna Beach, which is ongoing through the end of the month.  I've been framing and shipping and getting ready for a sale and show next weekend at a charity event.

I've also been painting. I have a few new things to show you. I am not sure about my current efforts. The first we shall call "Homage to Captain Planet: Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, Heart."  Then there is "Southwest Gold." And the final two I have not named yet, still trying to decide if they are done or if I will even keep them, or just scrape off the panels and start over.  I was trying to go for a theme of "Moonlight Madness."

Earth, 12 x 12 inches

Encaustic and Oil, metal leaf

Wind, 12 x 12 inches

Encaustic and Oil, metal leaf

Fire, 12 x 12 inches

Encaustic and Oil, metal leaf

Water, 12 x 12 inches

Encaustic and Oil, metal leaf

Heart, 12 x 12 inches

Encaustic and Oil, metal leaf

Southwest Gold, 12 x 12 Inches

Encaustic and Oil

Moonlight Madness, Take 1

Encaustic and Oil, 16 x 16 inches

Moonlight Madness, Take 2

Encaustic and Oil, 16 x 16 inches

2 New paintings to show

Although I am counting my smaller paintings in my totals for the year, and signing and numbering them, I am generally not photographing or showing or selling them at this point. There are a few smaller ones from last year that I will continue to put out there, but the framing difficulties are so huge with smaller paintings that I am not going to focus on those so much any more.

So numbers 41-50 were small pieces, and you don't get to see them! But here are # 51 and # 52.  I'm obviously quite behind on my goal of 200 paintings for the year, but I'm learning lots!

Mindscape, 16 x 16 inches, 2013.

Encaustic and oil on panel.

X Marks the Spot, 16 x 16 inches, 2013.

Encaustic and oil on panel.

Lots going on!

Summers at our house are punctuated at the beginning and the end by Scottish festivals. Memorial Day weekend we always attend Scotsfest in Costa Mesa, CA, and Labor Day weekend we always attend the Caledonian Club Highland Games in Pleasanton, CA.  Over the years we have collected costumes and rituals to our summer celebrations.  After our challenging winter and spring, we were very happy to be back in Costa mesa for both days of this year's festival.

The work on my house is almost complete! My studio is back in business and I even get to work there some days.  That makes me happy, too.

Our local Artists' Association opened a new gallery show tonight, and I participated for the first time. I am not sure why I never thought to join the local guild before now.

It has been challenging to say the least to make art with all the construction goings on. The parts of my studio that are temperature-sensitive are all in a heap in the middle of the living room. Everything else is in boxes in the garage, in no particular order.

I managed to find my way over to the library to teach the last two weeks anyway, and the children made beautiful birds from tinfoil and plaster-infused gauze bandages. (The idea was in this month's Cloth Paper Scissors magazine, which I love.)  The children each made two birds, one for the library and one to take home, and they had so much fun!  Here is a picture of a few of the library birds perched next to the spring baskets we made in March.

What an eventful New Year!  Heart surgery for my husband, 10 days in ICU, and recovery from all that.  Then achilles tendon repair for me, with 6 weeks in a cast, and now a boot!  That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. Oh, yes, we had a "little" water incident in our home that has resulted in much unplanned-for reconstruction, the second time in two years this has happened.  We are almost through that, but it resulted in a "little studio pack-out.  I'm hoping to put it back together within a couple of weeks, when all the work on the house is done.

So, sporting a cast, I entered a few local art thingies, and that was fun!  To get ready, I needed to take some pictures of my latest work. I had some visitors to my photo booth:

Ahh! I look good in white.

Wait! Move over! Hiss! Growl! 

I may be little, but I won. And I look good in white, too.

Hey! I like it in here!

Without further ado, I here are some of my new pieces. I have only made it to 40 so far this year, but considering all that has gone on, I think I still have a good chance of making it to 200 by the end of the year.

"Hummingbird"

12 x 12 inches, encaustic and oil.

"Jellyfish"

12 x 12 inches, encaustic and oil.

8 x 9 inches, encaustic and oil.

8 x 9 inches, encaustic and oil.

2.5 x 3.5 inches, framed artists' trading card, encaustic and oil.

5 x 5 inches, encaustic and oil.

"Leaf # 2", 2012, 5 x 5 inches, encaustic and oil.

"Dream Sequence"

24 x 24 inches, encaustic and oil.

"Global Warming"

5 x 5 inches, encaustic and oil.