Hey, some long delayed art!

September 6th, 2007



Capturing and cropping and posting art is such a pain in the bum! :-) But here we go. I've got an 8"x8" encaustic piece above. This piece was done by spreading wax on wood panel, doing a transfer from a photocopy of an old lace pattern and then carving into the wax to make the tree and then using oil stick in black to define the lines of the tree and darken some of the background. This is the second piece in a Memory Tree series I'm planning to make about Alzheimer's, which my grandmother suffers from. In the first one, I had images of the brain and the tree which relates to a family tree and also reminds me of the neural pathways of the brain. In this piece and some future ones, I'm planning to use transfers of lace patterns which make me think of my grandmother and also relate to the intricate patterns of the neural pathways in the brain.

While super busy with wedding stuff, I haven't always had time for involved art projects, so my solution for everyday creativity has been lots of drawing in pen or pencil on big pieces of watercolor paper or little pieces of scrap. I'll post loads of sketches later on.

Today, worn down with a cold, I felt pretty crappy, but my spirits were raising by the evening. With some good chats under my belt, I was starting to unwind more and more. And I'm also very excited about two retreats in my future. One this weekend is a mini art retreat at Jes of Junque Revival's farm in Maine. I was so lucky to meet many wonderful women at Mindy's open house a few months ago and right off the bat we made plans for a mini retreat complete with art making, good food, wonderful company, and antiquing! Yay! I think this will be just the getaway I need.

And on top of that I sent off my registration form for Artfest 2008. I've never been and since I'm missing out on Just Be Connected in October, I was really itchin to do a creative retreat too! I would have been teaching at Just Be, but the venue we picked for our wedding left us with the same weekend open, so I couldn't do it. I know Just Be will be a wonderful time and I wish I could be in both places at once! I will certainly be thinking of all the Just Be people on my wedding weekend and I hope you'll all send good wedding wishes my way while you're out having fun on the Cape! Artfest isn't til April, but apparently it books up mad quick, so it's good I was paying attention this year. I'm super excited as I know I'll meet some great creative folks and take some fantastic classes and I may extend my trip a little bit and make a full week of retreating out of it. I've never really done anything like this for art, so it's exciting and special. People get crazy with swaps and stuff at Artfest and there are whole discussion boards made for planning these things. It's a little overwhelming, but still I think it will be fun. Ok, time for bed. Ciao for now.

21 Responses

Leah, I LOVE this top piece with the tree and the lace—simply beautiful! Hope you feel better soon, get some rest, some down time. Love & Peace, Olivia

These are beautiful images and I applaud you for finding the time to be so creative in the midst of such exciting upcoming events! Keep creating :) )

Leah, I’m excited that you’re going to AF. I’ll be there as well. I think a few others from CAC might be too, so we’ll have to plan a little meetup of our own! :)

beautiful! I like how the branches of the tree reach into the pattern of the lace.

Leah, I am have been so curious about encaustic techniques. I love what you have done! And I find the explanation of the piece really interesting. There is always so much depth to your artwork.

I’ve fallen a bit behind in my painting-a-day efforts…and even farther behind in scanning/photographing and cropping the images. Dang, sharing art online takes some effort! But, I must say, I really enjoy seeing your work.

I’m sick too. And hopped up on Dayquil. Yuck.
Just wanted to say that the new pieces are lovely.

Oh. And. I’m so happy you get to attend Artfest. You lucky, ducky!

Very powerful piece. The lace is a great metaphore. It sounds like it was a lot of fun to make.

that top one is BREATHTAKING!!! i love them both, but that tree makes me swoon!!! prints coming perhaps? pretty please?

I love this, the tree.
Your art continues to heal something in me.

Last night I had a dream that I was living in the tree piece. I kept finding that lace pattern on the sidewalk or on the grass. My cats where with me, all three of us, just wanderin’ around inside your art. Great dream. Great Art!

You put so much thought and care into each one of your pieces. I got tears in my eyes when I read the inspiration for this series as I just found out my great aunt has dementia. Your work with encaustics is inspiring. I love the texture and the carving. So sorry you have a cold. I hope you are feeling fit as a fiddle in no time!

Love the tree piece. I have such a “thing” for trees. They are so grounding for me. Even just to place my hand on a tree and feel the bark relaxes my body and mind. Funny enough, I first discovered your blog by doing a google image search for trees. I’m glad that, despite how busy you are, you keep creating.

The mini retreat sound enchanting with
lots of inspiraton to share all around:)

i love the tree – reminds me of the tree of life -
lots of soul in that work:)

Beautiful work, Leah! I especially love the tree – it looks so ancient and full of mystical secrets. The lace background is gorgeous… It makes me think of roots, visually and symbolically as you mentioned your grandmother’s lace. Lucky you going to Artfest… I really would love to go, but I can’t take all that time off from work to travel to the west coast. It never seems to land during a vacation break!

Glad you are able to create! The pieces are delightful and your retreat sounds GREAT! Wedding coming soon! yay! I was thinking of going to AF too but not sure of wee man will handle it well yet. He’ll be almost 2…maybe in 2009. *sigh*

beautiful, love the tree :)

i’d love to go to artfest, sounds like such fun. your tree and lady are gorgeous – i love your work my friend. xo

Wow, your tree piece is breathtaking! Such detail, texture and meaning. Thanks for sharing!

wonderful art I especially liked your tree

This piece is lovely, Leah! I’m so excited for you, with your wedding coming up and ArtFest to look forward to, too. I wish I could go to Just Be, too – it will be awesome, I’m sure.
I’m just catching up, fell behind a little – I hope everything else is improving for you and your loved ones, too. Sending ((Hugs))~XOXO

Hi Leah,
It was such a pleasure to meet you!!–what a wonderful group of woman with wonderful energies!–we must get together again soon!

I love your blog and your art! I’m sure we crossed paths in Boston without even knowing it–maybe wandering down Newbury St.

Susan
xox

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