So I'm officially back from vacation, but still in re-entry mode. Here is a little video I shot while at Omega. One of the students had made this fabulous pattern using a fork, so I thought I would demonstrate it. The video opens with a little intro from my chickens:
In other news, Text and Image is now available as a downloadable workshop. I know a lot of you have been waiting for this, so take a look.
Layering and Excavating is now open for registration at Northeast Art Workshops in Gloucester, MA. That is next summer, June 27 - July 1.
I am STILL getting postcards, and they are just fabulous! What an outpouring of creativity and caring response, from ALL over the world. We're at about 2000 now, and I'm a little behind on scanning and posting, though most of them are up in the Facebook albums and in my online Galleries. I'll get caught up in the next few days.
The USPS will make a decision in early 2014 about the fate of our post office. The data from 2013, which includes volume of mail, will count towards this decision, so any mail coming in this yearmakes a difference. YOU HAVE MADE A HUGE DIFFERENCE ALREADY!!! For which all of us in Rupert are grateful. I read every card, and wish I could respond to every one individually, but there are so many that I'd have to quit my day job (teaching workshops and making art) to do so! My chickens are particularly grateful for all the chicken-themed cards and those that acknowledge them as an integral part of the postal service (they certainly consider themselves indispensable to the distribution of mail in Rupert).
Stay tuned for another Fresh Paint Friday, posting sometime tomorrow.
As many of you may know, I own the post office in my small town of Rupert, Vermont. It is one of the smallest, and definitely the cutest, post office in the state, and probably in the country. It just missed the small post office closures by the skin of it's little postal teeth, but they are cutting the hours it will be open. The postal service will review the activity at our post office annually, and decide what to do with it: restore the "normal" hours, close it, cut back the hours even more, etc. The two things that make a difference to The Postal Powers That Be are (A) revenue, the amount of money the PO brings in via stamp sales and package shipping, and (B) - and this is where you come in - the VOLUME of mail that it handles.
So, in an attempt to (A) increase the volume of mail that comes through my little post office, and (B) to do something really FUN, I'm proposing the following:
YOU send me an art postcard. It can be original handmade, or a photocopy of something you've made. Print your name and address clearly on the card.
Mail to: Jane Davies, PO Box 45, Rupert, VT 05768
I send YOU a postcard, handmade. I don't promise it will be something you want to frame, but it will be original. I will send postcards to the first 200 respondents.
I will post ALL the post cards I receive on this blog. On each card I will indicate the name of its creator and the place from whence it came. If the volume is overwhelming, I'll open a separate blog just for the cards. If nobody sends me a card, I will be sad and our post mistress will be out of a good time, and eventually a job.
Below are a few samples of the cards that I will send. Each is approximately 4"x6":
Here is a little video of the post office in action. Well, at lunch break when the post mistress is out:
Well, two of them, Buffy and Sylvie, ended up in STUDIOS magazine in an article I wrote about studio organization. For the unedited version of my article, click here. But buy the magazine because it has loads of useful information and gorgeous photographs for inspiration.
The opening page spread
See Buffy and Sylvie on the right page, center.
I am excited to have my workspace featured in STUDIOS magazine! And Buffy and Sylvie are delighted with themselves, preening for the press. They offered interviews... (that's another post). In any case, this issue of STUDIOS magazine is full of ideas and tips on studio organization, from the pristine neatnik approach to the more casual, but functional one. So, whatever your style, you'll find something useful. I think mine is the only studio featuring a Buff Orpington and a Silver Laced Wyandotte.
Aside from describing my painting/collage studio organization, I included a side-bar on my encaustics studio. If you are interested in getting started in encaustics, this gives you a blueprint for the basic at-home set-up. I am teaching several encaustics workshops this summer and fall:
I took a one-day encaustics workshop back in April at the Studio Place Arts in Barre, Vermont. I got OBSESSED with it, of course (everyone who tries encaustic seems to get obsessed). Eventually I set up a workspace in my studio devoted to encaustics, and have been experimenting a bit. A little bit, that is. Between collage-painting, teaching workshops, and still doing some freelance art, I haven't carved out nearly enough time for this, but little by little... baby steps. So today's project was to experiment with ways of getting a smooth surface and translucent colors. I set up a heat lamp (the one I used to brood baby chicks this summer) over my substrate (plywood laminated with hot-press watercolor paper) to heat it up before applying the beeswax and encaustic medium, and I kept it warm between applications. Way more experimenting to do with this heat lamp set-up, but I did want to share this one little result. For the forseable future, my encaustic "pieces" are all to be viewed as playgrounds. Experiments. Not even works in progress, just playing around to get a feel for the material and practice techniques. OK, I mentioned the chickens. Here is a picture of them on their first day at my house back in July.
