Archive

Every year in June I go to the International Encaustic Conference in Provincetown Mass.  It is a wonderful gathering of painters, printmakers and artists of every ilk. There are lectures, demos, book-signings, a hotel-fair where we get to see each other’s work and a vendor room to die for. I plan my art-life around this […]

Aside from it actually snowing this week (which oddly has been rare this winter here in Maine (and yes I know it’s technically spring but that normally doesn’t start till much later here)) I had a package from McClain’s Printmaking Supplies waiting for me when I came back home from Veazie. I get so excited […]

Oh my freaking word! Woodblock carving is hard! I haven’t tried this since high school art classes. Any printmakers out there who do this on a regular basis, I have a new-found respect for you. I did one small test block to see how this would work as a means of reproducing calico fabric patterns. […]

I’ve been doing some research into calico prints from the early to mid 20th century, the time that my great-grandmother Grace would have been quilting. I’ve also been taking a closer look at the photos that I have of the crazy quilt that hangs at the Veazie Congrational Church (pictured above), the one quilt that […]

I have been working on prints for my great-grandmother Grace’s quilt for the last few days. I have been trying to come up with something approaching floral. Not really my wheelbase and frankly I’m not thrilled with the results so far, and I’ve managed to burn myself on my heat gun in the process. I’ve […]

We will not speak of the Bruins Habs game. Not a lot to say today what with the holidays and all. I got a bit ahead of myself and took advantage of being home for the holidays to have my mother help me out with my next quilt in line, the quilt for my great-grandmother […]

One of the things that intrigues me about working in wax is it’s ability to preserve things. Flowers are pressed between pages of waxed paper, bronze sculpture is sealed with wax to prevent tarnishing and fruit is covered in a wax coating to keep it appearing fresh a little bit longer. In his treatise, “On […]

For the quilt that I’m making for my grandmother Halice I chose from my existing stock of encaustic monoprints. When I started cutting up the prints into the required shapes I realized I needed another sheet of the dark print for the large triangles in the middle. No problem I thought, I’d just make another […]

My grandmother Halice was big in the local Grange in Levant. Our family had a camp in Stetson and we would generally stop in to visit her on the way out to camp. I can remember going to suppers or fairs going on at the Grange. Everyone referred to my grandmother as “M’am” or “Mrs. […]

A corollary of this is don’t take cold medicine and try to work with hot things or sharp objects. Hence I’ve not been doing much artwork the last few days, as I seem to be coming down with a rather nasty cold. So this week seems to be a good time to talk about memorial […]