#STAYING HOME

What a crazy time we are living in today! I felt this would be a great time to connect with all of you, since we are spending time at home, with no idea when we will be able to see the light up ahead.

As an artist I am enjoying spending more time making art. Art can be a solitary practice, so I am pretty good at social distancing. I do miss time with friends, and family. It is important for all of us
to be serious and stay away from others for the common good.

I enjoy working in my sketchbook or journal every day, and have been doing this for the last 16 years.  I never kept a diary or journal growing up but loved to make art. So when introduced to Art journaling I had found a perfect match. The beauty of this is anything goes because it it for just you!
If you feel the need to write a few words, thats great, if not, paint, draw, scribble, anything that motivates you. After keeping an art journal for a while it becomes habit, and looking at completed ones you have done will show your progress in art and life.

I would like to motivate you to start one in the coming weeks. I will be posting photos and prompts to help you get inspired. I will be sharing lots of journal pages on my instagram feed and hope you will follow along with me. @lynncorsibland.

First step is to find a physical journal. They are available in all sizes. There are many out there to purchase online and delivery is right to your door. Altered books, old day planners, and handmade books make great ones. The only prerequisite is sturdy pages that can take mixed media. Thin sketchbook paper does not hold up. I prefer a spray bound book but it is up to you.




Here are some ideas using old books and calendars to alter. I always check thrift stores for children's
books, especially board books because the pages are nice and thick.





Coffee table books also make good  altered journals. I haven't done the cover yet. this next photo shows a gessoed page ready to work on.



This one is an old do it yourself book from Goodwill. I liked the size, the pages were a little thin so I glued two of them together to use.




Below is a journal made from cereal box cardboard bound with a simple coptic stitch.

Don't forget to follow me on instagram. @lynncorsibland for my journal challenge and journal pages.

A Glimpse Inside My Creative Space

I wanted to share my true creative space, so, I did not clean up, or stage any of the photos I am about to share. Ha, I'm sure you will be aware of this fact immediately. Yes, I am messy and work best when everything is in plain view and within my reach. So, that being said.....

Here is one of the shelf areas I have for displaying the things that are inspiring me at the moment.

Lots of wire shelving for storage, and a spot for my printer.

 

My drawing board. This a great one as it can go completely flat for watercolor. My  journal is open

A bit of nostalgia thrown in for humor. My solo show poster for graduation, the year has to be wrong!






A pegboard is always a handy way to have your tools at the ready.






These are the skylights above my paint station.






A view of my encaustic area.






I have plenty of electricity for my hot palettes and irons and a magnetic strip for all the colors I use.





My collection of wax pigments to use in the creation of the encaustic paints.
I just returned from an encaustics class where I was the studio assistant for friend and artist Lisa Pressman. I will devote my next post to my experiences at Penland, NC with her. And also elaborate more on the encaustic space I have, and how I mix medium and my paints.

A New Road, and a new direction

Because I have been reintroduced to oil paint, through encaustic painting, and have been perusing any technique that uses oil paint, I have come upon something new that I must try.

Oil and Cold Wax, unlike encaustic wax is not heated, or melted and does not have to be fused between each layer. Although it does have to dry to the touch between layers. Basically oil paint is mixed with a wax medium with a palate knife to make the paint thicker and more textured.

A wonderful abstract artist that works in cold wax and one that I admire is Rebecca Crowell. Her site and blog oilandwax.ning.com has a wealth of information, and I highly recommend it if you are interested in learning about it.

I started right in and have done a few artworks to share. It is a very forgiving medium as you can paint over a painting a thousand times. Which for me is somewhat of an issue as I never know when a painting is finished. 

This is the very first attempt and I really like the vibrant colors. I didn't get as much texture as I wanted. I either need more layers or I let it dry too long (overnight) so the scratching didn't show up.

Cocoon
12" X 12"

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This attempt has much more paint, and it really was fun to scribble on the surface. I pushed a piece of plastic mesh from a grocery bag of oranges into the surface in the upper left and middle right. It makes a very nice diamond texture. On the right side I pushed a gold oil pigment stick into the pattern when it was dry.

Falling
6"  X  6"

These 2 paintings have thin coatings of wax and oil, then I let them dry well, and went back into them with oil pigment sticks and turpentine. I am enjoying working with oil and Dorland's wax medium and I plan to keep experimenting and will share work as I go along. Both are painted on 12" X 12" cradled board.

Olive Trees

Olive Trees
8" x 8"

This piece was inspired by a recent trip to Italy during harvest time.
There were so many beautiful fields of Olive Trees everywhere. They look, "oh so delicious", ripe and juicy, ready to be eaten. But don't eat one off the tree, they are not delicious at all. They are very bitter. Ha, ha ha,we learned the hard way.
The technique I used on this painting is called incising and each of those thin lines are made with a sharp needle tool, another clay tool, that works well in wax.
To make the line black, an oil stick in pushed into the recesses, let dry and buffed away.  Tube oil paint can also be used, but must be exposed to the air for several hours to thicken, then used.
This painting was donated to Arrowmont School of Art, in Gatlinburg for Auction. It's a beautiful campus here offering a wide variety of classes in all mediums.

Achieving a smooth encaustic surface

A Bird In This World
10" x 10"

This piece has the luminous, smooth surface that is typical of encaustic medium. Many layers are built up in the same way as a textured surface, so this painting still has approximately 8-10 separate layers. In order to get a smooth flat look, the surface must be hand scraped after each addition of paint. The paint should be slightly warm to the touch. If it is too warm, or if you scrape too deep, all the color from that layer will be removed. It's a judgement thing and takes a little practice to avoid making ridges.
For years I used single edge razor blades or long handled razor blade scrapers that house painters use.
These become dull quickly and are awkward to keep level.
I have found the perfect thing for the job, and it is used by potters for sculpting clay. It is a loop clay tool and comes in many sizes and, can be purchased where pottery supplies are sold.

I have utilized my hand dyed papers for collage and stenciling to create the crisp, bold images.

Taking Encaustics Outside the Box

Nancy Natale

This painting is a collage of papers that have been dipped and painted with encaustic paint. Nancy works with old book spines, found and painted papers, and collage.

Lorraine Glessner
One of the things that draw me to this artists work is her delicate use of line. She uses long strands of human hair collaged under the encaustic medium to achieve this technique.

Brenda Mallory Capsules, 2006-2011,
 Waxed cloth, nuts, bolts, 11 units, each 10" x 10" x 17"

Beautiful three dimensional cloth objects can be encased in wax to give strength to an encaustic piece

Exciting texture can be added by imbedding paper and cloth into the surface. The wax also acts as an adhesive if heavier objects are to be imbedded, and they need not be completely submerged in the wax.

Perfect Specimens, Encaustic Collage
Lynn Corsi Bland

Exquisite detail can be achieved by transfering a photo copied image directly to the surface of the wax. The lines were drawn on the wax with a sharp needle and then filled in with black oil pastel.

Lynn Corsi Bland
encaustic and oil pastel


Another method to add drawing and line work like this piece, is to start with a drawing on paper. Watercolor paper is collaged to the surface of the board and the sketching is done on the paper before the wax is added with oil pastel. The painting can be completed using pigmented encaustic paint. 

The artists for these beeswax pieces are anonymous, but they show us the grace and beauty that nature gives us everyday. We, as artists, try, but the perfection evidenced here cannot be duplicated.

February's Work

This is acrylic on crescent board with lots of texture. I did a grid composition so I could experiment with texture in the different boxes. I used Golden Crackle Paste, Light Modeling Paste, Gesso and Matte Gel.
They each give a very unique surface, and take the paint so differently. I especially love the way the crackle came out when the paint was thinned before applying. The designs are hand carved stamps I made, and the text is from old book pages collaged on the surface.

Also acrylic with a textured surface of Matte Gel and Gesso. This is definitely in process and I may cover the whole painting with an opaque mask.

This one is acrylic with collage and ink on canvas. I added some marks and line drawings with pencil.

This one is on Crescent Illustration Board that I covered with collage, stamping, and lots of drawing.  I used stencils for the numbers. Then I negative painted around the shapes to create the composition. I am
happy with this one and it is finished.

Photographer, Cara Barer

Look at these amazing book sculptures by photographer, Cara Barer. Unfortunately the photos are not very clear and these deserve a closer look. Please go to her website  http://www.carabarer.com/ Select the last category, Sculpture, to see how lovely these are on her site.
After reading her story I learned her inspiration came from a public phone book. These book pages are stiffened and shaped with melted beeswax, so again, another unique way to use encaustic. Without speaking to her I don't know her process, but I can see the use of beeswax in many of her sculptures.  I was so impressed with the soft forms and flowing nature of these book pages.

Back to Wax

In Process

oil sticks for drawing

Many brilliant colors to choose from. These are small blocks  of concentrated pigments suspended in encaustic medium.

The wax is heated to 250 degrees and becomes liquid. The thermometer sits directly on the heated palette so I can monitor it during painting.

The Paint

Warm and Ready




 

The Laboratory

I heard this week from the Brooklyn Art Library that my "sketchbook" was received and it now on tour to it's first destination, Austin, Texas. The exhibition will begin March 12th at the Austin Museum of Art.

Art journaling has been an important part of my creative process. It is one of the activities that I feel is important for my growth as an artist, and more importantly as a person. Being able to write my thoughts and create in the safety of a journal meant for my eyes only is such a freeing experience. But at times a page does become art, ( serendipity, if you will ) and I tear it out, mat it, and frame it for all to see. By now I have quite a collection of them and thought I'd share a few photos.