Serendipity

I found a new studio space last week. I'm giving all the credit to serendipity. While I love my new home in Montana, it is so hard to have to give up the close connections with friends in Alaska.
I had the best group of artist friends there (no offense to my Colorado art friends prior to AK-but a little more time and distance has gotten between us). I had a great time at the SMArts Art Show/Bazaar and met some fun fellow artists there, but was on the fence about attending the meeting the following Monday. Heather who introduced me to the group was not going to be there, nor the artists I met at the Bazaar, so I really thought twice about going to the meeting, which for the month of December was really more of a social event-and I knew no one attending. But I decided to go anyway. So upon getting there (there really is a point to this ramble), I looked around the room at the tables, yep-no one looked even vaguely familiar. After the  quick perusal I chose a table near the side with two women at it. There were flyers spread on all the tables with info about affordable studio space for rent, but they did not say where. As I was tearing off a tag with phone #'s I stated, what is this about? To my surprise the woman to the right of me replied that she was the person to contact about the studios. We made introductions and had a fun time talking and sharing mini life story cliff notes and I set a time the next day to see the studio space. After taking Jeff to see the Studios and a couple days to think it over I had an Art Studio.

It has been quick transition to the new space, due to having  a show to hang on Feb 1. We prioritized getting the easel for acrylics and the encaustic area set up and running. It is so worth getting in the car and making the short drive to have the luxury of space. I can already feel the difference it has made, as I can plan more paintings at once. Also being able to step far back and see what is needed in a painting, which was impossible in an 8 x 11 room.

Even the studio name is great-Spanish Peaks Artist Studios and Gallery. Stay tuned for more info as we make plans for an open house/open studio and more.

Day Trip to Billings/YAM

Since my husband had to go to Billings for a class, I jumped at the chance to go with him. I love to go explore new places, see the Galleries and check out local cuisine etc. The Yellowstone Art Museum ( known as the YAM) was on my list and did not disappoint.

The YAM is the largest contemporary Art Gallery in Montana. Quite the treasure in the city of Billings.

 

I did not find out more info about the mobile, but enjoyed it in the entry from the the exhibits. They have a great website that you can access from the link above. I'm just going to show you the pieces that grabbed me. One of the exhibits was about the history of western painting, so I took down a few names to learn more about at a later date. Sorry for some reflections and blurs, also using my new phone for pics and learning to make sure it is focused.

 Bill Stockton,  "Lone Pine", Livestock marker(!) and graphite

Adrian Arleo, "Herd", encaustic and ceramic

Kate Hunt, "2kh FLAG 24", newspaper, rebar and epoxy

Kevin Red Star, "The General"

Isabelle Johnson, "East Fiddler Creek"

Joellyn Duesberry, "Folly Island, Evening, IV", Monotype

A few shots of one of the exhibit rooms, very nicely done! They also have exhibits of young local artists and a small gift shop of local art work. 

A great addition to the museum is the "Visible Vault", it is a separate building a block behind the museum. You can get a key card and go view the storeage vaults for the museums permanent collection, fun to see. It brought back memories of getting to go to the vault in Glasgow, Scotland with Stephen Quiller and see some of his favorite watercolor painters a few years ago. 

 

As there was a meeting going on in the Visible Vault entry chamber, a nice gentleman suggested I visit the studio of the Artist in Residence. I might have been too shy to do so had it not been the case. What a delightful person Artist Carol Spielman is! Not to mention that I had seen her Art around Montana and admired it. We had fun chatting about art and Billings. The studio for the Artist in Residence is a beautiful well lit space and it would be hard to give it up I would think at the end of the residency.

Of the Galleries I found I have to say Toucan Gallery was my favorite, both for the Art they have and their display of it. There is a great vintage shop, Montana Vintage Clothing. I managed to find both a small handbag and a vintage suitcase there, it would be worth exploring further on another visit. Foodie-wise we kind of struck out in that  department, my usual go to tool "trip advisor" let us down, and we had planned on dinner out, but Jeff's class let out at 2:30 instead of 5. All in all it was a good scout mission on my first visit to Billings, our biggest "city".

Getting Outside!

Plein air painting has been pretty good this fall. I'm more motivated to get out and paint due to lack of space in my current in home studio. I've got it set up for encaustic, which does not leave room for an easel too. Now if only I could stay off Pinterest on the day I say I'm writing here. Some days the inspiration and cool finds just do not seem to have an end. Today was one of them....

I seem to have lots of painting ideas flying around in my brain, waiting to settle down and get on canvas or panel. I have to write down little notes about them when they surface, otherwise they risk getting pushed aside from the next idea. Once I have time to focus on paintings I can go to my little book of random painting ideas and see which one gets my attention. 

This time of year is my favorite for taking photos also. Some for the pure joy of capturing the moment and others will become paintings during the cold indoor months. Also a show coming up helps me to focus and get these ideas out in paintings. I've been reviewing my reference photos and choosing the ones that get my attention for new paintings in encaustic. 

First day Plein Air, on a wet underpainting, a bit mushy, but fun to get out and explore my new landscape in Montana

Windy second day out, in David Mensing workshop

Up Bridger Canyon Road, good place to park and paint.

On site vista

Day one cattails and trees

Day two, a couple days later, with a little color change

New favorite painting spot by the Story Mill

Day two, painting fast with impending rain storm, it moved in fast, but I made my sky choice before the cloud took over.

A few photos from the recent fall days, amazing to watch the changes in just a few days.

Sun lit trees!

First snows

Lingering color

Just at sunset

Alaska Art in Montana

I'm excited to say that I have Art on display in Bozeman! Encaustic paintings have been unpacked, polished and are showing at Rockford Coffee, 7th & Main. So, if you live in Bozeman, stop in and get a really good cup of coffee and see some great art in one stop. I can't decide if Rockford or Daily Coffee Bar has the best coffee in town?
But on to Art...

Rockford has a mix of walls which is really great to see the interplay of the textures of the encaustic paintings and the natural brick, wood and celadon green. As I always say, many of the nuances that make encaustic art so appealing are lost in translation in a photograph, so go see them in person if you can.

A big thanks to my friend Heather who came and helped me hang them. I asked her to help, thinking I would just need another set of artistic eyes to help place paintings.
However with the limitations of the hanging system (not complaining-just a fact) it was really helpful to have another set of hands and someone a little taller too.

fall reflections, love the contrast of the yellow and the blue tile

summer at beluga slough

assorted paintings

the path less traveled, through the pushkie, devils club dance

from across the room

 

 A Big thanks to Rockford Coffee for supporting local Art and Artists~

 

Encaustic Conference in Texas

I was able to attend the Encausticon 2012 a couple weeks ago in San Antonio, TX. Good thing I had some practice being in hot weather in Montana. It was HOT, over 100 most days, cooled to 80's at night. It was a great time filled with all kinds of Art goodness. 

The most fun was being able to see my artist friends from Alaska and have more time with them. Alaska was well represented at the conference, I think around 10 out of 130 attendees.

There was a fantastic encaustic Juried Art Show sponsored by IEA during the conference. It was held at Gallery Nord, in San Antonio.

One of the workshops I attended was on book binding techniques. While we did not do any encaustics during the workshop, we were given many ideas for incorporating encaustic paint and techniques into book art projects. It was really fun to do something hands on for a couple hours and be surrounded by so much artistic energy. 

The book binding class was taught by Mary Maynor, she was very fun, completely organized. It all made sense when she said she was a nurse too. 

On Sunday, Joyce and I walked up the Riverwalk to the San Antonio Museum of Art and enjoyed an afternoon wandering the museum and taking lots of photos. Alas-never enough time, I would have loved to have gotten to the McNary Museum also-hopefully there will be a next time. Below are a few of the pictures I took on our fabulous afternoon.

Time to get back to the Blog

Wow, moving from Alaska to Montana was a lot of effort. I did not plan to take such a break from my creative blog here. But somehow time just slipped by in the chaos of all the change. We are still settling in, but feeling more grounded.

I just got back from a great trip to Austin and San Antonio TX. Hot, hot, hot there, whew. I attended the 7th Annual Encaustic Conference, now named Encausticon. It was great to be surrounded by so many artists and all the creative ideas. Ate some great food in Austin and enjoyed some live music. Emily Wolfe at the Cactus Cafe, a fun quirky up and coming singer/songwriter doing a residency at the University of Texas.

About the second week I was in Bozeman I found out about a plein air painting class and was able to attend. It was a great class by David Mensing (from Idaho). I met a few local artists and am slowly finding some connections here. That is the worst part about moving is leaving your artist friends.

Just looking through my photos and decided that I need to post a few days on my trip to Texas. Lots of things to share.

First I'll start with my plein air studies from my oil class. It was so fun to get back to the brushes, even if I couldn't find all my supplies. David was a great teacher, so much information in 2 days. We didn't have much time to paint, but were given so much info that will last and add to future paintings. The class was hosted by Cobalt Moose Studios, which is a mother/daughter team of artists. They are both amazing artists and were so friendly and welcoming at their studio/home and property.

Blogger is being cranky and not letting me write more, so I'll save the rest for another day.

First day, painting-quick less than 2 hours

Second day, around an hour and a half