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