Where to start...

I'll just jump right in.  

This seems like as good a way as any to share what projects I've been working on recently in the studio (and out), so I will give this blog a whirl.  It may be shameless self-promotion, but I will think of it as sharing.  If nothing else, it's my own visual diary.

Appropriately enough, the first image I put in a post is my personal favorite.  It is my magnum opus, so to speak, and I can't believe that it is 20 years old.  It was done in egg tempera paint, which was a wonderful switch for me from the oil paint that was the norm in my painting classes at the UW.  I was working from a picture taken by one of my parents when I was maybe 6 years old.  We were spending the day at my favorite beach in the world; what we have always refered to as "the black sand beach".  (This is where I want my ashes strewn when I die, so everyone related to me please take note!)  I believe it is called Beach #4, and it is located north of Kalaloch and south of Ruby Beach.  That is my brother with my grandparents in the foreground, and I'm off in the distance.  The painting is actually about 28"x34".  I submitted it as one of the guest artists for the Arts of Kenmore show this past August, and I was quite surprised to pick up the Kenmore Reporter from the end of our driveway and see: 

Ha!  Didn't know that was going to happen.

So this is my starting point.  Check back in, if you want.  I will be posting pictures of the work that I did during a recent encaustic painting workshop at Pratt Art Center that was absolutely an amazing experience.  Encaustic is painting using pigmented beeswax.  It involves using hot wax and tools such as propane torches, soldering irons and woodburning tools.  Doesn't get much better than that.  Thanks to my dad's sharp eyes I am now the proud owner of a shiny new Weller soldering station, on sale in one of Dad's electronics catalogs.  Wahoo!

I will be uploading pictures of the copper/glass fusing work that I've been doing for a while now, and the alternative knitting projects I've been working on, too.  And thanks to Marte, my favorite teacher in the world, I have some bags of beautiful llama wool to play with.  I will try to needle felt with it, and I bought a drop spindle to try my hand at making my own yarn, if possible.  I can already see that that could be a bit frustrating....stay tuned.