Vegan Lunch Fuels Artmaking for the Fab 5

As promised, above are samples from the stellar Studio Day I was so fortunate to attend--with three long-time friends and one new--fueled by our amazing pot-luck vegan lunch.

My piece, entitled "Fifty," is at the top. I found that old funnel in a potting shed and had to draw it because I was attracted to its rusted form. The crossword puzzle was in a piece of newspaper I had brought and I had tucked the seagull stencils from a previous painting into my sketchbook. I decided to just work with those three elements and what resulted was an ode to my 50th birthday next year--egads!--and is about "funneling" energy in new directions, as well as trying to solve the "puzzle" of how one balances structure (all of the many references to the grid along with the seagulls standing in a tidy row) and freedom (as represented by, among other things, the flying seagulls).

Below my piece is a pair by my dear artist friend and fellow "student," Iona Drozda. I love many things about our work, including how individual it is. With the guidance of our teacher-friend, Karen Eide, we were all able to transfer the work we do in other media into her medium of encaustic which literally means "to burn in." But it is, in fact, painting with melted and pigmented wax (into which and on top of which one can collage, draw, stamp, stencil and more). It's the most luscious and flexible medium ever.

And I am "hungry" to do much more.