January 18

Yesterday’s horoscope read that I would relinquish logic to intuition. I'm not a true believer in horoscopes, but my paintings beg to differ. There was a certain flow to the process yesterday. Both paint and wax seemed to cooperate with me yesterday as I spent hours in the studio. I don’t always have these days; some days the work is really work. But lately the paintings flow. How it should be. I used to imagine (in my young twenties) living in an artist loft, rolling out of bed miraculously with a cup of coffee in hand, and just painting straight away, only taking time out when absolutely necessary or to meet friends. Meeting friends would actually fall into the "absolutely necessary category". Life didn’t turn out that way. But I am getting closer to that day. There is this need to get into the studio, but life’s inconveniences can get in the way.
I did spend most of the day painting yesterday. I was grounded so to speak. I need to finish the pieces for February 1st. But there is a certain sanctity to my space when I paint. There is only the sound of the paint brush, and an intermediate scratch, scratch at the door from bitch kitty. But the sound is so similar to the sound of my brush it is easily dismissed, and bitch kitty finds some other diversion.
The encaustics are coming along, resolving into a fairly cohesive body of work in themselves. The imagery is more light hearted that the oils. They are more luscious, intimate, the wax thick, shiny and translucent. The encaustics pieces are small, collages of oil and wax, with some relief work. It is less immediate that oil painting and not quite as predictable as oil painting. But perhaps over time I will find my way to a more predictable way of working. But for now I like the trial and error and the experimentation.
It has been years since I took a class from Paula Roland in New Mexico. And I have dabbled with encaustics since here and there. This will be the first time I will actually show encaustic work to anyone. I am very pleased with these first results.