waxing on

Well yes, it all started with a workshop with Nicki Stewart in preparation for the Fibre Arts New Zealand annual even in Whanganui last week ( and before it’s fully booked, check out the offerings for 2017).  I was pretty much hooked by the possibilities of working with encaustic medium when we were shown a canvas vessel she’d made . . . more and more, for now at least, I’m thinking that two-dimensional work is not me unless it’s heavily textured so I was immediately smitten.

Nicki taught us a whole raft of techniques that we then put into practise . . . it was a wonderful weekend workshop which I highly recommend.  I was really pleased with this piece at the time.

Encaustic on custom wood substrate.
Wendy @ Late Start Studio

But Whanganui! Peta Lloyd turned out to be not only a terrific teacher but, more important to me, a great facilitator.  She reads the needs of the students and helps them meet those needs.  I did one little 2D piece and that was it . . . for me, it just wasn’t happening until I broke out and followed my impulse to stitch and make objects that didn’t lie flat.

Stitched Sample Book: Paper, fabric, cotton and linen thread, wire, wax. Each panel, 11 x 19 cm.  When closed, pages open from alternate sides.
Wendy @ Late Start Studio

Pod: wire, plaster, wax, oil paints. 17 x 10 cm
Wendy @ Late Start Studio

Small Pouch: Canvas, waxed cotton thread, wax, 13.5 x 8.5 cm. 
Wendy @ Late Start Studio

Escaping the Box: paper, thread, wax, wire. Overall, 14 x 36 cm.
Wendy @ Late Start Studio

A fabulous week . . . I have ideas for developing each of the samples above so now all I need to do is maintain the momentum!

 

 

moving on

When I wrote about pushing myself about 6 weeks ago, I wasn’t sure about my level of perseverance . . . if could I do it.  I can last 4 days on most ‘do this daily’ kicks and find myself distracted before I finish things.  This time, two factors have supported me: my wonderful accountability coach Trisha Findlay and a vision of what I wanted to achieve.

Last year I took an online course with Karen Ruane called Swathed in Stitch.  The samples were in a folder, minding their own business but I hadn’t finished with them . . . I had an idea that had been bugging me for quite some time.  An idea, and it’s turned into a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel.  (Sorry about that, but I loved Blackadder and when I think or say “I have an idea” the rest just follows although not always said out loud.)  While the plan has still yet to see the light of day it seems to have developed and gained strength. The thought of it sent me back to the samples which are now all over my hastily and cheaply made design board . . . a very large unused canvas that was hiding under the bed, and an old white, winceyette sheet

A month later I have made what I need to carry out my plan but have yet to see about framing which is likely to be hellishly expensive.  In the meantime I want to move on to other things so I have mounted the samples and bound them into a book using Japanese stab stitching.  The cover has a photograph of the contents and while the samples were never meant to be seen without a 5-7mm space between them, I’m satisfied.  Satisfied but not content with the final outcome . . . yet.

Cover of sample book with stab stitch binding.
Wendy @ Late Start Studio

A glimpse of what lies within.
Wendy @ Late Start Studio

Two things that have always fascinated me are spider webs, and more importantly, looking through gaps at what lies within, the partially obscured, the intentionally and unintentionally hidden whether it relates to a view or a person . . . I’m curious.  As explained by the Johari Window, I am captured by the  façade, the blind spot, the unknown . . . I go to a play and watch the actor not delivering dialogue, I watch the listeners and constantly look for authenticity.  I think there could be a series here although not necessarily using the same medium.

And those ‘other things’ I want to move on to?  I went to a weekend workshop with Nicki Stuart, an encaustic artist, and I bought things . . . and in a week I’ll be off the Whangarei to the Fibre Arts NZ event to spend 5 days working and learning with Australia artist Peta Lloyd . . . she’s issued an invitation to break some rules and experiment with printing, books and wax.  How could I possibly resist?