Wow, so how do I write about an experience that is hard to put into words? Um, well, so, see, it’s like this….no, I just can’t sum it up. All I can say is that heading out to Salem, OR to teach a workshop on book making, mixed media, and encaustic is so much more than just a workshop experience. I feel like my well has been filled and the inspiration and feelings of making real connections with really amazing people will stay with me for a while now.
I promised myself that I was going to be better about taking pictures this year. Unfortunately I was terrible! I only managed to take a very few photos the first day. The second day I was able to snap a few more. So my apologies to anyone who doesn’t have their work photographed and shown here or on Flickr.
I wanted to share some of the incredible work that people did in the hours we had together. I was amazed as I threw as much as I could at everyone, plus binding! And anyone who has ever taken a binding class knows how brain and finger twisting that can be.
Brenda Tassava
Betti Zucker, a chef as well as artist!
I love the composition of this inside page and just the touch and kiss of transparent encaustic paint. I talked about how when you’re working with wax inside a journal, you need a light hand and really weigh your options. It’s not about going crazy with wax inside your book just because you can, but to think about what way it can enhance what you are doing.
Diana S.
Looking at this cover I can see how she layered her paint and scraped back to reveal lower layers. And then the figure was added atop all that- lovely.
Tracey F.
Tracey and I had met many years ago in Seattle when my son was just a crawling baby. It was so nice to be reunited in my workshop. I watched her working all day and saw her pages develop organically, but with such a strong sense of direction. The page underneath the page that is shown is a page that had transfers of sea coral onto wax. in this photo you can see that she cut the paper so that the underneath page is revealed. One of the intriguing things that can happen in a book- a story unfolding as the pages are turned.
Amanda Jolley
Amanda is an amazing woman who I was lucky to have had in my workshop last year at EncaustiCamp and honored that she would take my class again. This image is of her back cover. Doesn’t it just make you want to weep and dance and holler at the same time? Ok, maybe that’s just me. In person, you can really see how she created transparent layers of medium and glazes before she even added the photo transfer.
Paula Harmon
From a brief conversation with Paula, I gleaned that some of her work is based on place and identity, specifically where she is from. The book she made is an ongoing dialogue with that. I wish I could see it when it’s done!
detail from Paula’s book
Colleen Monette
Collen really started experimenting with the inside pages of her book. She is a wonder to watch in action. Glad to have had her in my class this year.
Dianne Woolley
Dianna and I have known each other online for a few years now and it was so great to meet her in person finally. That is the best.
Linda E., a fellow Chicagoan!
Kristina Honn Trudell- her book was so serene as a whole. And again, minimal wax inside
Cynthia W.
Cynthia is a photographer now introducing wax to her photos- printed several of her images onto tissue paper to experiment with in class.
Denise S.- experimenting with transfers and transparency and embedding
Stephen W. – stencils!
I wish I could show everyone’s work here, but I’m afraid this is getting too long. You’ll just have to visit my flickr set that I made for workshops. I was amazed by the work that everyone churned out. And I loved that it was all so different.
Don Barnes and I during Day 1, so much fun!
I just took a nap and dreamed of layers of medium and transfers, an astronaut theme. Your class so inspires me. Thank you, Bridgette!
oooh, space travel! You inspire me too. Wish we could have hung out more on off times, but at least we had class together. Chicago trip? Soon? 🙂
I would like to say yes and really make that happen. So yes. (now for the happening part)
Great class, Bridgette! I enjoyed working with you again, and playing with the dry transfer process. Giving some thought to our little experiment…..hmmmmmm;)
Thanks Brenda! Glad to have another book person in class with me. hmmmmm, is right. I keep thinking about it, which means I will just have to try it out. Soon!
This was a wonderful class! Thank you for including my work in your post.
Now that I’m home, I’ve carved a encaustic studio space in a (previously cluttered) corner and am ready to print my photographs on every type paper I can dream up to see what works best with wax.
I also rebound my journal — I was kind of a sloppy seamtress that day —
Good luck with your new work. It was very nice to meet and work with you at camp.
Cynthia
Coyote Underground
Thanks Cynthia. I hope you will post your new work either in our fb group or on your blog. Let me know if you have any questions on setting up a safe studio space. And don’t forget to look at that handout I gave you that had some tips on other ways to incorporate photographs- I couldn’t cover everything unfortunately in the time we had!
Good luck and have fun!
oh what fun! i can’t resist a good (artists) book!
Thanks Ronnie, it was a good time. art + books = always fun!
All the work is so interesting and so beautiful.
They all did a great job! Thank you.
Hi Bridgette. I am sorry that I did not get to take your class at Encausticamp this year. I needed some of the basic classes and I was back and forth between your journal and Sue’s Batik. I selected Batik because I had never done anything even remotely like that. But I told Patrick when he asked what I wanted to do next year that I wanted to take your class. 🙂 We didn’t get to talk much either, maybe that next year also! Laurie H
Sorry we didn’t get to connect much at EncaustiCamp Laurie, but there’s always next year….I would love to have taken Sue’s class. In fact, I had her talk me through it one evening- I hope to try it out at some point. I love her work so much.