A Different Alphabet

Since October I've been working on a major piece of art for the Bloomfield Township Public Library in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. It's called A Different Alphabet. It was installed on January 29, 2010. The materials are 4"x4" squares of patinated silver leaf on polyester film supported on a wire armature. There is a flat piece of red/orange aluminum mounted on the wall at the right end. Except for the aluminum A Different Alphabet stands out 4" from the wall. It is about 18' wide and 6' high.

To go with the dedication of this piece, I participated in a panel discussion on Public Art with Reed Kroloff, Christine Schefman and Marc Schwartz. This was at the Bloomfield Township Public Library on February 4.

So, here is a photo of A Different Alphabet in its new home in the BTPL -


work in progress in my studio shortly before it went to the BTPL -

Ebb and Flow

This is a quick visit to my blog to add this installation image of the piece I was working on all summer. It's up in Beaumont Hospital, Sterling Heights, Michigan. I'll have a better photograph (without morning shadows)soon. This is called Ebb and Flow. It measures 20 ft high, 14 ft wide. The medium is encaustic on 12" x 12" pieces of plexiglas linked together by stainless steel, fabricated hangers. For scale, the two rectangular shapes below it are interior hospital doors.

where I spend my days

My studio is in a 20'x20' building west of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Here are a few interior views.

looking out the front door (north)


looking out the back door (south)


a side wall (west)


The blue and green and dark colored squares on the table and floor are 12"x12" plexiglas with encaustic wax. The finished piece will be 280 of these squares hanging in a grid.

At the moment I'm still painting individual squares, keeping them in organized piles on the floor as I finish them and trying to make one square blend into the next. I'm following a drawing I made that was chosen by the client.

Welcome to my studio

I'm going to keep a history of my work on a current commission. I decided to do it in this blog. So . . . welcome to my studio.

These are some views I see when I'm there.

the front door -


a little meadow -


a nice confluence of lines -

Anouk update

Here is a new picture of Anouk. She is a lively little sweetheart. It was truly indescribable to hold her.

The best

Our new granddaughter, Anouk. Born 7/8/09

2 hours old

Woman - Silver Leaf on Mylar

This is my newest work. The title is Woman. The pattern was created in the computer. Woman is silver leaf on mylar with bits cut out. The background is a cream colored wax saturated paper. Woman is flat and about 50" x 40". It is on exhibit at WSG Gallery in downtown Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Wax and Wire in UM Hospital Lobby

"Stillness in Motion" is on exhibit in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the main lobby of the University of Michigan Hospital from February 16 to April 13, 2009.

Most people will look at these paintings and see the wax patterns - they are the subjects. But for those who care to observe more carefully, the Moire pattern is there. Look and the motion of the Moire pattern will take you on a journey, the wax pattern with its stillness will bring you back to the present. Opposites - one doesn't exist without the other.

"Chinatempo", 36"x36", wax on 2 layers of aluminum screen, painted background


"Moire 1", 36"x36", layered aluminum screen


"Circle", 36"x36", wax on 2 layers of aluminum screen


"Traveling", 36"x36", wax on 2 layers of aluminum screen


"Stillness in Motion", 36"x36", wax on 2 layers of aluminum screen


"Lightness from Dark", 36"x36", wax on 2 layers of aluminum screen

"Stillness in Motion" at WSG Gallery

This exhibit at WSG Gallery in Ann Arbor, Michigan runs from September 23 - November 2, 2008.

"Bulging Flat", patinated silver leaf on polyester film, 60x40


Installation view of 4 screen pieces.


"Indotempo", encaustic wax on 2 layers of screen creating a Moire pattern, 36"x36"



"Stillness in Motion", encaustic wax on 2 layers of screen creating a Moire pattern, 36"x36"


"Lightness in Dark", encaustic wax on 2 layers of screen creating a Moire pattern, 36"x36"


"Traveling", encaustic wax on 2 layers of screen creating a Moire pattern, 36"x36"


Patinated silver leaf on 12"x12" squares of plexiglas - four of 20 in the grid


"Reflection", patinated silver leaf on polyester film, 24"x36"


"Waterfall", patinated silver leaf on polyester film, 72"h x 60"w

Westin Book Cadillac Hotel in downtown Detroit, Michigan

These are images of commissioned pieces included in the newly renovated Westin Book Cadillac Hotel in downtown Detroit, Michigan.

The first two are grids of 8.5"x8.5" squares of patinated silver leaf on plexiglas.





"Elemental 20 - Blue Stripe", patinated silver leaf on polyester film, 44" x 32"



"Elemental 21", patinated silver leaf on polyester film, 35" x 65"

"The Distance Between Black and White" - Woman Made Gallery

These are photos of the pieces that were in the Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, September 2 - 28, 2008. All of them are acrylic transfers of photos on the back of half inch sanded plexiglas. Each on is 18"x24" or 24"x18".

"Porch Rain"


"Ocean Web"


"Black Tree"


"Land"


"Grasses"


"Skywriting"


"Lake Michigan Trees"


"Tree Fence"

sunrise at Wingaersheek Beach

beauty on 11 June 2008, 4:30am

new work at Wenniger Gallery in Rockport, MA

Here are the encaustic paintings on cradled panels that I have at the Wenniger Gallery. I'm showing work there with Mari Marks Fleming and Chris McCauley. My assignment was to make small paintings and to work from photographs taken the year before at Wingaersheek Beach in Gloucester, MA.

"beach 5", 12" x 12" x 2"

"beach 1", 12" x 20" x 2"

"beach 15", 12" x 12" x 2"

"beach 13", 20" x 12" x 2"

"beach 14", 18" x 16" x 2"

"beach 7", 12" x 12" x2"

"beach 8", 12" x 12" 2"

"beach 4", 12" x12" x 2"

"beach 11", 12" x12" x2"

another grey - CCQ

This is a really useful grey. I was taking a workshop on "Painting Still Life" which is a stretch for me. I used these three colors (Cobalt blue, Cobalt yellow and Quinacridone red) to get to a nice dark black, the greys and the bright, various oranges I needed to paint the orange (fruit) that I was using as my subject. Because I know these colors will work together to make black and grey, as opposed to mud or some dull greenish black, I had a full range of bright, primaryish colors through the secondary colors and on to black to work with. Plenty of choices and they are guaranteed to all look good together since they're incestuous.

The workshop was an extension of the Second Annual Encaustic Conference held in Beverly, MA. I learned lots and made new friends - nice.

black

grey

cobalt blue

cobalt yellow

quinacridone red

variation 1

variation 2

variation 3

I tried to make these color samples smaller but no luck - maybe next time.

Dizzy and Suse

Last week was a special week. We were hosts to Dizzy and Suse Krisch. We have begun a friendship. It's a good feeling.

Dizzy and Suse were strangers, here as part of an exchange between sister cities Ann Arbor, Michigan and Tübingen, Germany. Suse (Susanne Höefler) is showing her artwork at WSG Gallery in Ann Arbor. Dizzy plays the vibraphone and treated a few people to his talent while he was here. Next year some of us from WSG Gallery will visit Tübingen and complete the circle.

Here is some of Suse's artwork. They are painted with water soluble crayon on paper and are 50cm x 40cm.

Waxing Well: Encaustic Painting at the Wenniger Gallery

This is Beach 5. It is encaustic wax on cradled panel, 12" x 12" x 2" by Lynda Cole.

The Wenniger Gallery in Rockport, MA will be showing the work of three painters who work in wax. The three painters are Lynda Cole, Chris McCauley and Mari Marks Fleming. This exhibit will be up during the Second Annual Encaustic Conference being held at the Montserrat School of Art in the next door town of Beverly, MA . The exhibit at the Wenniger Gallery runs from June 7 - July 8. There will be an opening celebration with music, refreshments and the artists on Sunday, June 8, 4 - 7pm.

Lynda Cole and Chris McCauley will both be working, in different styles, from the same photographs taken at Wingaersheek Beach in Gloucester, MA during the First Encasutic Conference in 2007.

Second Annual Encaustic Conference

This is an image of "White Weather" a piece of mine that was juried into the exhibit at the Second Annual Encaustic Conference being held at the Montserrat College of Art this June. Using infrared film, I snatched this composition from the length of the film strip, waxed it and paper engineered it to this geometric, 3 Dimensional shape. The folded pattern works with the printed pattern like weather components layer upon diurnal rhythms to give us each unique, meteorological day. I took the photographs in 2005. I created this piece in 2008.

The juror was Laura Moriarity, Director of Exhibitions at the Gallery at R&F Handmade Paints. Laura is a painter and sculptor, beginning with multi layered flat wax which she builds into very 3 Dimensional forms.

another good color family, including black and grey - ISU

These colors are made of Indian Yellow, Sepia and Ultramarine Blue. They are all encaustic sticks from R&F Paints. Sepias can be quite different across brands so using another brand of Sepia might make quite a difference. This is a kind of low key color family. The sepia lowers the brilliance but it's still an interesting bunch of colors. There is some white, probably Titanium, in a few of the last four swatches.

the blacks -




the 3 original colors -






some interesting stops -

wax and encaustic I'm working on now

The wax shells are pretty delicate. I mentioned them with a photo in a previous post and said I'd find something to do with them. I have. This is the first way I have found to commit the wax shells. The details on this piece are
19"h x 33" x 2 1/2", wax shells on encaustic on panel. The panel is mounted in a steel, fabricated L bar frame.

Here is a bit of a statement about this work -

"Bass Notes"
The luminous, delicate, 3 Dimensional, round shells of wax against the flat, irregularily lined background constrast the variations to be found in some music. The bass rhythms float and seem almost airy - thus the pale colored bass notes that anchor the piece - while the rest of the music cavorts in its various, intersecting paths.



and a detail of the shells -

some favorite visuals -

So, what do you see in the world and say to yourself, "That's really beautiful."? Here are some of my favorites -
- big flakes of snow coming straight down - no wind
- the architecture of trees in winter
- the line of a water horizon
- the soft fogginess you see while riding a chairlift in a cloud
- screen behind screen - ya gotta love those moire patterns
- the clear, icy pink color of a perfect Cosmopolitan
- first seasonal view of Orion, early morning in the late fall
- raindrops on a lotus leaf
- the view while standing on a mountain above the tree line looking at the blue sky and other snow capped mountains
- the Huron River when the water is silver and smooth like mercury

another great black/grey - CPR

I found another nice black using combinations of Cobalt Yellow, Pthalo Blue and Rose Madder. This gives a more regular range of colors - from red to orange to yellow to green to blue to violet - with a nice black and light black, of course. It would be good for a subject that wanted pretty pure versions of all the primary and secondary colors. The nice thing about using just these three colors is that the full range that they give you will all look good together since they each (except for the orignal three) have a bit of the others in them. Again, these were all made from encaustic sticks from R&F Paints.
the blacks:


the original 3 colors:


various colors made from the 3 originals:

Samples of the colors I discovered yesterday - EIU

Yesterday I found a good combination of colors to make a nice black, light grey and many other colors. They were all from Egyptian Violet, Indian Yellow and Ultramarine Blue. I'm going to call this grey EIU after the first letter of each color name. This is kind of an off beat color palette but one that would be useful for earth colored paintings. You get nice brown reds, olive type greens, a good warm yellow and a deep black. Here are some samples of the colors.

the blacks:

the original colors:



made from the original 3 colors:

wax - a beautiful new grey

I just discovered a beautiful new grey. I'm always looking for greys. My theory is if I begin with a color that interests me then search for the one or two colors that will grey it, I'll end up with two or three colors that will include a wide range of combinations and won't go muddy. This combination was rather a surprise - Egyptian violet, ultramarine blue and Indian yellow. There isn't an official red in this group but the violet and the blue are both very warm and must supply enough red - because it greys very nicely. These are all encaustic sticks from R&F Paints.

I'd rather be in the studio

Have you thought much about where you're going in your art life? What's important to you or why you create? I've heard those questions before but I've actually begun to answer them now. This came about because of an Artists Self Promotion Workshop I attended led by Alyson Stanfield. She brought up many things to think about and act on. One of the early issues that continued to come up through the weekend was deciding on your goals - prioritizing what's important in today's reality. The answer had to pertain to this political world and these economic times. I'm guessing the answer for me may change as the times change.

The four things that lead my list are:
- selling enough that my art pays for itself
- extra money for a little travel
- showing my work in museums
- doing work that leads to peace, for myself and others

That list may sound pretty general and hey, who wouldn't want that but it actually does eliminate some avenues. For instance, I can't do fast, commercial output if I want to end up on the wall of a museum. I will avoid the pollitical art that promotes hatred and polarization. I need to spend time on my self promotion.

And for that I'm back to Alyson. She sends a free, weekly newsletter that is helpful and she has written a book - I'd rather be in the studio - I love the title. I read it and thought she meant this book would tell me how I could quickly do my self promotion so I would have more time to be in the studio. But no, she is listing "I'd rather be in the studio" as one of the excuses artists use to avoid self promotion. So now I say to myself, "What are you going to do to promote your artwork today?"

WSG Gallery Grand Opening in its new location

I'm one of the artist/owners of WSG Gallery. Last week we opened in our new location on Main Street in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This was the first exhibition in the new space. The interior was designed by the Ann Arbor firm of Penchansky Whisler Architects. The long side of the gallery faces an interior atrium and is glass. It gives a broad look into the gallery space with its 51' long, white wall which angles across the space. The long wall is 8' high at one end and 10' high at the other end so the top of the wall also angles.

Here are some photos from the opening.







The Community High Jazz Band played in the atrium



This is a link to more photos from the opening.
The photography is by Paul Malboeuf.


Here is a small sample of some of the art in this exhibition -

Lynda Cole: "untitled (pink and palladium): 72" x 24": encaustic, palladium leaf on plexiglas



Michelle Hegyi: "Tides 3", "Tides 2", "Tides 1" each 1/5 in edition: each, 24" x 18": encaustic and pigment ink on rag paper: mounted with magnets on plexiglas strip



Valerie Mann: "Evening Bags for the Midwestern Woman, #8 w/ Matching Pumps"



Elizabeth Schwartz: "Melange" 24" x 20": acrylic on canvas



You can find more images and information about WSG Gallery on our website -

Slideluckpotshow - Detroit, 31 January, 2008

Some of my digital paintings were part of the Slideluckpotshow in Detroit at the Ladybug Gallery. The website for this event that happened on 31 January, 2008 isn't up yet. Here is the bit that I submitted. It lasts about 2 1/2 minutes.

round, wax and hollow

Why am I so attracted to geometric forms in art and nature? I wish I knew. These are round, hollow and made of encaustic. They're not quite as delicate as they look. They are transluscent. I don't know where I'm going with them but I know I like them.

new inspiration

I just visited the website of Elizabeth Perry. Her drawings may inspire me to pick up my notebook and set pen to paper on a somewhat regular basis. She leaves a lot of space around her subjects - very nice.

Sculpting air

Beautiful work. Tim Prentis

Roatan, Honduras with family

With other family members I went to Roatan, an island off the north coast of Honduras, over Christmas 2007. The sun and sea were beautiful, the snorkeling was great but the best was the wide, water horizon. What a perfect line.


These are photos from that trip.

minimalism in wax

I found an interesting mid career encaustic artist, Joseph Goldberg, on The Museum of Northwest Art. I went to another website, Greg Kucera Gallery, to find these images. Goldberg gives you mood without story - nice.

inside the black brush

There is some beautiful black and white work by French painter Laurent Koller. It looks like calligraphy very close up. I found the reference to Koller's website on art only art. Here are a few examples.

trip to deliver art to the Gallery at R&F in Kingston, NY

It took 10.5 hours to drive from Ann Arbor, MI to High Falls, NY. I liistened to a mystery on CD and the time flew by.

I can recommend a very good B&B in High Falls. It is The Arbor B&B. The woman who runs it, Nancy Greenwald, is an excellent cook so the hot breakfasts were wonderful and there were homemade cookies or loafcake available when I came home in the afternoon. Also, white cotton sheets on the bed and only fresh flowers from her garden in season - no tacky, plastic - ever. The Arbor is easy walking to good restaurants and a short drive to Mohonk Mt. If this sounds like an endorsement of The Arbor, it is. I stay at quite a few B&Bs but rarely twice at the same one. It's usually the tacky plastic flowers and the cold cereal for breakfast that drive me away. I'll stay at The Arbor anytime I'm in that area.

I dropped my work off at R&F Gallery in Kingston. That was the purpose of my trip. Then the rest of the day was free for photographing. Here are some examples from High Falls and Mohonk Mt.

acrylic transfers onto the back of half inch thick plexiglas

I've been taking lots of photos with my phone. Some of them translate nicely into 24" x 18" images that I have printed and then transfer to the back of half inch thick plexiglas. I've used sumi ink to add depth to the blacks. Here are some results.

new encaustic work for "Ahead of the Buzz" exhibit at R&F Gallery

I've been spending my studio time getting ready for "Ahead of the Buzz", an encaustic exhibit in the gallery at R&F, Kingston, NY. The other people in the show are Julie Dzikiewicz, Cari Hernandez, Lissa Rankin, Ruth Sack and Karen Zimmerman. The work will be up from Dec 1, 2007 - January 19, 2008. These are some 4" x 4" x .5"d wax squares (no substrate) that will hang on the wall. There is a bit of silver leaf on these.





Some other new work in a series called "Wax Gestures" - wax monoprints made on a hot palette. They are 12" x 12" on mylar. I published a few of these awhile ago. Here are a few more.

examples of new work Sept/Oct, 2007

These are two examples of a series of monoprints I've been doing. They are done with a hot palette, black encaustic and clear beeswax on 12" x 12" pieces of mylar.

Joe and Tif on their wedding day in Brooklyn

Friday, August 24, 2007

Wingaersheek Beach in June

Chris and me, on the rocks

pollen on the ocean

salt marsh

sand casts

God's Pocket with Sea Kayak Adventures

A few visuals from a God's Pocket kayaking trip off the north end of Vancouver Island. We went paddling on a very dark night in the bioluminescent ocean. No photos from that - just a great memory. We were close to a fish ball with eagles and gulls diving into it. They were moving way too fast to think about photographing it - all we could do was watch. Below are some things I did get photos of.

From the kayak padding through a bull kelp field on a beautiful day.



just a beautiful reflection


Hurst Island, B.C. and Paul on a foggy morning

photos from "Shifting Boundaries" opening

Here are some photos from the opening at the Ann Arbor Art Center of the exhibit "Shifting Boundaries". I was invited to participate along with Traven Pelletier and Francesc Burgos. The exhibit is down now but ran from Jan. 5 - Feb 18, 2007.

Margaret Parker on South Beach, Miami 10 Dec 2006

Favorite phone photos from South Beach, Miami, 9 Dec 2006

excellent book no. 2

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl

clustrmaps