– my first ever encaustic journal –

My encaustic journals began in Trish’s class – and she didn’t know this until recently! In 2012, I took a workshop with “the” Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch in Asheville, North Carolina. I had studied encaustic for several years and looked forward to learning new techniques from this well known artist. I decided to work on small (teeny, tiny) panels because the size made me feel more open to experimentation. My artwork unfolded in neat super tidy compartmental spaces, and by the end of class, the panels that were grouped close together started to resemble one another. They were meant to be connected.

At the time, I was also deep into bookbinding. Books are a first love for me. I was surrounded by books as a child and always kept diaries, sketchbooks, and notebooks. When I discovered bookbinding could be a career, I was stunned to my core, and knew it was my life’s work. I was meant to be connected.

The art panels made in Trish’s class became my first edition of encaustic journals. The small (teeny, tiny) green book was my “favorite favorite” and inside I drew small (teeny, tiny) designs for carved stamps. Over the years, I honed my encaustic and bookbinding methods, and the journals became my signature item – and something I love to share with other people.

We are meant to be connected.

  – my most recent edition of encaustic journals –

Flash forward to EncaustiCamp 2015, Trish brought me on board as an instructor. I had the pleasure and privilege of meeting the other instructors and many students last year at ECamp 2014. For this upcoming fifth anniversary year, Shary and Amanda and I are collaborating to make Track One SUPER HOT. Between the three of us, and with a nudge from Trish, we are bringing a new element into the hive: beeswax infused journal pages, to be softly bound with thread and encased in glass.

This nudge from Trish came at the perfect time for me, as an artist and as an instructor. For many years, I filled blank books with visual journaling, and given my background with books, this made a lot of sense. However as my career got busier and my encaustic supplies diverged from my (acrylic) journal supplies, I got further and further away from my visual journaling practice. Now it has come full circle.

It’s amazing, the degrees of connection.

 – my visual journal, one of many –