I’ve been busy this past week.

Not in any way you’d image from me:

not with the new house or the airbnb.

Not with encaustic or EncaustiCamp planning.

I’ve been busy in acrylic.

Golden acrylic to be precise.

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Perhaps you’re not aware than when I dove into this art-way of living it was a dive into Golden.

Fluid acrylics captured my heart and mind

and my then-delight in color.

The rich, deep, vibrant colors of Golden

and the flowing beauty of this fluid line struck a cord that’s resonated ever since.

When segwaying into wax I put them aside.

Dozens of bottles of delicious color collecting dust on the studio shelves.

They moved with me; from the house on a hill to the cottage in town.

From storage-while-abroad to the now turret-studio of our Lexington encausticastle.

Golden fluid acrylics have not left my side

or my heart.

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While in Australia I determinately began playing again.

Fluid acrylics and the newly developed high flows were graciously sent to me while in residence in Bundaberg, Queensland –and I indulged.

 

 

 

 

The spacious studio facilities allowed me to not only paint large but paint messy-and I did!

Large, flowing, color-filled canvases erupted off the floors of the Regional Art Centre’s facilities.

Arms-breadth-wide wax creations emerged and pushed against these color-filled canvases.

Yet I could not yet see my way to making the two meet merrily in the middle.

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Space and circumstance have yet again afforded time to think through my motivations and objectives in continuing to pursue this direction; this marriage of two unlikely mediums, since this Australian foray nearly two years ago…

And opportunity.

This past week I have been one of the twenty international artists abundantly gifted a week of study in Golden’s Art Educators Program. Under the esteemed tutelage of Patti Brady, the expert organizational stature of Pat Pirrone and the wizened assistance of two gifted Working Artists, the ‘Kevins’, I took in more than I’d imaged possible in process, production and possibility.

 

 

 

 

Ah…..that wonderful word that spurs my always-reaching next; ‘possibility’.

Hope.

For one glorious, albeit quick, week the twenty of us have been wined, dined, taught, taken care of and gifted an amazingly abundant supply of New Orleans food, beverage and culture; Golden expertise and experience; Patti training and trial/error; and Golden product.

 

 

 

 

They have set the bar for me in generosity. Truly a wonder to behold.

The education was enough.

The location was enough.

The hotel, food and wine was enough.

The product to try was enough.

The product taken home was enough.

The generosity of spirit of those present was enough.

But it was all, together.

The week was not just one of these elements-

it was ALL of these; and more.

It was too much.

With the most honoring intent I say: it was too much!

But isn’t that, I ask myself, what it’s about?

What you’re striving to be about?

What you keep saying to yourself, and more recently out loud, what you want to be about?

This generosity. This integrity. This dedication. This trust. This hope.

It is what it’s all about.

Showing up in the materials.

Showing up in the education.

Showing up in the time.

Showing up in the experience.

………….But beginning in the heart and soul.

This is what it’s about;

living.

Right living.

Creativity.

Passing it on.

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If I take nothing away from this amazing week other than this-

(and to take nothing but this is IMPOSSIBLE!)

that this generosity I ascribe to-

yearn for-

want to exhibit-

can show up in reality as exemplified through this one amazing week with Golden,

then it can be made more real,

more.

It can be done because

It has been done.

It can be done in me.

It can be done through me.

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I look forward to what comes.

In my art, in this goal to marry these two mediums,

but even moreso, in the surprise take-away of affirmed generosity.

It is real.

Pass it on.

in love.

trish