how long have you been painting?

How long have you been painting? How long have you done encaustic? How long have you worked this way?

brandishing a paintbrush perhaps?!

How long? I know you’ve heard it too; the value behind the question.  The implied weight of the expected answer.

Do you have longevity in the arts? Has your time spent equated to your time invested? Time. Energy. Duration.

not a feather duster; a new paint applicator :)

When did it become the factor of determination in a good piece of art? In the value of an artist?

Certainly time plays a role; each piece created didn’t happen in the hours of the brush to its particular board, but in the months and years that brought the brush strokes of its composition to lie in just the way it has equal its end result.

So I applaud the test of time.

Just not in the questioning of my worth.

But I answer to it here now because I have reached that line of demarcation; I’ve passed over 40 and can be looked at as a person with experience, a life worth listening to based on years passed by….

I have been an artist all my life.

So cliché.

But I have.

So have you.

So has my engineer dad.

And my human resources sister.

And my facilities manager husband.

We have all been artists our entire lives.

Face it, we are here to create. Just as we’ve been created.

I have been an artist my entire life.

I created the life I am living by breathing through each and every day and choosing to awake to the next.

If you want me to look only at encaustic, I have been an encaustic artist for ten years.

 A decade. 

Splattering into my mixed watermedia before finding my right way into the art of encaustic painting.

But the value of this creation is only complete when it is shared.

So I teach.

And I create more; workshops-

kits to bring encaustic more easily and affordably to a wider audience-

a retreat to indulge the art of mixed media encaustic in a dynamic all inclusive way-

a life traveling and instructing

as many,

 as much,

as far as my eyes can possibly fathom; and then some. 

in love. trish

there's no other way to go!

how often do you get to fly on a mobile hotel?! Two stories of sleeping quarters and seats. Too much fun.

 Some of you have noticed the glaring absence of posts, pictures, information from my trip, life altering trip!, to Australia this past spring (US spring that is :)
Sorry about the delay. Stuff needed to be pondered. Things needed to roll around. People had to be consulted. I had to truly trust that God was not saying 'no' (nod to all my EncaustiCampers on this one ;)))) )

 'Queenslander' The traditional house of the norther tropical climate; they let in the air!

And now, well, I guess there's no time like the present now. Putting off the news at this point is simply a selfish savoring on my part...and that's just uncalled for!

I still think their outlets look like ghost faces- woooooooo :)

John said yes.
Patrick said yes.
My other boys said YES!
My parents said,
'how can we help?' (a parental YES of the best kind)

A view etched into my brain~

 So we said yes.
John, Patrick and I will move to Australia January 2013 to live for two years. Not forever; two years.

Amazing trees; roots that is!

 I will teach; inspire that great continent to encaustic and all it's possibilities. John will follow his passion of thoroughbred breeding (the #3 sport in AU as fate would have it!) and Patrick will complete high school online while traveling and assisting me at workshops, demonstrations and expos wherever possible. He proved to be an invaluable asset at EncaustiCamp and I expect this opportunity to give him a foothold into his true calling~

I don't know; I just thought they were cool! I'd use these at home :)

Are we crazy? Most assuredly.
Are we scared? Nearly every other hour.
Are we convinced? Undoubtedly; this is the way for us right now.
I look down that road of 'future' and what I see is more of this; traveling, teaching, inspiring, living. More of me; living.
I know it will be good.
So we shove fear aside when it rises, we take the next step as it opens up in all the 'stuff' that must happen to make this happen, and we trust bigger than ourselves.

It's a flower; really!

There is no other way.
Because, this is SO much bigger than our selves.

And my heart beats faster....

So once the Visa is secured (help anyone!?)
the house here rented,
our cars sold or stored,
the cats in a new home,
an AU home secured,
two suitcases each-only packed full,
and support from fantastic material suppliers guaranteed (more on this later!)
we will depart.
A whole lot poorer (whew, it costs to do this!) but
wow, exponentially richer.
in love. trish.
'Success, and a fair prospect of more, is a keen reason to stay and labor in a particular place. Matthew Henry~

next

EncaustiCamp 2012: finally, in my own words :)

 Collaboration. That's what life is presenting to me lately; opportunities to work and create with others to exponentially move forward. Banana chocolate chip bread is the latest investment opportunity :)

 I confiscated  Bridgette Guerzon-Mill's and Sue Stover's deliciously overripe bananas, drove them home in the stuffed-full car, and turned them into delicious bread just this morning. Quite the collaborative I'd say!

 Next year I have high hopes of achieving this level of bakerly talent! Bees and all mind you! Everything and anything bees, honey and beeswax is on the docket for 2013~

And I'm going to put Patrick on the task of creating a few of these buzzing beauties to mark the entrance to ECamp next year. I can't resist the fun! But as for this year; 2012!?~

The crowds gathered!

The instructors instructed....

The wine fermented....(hey! We were in the Willamette Valley after all! Pinot Noir country~)

The gallery space filled~!

 

The caterers catered...

The welcome goodie bags unwrapped~

And the infamous fountain shot happened once again :)

Nothing more to say. I am blessed. In love. trish.

It was once again an inexplicably amazing experience.  I hope each and every one of you with an inclining of interest will put in on their 'must do' list for 2013. It is going to be that good.

For more exposes on the experience, visit instructors blogs: 

Bridgette Guerzon-Mills contemplating the moon

Judy Wise art blog

MIA instructor this year, Crystal Neubauer's Other People's Flowers post in retrospective thought from last year

Jess Green and her Seek your Course blog

 as well as Michelle Belto and Sue Stover's sites as highlighted above and Sue Simpson's Earthtone Studios

EncaustiCamp more!

Another great EncaustiCamp 2012 sharing~!
 http://amandajolley.com/encausticamp-2012/comment-page-1/#comment-2457

EncaustiCamping~

Just six weeks away; we go EncaustiCamping again! I will get Australian info posted here soon, but for now I am thinking ahead to EncaustiCamp as the excitement level increases :)

It's been a year already and oh what a year it has been~

all adding value back to the oncoming EncaustiCamp!

  Now that I am home from Australia, and the only thing left on my agenda are the details and preparation for July 10-15, 2012 I am starting to let myself get excited and expectant at all the potential inherent in 12+hot encaustic palettes warming up to the beauty of central Oregon wine country ;)

If you are joining me, I can't wait to meet you! If you haven't yet decided to join us, you are welcome to jump into the frey and come along; it's going to be that good :)
in love. trish

new stuff as I depart for awhile

Taking off for a teaching swing through Florida, North Carolina and Tennessee. Left my studio in active status as I was painting up to the departing moment ;) Changing things up~thanks to inspiration from a dear friend Sue Stover. Check out her work at www.susanstover.com and note she's instructing at EncaustiCamp this summer! You will not be disappointed...
in love. trish.

2012

And so 2012 starts peeking its nose around the corner of 2011 and we notice it's presence there.  What are you looking forward to? What is your sense of this incoming year and the blessings or trials it may bring? Whatever your feelings, always remember, every trial is an opportunity to learn, and to receive the good that is in it; no matter what :) in love. trish

I for one cannot wait for encausticamp; I anticipate it's awesomeness, despite the trials it puts me through :))) This, and my trip to Australia!

Latch on

Latch onto my paintbrush. Come along. It is that good. You are wanted that much.

I was listening to some morning inspiration a few days ago and the speaker told of a story she and her husband had been a party to in their home with two new puppies.
The story goes that one pup, when called to come in from the yard, would bound in responsively, but the second lingered and even seemed to ignore the calls. In frustration the first pup, waiting for the treat or scratch or cuddling it surely anticipated upon answering the beckoning call, returned to the lingering pup with a stick in its mouth. Once reaching the languish-er, him seeing the stick and surely anticipating fun, latched onto it. The first pup used this as a lead to draw the negligent pup into the fold and subsequently into the goodness to come inside. Not just once mind you; this happened over and over and over again to the point where the couple, in bafflement and wonder, realized this very smart, very delightful pup was fully intentional in its leading the second pup in the way.

Latch onto my paintbrush. Come along. It is that good. You are wanted that much. 

Allow me to gently, encouragingly, playfully lead the way. I'll throw in a dose of passion and delight, and offer up some amazing inspiration and community as well.
I promise this.
It is that good.
in love. trish.
www.encausticamp.com

EncaustiCamp 2011....

EncaustiCamp 2011 I bow to you :)

It occured to me, just this morning, why after two weeks I haven't been able to come to this blank white spaced blog window and write about EncaustiCamp.
I've tried! I've opened the 'new post' box no less than a dozen times, stared at it in earnest, then gone to a participants blog or an instructors musings and posted them instead....

ECamp 2011 was so above and beyond all my wildest dreams for it. I can't seem to wrap myself around the whole and put the experience into words that service as a nice bundle of thoughts, tied up with a beautiful ribbon and put away in a tight package.

It's not that I don't want to write about it, or that I am ill equipped to do so; I love to put my thoughts and emotions out here to share unabashedly! But with EncaustiCamp it's been different.
And this morning it dawned on me as to why.
I can't look back.
ECamp 2011 carried a weight and measure like nothing else I've ever done or been a part of. I compare it only to giving birth. The crazy, beyond-pain process of bringing new life into the world; only to get through the process and feel so deeply, so passionately, so emphatically filled by the power of love and connectedness that you will do it again; gladly and without apprehension of the still-lingering pain that is required in the bringing-forth process.
That's what it is like.
That's what the whole of EncaustiCamp was like for me.
That big. That amazing. That miraculous.

And I thought I was done at four children :)))

And I can't look back and summarize or compartmentalize what it was and how it felt in any sensical way. I can only let myself be carried on the tide of all of it and continue on to more creating and growing and building.

I think it's how it's meant to be.

When something this big, this substantial, this miraculous is born the thanksgiving, homage and respects-paying to it are best done in the looking forward.

In my case, in the doing it again; only better.

So that is what I do. What I've been doing since returning; actually since finishing the final moment~Looking forward to the next.

There is something bigger than just encaustic in it. There is something bigger than just sharing art. There is something bigger than just connecting and inspiring.
When I try to grasp it, it feels too big, too grandious for this one small human form
...so I pull back.

But, as long as there is this sense-of something so much bigger than 'just'- I will do it again.
As long as there is this inexplicable joy spent, I will do it again.
And as long as there is room for miraculous, yes even in encaustic, I will do it again.
As long as it's in me~
in love. trish
www.encausticamp.com

amanda jolley shares!

ENCAUSTICAMP!
http://amandajolley.com/?cat=1015

http://amandajolley.com/?cat=1015

EncaustiCamp day 2 winds down!