EncaustiCamp Preview! patricia baldwin seggebruch

I feel like I need to start this blog with a big, 'it's just me!'
It's just me:

It's just me.
Having fun.
Fitting into this thing called life.
Playing with my passions and making them work!
Stitching up torn edges and frayed seams.
Daring to stand on the edge: and take the leap.
Committed to staying in my committments.
It's just me.
A lucky, lucky, LUCKY girl humbled by the fact that others want to come have fun; figure out this life; play; stitch; dare; commit; alongside me.
It's just me. Come on! Let's do it~
Foundations in Encaustic: EncaustiCamp 2011
Everything deliciously 'no way' becomes 'why not' and ends up here as a 'look at what we can do!' Join me to indulge and explore. yes, it's that good :)
in love. trish
Join Trish and five other instructors and six passionate assistants this summer at EncaustiCamp 2011. Three days and four nights of all things beeswaxy and beautiful~July 13-July 17. www.encausticamp.com

EncaustiCamp preview! Michelle Belto

All Roads Lead to Forever18”X18”
Encaustic, Tar, Torch on Handmade Paper

When I got married, I didn’t know the first thing about cooking. Unfortunately, my new husband liked to eat…and eat often! Thinking that it would be something easy, he informed me that his favorite side dish was mashed potatoes and that “it would go with everything.” What he didn’t realize was that even the lowly mashed potato was beyond the level of my expertise. I remember calling up my mom with a raw potato in my hand and asking the question: How do you get from here to there?

I often get asked that question about my work. How did you get there? For those who will be attending the first ever Encausticamp just outside of Salem, Oregon this summer, you will get there yourself! Beating cotton and rag into a giant slushy pulp and then reforming it into something wonderful is addicting. What’s more making your own supports will open the door to endless new ways to explore mixed media work, sculpture, and, of course, encaustic painting.

Here is a visual overview of the process that you will learn when you come to camp:

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Participants will first learn how to make pulp from ordinary recycled materials. We will use the pulp in a pour-mold (1) which will allow us to add cool things like glitter and cut up newspaper or embed threads or botanicals. Our form, created from foam core and other materials, will be embedded in the pulp. This will make the support stable enough to take the wax. (2)The next step is to remove the water by pressing. One of my students is hand-pressing the pulp. See she is smiling! It is fun! (3) The final step is to allow the form to dry…and voila! You have just created your one-of-a-kind support.
Join Michelle and five other instructors and six passionate assistants this summer at EncaustiCamp 2011. Three days and four nights of all things beeswaxy and beautiful~July 13-July 17. www.encausticamp.com

packing the right bags~

As I dig into packing up my bags for ArtFest 2011, a trip to NAMTA in Phoenix, and on the heals of both of these, three weeks away from home teaching in North Carolina and southern California, I find myself contemplating what I am packing.
Not so much, this time, whether I have enough wax, the oil sticks aren't too gross to share, if I have ample supply of razor blades, collage papers and sample image transfers.
But rather, I find myself looking to my other bags. You know the ones...where I've packed inspiration, excitement, encouragement and enlightenment. What of these bags? Have I filled the proper proportions of delight? A large enough dose of enthusiasm? Ample life-touching connection? Have I thrown in an extra supply of blessings? Do I feel assured that plenty of generosity is spilling out of my luggage and that overflowing graciousness and patience are tucked into the side pockets?
I find myself being less and less concerned this year with packing enough wax, as I am with packing enough inspiration. And it feels good.

I find myself awake in anticipation of the coming workshop not with the dreaded thought of 'will they like me and have I brought enough stuff?' but of excited thoughts of 'how will I touch this group and what will be the outcome?!'
As I move further into this 2011 schedule, daring a bit more to trust the path I am on, challenged to have faith that the desires of my heart can be made manifest in this route, persevering through the process-knowing that God has a purpose for my passion that far exceeds anything I can foresee for it, I am convicted to boldly pack in extra supplies of trust, gratitude and delight specifically for the sharing. I find these to be so easy to dole out and never grieve their supply running low as I have my baggage filled supplies of past; I have plenty in reserve and am finding that the more I pack to share, the more I have to pack and share!

The packing of these bags brings so much more peace and anticipation; much better than the worry that came from consternating over whether I had too many palettes and not enough heat guns! So much lighter than the fear of leaving the incising tools sitting on the studio floor....

And with these bags there is an added bonus; I do not have to wonder what TSA will do with them or if they meet the weight requirements for checking!

Delighting in carrying inspiration and loosing the worry of preparedness of product has freed me to engage more thoroughly; and to this I say, I've packed the right bags....and may just take on extras-they are so very light and easy to manage after all!
:) in love. trish.

psalm 2011

sind or swim
fight or flight.
take it and make it.
What does a mother do when her heart bursts from her chest for her children? For their pain. For their missteps. For their blindness. For their beauty. For their tenderness.
Dear God, if our trials are equally matched with strength and fortitude to survive them, how much do I have? How much must be called to use?
Does love always nearly match pain when one truly invests and gives themselves wholly to the blessing of it?
Dear God, is it mine to learn from, or theirs? Do I let go, or is there work for me in this? Where do you need me to go? To do? To be? To pray?
Dear God, you hold them. Turn them to see you, to hold you, to find you in return.
You are faithful to you word. You work good in all. I wait in wonder for the blessings I know you have in all this. In you alone I trust for what is to come.
in love. trish