Bakehouse Art Complex Miami Visit

Had to share with you some of my favorite artwork by incredibly talented artists at the Bakehouse Art Complex in Miami, Florida, where I visited yesterday.

Lots of yummy sandy texture going on in this painting.

Olivier Dubois, 71in x 79in, acrylic and mixed media

That's all thread! Karla Caprali

Excellent illustrative style in B&W. Elba Martinez & Edwin Villasmil

Happy Art Spotting!  :D  Tristina

Art In A Vacuum or Creative Community?

To feel like you're not creating art in a vacuum, it's important to connect to a creative community. Besides the connecting we do online through social media activity, where many of the people we meet are in far-flung places, I find it's gratifying to build local relationships with other artists, cultural support groups, universities, schools, museums and art supply stores.

Utrecht/Blick in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has been my local art supply store since they opened. I spend many hours in the store perusing on an almost weekly basis and have gotten to know well the store manager, Serafima, and her staff. Before Serafima became manager, I became friends with the previous store manager, Corinna, who is now in the Miami store. I have offered my time to both of them and done many art demonstrations over the years in their stores.

A few days ago I found myself heading to Miami to drop my daughter off for the day. Rather than take the long drive back home and have to return round-trip again later, I decided to stay in Miami and brought some art supplies along in the car to be sure my time waiting would be productive. I am always mesmerized by "public" painters, so thought a plein air painting session would be fun.

That afternoon I had the option to go to the beautiful Fairchild Gardens to paint, or, I thought, what about seeing if Corinna at the Miami Utrecht/Blick would allow me to set up a table inside the store to paint in the comfort of air-conditioning and share my painting passion with her customers? She and her staff graciously invited me in, so I spent a delightful afternoon with them sketching in Pastels, playing with Oils, and sharing my knowledge and techniques with their curious customers.

 Painting in Blick Miami store with dry pastels.

Dry pastel sketch on mixed media paper.

Abstraction of above photo with dry pastel on mixed media paper.

Starting another dry pastel painting on ArtSpectrum colourfix pastel paper.

I highly recommend if you haven't already taken the opportunity to make art in public places that you give it a try. Take a look in your community for potential art-friendly locations - restaurants, hotels, a local art guild, art supply stores, area art-walks or any place that would like to bring interest to their customers. Get creative and think outside the box! 

Then, simply ask. Don't take a "no" as a personal rejection, just keep trying. In the mean time, practice painting or drawing in front of people by setting up outside in a park or on a bench along a public road with lots of foot traffic. In no time, you'll become great at painting and talking about it at the same time in front of strangers... and may even find some fans! Be brave, put yourself out there, build relationships and experience how enriching your creative community can be.

HAPPY ARTING!  Tristina  :D

Encaustic Workshop Adventure

It's so much fun to walk into a room of artists, both experienced and beginners alike, eager to play and learn about hot Encaustic Wax painting. These workshops are always MAGICAL! Thank you Sonia Hidalgo from Romero Hidalgo Artists' Studios in the Red Road Art District, Miami, for inviting me to share my passion for hot wax with your wonderful students!

Encaustic Wax Collage & Transfer Adventure Workshop

If you would like to request I travel to your location to give an encaustic wax or mixed media workshop, just fill out the contact form on the left side of this blog's page to send me an email.

Happy Arting! :)  Tristina

Contemporary Miami at Wynwood, Art Basel

This was my first year attending Art Basel in Miami. I know, crazy right since I live just up the road in Fort Lauderdale? In the past I didn't want to brave the crowds, but this year I was Gallery represented by ArtBlend of Fort Lauderdale in the Spectrum tent in the Wynwood Arts District. In addition to that, I was fortunate enough to have received free tickets to several other of the art show tents as well due to the connections made throughout 2013 submitting to Gallery 'Calls for Art' and joining Gallery/Art Newsletter mailing lists... (There's a hint for ya if you want to score tickets next year to Miami or NY!)

ArtBlend Gallery in Fort Lauderdale was representing my Asia Series paintings. Here are a few of them:

Hana

Prosperity

Song

Dynasty

I took artistic license in creating "artful calligraphy" for these paintings based on my experience in studying Chinese calligraphy painting, but allowing myself to make up the letter forms. In an effort to then attach meaning to each painting, I wrote a Haiku style poem on the back for how the painting reminded me of of my having grown up in Taipei, Taiwan and Seoul, Korea as a child.

Here are some of my favorite pieces by other artists from the Miami Art Basel Wynwood Contemporary shows:

blah, blah, blah - Mel Bochner, Quint Contemporary Art

Ross Bonfanti (creepy, but cool!)

Judy Pfaff,  Accola Griefen Gallery (encaustic wax on ephemera from India)

 

Ensayo Sobre Guero Tropical, Omar Chacon, Fouladi Projects Gallery

Alejo Santa Maria

Festival, Suh Jeong Min, Jankossen Contemporary (rolled and sliced Korean paper)

Richard Hart, Baang & Burne Gallery

Me with Charlie of Baang & Burne Gallery, NY who graciously gave me tickets to the CONTEXT Contemporary Art Show. In front of her artist, Richart Hart's, powerful works.

And, last but not least, my fellow artist Tonia Wasko and I were fascinated by the running videos with sound  encapsulated in glass jars by artist David Zimmer at the Robischon Gallery booth. Here's a link to a video I took of one of the jars YouTube of Live Tornado Capsule. You can see more of David Zimmer's artwork at the Robischon Gallery website HERE.

Hope you enjoyed this glimpse into Miami's Art Basel 2013! HAPPY ARTING! Tristina

Love for Encaustic Wax Painting on Paper

Enjoyed another wildly successful workshop in Miami all day Saturday, Dec 14, at Romero Hidalgo Artist's Studio in the Red Road Arts District! The students had a blast learning techniques for working with hot encaustic wax paints making monotype prints and modifying the prints with oil pastel sticks, making encaustic-bound paper collages, and encaustic wax painting directly on paper with metal leaf enhancement. A huge THANK YOU to Sonia Hidalgo for inviting me to Miami to teach this workshop. She runs a classy operation and has awesome students!

Working with encaustic wax paint on hot palettes to create images to pull for Monotype prints.

Enhancing a monotype print on the hot palette with oil pastel sticks.

Studio owner Sonia Hidalgo visiting our workshop during a break in her teaching schedule.

Working on encaustic wax monotype print series' directly on the hot palette.

Finishing up a monotype print series and cleaning the other palette for encaustic collage.

Putting a last coat of paint on the final project of the day.

Enhancing encaustic painting on paper with metal leaf, then distressing with steel wool.

A selection of Cecilia's finished works. Love the satisfied smiles!

Encaustic wax Monotype print on Sumi-e rice paper.

Encaustic wax painting on handmade paper with distressed metal leaf. 

Claudia's collection of monotype prints, paper collage and painted paper all with encaustic wax paint.

Camellia's collection of monotype prints, paper collage and painted paper with encaustic wax paint.

Angie's collection of monotype prints, paper collage and painted paper with encaustic wax paint.

If you are planning on being in the South Florida area, feel free to check out the online event schedule on my website at www.MultiMediaMavenArt.com. Find the Events, Workshops & Demos tab on the left side of the screen and select it to view my calender. If you are interested in a workshop or event not listed in the calendar, email me at MultiMediaMaven@yahoo.com so we can accommodate your needs.

Happy Arting!  Tristina

Half Day Encaustic in Layers Workshop Miami

Huge thanks to Sonia Hidalgo for inviting me to share my passion for Encaustic Wax painting with her enthusiastic students at her Romero Hidalgo Artist's Studios in the Red Road Arts District, Miami, on Nov 22. I explained the fascinating history of this ancient painting medium and safety considerations before we dove in to creating 6" x 6" multi-layered encaustic wax paintings. Here's a glimpse into this studio workshop and the beautiful results...

Sonia (in black) helping with instructing students at the start of class.

Sonia watching as students prime their boards with plain beeswax, 

fuse with a heat gun, then coat again in wax medium.

Students working around the palette to build their initial layers, 

and fusing with the heat gun between layers.

Building layers of wax paint over a drawing; fusing gently.

Experimenting with pouring liquid wax paint into metal forms on the painting surface.

So proud of the finished painting!

Beautiful completed paintings by the 7 artists!

So happy to stand with the artists and join them in their happy success. :)

THANK  YOU  SONIA!

To find where I will be teaching a workshop next, check out my online calendar at
www.MultiMediaMavenArt.com and select the Events, Workshops & Demos tab
on the left hand side of the screen.

Happy Arting!   Tristina