Found a penny today! I did not have my phone with me when I found it – had left it in the car.
I found the penny at the post office.
Up to twenty-eight cents for 2026.
Encaustic Trees
It was three below zero in Syracuse today. I did not visit my favorite trees on a hike – I draw the line at eleven degrees, thanks.
I spent the day completing my encaustic trees collection. These paintings are 6″ x 8″ encaustic & collage mounted on 11″ x 14″ chalkboard, and framed.
I added oil pastels, vintage stamps, keys, embroidery floss, checkers, cedar chips, ribbon, 1963 pennies and French bobbins – from France!
I am so in love with them. It is such a weird feeling – so happy to have completed them, proud of myself and the choices I made, but also sad that it is over.
I feel like I should expand the series. I created twenty-four of them, twenty-four different tree shapes. Do I make twenty-four more with twenty-four different shapes? Do I reuse the shapes and change the colors, as I did with the lotus collection? I don’t know yet.
I don’t even have a plan for where I will exhibit them. I am scheduled to show at the East Syracuse Free Library this May through June, so, maybe there.
I am actually still waiting for a back order of frames (four are technically not framed – I just set them in a broken frame in order to photograph them). Once they get delivered, all the paintings will be stored away and I will vacuum and reclaim my living room floor, and my dining room table – until the next project presents itself. <3
The Art of Creation
Yesterday I experienced a meltdown. I was adding the hardware to the backs of the frames and it was taking longer than I wanted it to, which led me to the inevitable existential crisis – what am I even doing and why??????
I took a mini-break to collect myself then continued until I finished that task. I went for a hike, came home and had lunch then continued to tweak the paintings.
Adding the collage materials makes me feel a bit like a fashion stylist. The items should enhance each individual painting while creating a cohesiveness that is essential for the overall arch of the series.
I began to have clarity and after hours of work… suffice to say that the new gold enamel paint had been delivered and I decided, at midnight that I had to apply it. The gold to me represents the Japanese art of kintsugi. So, it felt like a culmination of the emotional journey of this day.
I didn’t love it but I kept at it because it had worked nicely on the Lotus paintings. But it WASN’T WORKING!!!!
This morning I spent several hours removing it. A painstaking process but one that was entirely necessary. Metaphorically, it felt like I was erasing the negativity and the desire to fix something that is broken with something better, as kintsugi is known to do. It is supposed to be a form of respect.
But these new paintings weren’t broken. And they do not have any sort of negative emotion or melancholy infused in them. They are my trees – the ones I visit every day while on my hike. And if you believe in animism, they are strong, loving creatures that support one another in a storm, that provide shelter from the rain, that reach for the sun at all costs.
I wiped away the residue, like wiping away the tears I had shed earlier, and decided that what I am doing is important, because it is fun – and that is all that matters.
I am still waiting for a back order of frames and there is still more work to be done on this artwork because it is all about the layers – the depth of character and all that hidden stuff that creates my visual language.
Stay tuned for the big reveal….
Angel News Flash
Camaraderie, one of the paintings in my “Futura” series from 2017 and newly framed, will be on display in the upcoming exhibition at Mohawk Valley Center for the Arts, 410 Canal Place, Little Falls, New York 13365.
The exhibition is titled Women. Art. Voices.
It is scheduled for March 6, 2026 – March 27, 2026 with an opening reception on March 6, 2026 from 5:00 – 7:00 PM.
Hours (of operation)
Thursday – Saturday: 12 pm – 4 pm
Sunday – Wednesday: Closed
Holidays: Closed
Jamesville & the Metal Detectives
It looks like a church…but it’s not. It’s the Jamesville Community Museum, 6492 E. Seneca Turnpike, Jamesville, New York 13078. They are normally open Sunday only from 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM and only from April – December but yesterday Curator/Historian Greg Titus opened the doors for Jack Conlon’s Metal Detectives event.
I believe I’ve mentioned that, right? That I am a metal detective? For me, this hobby happens in my backyard. I’d love to venture out to all the secret places where the other members go, but they were very hush hush, saying only “an old farm”, lol. They did, however, share some incredible finds!
Conlon’s finds are epic. And the cool thing is they are pretty much all found in the Jamesville area. In 1979, they drained the reservoir and that was a memorable hunt for treasure! Everything from coins, to keys to even a gun! And plastic doll parts and other vintage discards.
It was a great gathering and also so lovely to visit a museum that honors the community of which I am a part – I’m a Jamesville-DeWitt High School graduate.
They have a lot of lovely vignettes set up – like a little school room and a maquette of the Allied Chemical plant.
There is also an area dedicated to scouting.
So fun!
Belonging
What was once the Point of Contact Gallery is now the Warehouse Gallery (350 West Fayette Street, Syracuse, New York). Last night I attended the art reception for Ecosystem Of Belonging: 2026 faculty survey, an art show celebrating the work of current Syracuse University faculty of the College of Visual and Performing Arts.
Artists included in this show:
Adrienne Dagg, Assistant Professor of Painting, Studio Arts, School of Art
Jiangliu Dong, Instructor, Studio Art, School of Art
Meris Drew, Assistant Professor, Painting, Studio Arts, School of Art
Tamika Galanis, Assistant Professor, Film, Department of Film and Media Studies
Li “Lily” Jiang, Assistant Professor, Fashion, the School of Design
Quran Karriem, Assistant Professor, Communications and Rhetorical Studies, Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies
Yves Michel, Professor of Practice, Industrial and Interaction Design, School of Design
Meri Page, Associate Professor,Communication Design, School of Design
Austin Riddle, Instructor, Studio Arts, School of Art
Rochele Royster, Assistant Professor,Art Therapy, Department of Creative Arts Therapy
The Exhibition runs through March 5, 2026.
Gallery hours:
Tuesday-Wednesday noon – 6:00 PM
Thursday noon- 8:00 PM
Friday – Saturday noon – 4:00 PM
Fan-Girl (Encaustic Fans)
Found Money 2026 (Episode 2)
Found two pennies last week! I am up to twenty-seven cents in found money for 2026.
Encaustic Crowns
Blizz
It started snowing at 9:00 AM and now, at 5:00 PM we have already had what I think is eighteen inches of snow. It has been relentless, but, no biggie, because we all knew it was coming.
So happy that my art studio is in my house because I’ve been working all day. I added to the crown paintings – they are almost done.
Before I did that, I heated up the beeswax-filled crockpot then placed three coats of wax on 6″ x 8″ Ampersand hardboards and then traced the tree stencils onto them.
There are twenty-four boards and each will have a different tree design. They are fresh and modern, and fun! I’m excited. I am an avid hiker. I finally realized that trees should be an important part of my encaustic iconography. Today was the day!
In fact, I had a realization about my artwork that I will share with you soon. My series of crowns, horses, fans, bungalows, hearts, targets and now trees are all connected and I hope that they can all be shared together in one (or more) large gallery in the near future.
The overlap is a bit out of control focus-wise because, let’s face it, we are all attracted to the new thing, the latest thing. I don’t want to rush the conclusion of these crowns. I may have rushed adding collage materials today – I will allow the experience to digest and look at the work again with a fresh perspective later tonight or tomorrow.
I am loving my productivity though. I think I am an Existentialist and this is my purpose. A vocation rather than a business. I trust that the business and financial element will follow because I have already secured so many shows for 2026.
In that realm, next up is the Art Haus group show with a drop off in late February and the reception scheduled for Saturday, March 7, 2026 from 2:00 – 4:00 PM. I will be at the East Syracuse Free Library during May and June 2026, the Fayetteville Free Library in July 2026, the Hazard Branch Library in August 2026 and the drop off for another group exhibition in mid August at the Edgewood Gallery. That show will be up through October 3, 2026.