I just completed photographing the new collection of heart paintings. They are encaustic and collage, 5″ x 7″ on hardboard mounted on 9″ x 12″ chalkboard and framed.
Photographs do not do them justice. They are really vibrant in person and so full of texture.
I finished a new series of heart paintings yesterday – they are 5″ x 7″ mounted on 9″ x 12″. I used metallic embroidery floss on all of them. In addition I’ve used mulberry papers and origami papers, dominoes, playing cards, Scrabble pieces and vintage stamps. I love them. I never get tired of making heart paintings.
But, with that said – I did pivot into a new idea. I am fascinated with the Ancient Civilization handbag. You find them in Ancient Egypt, Gobekli Tepe, within Mayan sculptures and other places around the globe. I researched shapes then created my stencils – twenty-four different bags.
I decided on 6″ x 6″ boards that will be mounted on 8″ x 10″. I layered the boards with beeswax and traced the stencils onto them. Today I added the mulberry papers and some origami papers, and tissue papers. I didn’t finish that step because I started rethinking color. At first, I thought I should use a different color for the handles and then – no. I changed my mind. I might have to remove some of what I did because I think I want to limit the color palette, since these handbags are always depicted as made of stone with cuniform marks or hieroglyphics on them. I will let it go for now and trust that I will have clarity in the morning. (Stay tuned).
The art reception for Women. Art. Voices at Mohawk Valley Center for the Arts is tomorrow evening from 5:00 – 7:00 PM. That exhibit is only up for about three weeks.
410 Canal Place
Little Falls New York 13365
(315) 823-0808
There are only eight butterfly paintings left to purchase at Art Haus Syracuse, 120 Walton Street, Syracuse, New York 13202. You can make a purchase using this link .
Art Haus will be open tomorrow and Saturday noon – 7:00 PM.
Penny came by today to collect my painting, CAMARADERIE. She’s going to deliver it for me. The new art exhibition at Mohawk Valley Center for the Arts, Women. Art. Voices., begins next week with a reception on March 6th, 2026 from 5:00 – 7:00 PM. The show runs through March 28th.
On Friday, I dropped off my butterfly paintings for the exhibition at Art Haus Syracuse. The show starts on Saturday, February 28th, 2026, which is also the date of the art reception – February 28, 2026 from 2:00 – 4:00 PM. That show ends on April 4th.
So, I have two art shows in March. I will have a solo show at East Syracuse Free Library during May and June 2026. I’ll be displaying my new encaustic trees series at that show.
Today I started working on another set of encaustic heart paintings. I created a new heart stencil. They are 5″ x 7″ and I am planning to mount them onto 8″ x 10″ chalkboard.
What you are seeing here – not done! No – this is just first passes of color plus the colorful rice papers and origami papers.
What I’m loving right now is how they are both familiar and fresh/new. I have enough colors to fill five pancake griddles. When I first started with encaustics, I only had one griddle! The devices I add to my paintings has also expanded so this series is different, challenging and so fun! I love making them and I love love. <3
I was asked to donate paintings for a silent auction to help recovering addicts.
https://www.localsyr.com/news/local-news/helping-recovering-addicts-afford-treatment/1529876150
Kind of exciting to see my painting, Cobalt Tears, on TV! Hope it and Ink Heart find their way to good people who will enjoy them in the spirit of compassion and love.
I feel so much satisfaction in the completion of these heart paintings. I made them during Memorial Day weekend but only put finishing touches on them, including titles, a little while ago. They are sprawled on the dining room table currently, waiting for me to find a place to store them/sell them.
Hearts are my thing. They are everywhere in my life – heart paintings in all media abound on the walls of my house; I even find heart stones, (literally, everyday) when I walk the trails of Green Lakes. I love love. I find beauty everywhere, particularly in the heart motif, and coupled with the vibrant hues of oil paint infused beeswax and its subsequent texture in my artwork, it fills me with gratitude, a sort of passionate energy and joyous warmth. I desire to share that feeling with everyone in the world.
One person’s positive energy is stronger than a roomful of debbie downers, lol. It would be lovely to think that my good vibes saturate these paintings and in that way I can spread seeds of love into this universe. Corny, I know, but genius. There is power in the unity of spirit. Believing in goodness is the stuff of legend. <3
When you suffer a disappointment, the trick is to throw yourself into something that is fun, something that maybe you are good at, something that you love.
I made a painting.
I’m doing an encaustic lesson with my 9th period classes, using my own supplies from home – crock-pot of wax, two pancake griddles and my messy wax-only brushes. The melted beeswax was seducing me with its pungency. That plus thinking about Linda Bigness enjoying the bliss of mark-making. She sold the painting that I watched her create during that video we made.
And so, when my friend Stephanie asked for a bigger painting of a heart, I complied.
I lacquered it and mounted it to chalkboard-painted masonite and added the dominoes as a frame. It will be ready to ship to Florida in about a month. Steph is officially a patron, owning four (and soon five) of my paintings.
I want to make another series of heart encaustics now (no doubt due to my obsession with making a dozen of something – I know you were thinking it!).
In 2012, when I took that Syracuse University graduate course on encaustic with the amazing Davana Wilkins as instructor and mentor, I had this idea that I would just make a bunch of heart paintings. She convinced me to push myself out of my comfort zone and create other iconography, the result of which were the horse and cow paintings.
I’ve sold all but two of the heart paintings. I need to take inventory of the rest. I think I have sold four of the twelve horse paintings now and I gave away a cow painting to one of my favorite students, Zachary, who lives on a dairy farm. The cows are more of a tough sell, I guess.
But hearts, now that is the motif of motifs. You gotta love a heart. <3
