BEE Team News: March 1, 2010
February 15, 2010
handmade encaustic paint by TheBeesKnees1234
Announcements:
1. Team Meeting:
We’ll be holding an all-team meeting in March! Keep your eye out for the date, and look forward to chatting it up with your fellow BEEs!
2. Contribute to our site:
Have an article or link you’d like to share? Send an email to info@beeswaxteam.com to contribute your resources to our site and benefit the rest of the team.
BEE Team Holiday Art Exchange
Hello Bees! Here are the results of the art exchange we participated in this December! Enjoy:
In Beth’s words: Here is the amazing 6×6 encaustic piece I received as part of the Bee Team holiday exchange. “Sheep Patterns” was created by the amazingly talented Kari J. Young. I love the color and texture in her work but most of all I love the subject of this piece (you know how I feel about wool…). So a big warm thank you Kari, I love it!
In Judy’s words: Pam McDonnell, a native Georgian and self described country girl, sent me this little gem. Looking at it I can sense the rural environment of her childhood. It has a feeling of quiet and mystery.
In Kari’s words: Here is the painting I received… Thank you Tirzah, I love my new little painting. Its hanging on the wall in my hallway.
In Tirzah’s words: My name is Tirzah and I received a beautiful painting from Shannon. It is an image transfer that shows some highlights of the map of Pittsburgh. There are bold black lines that represent the bridges of the city and small streets that cover the international market district part of town. I was very happy to see such an artful representation of my new home… a special surprise because I used my temporary Nashville address for the mail exchange! It is proudly hanging in my Pittsburgh apartment – Thank you Shannon!
In Shannon’s words: I participated in the holiday exchange last year and absolutely loved it! So I was anxious to participate again this time around. To my surprise, a package came the week before Christmas and had several little goodies from Melissa Hronkin. Melissa is a beekeeper and harvests her own wax, so I was super delighted to find home-made lip gloss along with two paintings! It was such a fun package to open and kept giggling with excitement over my new artwork! The smaller one – a butterfly – is sitting at my desk, and helps me study and do my homework. The larger one is a fascinating diagram of a head. Thank you Melissa for all the goodies! And thanks Kathryn for making the exchange happen. Long live art swaps! 
In Veronique’s words: I love my painting from Laura Van Horne (lvhdesigns). I’ve had my share of the winter blues (I really do not like the cold or snow!) and this painting is such a nice reminder of the warm days ahead. I love the idea of something being in bloom- whether literally in the spring time or as an artist- there are always something in bloom, in process in the studio. Thank you Laura! The painting is hanging up in my studio- a nice reminder of warmer days and endless artistic inspiration.
In Caterina’s words: Here I am with Cloud Study #3 by Beth Billups of Tangled Sky Studio in Mill Valley, Ca. She is a neighbor geographically, because I live in Santa Rosa about 48 miles north on 101. I was delighted to receive her encaustic as my secret bee exchange. My immediate thought was how different she works from me. I love this piece, its subtle earthy colors, opaque yet alluringly transparent, as well as the way the clouds are collaged text, with small scratched in dots defining them. They almost look like a face in a dreamy sky. I was delighted to receive a moo card with another one of her encaustic images on it in the package. It made me want to explore her website and blog and look at more of her work. I then went an ordered some moo cards of my own to send off with my art. I am always struck with how there are so many ways to communicate uniquely and expressively in encaustic. I continue to refall in love with this medium.
In Laura’s words: I love this beautiful piece painted by Kathryn Dart. It is done on glass and looks amazing sitting on the window sill. It glows when there is light behind it. I am excited to try this technique. This was a really fun experience and I am glad I took part in it.
In Melissa’s words: Greetings! I received this wonderful piece from Deanna Wood. Her work is inspired by recurring tornado dreams: power, excitement, raw energy! The house is layered on top of a topographical map and some text…red, green, and orange are the colors used. All of this is on a beautifully constructed cradled panel. Thanks so much for the art and for arranging the exchange. cheers!
In Linda’s words: Here is the beautiful painting that I got from my Secret Bee, Caterina Martinico. So glad that I am a part of the Bees Wax Team!
In Kathryn’s words: I was so happy to see my secret bee was Linda Cordner, as I love her work! It meant even more having seen her artwork in person and met her at the Encaustic Conference last June. I love the vibrant green color and the oh-so-appropriate buzzing bee. Thanks so much, Linda!
Thanks to everyone who participated in this fun event! Look forward to next year’s exchange.
Announcements: November 9, 2009
Sail Boat on a Wavy Sea by Willav
Announcements:
Holiday Art Exchange!
Last year our team exchanged artwork “secret santa” style, and it was a hit! As the holidays approach, it’s time for us to get started on this year’s event. Each participating member will send and receive one encaustic piece as a surprise gift. Here are the guidelines:
- Email info@beeswaxteam.com with name and address by November 30.
- Create a 6″ x 6″ finished encaustic piece by December 10.
- In early December, you will receive the name/address of your “secret” artwork recipient.
- Mail artwork by December 10.
- Receive beautiful art.
- Take photo of yourself with beautiful art. Email photo and short writeup to info@beeswaxteam.com by January 10.
Once all submissions are received, we will post them to the website for everyone to enjoy. If you want to participate, email info@beeswaxteam.com by November 30!
Announcements – October 12
Tranquility by Sue Simpson of Earthtonestudios
Announcements:
1. October’s Team Meeting:
As we’ve mentioned recently, we will be starting a monthly team leadership meeting to discuss ideas and direction for our team. This month, the meeting will take place in a group chat October 18 at 4 EST. All are welcome! We’d love your input. Let me know you’d like to join us, and I will send you the info when available!
2. Guest Bloggers Needed!
I’m sure you have noticed Beth’s first blog post as guest blogger on beeswaxteam.com. We’re on the lookout for other members to fill this role in the coming months! It only requires four posts, on each Monday, for a month. Let me know ASAP if you are interested in guest blogging.
Week of Aug 31
Sailor Boy by Bumblebellydesigns
Announcements:
1. Approaching deadline:
If you haven’t seen the approaching deadline for the Encaustic Group Show (in Chicago), see the details here. Deadline: September 10.
2. Wednesday blog posts:
Co-leader Kathryn Dart reported on the annual encaustic conference in several blog posts here. Every Wednesday she’ll be posting new content, so be sure to keep an eye out for her weekly articles!
Week of August 24
Clarity by TangledSkyStudio
Announcements:
1. Upcoming podcasts:
We’ve been talking about ways to market yourself and your art online. Want to join the conversation before our podcasts get launched? Give us your input here.
2. New Bees Knees:
Melissa has been posting about beekeeping and artists who work with the theme of bees. Learn about an upcoming book “Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper” and more here.
Week of July 27
Bella Bird by SoulArteEclectica
Announcements:
1. Marketing your art in a tough economy:
With many of us trying to make ends meet in a struggling economy, we’d like to put together a series of helpful podcasts on building up a web presence / marketing tips. We have opened up the forum for discussion on things like social networking sites, Flickr, Twitter, etc. We will compile any notes, questions and suggestions from you all (along with what we find), and put together a podcast series set to launch in about 3 weeks. Thanks and we look forward to hearing from you in our team forum here.
2. New features on our team site:
Believe it or not, we are still giving out secrets and tips from our time spent at the June Encaustic Conference! Be sure to look for Kathryn’s articles on workshops, presentations, tips, etc now posted weekly on our website! And you may have noticed our newly added page “The Bees Knees!” Co-leader Melissa Hronkin will keep us informed on all things bee-related!
One A Day Project
Letter from the Desert, by Veronique Latimer (as part of the One A Day project)
Annoucements:
1. Forums and podcasts on web presence:
We’ve been getting some great discussion in the forum about if having a portfolio site is helpful….. we’re hoping to do a podcast series very soon on marketing yourself as an artist by building up an online presence. If you haven’t joined the conversation, you can join us our team forum here. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions you’d like us to report on in our podcasts (specifically, on web / techie stuff), let us know. We’d love to get feedback so we can make this upcoming podcast series relevant and helpful to all our lovely BEEs!
2. Summer Object Challenge update:
If you had signed up to participate in our summer object challenge, please be sure to finish your pieces (and include a photograph and mini description) to Kathryn (via email – barnes.kathryn@gmail.com) asap. We’d like to compile the challenge results soon. Thanks and we hope you have had fun with the challenge!
3. One A Day project update:
A few of our team members have taken up the challenge to create one piece of art a day for at least two weeks! Veronique Latimer (as seen above) among others has taken up the challenge! Please be sure to check out members Kari Young and Melissa Hronkin’s blogs to see their one-a-day works as well. It’s exciting to see how these artists have pushed themselves over the summer!
Reporting from the Third Annual Encaustic Painting Conference – Tips on Packing Work
Hi again, busy bees!
I am here again to report back to you some helpful tips I picked up at the Third Annual Encaustic Painting Conference this June. Our first post was on keeping work archival by only introducing color-fast materials in the work. In this post, I will be sharing some information we received on safely packing and shipping encaustic works.
The first full day of the conference opened with a panel on conservation, Conservators in Conversation. The panel featured Pamela Hatchfield, Mimi Leveque, Kate Smith, and Carolyn Tomkiewicz. After an enlightening talk on the preserving of ancient wax works, they opened the floor for Q&A, which focused primarily on how to conserve our own work, particularly when shipping. We were told that if at all possible, nothing should ever touch the surface of any painting. This can be difficult for your every day artist (especially when shipping on a budget), so here I present some of the practical packing tips that came out of this conversation:
- Do not pack paintings with glassine; it turns to sandpaper with humidity, which is obviously bad for wax surfaces!
- Cardboard (acid-free), polyethylene, and polypropylene are safe packing materials.
- Corrugated plastic sheets (coroplast, for example) is also a good packaging material.
- Create a slip layer between your work and the packing materials using plastic shopping bags. When the pieces shift, the two layers of plastic bag move against each other instead of your piece against say, cardboard.
For more information on conservation, check out the American Institute for Conversation of Historic and Artist Works.
What packing and shipping tricks have you found work for you?
