Open Studios is here again! I will be demonstrating encaustic throughout the day, and I always enjoy discussing any and all of my work with visitors.

Am I ready? No, but I will be by Saturday. Here’s what my studio looked like at the end of the day today. As you can see, I have a bit of cleaning up to do before the weekend. At least I had the good sense to close up all cans and tubes of oil paint two weeks ago so as to avoid any unexpected wet paint in the studio over the weekend.

My new paintings are hung, and it’s good to see them all up at one time. I often prop them up against the wall when I’m working on other paintings, but I forget that they actually belong on the wall (on someone’s wall, not necessarily my studio wall!). When they’re hanging, I feel that I can see them in their proper context.

This is the first time I’ve had this set all hanging at the same time. It’s very informative. I get ideas for where to go next with my work, and can more clearly see the relationships between the pieces. Sometimes I see things to fix, sometimes I see things that I love that I didn’t realize were there. Painting is constant exploration.