I had been thinking about taking a workshop on resin so I finally signed up to take a workshop from Doug Mehrens (founder of the Encaustic Art Institute in Santa Fe).  After learning how it the resin behaved I started experimenting with it to see which direction it was going to take my work. I still wanted to use encaustic with it so with much experimenting I was able to make them work together.  The reason I was so drawn to resin due to how lends to seeing beyond the surface of the work. That’s the same reason I started using encaustic because I was drawn into how it takes yo ..read more

Laying down the panels and working on composition. I was working on a grant helping Native artists around the Four Corners area of New Mexico when I got a call from Rollie Grandbois. He was a stone sculptor living and working in Jemez, NM. He had heard about the grant that was helping Native artists with booth fees and building websites so I setup a time to drive down from Farmington and visit with him at his studio in Jemez. He ended up getting help with a new website and getting his booth fee funded for the summer Santa Fe Indian Market.  A year had passed after he had gotten help from ..read more

The Artisans Expo comes to Buffalo Thunder Resort every other year. And from what I understand it’s the biggest art supply expo in the country. The event has teamed up with the Encaustic Art Institute and the International Encaustic Association to provide workshops and demonstrations during the expo. Buffalo Thunder has a patio that we used for the workshop. It’s outdoors but enclosed and we had most of the space to ourselves. Working with plants and rusty bits can get messy so it was nice to be working outdoors. Plus we use a stove to steam the wrapped bundles which has to be done outdoors. T ..read more

Blog > Petroglyph workshop at Ah Haa in Telluride Instructor Peter Pino standing by his work station. Him and his wife came from Zia Pueblo which is outside of Albuquerque, NM. The goggles and rocks for carving into plus the tools needed to draw with. Living in the Southwest I’ve always been curious about petroglyphs. Zia pueblo artist Peter Pino was teaching a workshop in Telluride on the process of how they can be done so I signed up. The workshop was held at Ah Haa School for the Arts in Telluride, Colorado. It involved a 3 hour drive to and from the workshop but I had to do it sin ..read more

My work always seems to be evolving. I don't know if it's because I love the challenge of pushing the creative energy or just that there are so many ideas rattling in my head there isn't enough time left in life to get it all out into the world. One thing I never do is work when I'm not in a good space. I don't like the negative energy seeping into my work. Besides the creativity gets blocked and I end up running in circles and am never happy with how pieces are coming together.  When I get into the trance state is the best place to be since that's when I create pieces that surprise me in ..read more

A small family was going to be visiting the Four Corners and they wanted to do some studio visits on the Navajo reservation. Since I had put one together last year which involved seven studios I figured the ground work has already been done so it shouldn’t be a hard thing to do. I made some phone calls to artists in the area to see if there was interest. The plan was stitched together from the time they were coming and how long they were going to be spending in the area. I just needed a day and half for all the studio visits. First Day Gloria Emerson Day one of the tour started off by picki ..read more

Plants being arranged on silk so they can be bundled and steamed. I taught a two-day workshop at the Encaustic Art Institute in Santa Fe, NM on March 24 – 25, 2018. My max is usually a low number since I like a having a lot of one-on-one time with the students. I had four students for the two-day workshop. Everyone was ready to get started right at 10 am Saturday morning so I started off by doing a demo on eco-printing. If you're an artist and enjoy working with natural material in your art making you might enjoy eco-printing since it involves working with plants. The process is taking plants ..read more