july 30th honeybee

this is created on 8"x16"x2" lumber. it was started at "art in the garden" and finished this week. it is a combination of beeswax collage, botanicals, xerox transfer, and encaustics.

july 30th dragonfly

this is created on 8"x16"x2" lumber. it was started at "art in the garden" and finished this week. it is a combination of beeswax collage, botanicals, xerox transfer, and encaustics.

july 30th

this is created on 8"x16"x2" lumber. it was started at "art in the garden" and finished this week. it is a combination of beeswax collage, botanicals, xerox transfer, and encaustics.

Bees Knees

Bees Knees

Honey Spinner - Grace Pundyk - Books - ABC Shop

Honey Spinner - Grace Pundyk - Books - ABC Shop: "This engaging narrative non-fiction tale follows Grace Pundyk's journey from the wild Yemeni deserts to the jungles of Borneo, and from Russia to Tasmania's leatherwood forests, with many other honey-producing destinations in between. Grace follows the sticky trail of this ancient food, and the people who make their living from it, to uncover the truth behind this 'food of the gods'."

art in the garden then workshops

thank you for staying with me through this piece a day adventure! sunday is "art in the garden" which i've coordinated and will be an artist. after that there are meetings then 2 artist workshops....SO, I am signing off from the "piece a day" adventure. Will check back in after the first week in August to update things. yours truly...Melissa

july 24-26th

journey: 8x8x2" lumber mixed media....

4x4"

The Aztec Winter Solstice was celebrated with ceremony honouring the Earth Goddess, Tonantzin. She later shape shifted to become the Virgin of Guadalupe. Interestingly, the way she portrays herself (emblazoned on the milpa robe of Juan Diego) resembles a cocoon of a honey bee. Or a yoni symbol. One of the mirthful Bee Priestesses immersed herself into the world of the hive ........The image of her emergence from the cave/hive and the image of Tonantzin (aka Virgin de Guadalupe) are similar. Although the Bee Priestess looks ready to take action and reclaim the Earth for the Goddesses, while Guadalupe stands steady in traditional meditative posture of prayer.

fortune, l'amore. 8x8x2" lumber

last of the one a day.....23rd

"what remains".....i found the note on my morning run...and then just gathered items to make the picture complete. 8x8x2" lumber.

july 22nd, perfect flight #2

perfect flight #2...his is on 8x8x2" lumber...wax, encaustics, image transfer

july 20-21

this piece is on a 4x8x2" piece of lumber. I used the iron and embedded 3 locust tree bean pods into the wax.....magical beans! Seems these trees are good for the bees, the flowers, anyway...

this piece is created on a 8x8x2" piece of lumber. i took the photograph and printed in with my ink jet printer. Encaustics, beeswax collage, and xerox transfer were used to finish the piece. "grace brings contentment" is the message embedded in the wax.

il sole (soul)

I tried the embossing with a clay cookie stamper I had...for the sun....I wanted to show the side view with the metallic and relief on the wax...8x8x2"

canis minor

8x8x2 inches....

july 17, 18, 19

a new, bright journey....on 8x16x2" lumber--complete with glow in the dark stars!!

piece a day, working in series

this is just a comment/reflection on working in a series...and the piece a day concept...I just post for 2 or three days at a time...because I tend to think in series....so, does anyone else have thoughts on this? I tend to work on all pieces at the same time for more continuity...

july 14-16, "three dog night"

This new series is part of the “piece a day” project, but is called “the dog days of summer”. There is a layered meaning to this project. Firstly, it comes from the passing of my dog, Ziggy. A friend told me that she heard about the origin of “the dog days of summer”…and the dog star, etc. This led me to investigate the origin of the term which I’ve included in this description. The name
The term "Dog Days" was used by the Greeks as well as the ancient Romans (who called these days caniculares dies (days of the dogs)) after Sirius (the "Dog Star", in Latin Canicula), the brightest star in the heavens besides the Sun. The dog days of summer are also called canicular days.
The Dog Days originally were the days when Sirius, the Dog Star, rose just before or at the same time as sunrise (heliacal rising), which is no longer true, owing to precession of the equinoxes. The ancients sacrificed a brown dog at the beginning of the Dog Days to appease the rage of Sirius, believing that the star was the cause of the hot, sultry weather.
In Ancient Rome, the Dog Days extended from July 24 through August 24 (or, alternatively July 23-August 23). In many European cultures (German, French, Italian) this is still the period to be the time of the Dog Days.
The Old Farmer's Almanac lists the traditional timing of the Dog Days as the 40 days beginning July 3 and ending August 11, coinciding with the ancient heliacal (at sunrise) rising of the Dog Star, Sirius. These are the days of the year when rainfall is at its lowest levels.

posts for july 11, 12, 13

greetings. I am going to visit some family tomorrow until monday, so I thought I would post this piece all at once...process and together. I am not sure where the idea came from...found images including hands...then the hex...then some kind of motif to add interest..I thought it would be natural to use the mehndi: Mendhi (also Mehandi, Mehendi, etc.) is the application of Henna as a temporary form of skin decoration in South Asia, Southwest Asia, North Africa and the Horn of Africa, as well as by expatriate communities from these areas. Mehendi decorations became fashionable in the West in the late 1990s, where they are sometimes called henna tattoos. Henna is typically applied during special occasions like weddings and festivals. It is usually drawn on the palms and feet, where the color will be darkest because the skin contains higher levels of keratin which binds temporarily to lawsone, the colorant of henna. Henna was originally used as a form of decoration mainly for brides.

I am pretty excited about working on and posting my next series: dog days of summer (the dog star series). After that, I will be doing 2 workshops and "art in the garden"...event....SO, I think I will shift gears before the 24th...and then after my week at WMU, start on some Bigger pieces for entry shows. I HOPE TO SELL SOME ART SOON!!:)

july 10th: birdie, sing from your heart

Portrait of an artist as a beekeeper: multitasking

Portrait of an artist as a beekeeper: multitasking Today’s entry is less of an encaustic piece, and more of a glimpse into my process: multitasking. I am not recommending this method for anyone else, as sometimes one ends up becoming overwhelmed and makes silly mistakes. Take today, for instance, when I “tested the electric fence” with my HAND by accident. I forgot to shut it off and was trying to shove the lawn mower under it to get to the beeyard…Youch! Wake-up! No harm done, just a reminder to slow down and concentrate. I have had a strange urge to try it out, but could never work up the courage…until today I did it blindly! Also, the studio is messy. The images depict my 2 work surfaces, and then the lumber waiting for its turn with the alchemist…waiting to be turned into “piece of the day”….oh yes, the beeswax masks. While I have been working the past 10 days, the bees have been working on decorating these masks with honeycomb. Sometimes multitasking is not bad when you have help!

july 8th

love junkyard....didn't really come together...created intuitively--so be it.

july 7th

this piece is done on 8x16x2 inch lumber. I drew the raven images on a piece of board last year...and it has been sitting in my hallway. I decided to photograph the drawing and print it out on the ink jet printer....it came out too dark the first time, so I had 2 copies. I embedded the images into wax and collaged in some historical newspaper clippings. The encaustic colors were a chocolate brown and black. the inky richness of this piece felt comforting during the cold, rainy weather we were having. The birds are a sign..mostly good, but represent the passing of souls. This piece also corresponds with the passing of one of our beloved pet dogs.

july 6th

this piece is created on a 4x8x2 inch piece of wood. Vintage woman is collaged on to the surface with other found elements. This is kind of a change in format because it is long and lean and elegant. Simplicity.

july 5th

playing with textures...scraffito and oil paint to stain the gouges....8x8x2 inches...lumber

July 4th

detail


full piece

just a nice little collage piece...8x8x2 inches....kinda looks like fireworks, no? Nice to see some red!