Fragrant Offering

Original Mixed Media Collage

15" x 11"
Wednesday night Worship Painting

Doublematted to 22"x28" and Framed for $250.00

Flowers, especially roses, have come up in images, thoughts and dreams in the last few days, and I wanted to do something a bit different than just paint "a rose" in watercolor or acrylic at the worship service this evening. My thought processes, especially in relation to the worship art, are rarely linear and logical. At some point today, the phrase "fragrant offering" crossed my mind and resonated inside me, and I went to a bible concordance for the scriptural use of that phrase and the word "fragrance." I took many of the scripture verses, put them in a font and size I felt would be appropriate for the background and printed them on acid-free paper. At church before the service, I tore the edges and glued the papers to a piece of gessoed 300 lb watercolor paper and left them to dry until the service started, then blocked in the rose with watercolor and painted in acrylic, rubbing out and using the paint thinly to keep the words readable.

It occurred to me right before the service began that this was about the third time I've experimented with media and new techniques during the worship service, and perhaps it might be smarter to try it out beforehand to make sure it works...but this always occurs to me way too late. The good news is that there is a great amount of freedom and encouragement from the leadlership at St. Andrews to step out and risk.

Santa Fe Study I

Original Watercolor
4" x 6"

I'll be posting some of my studies from Santa Fe - what a wonderful town! Loved being there - it was so easy getting around using the transit system, "Santa Fe Trails." Above is a quick study of the steeple of San Miguel, said to be the oldest church building in America.

Fresco Workshop - Third and Last Day

Grinding Pigments, Making Paste

Today was our last workshop day, and we painted Secco Fresco, i.e., painting on the dried fresco panel. We took turns grinding the pigments and making paste, then making egg emulsion to use as the binder for the pigment to create our final efforts and finish our fresco paintings.

"Fini"

This was truly a fantastic workshop, and the whole class wants George and Tanya to have a follow-up workshop. Making new friends, participating in this ancient art, making plans to continue in fresco - this has been a great experience!

Fresco Workshop - Second Day Instruction and Work

Pigments Prepared, Ready and Waiting

Today we concentrated more on grinding the pigments before mixing them with water, as yesterday, we were painting a cartoon and today we paint buon fresco ("buon" meaning "wet" as opposed to "secco" meaning "dry"). No need for a binder, such as gum arabic used to make watercolor, as the chemical reaction fuses the wet pigment and the lime. The paint needs to be ready as there is no time to waste when we start painting the fresco.

Heidi Transferring the Image by Incision

We made more plaster by mixing the lime putty with sand and knocking that up, saturing the plaster on our panels with water so it would accept the final layer of plaster, the Intonaco, putting that on, smoothing air bubbles out, floating it and allowing the plaster to set enough that incising the image would not disturb the plaster.

It was interesting that some of us had over-saturated the initial plastered surface, running into issues with drying time, and even a few situations where the intonaco was removed and a new intonaco layer put down. My layer was too thick, so I spent time scraping excess plaster off. One of the best parts (although frustrating at times) of a workshop is having problems arise and "hands on" problem-solving.

Detail of Incision and First Background Application of Paint

As you continue painting these initial layers fast, all of a sudden, there is a tangible difference in how the surface accepts the paint. There is no resistance; in fact, the surface embraces the paint, and it's as though the painter, pigment and plaster have gotten to know, respect and trust one another. Suddenly "the dance" enters another dimension.

Until Tomorrow

Fresco Workshop - First Day Instruction and Work

Detail of Fountain with Bird in Garden Fresco from Pompeii

IMAGE: This is the image I chose to paint at the Fresco Workshop. The image was sized to 12" x 16" to fit the portable panel exactly so I had it printed in color for reference and transfer to the portable panel below.

Portable Panel: 12" x 16" with galvanized metal lath to hold the plaster or the"ground."

Starting the Cartoon

The Cartoon: First we transferred a drawing of the image to a piece of smooth paper, which we would use to paint the image by building up layers of paint, beginning with transparent glazes and later using a heavier or more opaque application. The cartoon helps with working out the paint colors for a final design, and could be characterized as a "road map" of the actual painting. For those of us in the class, the cartoon served several purposes, not the least of which was to help us experience the painting process that we would use on the fresco.

Heidi painting her Cartoon

Heidi and I shared a table, and she had chosen the image below to paint.

Detail of Garden with Bird Fresco from Pompeii

Building the Cartoon Up from Light to Dark

The Lime Putty

The Lime Putty: the bucket of lime putty had water on top which was poured out, leaving a substance the consistency of cheese which was mixed with clean sand - 2 parts sand to 1 part putty - to make the plaster for the fresco.

1st of 2 Parts Sand to 1 Part Lime Putty

This mixing process bears a great resemblance to cutting the butter into the dough to make pie crust...

The Lime Putty Mixed with the Sand = "The Plaster"

(Which will continue to become lighter and whiter)

Knocking Up the Plaster
This process takes out any remaining white lime nuggets.

Slapping the Plaster onto the Portable Panel

This is accomplished by taking the Bullnose Tool below, loading it with plaster and "slapping" it onto the metal lath until the panel is covered and smoothed.

The Bull Nose Tool getting the Plaster into Corners and Preparing for The Float

The Float - using the Float Tool

Now we leave this overnight to dry. Before we put the final application on, the Intonaco, we will spray the plaster on this panel with water until saturated so that we can keep working. There is much preparation to fresco because the plaster must be wet to work with or to paint on - lots of pre-planning as the painting must be done on an immediate basis when started.

Fresco Workshop - First Day, Friday, 8/1/08

Detail of Fresco from Pompeii Depicting Bowl of Fruit (or Figs)

Introduction to Buon Fresco Painting
Hands-on Painting Workshop in Santa Fe New Mexico USA
Date: August 1-3
Instructor: George O'Hanlon

George O'Hanlon and his wife Tanya have a business, Natural Pigments Resources that deals in rare art materials, and when I received the e-letter regarding this Fresco workshop, I immediately felt that strong, indescribable pull - or is it really a push - to grab this opportunity. I'm so glad to be a part of this workshop - George and Tanya are professional yet personable, enthusiastic, gifted and extremely knowledgeable. We have a class of 16 - all eager to learn this ancient and fascinating art process.

Today we prepared our "cartoons" and began painting them on smooth watercolor paper, a vital part of the planning process. The planning and preparation are important because of the immediacy involved once the ground is prepared and the painting must be done while the plaster made from limestone putty and fine sand is wet and certain chemical reactions occur in which the pigment fuses to the plaster. In effect, the painting becomes one with the "ground" its painted on, or as I've heard people say, "buon fresco is not a painting on the wall - it becomes the wall."

People Helping People

Junie, Karen and The Convertible

My Delta SkyMiles flight was to leave Charleston at 3:20 p.m. yesterday, connect in Atlanta and fly to Albequerque, New Mexico, arriving at 6:35 p.m. last night. I had a reservation on a shuttle to bring me the hour's drive to Santa Fe where I had a reservation at La Quinta Inn.

I started the day by meeting fellow artist and Courtyard Art Gallery member Helen Beacham at 10:00 a.m. at the Crowfield Country Club where I am the featured artist for the month of August. We hung 26 framed pieces of mine before I dashed back to Mt. Pleasant to finish packing and meet my next door neighbor Gary Tatum who kindly drove me to the airport for my flight.

It seems that Atlanta was experiencing violent weather, and the terminal literally shut down and nothing moved - into the Atlanta hub or out of it. Finally we were cleared, but there was a good chance I would miss my connecting flight so the Delta representative confirmed me for the next flight just in case, and when I arrived in Atlanta, that flight was well on its way to Albequerque without me. So I called my shuttle reservation to reserve for a later time, called my hotel to say I'd be late but would get there eventually. The connecting departure continued to be delayed, I kept calling my reservations to keep them updated and ended up meeting a fellow traveler and new friend, Carla from Summerville, who was on her way to Albequerque to visit her mother.

The crisis came when I realized that the last shuttle for Santa Fe would have left well before I arrived. It's never easy to make wise decisions when you're physically and emotionally tired and just a tad stressed out. However, in this state, I even realized that renting a car and driving by myself a lonely road in a part of the country I'd never been in before at 12:30 p.m. Santa Fe time and 2:30 p.m. my time was never an option for me. The other options were sleeping in the Albequerque airport, catching the first shuttle to Santa Fe at 8:45 a.m. and losing probably the first half of the workshop day, or taking a taxi to Santa Fe which would be a major expense. In the end, the taxi seemed the wisest option so I decided to do that.

But God loves to open doors before we even know we need them, and I had been praying for his divine help and guidance, and so had my friend Beth Keener, major intercessor and friend of God.
In my aisle seat on the new connector flight, chatting with the young lady seated next to me, I told her I had determined to hire a taxi to Santa Fe. Lo and behold, the lady across the aisle from me, said, "did I hear you correctly?" Junie and her friend, Karen, were on their way to Santa Fe from Asheville, NC and, due to the flight delay, had called and rented a car in Albequerque before they ever left Atlanta. So, there was my answer - and so much less expensive than the taxi drive! I could contribute financially to the cost of the car rental, gas, etc. and I didn't have to drive - and the car they asked for wasn't available, so Avis gave them a convertible - what a wonderful way to come to Santa Fe for the first time - the power of the wind in my face, the stunning night sky with its glitter of stars and cresting the hill for my first sight of Santa Fe - no photograph can capture the essence of that moment or the gratitude of divine connections and people helping people!