Friday, September 27, 2013

Whats on Your Walls?


Steve from An Urban Cottage sent in this encaustic painting he did a few years ago. " I've been in art classes for about 15 years and although I find it hard to hang my own work in the house, this is a little painting I just love.  I haven't pursued my art since buying the house but once it's done, I look forward to getting back to that."

Do you know what an encaustic painting is?  It is made with hot wax and pigments added to the wax. It is often applied with metal tools on wood or canvas.  This was an art form as early as 100-300AD used in mummy portraits in Egypt.


Another one of his favorite paintings is a little collage of watercolored papers by Henry Botkin.  Botkin was the cousin of George Gershwin but a fantastic artist in his own right and very unappreciated in Steve's  opinion. I totally agree, I love this piece!


Thank you so much Steve for sending in select and  meaningful art in your home! I thoroughly enjoyed this.  Make sure you check out his current remodel of his porch and  kitchen on his blog An Urban Cottage! He has an awesome eye for design and details as he renovates his 1842 cottage in Boston! 

I had a conversation with Steve when he mentioned he didn't know I was an artist.  I thought everyone knew those were my roots, so for those of you who need a refresher, I graduated from James Madison University in 1975 with an art degree and I taught high school art for 5 years before pursuing interior decorating.  My interests back in the late 70's and 80's were printmaking and sculpture. I shared an art studio at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, VA with several artists.  This was a wonderful time in my life where I could produce art in a community of inspiring and creative artists. It was actually hard to get work done as I was so anxious to talk to and get to know all the artists in the building. I also love teaching art and have done so off and on to all ages, elementary to adult.  Last summer I held an art camp in my home for  children who wanted to supplement what they learned in school and practice further under the tutelage of an artist.

I can't thank our readers enough for the wonderful art and the stories you are sending in! It really brings our community closer.


19 comments:

  1. Such beautiful art! I would love to see your art!!

    XOXO,
    The Glam Pad

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  2. nice post on the art the designs are beautiful it is helpful to the people who love the arts and designs.
    interior designers in hyderabad

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  3. Steve has such beautiful pieces, and I'm not the least bit surprised.

    Thanks for sharing your background, Nancy. I can see how your early love could easily transition into interior design.

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  4. I really like these two pieces and a few others that I have seen on his blog. What a great eye.
    We need to see more of your past artwork, Nancy.

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  5. Gorgeous! Thanks for the info on encaustic paintings too, it is always wonderful understanding a new art form. While I never practiced my art in the professional way you did Nancy, printmaking was (and still is) one of my favorite medias.

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  6. I would love to learn encaustic ! I am taking abstract landscape class right now and thats hard enough to wrap my traditional head around! Would love to see more of your work! Plus JMU is where my daughter wants to go next year!!
    Best, Karolyn

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  7. Whenever you post about any kind of art, I learn something. I love Steve's blog and his art is beautiful. I can see you as an art teacher and bet you are great at it.

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  8. Steve's work is beautiful! I don't remember you telling us about the art camp, how awesome!! Off to check out Steve's remodel. Happy weekend!

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  9. Steve is extremely talented. I am going to visit his blog!
    Thank you for giving all the artists a chance to show their work.
    Erica and I thoroughly appreciated it!

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  10. Thank you for the feature. I should have mentioned that encaustic painting was a big challenge at first. It's a very different media and takes a little bit to get used to. The first day of the workshop, I wanted to cry and go home but I sucked it up and got the hang of it. It's so completely versatile. You can add elements of collage and hide colors in the bed of wax to carve down into to reveal a pattern later on. Lots of possibilities

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  11. Well, I knew you were an artist but it's so nice to hear about your background. My daughter is interested in art and photography. Wish we were close enough to take advantage of your art camp. Love that you're giving back! Have a good weekend, Nancy!

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  12. I have always wanted to try that too...even bought the wax...wonder where it is??? I think your talent is abundant!

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  13. Beautiful art and learned a lot too! thanks Steve!

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  14. Never heard of encaustic painting, so interesting!! Thanks for teaching us!
    Have a good weekend!
    Ozana

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  15. Love these art lessons. I always wished I could draw. My high school would hold annual chalk-drawing contests outside and block off 10x10' sections of our common space and the best artists in the school would draw these giant colorful brilliant works of art that would get trampled on and washed away by the rain and I always thought it was the most magnificent thing.

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  16. Not surprised that Steve has such good taste and talent for art. I envy you both!
    Jennifer

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  17. The information that you provided is great. This helps the people to think about interior designing and quality living standards in life. I am an interior designers in Hyderabad. Please make update regularly so that we come to know the new trends in interior designing. Thank you

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