Zoom! From Haystack, to school to one retreat after another

Quick note to fill in the blanks while I work on the "real" posts for these events.

Got back on Friday night, August 27 from the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts (in Deer Isle, Maine) where I was the Technical Assistant to Cynthia Winika for the Hot Wax: Encaustic Painting Comprehensive Workshop.

The Haystack experience was amazing! I cannot say enough good things about it. I am doing a write up in more detail about this event.

Then school started for me on Tuesday, August 30th before I could even catch my breathe or really unpack my stuff (and life) from two weeks away at Haystack.

As I rush, rush hurry to class to work to class to home to blah blah blah... I am trying to get a solid hold of my schedule and make time for contemplation and writing about my events. But everything on my to do list marked priority! What is a girl to do?

So on that note, I am packing my bags to go teach Encaustic Collage at the San Diego Women's Caucus for Art Retreat, in Julian, CA. It will be the first time I am teaching just collage - which I think is the easiest way to begin to understand working in wax. I am excited to teach, and am looking forward to the event.

But another part of me is just looking forward to having a couple of days where someone cooks my meals again (thanks, Haystack for spoiling me for two weeks) and let's me have quiet time or social time at my own choosing.

I hope to have a great write up about both events within in next week. Then it is rush, rush off to the International Encaustic Artist Annual Advance (Retreat) in San Francisco, the week after that! I think I will need a retreat from all the retreats I am going to.

Until then! Happy art making (even in a rush!) ~ Jaime Lyerly

Big news for the San Diego Women's Caucus for Art and our Winter Quarterly Newletter including Annual Retreat Photos

You have heard me mention it before, or seen a post on Facebook about it. Wondering what the San Diego Women's Caucus for Art (SDWCA) is all about? I am here to help!

Here is a link to view the San Diego Women's Caucus for Art Winter Quarterly Newsletter that is sent out to all members and is available in hard copy at our events. http://sn.im/sdwcanewletter12-09

You can also read previous newsletters at http://www.sdwca.org/new/newsletter.htm

The December newsletter features pictures and information about the Annual Retreat, which I taught "Encaustic Technique." I have been promising pictures and stories on the blog for so long, and I am sorry to let you down. However, I have posted pictures of the Annual Retreat on my Facebook fan page, so please check them out there!

The current newsletter also has the final President's message from Laura Jean Thompson, 2005 - 2009 SDWCA President, which includes the official announcement that I am not sure everyone knows yet.

Yours truly, Jaime Lyerly, is the new 2010 President of the San Diego Women's Caucus for Art! Hurray!

I am so excited to be leading the San Diego Women's Caucus for Art this year, along with my two Vice Presidents, Ellie Benfatti and Jen Bottoms. We had our first meeting of the new year yesterday and it was electric!

Here is a little taste of what we have in store for the new year:

• Free artist demos open to the public after each of our monthly Board meetings
• Juried and Invitational Exhibitions
• Online Juried Exhibitions
  
• Development of Scholarship and Professional Grants for artists

This is new territory for the SDWCA, so it will take some work to establish all that we are trying to do. But I believe in my Board will make this happen!

Now back to Art making! ~ Jaime Lyerly

Family Constellation Healing Workshop with Ellen "Ellie" Benfatti this Saturday, November 21, 2009 in Vista, CA

Artist, Healer, Workshop Facilitator and 2010 VP. of WCA/SD Ellen "Ellie" Benfatti

The San Diego Women's Caucus for Art Retreat last weekend was such a joy. Not only did I get to do one of my favorite things in the world: teach encaustic painting, but I was able to participate in other workshops and get to know the amazing women who went. To see a quick blog post about the retreat, click on the link above. More blog posts to come as I sort through the retreat pictures. One of the amazing experiences was participating in Ellen "Ellie" Benfatti's Family Constellation workshop on Friday night.

I am not sure I can explain exactly what happened during the workshop, but we as a group decided that is was the balance between left brain and right brain that we wanted to work on. Since my blog is usually about art making, art shows and techniques, I am not sure how much detail you all want me to go in about the healing experiences.

To sum it up, I was so moved by the experience that I was on the verge of tears at the end. I have never felt balance like I had at that moment. My energy is ALWAYS fragmented and pouring out in different directions at the same time. I can focus on one thing, such as working on an art project for hours, but there are almost always different steps to take to keep me interested. Plus, it is easy to work on art because it is fun.

It is the left side of my brain and my life - credit cards, debt, bills, obligations, homework, chores, cleaning, promises that I made - that I am so overwhelmed with that I ignore them and hope they go away. They don't and I am just left with MORE STRESS and I disappoint people that are counting on me. It is my fatal flaw. And I am working on fixing it.

Therefore, I am going to Ellie's Family Constellation healing workshop this Saturday. I had many other things planned for this weekend, but if I can feel even a moment more of that balance, it will change me for the better. By talking to Ellie this weekend, I realized that devoting some time to understanding and working through my own stuff, I can change the energy that I give out and receive.

Check out the information below and RSVP for it right away if you are in the San Diego area. The workshop is being held all day this Saturday at a private residence in Vista. It also is normally $300 for this group session, but she is discounting it to $35 to give an opportunity for others who are more financially strapped to participate. It won't be the same without you there! We need you!

Here is the information about Family Constellations from Ellie's website:

FAMILY CONSTELLATIONS

Family Constellations have proven to bring balance to the individual requesting the constellation as well as other family members. In most cases the other family members aren't present during the session. A constellation can be done in private, on the phone, or in group.

Constellation by definition means a cluster. Ellie believes that when there is an unresolved trauma in a family its members will cluster around the trauma. Unfortunately, the clustering is often an attempt to hide the trauma. In most cases the desire to hide the trauma is done out of a "blind love" for the other family members. Usually the "hidden" or "secret" part of the trauma is thought of as a way to protect the children, victim, perpetrator, or the innocent. If this happens the trauma remains hidden and creates an imbalance with in the family's soul. When a client chooses to revisit the trauma through a family constellation an immediate sense of wellbeing can occur. It's as if everyone in the family has been waiting to acknowledge and move beyond the trauma. In most cases, immediate relief, a feeling of lightness, and wellbeing occurs. This relief is often felt by both the client and the other family members. The magical part is that 99.9% of the time the only member of the family present is the client. The outcome is a more loving connection to each other and the people around them. This allows the family to experience a "knowing love." This love is expansive and allows all members to feel more connected and accepted by their family. This feeling is essential for experiencing peace and wellbeing with in the family's soul.

When choosing to have a private constellation colored fields or small objects are used to identify the people and elements needed to conduct the constellation.

When choosing to participate in a group constellation individuals are chosen by the client to represent the people and elements needed to conduct the constellation.

When choosing a phone constellation a client may choose to sit or stand in a room that would allow them to utilized objects surrounding them to complete the constellation. Ellie will guide them over the phone.

Is a Family Constellation right for me?

A Family Constellation is an approach to healing that incorporates the entire family system. The foundational belief it is that when there's been a trauma to the family that hasn't been resolved or restored to balance it can reappear in future generations. Often times when the trauma manifests the descendant who carries this trauma may or may not be aware of it's origin.

When contacting Ellie she can evaluate your situation and decide if doing a constellation would be appropriate for your circumstances.

In many cases physical, mental, and emotional issues are resolved and the client feels an immediate sense of wellbeing.

Constellations can be useful in resolving issues around:

Divorce, Death, Addiction, Abortion, Miscarriage, Illness, Depression, Anxiety, Sexual/Mental/Physical abuse, Loss, Adoption, Loss of Job, Money, Slavery, Moving from a homeland, Victims of War, Religious or Racial differences, etc.

Ellie is not a licensed therapist or Dr. Ellie was trained at The Constellation Institute of Santa Barbara by Dr. Dyrian Chartrand Benz and Joanna Benz Chartrand. Ellie is respected as one of the most intuitive constellation facilitators in San Diego County.

Fees:

Private Session $125.00

Group Session $300.00 per day

Representative $115.00 Per day

A sliding scale is available if you desire partial scholarship.

November Special attend Nov. 21st and receive a private for 1/2 price.

Next workshop is scheduled for this Saturday, November 21, 2009 from in North San Diego County (at a private residence in Vista. Directions provided at RSVP).

Session Runs from 9:45 am to 4:45 pm, with break for lunch

Lunch 12:30 pm - 1:45 (bring your own picnic lunch).

Special Price for November 21th workshop is $35!

Here are some comforts I always recommend participants bring along for their journey.

Sweater, Scarf or Small lap blanket.

Water

Healthy Snack (most of us bring enough to share)
Lunch

If people are interested, I will blog about my experience with this workshop afterword. I don't want to get to far off track from my love of sharing art with other, but this is about the WHOLE PERSON. I am striving to become a better artist but also a better person in general. These type of workshops and the energy I get from the San Diego Women's Drum Circle every month held lead me into a more sacred space that is healing for all.

I hope you can join me at this event. Please email Ellie Benfatti right away with any questions and to RSVP for this Saturday. You won't regret it.

To healing the whole person - and making art! ~ Jaime Lyerly

Back from the San Diego Women's Caucus for Art Retreat!

Encaustic painting set up at home © 2009 Jaime Lyerly

See my encaustic paintings here.

Just a short note to let you all know that I am back from the San Diego Women's Caucus for Art Annual Retreat, which was last weekend, November 13 - 15, 2009.

I have lots of pictures and stories to tell (don't worry - nothing embarrassing for the wine-drinking ladies,) but this is a super busy week for me with something scheduled everyday and I won't get to them until probably Sunday.

Since this retreat is for women only (because of the close sleeping quarters), it had an abundance of feminine energy, which is similar to my monthly San Diego Women's Drum Circle. However, I have never spent a weekend devoted solely to making art, meeting new people and being out in nature before. Usually, I am trapped inside with my school books (Japanese is killing me....) and spend what little time I have outside of that with my partner Chris and almost 13 year old son, Xen. I couldn't even tell you the last time I had been alone, which is a sad fact in itself. Although I did attend Ellen Benefatti's Healing Family Constellation Workshop on Friday, I have to admit that I left early during Judi Burnett's Portrait Painting Workshop so that I could be alone outside in nature. I sat on a fallen tree branch and wrote in my journal for a hour, before heading off to lunch and then to teach my afternoon workshop. More about these workshops and pictures later.

After a relaxing lunch of mushroom risotto, I came back to set up to teach Encaustic Painting Technique on Saturday afternoon. My workshop went very well, although I am not sure how many people I converted to ways of the wax, yet. We set up the stations outside to keep the smell away from the more sensitive members, and to be outside. What I wasn't counting on was how quickly the sun would go down and how cold it would get! The pictures look like I gave this workshop in Alaska, instead of Julian, California in November. The winter gear and people huddled around the heat guns will give you a hint of the weather change for all of us.

It was an amazing weekend and I look forward to sharing more about the workshops and activities, as well as the stories and general fun we had this weekend. Missing this year's retreat? You can come next year! It is an annual retreat, and while this was my first year going, I know it will not be my last.

Until then, why don't you join us in the WCA/SD Facebook Group page? I am trying to get all the members, prospective members and people who just want to know what we are doing to join this group. You can post your events to our wall, and know that you have an audience that is active in the San Diego Arts community. Share with your friends! They need to be a part of this too.

Happy art-making! ~ Jaime Lyerly

Encaustic Sculpture Experiments - In Progress Wax Works by Jaime Lyerly

Three pounds of beeswax in cold pan. "Warm it up, Jaim!" "I'm about to!"

image © 2009 Jaime Lyerly

It has been a busy weekend preparing to teach Encaustic Technique at the San Diego Women's Caucus for Art Retreat this weekend, November 13-15, 2009 at Camp Stevens in Julian, CA.

I admit that I haven't been doing encaustic often within the last month because of my super busy school schedule and the fact that it has been 90+ degrees during the day! But now that it has finally cooled off here in San Diego, I couldn't resist doing some wax experiments even though I was supposed to be preparing medium for the retreat.

Preparing about 7 lbs of encaustic wax medium was one of my goals this weekend. This should have been the final result. Pretty cakes of clear medium cooling. This image was taken when I was making encaustic medium for the Escondido Municipal Gallery Workshop in July 2009.

Making encaustic wax medium, image © 2009 Jaime Lyerly

Saturday started off just fine with me melting 4 lbs of wax in my pan. It seems so good! (We need smell-a-vision screens for this blog post!)

Melting the beeswax to make encaustic medium. image © 2009 Jaime Lyerly

However as it melted, and I added the damar resin to harden it, the urge to USE the wax instead letting it melt overcame me. I thought about all I had been doing recently without my wax. I have been knitting and knotting fabric and rope pieces to be dipped in wax for my Art Actions. I won some fabrics from artist Carolyn Brown Sadowski. I have some vintage books pages that needed to be waxed, and some more books that my friend Starry just gave me. I rationalized that I haven't turned on my wax in a month and that I NEEDED to wax just a few things to get back into the swing of working with wax to teach at the retreat...

It was a lie.

I WANTED to use the wax for myself. So I did.

I ripped up a vintage book and tossed the pages in the beeswax bath. The damar that I put in was melting and sticky. I soaked these papers. I also dipped individual pieces of paper and shaped them. It was fun to experiment and get messy with the wax.

Old book pages in encaustic wax bath. image © 2009 Jaime Lyerly

After experimenting with the paper, I took out the fabric pieces. Dipping materials, especially things like fabric uses A LOT of wax. As I was dipping the fabric pieces, some of them made a sizzling noise. This tells me that there was probably a synthetic material in the fabric that had a lower burning temperature than my wax does. But these are all experiments; so I share my knowledge with you. If it sizzles, it is too hot! You knew that right?

Even though I burns some of the fabrics, they turned out more interesting than I expected after only one trip to the wax bath. They look like leather and I think they are so cool. The images are not the best, but they give you a taste of what they are like. Check them out below.

Untitled Encaustic Sculpture 11.7.09.1, in progress, fabric and wax, © 2009 Jaime Lyerly

Untitled Encaustic Sculpture 11.7.09.1 Detail, in progress, fabric and wax, © 2009 Jaime Lyerly

Untitled Encaustic Sculpture 11.7.09.2, in progress, fabric and wax, © 2009 Jaime Lyerly

Untitled Encaustic Sculpture 11.7.09.2 detail, in progress, fabric and wax, © 2009 Jaime Lyerly

Untitled Encaustic Sculpture 11.7.09.3, in progress, fabric and wax, © 2009 Jaime Lyerly

The last image I only covered partially in wax, which kept some of the original coloring while shaping the piece. I am not in love with these pieces, yet, but I am intrigued enough with them to ask for a second date.

One thing I know about them is that they need a place to hang out and lots more friends! I plan to do more experiments soon, but this time without any guilt of what I SHOULD be doing.

Warning: for all of you ready to start dipping object in wax - it "taints" or "dirties" your wax. The wax that I used for these items was clear refined beeswax. Now it is brownish yellow. Not a big loss, since now it has been labeled "collage wax."

Encaustic wax used for collage and dipping, image © 2009 Jaime Lyerly

After pouring my collage wax into the muffin pans, I cleaned out the pan and put in fresh pounds of beeswax and made some medium. Here they are cooling in their mini muffin pan.

Encaustic medium cooling, image © 2009 Jaime Lyerly

So I ended up making about 3 lbs of encaustic medium for the retreat and will finish making the medium later this week.

I am so excited to teach this weekend! It will be a full house, but I hope each student will get a taste of working in this exciting medium. I never tire about explaining, showing and working in encaustic.

For those of you not coming to the retreat, I will have some pictures up for you to experience it online. Let me know what you want me to post on my blog. I aim to please!

Until then, happy experimenting! Enjoy the journey! ~ Jaime Lyerly

Artist Lisa Bebi Paint Over Demo added to the San Diego Women's Caucus for Art Retreat in November 2009

Paint Over Technique, Star Glam © 2009 Lisa Bebi

We are honored to have Lisa Bebi to join us as a demo instructor for the San Diego Women's Caucus for Art Retreat on November 13 - 15, 2009 in Julian, California! Get ready to have some fun and make some art.

Here is all the information. Hope you can join us!

The retreat offers a special time to make art, make new friends and reconnect with old friends.

WORKSHOPS INCLUDE:

THE FAMILY FIELD AND CONSTELLATIONS, group healing session with Ellen Benfatti
PORTRAIT PAINTING with Judith Burnett
ENCAUSTIC TECHNIQUE with Jaime Lyerly
(More details about the workshops below)

Now Added!
PAINT OVER DEMO with Lisa Bebi
See Lisa's innovative Paint Over Technique on her blog, Pimp my Spleen, and in Somerset Studio's Workshop Volume 4.

When: November 13, 14, 15, 2009

Where: Camp Stevens in Julian
1108 Highway 78
Julian, CA 92036
Phone: (760)765-0028
We will be staying in the new Wolterstorff Lodge.

Fee: A $135 (member), $155 (non-member) or $180 (retreat plus basic membership) fee covers registration, 2 nights and 5 meals (organically grown and prepared by Camp Stevens), and all workshop fees. Note: There might be a small materials fee.

Directions:
From San Diego: Take highway 67 to Ramona, then Highway 78 east to Julian. Camp Stevens is located 2 miles east of Julian on State Highway 78.
There is a “Camp Stevens” entrance sign on the left side of the highway exactly 2 miles from Julian.

REGISTER EARLY!
A deposit of $35 (refundable before November 6, 2009) is required to secure your reservation, and the full amount of $135, $155 or $180, is due at registration.

Registered participants will receive a detail map, a packing list, schedule, and other details via mail. Please let us know if you require a special diet, or have physical restrictions.

Note: There is no cell phone service.

Workshop Descriptions:
(A WCA/SD membership is NOT required to participate in the retreat)

The family field and constellations; group healing session with Ellen Benfatti
There is a “life force” that flows through families, generation after generation. This force is one, which relates family member’s to each other. This is part of the family field of consciousness. We call it the Family Soul. Ellen will be facilitating a healing session which works with the energetic patterns held within the family. Come ready to heal and restore balance to your body, mind, and soul. The time spent together during this workshop will most likely change your view of yourself, humanity, and your family in a way that fosters more love, compassion, health, and vitality.

Portrait Painting in oils with Judith Burnett
You will learn a basic portrait painting technique. You will learn how to pose your model in order to get a good likeness and a satisfying painting; what materials and colors you will need, and how to mix and apply your paint.

Encaustic painting with Jaime Lyerly
Encaustic is beeswax, damar resin and pigment applied to a surface hot and fused using heat. You will be learning the basic techniques of encaustic painting is this workshop. We will cover history, materials, substrates, tools and safety. We will explore layering, collage, incising, embedding, and transfers. There will be plenty of time for hands-on experimentation. Bring your own collage elements and get ready to try this “hot” way of painting. (see more of my encaustic work)

About Camp Stevens and WCA/SD retreat
We will stay in the new Wolterstorff Lodge, which is built from the ashes of the Bishop’s Lodge; destroyed in the “Angel Fire” in September 15, 2007. The lodge has 24 beds; 4 six person rooms with shared bath, and a meeting room with a fireplace. Outdoor Facilities include a tree house, outdoor chapel and other outdoor meeting and gathering spaces. Visitors can also enjoy a swim in the pool (seasonal), a stroll in the botanical garden, games on the lawns, basketball and volleyball, or an evening campfire.

For more information, or to register for the Retreat, contact Jen Bottoms at (619) 892-3429 or via email.

If you missed my encaustic workshop in Escondido, you can join me for this one! Hope to see you there.

Happy Art Making! See you at the Retreat! ~ Jaime Lyerly

P.S.
I just did some Lisa Bebi-style draw overs (like her paint overs but with oil pastels) last night, and I haven't decided if I should share them on this blog on my fan page or just keep them trapped in the journal I did them in. They would definitely fit more into my category of an Art Action, since this is a new style I am trying on. Anyone here interested in seeing them?