Jaime Lyerly Art

Monday, August 10, 2009

Artist Trading Card (ATC) Workshop Photos

Artist Trading Cards at the Escondido Municipal Gallery, Before the Workshop swap

We had so much fun at the free Artist Trading Card (ATC) Workshop led by Renee Richetts and Lisa Bebi last Saturday, August 8, 2009 at the Escondido Municipal Gallery! It was great, and I have plenty of pictures to share. Plus, I finally met some of the wonderful artists that I have been connecting with on Facebook. It was an inspirational day!

Artist Trading Card (ATC) Workshop, Renee Richetts and Lisa Bebi standing

Most of the workshop time was spent creating the cards using whatever materials wanted. All materials were provided, and we could use anything or everything there. The only criteria to be an Artist Trading Card or ATC is that the card has to be 2.5 inch by 3.5 inch. So stay in that size and let the creativity flow!

Artist Trading Card (ATC) Workshop, Participates working
photo © 2009 Jaime Lyerly

My son, Xen, immediately started cutting and gluing cards together. My friend, Starry, took out tiny pieces of tissue and glued them onto a card. Her daughter, Pan, drew anime with pencils. Without much thought, I ripped up some book pages and started gluing them down to the pre-cut card. Grabbing some Golden fluid acrylic paints and brushes, I started to put color down on the cards. I had not worked in acrylics for at least a year, ever since I fell in love with hot encaustic wax. It was wonderful to be able to lay down color and not have to fuse every layer! I forgot how easy and intuitive it is to work in acrylics.

Here are some photographs of some of the cards we did at this workshop.

Artist Trading Card by Xen, © photo 2009 Jaime Lyerly

Artist Trading Card by Pan, © photo 2009 Pan

Artist Trading Card by Starry Wizdom, © photo 2009 Starry Wizdom

After we created the cards, and they dried, it was time to swap them out with the other ATC's available on the wall in the back of the gallery.

Xen and Starry checking out the ATC's available for swap,
© photo 2009 Jaime Lyerly

Starry laying out her ATC's,
© photo 2009 Jaime Lyerly

Starry and Pan deciding which ATC's to swap,
© photo 2009 Jaime Lyerly

When we made out choices of what which card we wanted from the board above, we switched it out with one of our own. Here are some of the cards we made in their new homes (for the moment!)

Artist Trading Cards by Starry Wizdom in their trading cubby holes,
© photo 2009 Starry Wizdom

Artist Trading Card by Xen in its trading cubby hole,
© photo 2009 Jaime Lyerly

Artist Trading Card by Jaime Lyerly in its trading cubby hole,
© photo 2009 Jaime Lyerly

Finally, here is a photograph of the ATC's in their cubby holes after the workshop. Most of the original cards had been replaced by ones made by the artists at the workshop. The swap will continue for the duration of the ATC exhibit will be on display until September 3, 2009. If you are in the area, feel free to stop by Escondido Municipal Gallery and trade one!

Artist Trading Cards at the Escondido Municipal Gallery, After the Workshop swap
photo © 2009 Jaime Lyerly

The workshop did more for me than just a few hours of fun. I was so inspired by working in acrylics, that later on that same day, I did more painting. I painted for five hours straight and started 21 paintings in acrylic on 6x6 inch board. Yes, I know 21 paintings are a lot; but when I'm on fire, I go with it! I will have some pictures of those coming up this week.

Until then, Happy Art Making! ~ Jaime Lyerly

Friday, August 7, 2009

Free - Artist Trading Card (ATC) Workshop w/Renee Richetts and Lisa Bebi tomorrow

Want to know what I will be doing tomorrow? Taking a FREE Art Workshop with my son, some friends and a whole bunch of artists!

Artists Renee Richetts and Lisa Bebi will be co-teaching a free workshop on Artist Trading Cards (ATC) at the Escondido Municipal Gallery in Escondido, California during the Escondido Saturday Artwalk, this Saturday, August 8, 2009 from 2-4 pm.

Artist Trading Cards (ATC) are little works of art with the only criteria that they need to be 2.5 in X 3.5 inch in size. They are lots of fun to make, and you can trade them with other artists to have original art works in a pocket-sized format. I haven't made an ATC in years, so I am looking forward to this workshop.

Here is more information about the event:

All Ages event
Cost: Free
Materials: Provided
Time: 2 - 4 pm
Place: Escondido Municipal Gallery
262 E. Grand Ave., Escondido, CA
ph. 760-480-4101

After the workshop, check out the opening exhibit of ATC's. Want to participate? Take part in the ATC trade: no money involved, just leave one to take one. What could be better than that?

If you are on Facebook, come RSVP to this event at this link: ATC Workshop Facebook event page.

Hopefully, I will see you tomorrow! Happy Art making! ~ Jaime Lyerly

Thursday, August 6, 2009

More Encaustic Paintings by Jaime Lyerly - In Progress

Encaustic Paintings in Progress, 6x6x1.5in board, © 2009 Jaime Lyerly

Since I enjoyed showing my encaustic paintings that I did this Friday, I decided to share some more today. Not much time to work on these today; but they will give you an idea of how time consuming it is to layer the encaustic wax. I started these paintings on Sunday. There are only about 2-3 layers on each one.

Here is today's progress:

As you can see, I only added a few more layers to each one of the paintings. They will need to cool before I can add more to them.

Finally, here is a painting that I just started today with adding a few more layers of clear medium to the pre-waxed board. After fusing the extra layers, I used a tool to push circles into the warm (not hot) wax. Once it cools, I will fill in the circles with a light glaze of oil stick.

I hope you enjoyed my work in progress. To see more of my encaustic paintings and sculpture and encaustic process click on the links.

Happy Art making! ~ Jaime Lyerly

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Encaustic Paintings by Jaime Lyerly - Process

It was a productive weekend! I spent many hours on Friday in 90+ degree weather working on encaustic (hot wax) paintings. In the beginning, each time I turned on the heat gun to fuse my layers of wax, I thought "wow, I must be crazy to do this in the summer." But the wax would flow so nicely and beg me to put more layers and I quieted that inner voice with a steady stream of music on my mp3 player. Thus these 6x6" paintings came into existence despite the heat of the day.

So I am here to share the process of how they were made. The weekend of the 25th, I spent a Saturday teaching a Basic Encaustic Painting Workshop at the Escondido Municipal Gallery. It was an amazing experience for me. I love to be able to share my knowledge of encaustic and to show people the versatility and potential of this medium. Watching people who have never worked in hot wax tentatively layer on their first coats and fuse it reminded me of my own first explorations with the medium.

So this weekend, I challenged myself to just paint. Not carve, not embed, not collage - just paint. These little paintings are the results. Some are more finished than others, but they are all purely encaustic paintings. I have documented the process of a few of the paintings to show their progress, and images of other paintings done on the same day are included.

I started with 6 x 6 x1.5" Studio Gallery Panel cradled Blick Studio Artists' Boards, that I had already pre-waxed with two layers of refined beeswax. Some of the wax on the boards were applied roughly but thoroughly, which leads to an inherit texture to start the painting. I like to begin with texture and work color into it. The layers of wax need time to cool if they are applied thickly, so I work on multiple paintings at the time (see the set up shot above).

Here is the first one, with its' progress numbered.

1. Paint was dropped into dots and flicked from the brush onto a pre-waxed panel, and fused lightly with a heat gun

2. More layers of encaustic paint are added, fusing in between each layer. Drops of Indian Yellow highlight the texture of the piece. The texture is also muted and emphasized by the layers of encaustic medium brushed and fused on top.

3. More layers of encaustic wax medium are added and left to cool. A red spiral is added and fused. Other colors are mixed on the hot griddle and are added to the stripe. Here is the finished painting.

4. Here is a detail of the brushwork, texture and dots.

Onto the second one, with its' progress numbered. I did not take a photo of the first few strokes of color.

1. Dots of color (blues and greens) are dripped onto the board, fused and allowed to cool. The entire surface is covered with Indian Yellow encaustic paint, applied with a dry brush.

2. Blue is added and fused. Clear encaustic medium is added in layers to subdue the colors.

3. The board is flipped to put the yellow on the bottom. Ultramarine blue and a cool red are applied in layers and fused until they move the Indian Yellow into swirls. The texture is emphasized by application of red only to highest ridges of the texture. Fusing it again moves the wax into the hollows. Here is the finished painting.

Here are two more paintings which show in progress shots and the finished work.

These next two painting were made by pouring the wax onto the board, fusing it and painting on top when it cooled. Of all the paintings, I think these two are the most "unfinished." They do have an interesting look.

Finally, the last five paintings done on Friday, all with varying textures and colors.

Your Turn:
I would love to hear your opinions about these works and the telling of the process. Too much description? Not enough pictures? It is all about the journey of making art, so I am open to suggestions on how to share my journey. Artists, Do you post in progress pictures? If so, let me know! I would love to see your process.

Happy Art making! Enjoy the journey! ~ Jaime Lyerly

Monday, August 3, 2009

Getting Started in Encaustic Painting Video by Fine Art Store

All this talk about encaustic painting must have some of you very interested. To help answer your questions, I have found you a video about the basic set-up of working in encaustic from Fine Art Store. It shows you some of the tools, substrates and mediums but without any actual painting. This video will show you a peek of how it is done - then you can come take a workshop with me or any one of other the International Encaustic Artists in your art.

I hope to bring you more videos and tutorials as I come across them. I am also working on my own tutorials - mostly dealing with encaustic wax in 3-D. It is a niche that I personally work in that most encaustic artists do not. I would love to hear if anyone is interested in knowing more about my way of working.

Enjoy the video and happy art making! ~ Jaime Lyerly

Encaustic Painting Workshop by Jaime Lyerly Photos

As promised, here are some photos from my Encaustic Painting Workshop by Jaime Lyerly on July 25, 2009 at the Escondido Municipal Gallery in Escondido, California.

Overall, the workshop went great! Thanks to all the participates who braved the heat (hot wax and heat guns in July!) to try out this new medium. They were fearlessly applying hot wax, carving, collaging and embedding items the entire time. Thanks to Escondido Municipal Gallery for hosting this event. It was an unique learning experience for all involved.

Here are photographs of the participates working at the three different stations - painting, collage and medium station.

Next time, why don't you join me? I am always looking for new places to teach my love of encaustic wax working and find new people who want to try out this "hot" new way of working!

Happy Art Making! ~ Jaime Lyerly

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Using Other Artists' Images on your Blog

Alyson Stanfield's Art Biz Coach Blog gives you another golden article for anyone who promotes other artist's work (like me!) It is really hard to know where the line is between copyright infringement and promoting another artist's work by featuring in your blog, newsletter or website. Here is a link to the article:

Using other artists’ images on your blog

Posted using ShareThis

The way I usually do it depends on my relationship to the person. If I think that the person will be receptive, I write up the blog post with the low resolution pictures (taken from their website or blog), and then email the person with a link to the blog post. I let them know that I can change or delete anything that they want. If I don't really know the person well or think that they may object, I will email for permission first. I love how the article tells you to make sure you credit yourself, also. I sometimes forget that others who come across my images may not have know they come from this blog.

Your turn:
Check out the article, then come back here and let me know how you do it! Do you feature other artists on your blog or do you think it is too tricky to do? I am looking for more artists to feature, too! Are you interested? Let me know via email or in the comments here.

Happy Art-Making! ~ Jaime Lyerly

San Diego Women's Caucus for Art - Art and Jewelry Sale

Please see message below from Retreat Coordinator Jennie Bottoms:

On August 1, 2009 from 3-6 pm, the San Diego Women's Caucus for Art will be having a Art and Jewelry Sale held at 8teen Art and Cultural Center 3925 Ohio St. North Park. This is an opportunity for our members to sell their artwork and jewelry. If you love art and jewelry - then this is the place to be.

We will also be drawing the winner of the Valana Mineral make-up raffle at 5 pm.

Please come to redecorate your home with new beautiful, inspiring art by local women artists, and don't forget all women need at least one new one of a kind hand made necklace, bracelets and earring set for the upcoming fall fashion season. You will find jewelry to finish up your holiday shopping. We hope to see you there.

Refreshments will be served and we will also have a chocolate fountain!

Contact Jen Bottoms for more information at bottomsjennie@yahoo.com

Please pass this on to everyone you know.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Wordless Wednesday - Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto at Night

~ Jaime Lyerly

Monday, July 27, 2009

Mojo Monday: Surrender& Inner Peace - Owning Pink

Need to share some of these great posts that I have come across. Check out this one and the previous one. They are fantastic!

Mojo Monday: Surrender & Inner Peace | OwningPink

Posted using ShareThis

~ Jaime Lyerly

What Are We Afraid Of? | OwningPink

Lissa of OwningPink helps us by exploring the demon that most of us know very well - FEAR.

Check it out.

What Are We Afraid Of? | OwningPink

Posted using ShareThis

~Jaime Lyerly