The banner is up at the gallery – that means get back in the studio and start painting! 10 down, 20 to go – yikes.

The Herb Market was a trip! I had never done a show like that before with tables and lots of vendor rules and big crowds. The emphasis was on herbs (naturally), so I took some Scent Shards, the new little Sprig Shards, and the small dishes with bees on them.
Well! The Sprig Shards *sold out* in an hour – one woman bought 23 of them. I hope she has a lot of friends (or sprigs). Almost all of the Scent Shards and little dishes sold as well. It was amazing.
I absolutely couldn’t have done it without the help of my dear friend Maria Luhrman, who manned the cash box, talked to everyone and kept them interested, and even gave me the best homemade granola bar I’ve ever eaten. Thank you, Maria!! Here are some photos (thanks to Mike for taking these)

  

Work is going well on the Shades of Twilight series – I read part of The Prophet today while I was working in the studio and there are some lines that fit exactly what I’m working toward. I’ve finished ten of the small paintings, 20 more to go. Here’s a preview (although they may change a bit) —

I received these photos tonight from Rue, a talented creator and online friend – just look at her new Samhain Altar Doll: “Season of my Soul:”

 It makes me feel like dancing in the forest! Lovely work, Rue – as always, you elevate my little shard faces and give them a whole new life of their own.

After Joanna posted her spirit doll instructions, I was swamped with orders for face shards – it was great! These five packages went out just yesterday afternoon. And the loveliest part is that I receive photos from artisans all over the country showing how they use the faces in their constructions – here’s one from Karen – it’s fanciful and celebratory.

Joanna Powell Colbert is an artist and inspriation. She sent me a note today via Facebook:

Hi Lyn! I started my tutorial on making Spirit Dolls on my blog today. Just wanted you to know — hoping to send lots of folks your way.
Blessings!
Joanna
http://www.gaiansoul.com/2012/10/how-to-make-a-spirit-doll-step-1/

These amazing creations really do give new life and spirit to the little shard faces. It’s exciting to be a part of it in a small way. Joanna’s work is incredible. I hope you have a chance to look at her beautiful Gaian Tarot Cards. I ordered a deck when I first “met” her on Etsy and each one is a wonderful work of art and human-ness. I’m going to follow her tutorial and see where it takes me – surely to some new ideas for Spirit Boxes and collages. Here’s Joanna’s photograph from her blog, Gaian Soul:

I received two new books this afternoon – the perfect cheer-up from the bout of flu that hit this morning – arg. Both of them make me want to head to the studio right away, but that will have to wait till tomorrow. Here’s the first one:

Titled Wax and Paper Workshop, it’s filled with encaustic and papermaking techniques that are fascinating and inspirational. Michelle is a friend of my former studio partner, Carol Mylar, and we will get to see her in action at a workshop later this month. I highly recommend this brand-new book – it’s not a “crafty” kind of how-to but instead takes the traditional encaustic method to fine arts heights in one and two dimensions.

The second book is Digital Image Transfer: Creating Art with Your Photography. I can see already that there are some techniques we’ll be trying in my Image Transfer workshop on October 28th.

 

I blush to admit that I had not even heard of Tift Merritt, but after hearing the interview this morning on my morning walk, I feel as if I know her well – she talked about, among other things, how she fears the complexity and glitz of contemporary society tries to be a seductive distraction from meaningfulness – everything she said resonated with me. Merritt’s latest album is called Traveling Alone. The title, she told NPR’s David Greene, speaks to the value of being self-sustaining:
“I think, at the end of the day, I have an outsider’s heart,” Merritt says. “You always hope that you’re going to find that place where you belong — you know, you follow the map or the playbook that everyone in the world seems to have, or understand, and you will arrive at the place where things make sense. And I think … that’s a little naive, and that you have to build that place yourself. And that’s a lonely thing to realize, but also an exciting one.”
Coincidentally, my teaching assistant, Claire Afflerbach, asked me last night to look at some of the photos she took while studying in New Zealand – I think this one is a perfect companion for Tift Merritt’s comments. Beautiful work, Claire.

Photo by Claire Afflerbach

Here’s a second “Bridges” piece I finished tonight. I had the ideas laid out before we left for the weekend, and of course, they changed as I worked on them. I tried some melted beeswax in places on some of the elements and I like the way it works as an adhesive of sorts and as a texture. Not quite encaustic, but sort of.