Category Archives: videos

The early bird trickles like sand through the hourglass —

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I just finished filming my first lesson for the extraordinary “everything you never knew you wanted to learn about encaustic” course called Painting With Fire:Essence of Mulranny. I am one of 26 international teachers invited to teach at Painting With Fire. The scope and content of the lessons is amazing – yes, even if you are a beginner.

Conceived by Ireland-based artist Lora Murphy, the year-long program’s early bird cost of $199 is the bargain of the century for anyone who wants to learn more about painting with wax or using it as a stellar component in mixed media work. Seriously. The sands are trickling through the hourglass, though – early bird tuition ends on Thursday. After that, the price goes to $249 (which is still a bargain, but $50 can buy a lot of encaustic supplies).

So this is a preview of what I am doing for my first Painting With Fire lesson – it will be released really soon, on Wednesday, May 26th. It’s called Surface Sampler, and it’s super-fun, if I do say so myself. Just click on the image or the link below:

Link to Preview

Here are some FAQs about Painting With Fire

  • Class starts on Friday, April 30th
  • Every class after this is on Wednesday (from May 5th onwards).
  • There are 52 weeks of lessons, often several in one week. All you need is an internet connection to view them. You can go back to previous lessons during the year.
  • All classes are prerecorded (with one exception) and will be available from approximately 12 noon EST each Wednesday.
  • Lifetime access to the videos.
  • There is a Facebook group which is private for PWF students.

And here’s my invitational link to join – please make sure that if you want to take part, join today or tomorrow before the Early Bird tuition goes away.

You’ll be joining a wonderful community of talented teachers and students!

 

 

 

 

Painting with Fire

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The title sounds like something my mother would have warned me against, but it’s actually one of the best things that could happened to an artist/teacher!

I’ve been invited to join a group of the Best Encaustic Teachers in the World (yes, they let me in!!) to participate in a year-long learning experience called Painting with Fire.

Click here to visit Painting with Fire Essence of Mulranny .

Would you like to meet these artists and see what their work looks like? It’s pretty awesome – check out the video.

Painting with Fire Online Workshop A Year of Encaustic from Lyn Belisle on Vimeo.

The program was founded by Lora Murphy, an encaustic artist who was born in Ireland and has a school there in County Mayo called Essence of Mulranny. Lora sent out an invitation to us, scattered all over the world, and brought us together to teach this Masterclass. And it’s for beginners, too!

My pals Michelle Belto and Clare O’Neill are teaching in Painting with Fire, as well. I’ve learned so much from both of them. And when you sign up, you can take every single class offered by every single teacher over the course of a year, including mine and Michelle’s and Clare’s. Oooh, and Crystal Neubauer and Trish Seggebruch and Shary Bartlett and so many more of my favorite encaustic aritsts are in this, too!

The class that I am teaching is called MYTH AND MIST: Fusing Image and Imagination in Wax. It’s a combination of all the things I love about encaustic – pale translucent layers, mysterious photos and objects, fragrant beeswax – well, take a look for yourself. Here are some details from one of the first pieces I’ve been working on::

I honestly can’t wait to participate in Painting with Fire. Maybe Lora will invite me to Ireland to teach in person next year!!

I almost hesitate to say this, because I feel like I might jinx it, but there’s this new stirring amongst us creative creatures – a cautious optimism that’s reminding us that spring is coming and we can start reaching out again rather than just hanging on in survival mode.

By the way, The Enso Circle is certainly stirring! Michelle Belto and I have had a number of incredible applicants who want to join us in virtual residency. If you didn’t get a chance to read about it, here’s my last post that will explain it. It’s a program for the long-term, and when you are ready to consider it, we will be around! Applications are still open until February 21st, which is a week from this Sunday. Applicants will be notified of acceptance on February 23rd.

I hope to see you at Painting with Fire — it opens today!! Warm your hands with us at the encaustic griddle!

Click here to visit Painting with Fire Essence of Mulranny .

Take good care, trust the process – ♥

Lyn

 

 

The Story of The Enso Circle

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Creative work is rarely done by a lone genius. Artists, writers, scientists and other professionals often do their most creative work when collaborating within a circle of like-minded friends. Experimenting together and challenging one another, they develop the courage to rebel against the established traditions in their field. Working alone or in pairs, then meeting as a group to discuss their emerging ideas, they forge a new, shared vision that guides their work. When circles work well, the unusual interactions that occur in them draw out creativity in each of the members.

Michael Farrell, Collaborative Circles: Friendship Dynamics and Creative Work (2001)

After six years of hatching, percolating, and polishing this concept, Michelle Belto and I are (at last) introducing you to The Enso Circle, our Invitational Online Artists’ Residency program. When we previewed the new website to several artist friends, here were their reactions:

  • “I just read your note on the class/residency that you and Michelle will be teaching and just wanted to let you know that this sounds truly amazing. Love both of your artwork and this sounds perfect! I have been creating art for over 50 years so I think it’s time I joined your tribe.” Bosha S.
  • “Brilliant idea. Brava!” Jean D.
  • “What a fabulous idea!!! Love this! This is a BRILLIANT venture!” Christine S.

When we began talking about what has ultimately become The Enso Circle, we wanted to create a structured, collaborative community that we ourselves would want to belong to.

This community would offer a supportive space in which to both expand and focus our present art practice, and to offer us a safe place for sharing ideas with like-minded creatives. It would have a starting time and an ending time, and be long enough to be meaningful but short enough to keep the energy going.

We knew from experience that we both need certain guidelines to make this work for us. Among those are:

  • A time-defined goal to motivate us (an art show submission, an article deadline, a workshop design, a group exhibit)
  • Private time to generate or refine a creative concept
  • A concrete plan to reach our goal with focus but flexibility
  • Group time to get feedback on where we are, where we were, and where we are going with our project
  • A collection of resources, always available, that can give us both technical and aesthetic advice and answers
  • Input from mentors outside the community who have expertise and objectivity
  • Small-group opportunities to brainstorm and problem solve the small steps in the process that sometimes get us stuck

Why did we name our community The Enso Circle? Because the Enso is a manifestation of the artist at the moment of creation and the acceptance of our innermost self. It symbolizes strength, elegance, and one-mindedness.

The very imperfections and hand-created contours are exactly what makes the Enso beautiful.

If you want to cut to the chase and learn more right this moment, just click here.

(And here’s what I know that you’re wondering up front . . .the program costs $325, it’s 12-weeks long, only 12 people can be accepted, and yes, it’s absolutely worth it)

But there’s more, and it’s important – and unusual – read on:

The Enso Circle is based on the idea of an Artist’s Residency – a twelve-week commitment that results in a personal body of work, large or small, conceived and completed through goals that you set with the support of the community throughout the process. You do need to apply and have a goal in mind, although that can change over the course of the term.

The Enso Circle is a unique experience for several reasons.

  • It has all the advantages of an in-depth workshop: resources, technique videos, handouts and printables.
  • Like an academic residency, it allows you to select your individual goal and work toward it with peer and mentor support.
  • It has the power of a critique group through frequent informal Zoom meetings and discussions in our private Slack space.
  • It is led by nationally known teacher/artists Michelle Belto and Lyn Belisle, who will model the process by working toward their own goals right along with you during the three-month program.
  • And it culminates in an online exhibition.
  • Lyn and Michelle plan to offer three twelve-week Residency terms throughout the year. The first one will start on March 2nd, 2021.

Here’s an up-close and personal invitation from both of us, via our Zoom recording. Just click on the video image.

VIMEO LINK

We hope you choose to apply to be one of the first twelve residents of The Enso Circle!

HERE’S THE LINK TO THE ENSO CIRCLE CLASSROOM./RESIDENCY WEBSITE WITH ALL THE INFORMATION AND THE APPLICATION FORM FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

Thanks for reading – you’ll know if it’s right for you, and if it’s not, thanks for learning about our Enso Circle story!

Take good care,

Lyn

Susie King Taylor – Inspiring Discovery, Remarkable Woman

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Upcoming Black History Month is the perfect time to share what I have learned about a remarkable woman named Susie King Taylor.

Several months ago, I was looking thrugh old photos in the archives of the Library of Congress and saw this one. Sometimes, images reach out like a compelling force, and this was one of them. What a presence!

After I learned that her name was Susie King Taylor, I started researching her remarkable life, then used her image to inspire an artwork.

Born into slavery in Georgia in 1848, Susie King Taylor (born Susan Baker) lived on a plantation for the first seven years of her life. In 1855, Susie was allowed to go live with her free grandmother in Savannah. Despite Georgia’s harsh laws prohibiting formal education for African Americans, Susie attended two secret schools taught by black women and was tutored by two white youths.

In April 1862, Susie was able to escape slavery with her uncle and other African Americans who fled to a federal gunboat near Confederate-held Fort Pulaski. She went to live on Union-occupied St. Simons Island off the southern Georgia coast along with hundreds of other formerly enslaved refugees. There, at only 14 years old, Susie became the first black teacher to openly educate African Americans in Georgia.

That same year Susie married Edward King, a black officer in the 33rd United States Colored Infantry Regiment, and began serving as a nurse and laundress for his regiment. Off hours she taught the soldiers reading and writing and, according to her memoirs, “…learned to handle a musket very well…and could shoot straight and often hit the target.”

Susie served as a nurse at a hospital for African American soldiers in Beaumont, South Carolina, where she met and worked with Clara Barton. For four years and three months, she served the Union military without pay. Susie and Edward remained with the 33rd Regiment until they were mustered out at the end of the war. (Source)

Susie King Taylor’s autobiographic book, Reminiscences of My Life in Camp, was written in 1906 and is still in publication. I ordered her book and  was transported by her wisdom and graciousness. She is a skilled and objective writer.

I was compelled to use her striking mage in an encaustic mixed-media collage, which was recently included in an article in the Winter 2020 issue of Encaustic Arts magazine.

In the article, I wrote, “In one of my latest pieces, the subject is a striking African American woman. As usual, I knew nothing about her until her photograph almost leaped out at me from the screen as I was looking through Library of Congress for inspiration.  She was identified in the photograph as Susie King Taylor, and through research I learned that she was the first Black Army nurse. During the Civil War, she tended to the all-Black 33rd United States Colored Infantry Regiment. In my encaustic collage titled Susie, I included gauze and horsehair as material symbols of her life in the regiment.”

You can see the gauze and horsehair embedded in the beeswax layers in this detail. I used colors of indigo and sepia as the primary palette:

As always, photos and stories from the past continue to inspire and fascinate me as inspirations for my work. Susie’s story was one of the best discoveries I’ve made.

If you’d like to learn more about her, please watch this brief video about the life of Susie King Taylor, produced by the Georgia Women of Achievement when she was inducted in 2018. You’ll be glad you did.

See you next time, and take good care,

Lyn

A surprise gift for you that lights up!

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OK, so all of you who take my online workshops really DO light up my life. Your response to the Prayer Flag Sampler has been amazing. It reinforces my conviction that we all continue to need hope and optimism in the weeks ahead.

So here’s a new FREE workshop that I just finished. It’s based on an article that I wrote for Cloth Paper Scissors. Some of you have done this workshop in person at my studio and you know how much fun it is to create these simple, lovely votive lanterns.

I’ve spent the last few days making how-to videos of the process so everyone can learn to make them, and the new workshop, called Glowing Paper Votive Screens, is ready for you! You just need to join the school if you haven’t already, then scroll down to the enroll button, and you are in. No catch, no cost.

Offering these free workshops is one small way I can contribute to keeping us creative and inspired during this unbelievably challenging year. I’ve provided you with a materials list and some other resources as well as the video lessons.

By the way, those of you who have taken the free Lotus Book workshop will see it featured in the upcoming issue of Wax Fusion, International Encaustic Artists digital magazine very soon – I’ll be sure to give you that link when it’s available. I wrote the article to celebrate the joys of sharing a small project with many other artists, and some of the wonderful student work is featured. Over 200 people have already enrolled in that class – and my sister-in-law loves this project so much that she’s even opened an Etsy shop featuring her Lotus Books! Yay!

But your homework assignment right now is to sign up for the Glowing Paper Votive Screens workshop and get busy spreading some light around this sweet (but tired) old world.

Even if you’re not ready to start today, it is a self-paced class, ready for you when you are ready for it – but don’t wait too long. The holidays are coming soon, and these will make beautiful gifts and table adornments.

As always, thanks for all you do – trust yourself, trust the process, stay safe – and VOTE.

♥Lyn

 

The pie is out of the oven

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Just this afternoon, Michelle Belto and I finished our first collaborative workshop on Teachable. I say “collaborative,” but it has been the weirdest collaboration I ever was a part of!

Apparently, we were both insane from quarantine, because we agreed to do an experiment in which each of us made a serious artwork based on the theme of “Apple Pie.” The catch was that neither of us would share what we were doing until the bitter end. We would never see each each other in person, and we would film the whole thing in lesson format for a workshop.

Here’s my studio where I filmed the Apple Pie collaboration – notice the real apple for inspiration . . .

It was an amazing experience. We had our final Zoom call this afternoon, and both of us commented that it felt like we were working blind, filming alone in our studios, trying to figure out our next moves and having to talk about it to our invisible audience. There are many funny, teachable moments.

Here’s part of a lesson that I did, not having any idea how this apple print would turn out. It was, indeed, “less than thrilling,” but it gave me a great new idea that you’ll see in the next lesson if you take the workshop.

We ended up with a total of six hours of video lessons between us – not just the “technique” kinds of lessons, but lessons in what it’s like to truly “trust the process” and hope the right decision comes along fast.

I invite you to look at the free lessons on the Cooking Up a Collaboration workshop page. While I’d love for you to sign up, you’ll get to see the final results in the lessons called “The Goddess of Apple Pie” and “Family Recipe” from the free previews. Here’s the link.

I’ll be sending out a newsletter in the next day or so with more workshop and studio news, and a give-away, but in the meantime, I’m gonna go have a piece of apple pie.

Take good care,

Lyn

What the heck IS an “Interactive eBook,” anyway ???

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I’m happy-dancing about the reviews for my bestselling interactive eBook, Postcards to Myself.  It’s the perfect way to practice your art when in-person workshops aren’t possible.

But what the heck is an “Interactive eBook” and how does it work??

Basically, you purchase a PDF file of the book here, download it to your own computer, read it at your own pace, and follow the embedded links to see the workshop videos in whatever order and how ever many times that you want.. Watch this short explanation!

Video Link – What is an Interactive eBook?

Here’s how the online purchase process works. It’s super-safe and super-easy – watch this.

Video Link – Buying and Downloading an Interactive eBook

Now, let’s say that the worst happens – you pay for the book, but it somehow gets lost in the download or you can’t find the file. Just email me, and I will send you a new copy as an attachment. But I seriously doubt you’ll run into trouble with the download.

Click here for more about Postcards to Myself, including the purchase link

If you’ve never used an Interactive eBook, I’d love to have you start with Postcards to Myself, of course 🙂 Here are reviews from artists who are trying this “postcard” method of mixed-media compositions just so you’ll know it’s working for people who are downloading it:

  • Great idea, wonderful instructor. This is more than an eBook, it’s a class! (Eva Macie)
  • Lyn, you are an incredibly generous teacher! I felt like I was getting a front row seat as you shared your various processes and let me even watch how you fixed a piece that didn’t work out like you had planned. I just loved this class.  (Linda Harris)
  • If you enjoy making collages and if you have time to work on some collage projects, my friend Lyn Belisle is a wonderful artist who wrote an e-book on making collages. It is called “Postcards to Myself” — https://www.lynbelisle.com/ebooks.html I have gone through the first part of her e-book and here is a photo of my first collage. I used photos of my mother in the 1920’s. (Linda Moody)

Linda Moody, Tulsa, OK

As a life-long teacher, I think this “postcard method” is a fun way to discover your potential for doing your best work. You don’t need fancy materials, and you’ll find lots of “right answers” in your creative experimentation.

So that’s how Interactive eBooks work. I think they are a great way to learn because they are a combination of words and videos that you can return to time and time again.

Thanks for making Postcards to Myself so successful. I’d love to hear from you! Stay safe, trust yourself, and trust the process.

♥Lyn

Workshop Update – Meow

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THE MYSTICAL CAT SHAMAN IS BACK!

The Mystical Cat Shaman Workshop was first offered in 2016 as part of the Artful Gathering summer class program. When the Artful Gathering group scattered, I decided to bring this popular class back to a new audience.

The NEW Cat Shaman workshop will be available until August 1, 2020 for $39 tuition, which is about half of its previous cost. In this new version, I have updated the handouts and added to them. The videos, for the most part, are the original ones, almost three hours of detailed instruction.

You can read more about it on my website. There is a free lesson from the workshop available that might help you decide if you want to create some feline magic. Ask your cat if she wants to help. Yeah, right 🙂

Click here for the CAT SHAMAN WORKSHOP info.

And there are new Cat Face Shards in my Etsy Shop!

If you decide to take the workshop, I will show you how to make your own cat faces, step-by-step, using about four or five different techniques. That’s always the best way to do it, learning for yourself.

But if you want to purchase some Cat Shaman from my Etsy shop, great!

I’ve added some new cat faces using the mold I made in the the original workshop. They are kiln-fired earthenware and they come in three finishes. They’re $9 each and there is a limit of 2 (I have only 30 right now).

You may find that they are sold out when you go to the Etsy shop. I sent an advance notice to my private email list last night, and the cats are going like hotcakes. 🙂

However, I’m making more earthenware cat faces today and they should be fired and  ready to go by Saturday. I’ll re-list them ASAP. (And if you’d like to be on my email list for previews and updates, you’re welcome to sign up).

Last note – I’m finally internalizing the reality of these times. Sigh. It’s going to be a long summer and fall without in-person interaction.

As a social creature and an artist who cherishes the company of my circle of friends and co-creators, I miss the times we could really look at each other’s work, touch the textures, laugh and hug in person.

But if there was ever a time to count our blessings, this is it. Be safe, trust yourself and trust the process, and take good care!

Sign up for Small Worlds – and last chance to enter Postcards drawing

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Happy weekend! I wanted to send out a couple of reminders before tomorrow.

cove

If you haven’t signed up for the drawing for a free copy of my new interactive video eBook, Postcards to Myself, time runs out at midnight tonight. I’ll draw three names tomorrow for three free downloads of the book.

It’s getting  great response, which pleases me to no end, because it’s a book I wish I’d had when I started working in mixed media years ago.

ALSO —

My second Artful Gathering mixed-media class, “Small Worlds,” is up on Teachable and attracting good sign-ups – if you haven’t looked at the workshop, it’s a useful one, especially for people with small work spaces.

Here’s a sneak preview of Video Four from that workshop:

Video Link

As I was watching the Small World videos and remembering how much fun it was to work with Citra-Solv, it occurred to me that the product might not be available because of the pandemic. But Citra-Solv is still is readily available in health food stores, online, and at Amazon.

This is a user-friendly class for every level of experience and  and has techniques that will serve you well in almost any medium.

Finally, Here’s an inspirational graphic for you to download if you like – I’ve been trying to learn new versions of Adobe Photoshop and InDesign, and this little poster is my latest experiment. The quote appealed to me.  Robert Henri was an early 20th-Century American Painter who wrote a book called The Art Spirit (1923) which I have and highly recommend.

Download Poster (8.5 x 11″)

I hope you’re keeping your OWN spirits up, keeping safe,and keeping busy!

♥Lyn

 

 

The results are in . . . thank you so much!

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What a great response to my plea for help in my last post! We must trust and rely on each other in times like this, for sure, and your input on what online workshops should look like was invaluable.

Here are two charts from your responses (my geek side took over while I was compiling these stats). The first one shows suggested workshop topics by most votes – #5, Mixed Media on Paper, had the most, but everyone liked pretty much everything.

This shows preferred method of delivery – online classes with several videos and eBooks with videos tied for favorites. Excellent. Those are my faves, too.

These results mirror the topics and methods I love in my own teaching and learning. The new Postcards to Myself eBook with Videos is coming out in just five days. –

And you can sign up for one of my online classes with several videos today if you want to help give more feedback.

Here’s the deal:

I have been researching a platform called Teachable, like it a lot, and have put up a new “school” there called Lyn Belisle Studio. And — as a first move, I’ve decided to add the mixed-media workshops I made from my Artful Gathering classes from the last four or five years to the new “school.”
Artful Gathering, as some of you may remember, was a wonderful organization (thanks, Zinnia!) that subscribers purchased every summer. The faculty, including me, taught various intensive mixed-media online workshops for a period of about six weeks for each class.
While Artful Gathering sponsored and managed the events, the content remains the property of the instructors. It seemed a shame to me that more people couldn’t see those classes now that the Artful Gathering instructors have scattered.
So, I am going to make the classes I designed for AG available again on the Teachable platform all year round and at a lower price. Makes sense? I’ll also be developing new courses but this will get us off to a fast start with fun video workshops.
The first workshop that I’ve made available is called Story in a Story, and it has been reworked to fit the Teachable platform. What a learning experience that was!
There are ten videos totaling a little over two hours which show all kinds of techniques for creating portfolio covers for your kindle or iPad – or for whatever you want! I’ll put a link for the promo at the bottom. So . . . .
  • I’m asking some of you to help me test-drive this new workshop platform
  • I’m currently using the trial version of Teachable, which allows me to have just 10 students – later on, I can have an unlimited number
  • Before I pay the monthly fee for Teachable, I want to make sure you like it – I need your feedback
  • The Story in a Story course is available for registration right now, but again, registration is limited to ten students
  • The workshop price will normally be $39, but right now it’s $10 just to see how the payment process works and all of that – again, limit 10
  • If you would like to register, I will pass on your $10 tuition  to the San Antonio Food Bank (later, the tuition will be $39 and will go toward paying the Teachable platform fee).
  • If you are one of the ten students, please help me with comments on how you think it works, how easy it is to access the videos – all of that stuff.
  • You will help me immensely with my decision to go with the paid version of Teachable going forward. Oh, and I can have classes by other instructors there too – like Lesta Frank and Michelle Belto! It’s exciting.

Here are the relevant links:

If you’d like to register for the Story in a Story Workshop on Teachable for $10 (which will then go to the Food Bank) follow this link and scroll to the bottom for Featured Courses (there’s just one so far):
If you’d like to see the original class promo before you consider signing up to test drive the workshop, go here to Vimeo:
I’ll get notifications from Teachable when you sign up and will make a class email list for your feedback. No pressure, just thanks for considering this. I need your help to know how best to bring you new workshops.
Oh, and the next two Artful Gathering workshops to go up on Teachable if all this works will be the Citra-solv collage class and the Mystical Cat Shaman class! Those should be up in the next week or two, tuition $39.

One more thing- from all the names that submitted suggestions and data, Rosemary Uchniat is the randomly chosen winner of the lovely Johnny Was mask! Rosemary, decide whether you like the blue one or the green one, and I will get it in the mail to you.

Thanks for listening to all of this. There are important things going on in our world.  We are all learning – together.

 

♥Lyn