Let's Try This Again! Rockethub Campaign Continues: Ten for Fifty

**Sold Out in 24 hours! You guys rock- thank you! Stay tuned for part two of the campaign!**

**PayPal Buttons are now working and I've added two new works to the sale just to entice you to try again! But please contact me if you experience any problems with the check-out process**

You may remember my Rockethub Campaign, which ended back in April with 50% funding. A number I counted as a great start toward my goal of paying my booth fee and purchasing a booth panel system to enable me to participate in outstanding national fine art and craft shows such as the upcoming American Craft Expo in Evanston this August. And as promised at the end of that campaign, today I am furthering my efforts toward raising the funds I need by offering ten 6" x 6" works for only $50 each. This is a substantial savings of over $150 each! 

If you would like to support my efforts toward my goals and obtain one of my collage works in the process, all you need to do is click on the purchase button beneath the work of art you would like here on my blog. You will not find these prices offered anywhere else, including my website. 

Thanks for your support, encouragement, cheering me on, and dreaming with me!

**********************************************************************************

"YOLO (you only live once)" 6" x 6" collage by Crystal Neubauer

Sold
***************************************************************************************

"He Hears My Voice" 6" x 6" collage by Crystal Neubauer

Sold
******************************************************************************************************************

"Count It All Joy" 6" x 6" collage by Crystal Neubauer

Sold
**********************************************************************************

"Add or Distraction" 6" x 6" collage by Crystal Neubauer

Sold
**********************************************************************************

"My Soul Will Rest In Your Embrace" 6" x 6" collage by Crystal Neubauer

Sold

**********************************************************************************

"And He Went" 6" x 6" collage by Crystal Neubauer

Sold

**********************************************************************************

**Newly added!** "Travail" 6" x 6" collage by Crystal Neubauer

Sold

************************************************************************************************************

"Infinite Hope" 6" x 6" collage by Crystal Neubauer

Sold

**********************************************************************************

"On The Wings of a Prayer" 6" x 6" collage by Crystal Neubauer

Sold

**********************************************************************************

"Spirit Lead Me Where My Trust Is Without Borders" 6" x 6" collage by Crystal Neubauer

Sold
**************************************************************************************************************

"Forty Days in the Desert" 6" x 6" collage by Crystal Neubauer

Sold
**********************************************************************************

**Newly Added!** "Woman of Substance" 6" x 6" collage by Crystal Neubauer

Sold

Meet Shary Bartlett: The Many Faces of EncaustiCamp

Another edition in the continuing series designed to share with you the many faces of one of my favorite places to teach, EncaustiCamp. Held each summer in the Seattle area, this extraordinary retreat not only has captured many a student and teacher's heart, but also become the subject of a book featuring each of the instructors and a few of the camp VIPs. I hope to bounce around between teachers, vendors and former students (or "lifers" as they become affectionately known), throughout the series to give you a taste of the goodness from many perspectives. 

Today Artist/Instructor Shary Bartlett joins us to talk about her experience at EncaustiCamp last year as an instructor and what she is hoping to impart to her students when she returns this year. Shary joined us in my Found Object Friday series not to long ago, so I am especially appreciative that she agreed to participate in the EC series. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Shary Bartlett - Wax Sculpture and Printing at EncaustiCamp

What are you teaching at EncaustiCamp this year?

Be amazed by the remarkable three-dimensional forms, textures and translucence that become possible when encaustic meets Tyvek and Lutradur.  In this workshop, participants will learn how to print and distress spunbonded fibres, exploring how these can be shaped into sculptural surfaces which are waxed, coloured and highlighted to create unique works of art. (See more here) I am teaching how to create 3D wax sculpture and print photographic images onto spunbonded fabrics like Lutradur and Tyvek.  These new age fabrics include that lacy material you might find under your mattress. It is amazingly versatile and magical when distressed and covered in wax.  

Shary Bartlett - Workshop Instructor at EncaustiCamp

What is the number one thing you hope to impart to the students who take your class at EC?

I hope to impart a spirit of fun, inventiveness and anything is possible! Most of us have not worked with these new fabrics and they are enticing-  especially when married with the luminosity and depth of sweet-smelling beeswax!

Shary Bartlett - Workshop Instructor at EncaustiCamp

What will students get from your class at EncaustiCamp that they can't get from other classes you teach?

I get to be with students from breakfast till late into the evening!  I get to know them as people as we are "camping" together in this beautiful facility with breathtaking views of Puget Sound in Oregon.  We get to share our mutual passion for art all week. Yahoo!

"Opening" Encaustic Wax Sculpture by Shary Bartlett

What is your most memorable moment at EncaustiCamp?

Seeing students who have spent the whole day making wonderful art with inspiring teachers, reveling in the optional open studio at night and celebrating their own and each other's creativity.

Shary Bartlett, Artist, Workshop Instructor, EncaustiCamp Lifer

Bio:

Shary Bartlett is an artist and Fine Arts instructor at Capilano University and Langara College in Vancouver, Canada. She has taught art in the United States and Bali.  Her mixed media body of work includes encaustic, collage, acrylic, fibre arts, altered photographic prints and sculptural assemblage.  Find her on Facebook, Pinterest and her website:  www.sharybartlett.com.   

Found Object Friday with Guest Artist Robin Gordon

Found Object Fridays: We artists love our collections don't we? Even as a child I remember foraging through flea markets and looking for special trinkets that caught my eye. Going for walks, to this day I find myself scanning the ground looking for interesting bits of metal or unique rocks to add to my collections. Long before I knew what I would be doing with them, I collected objects that pulled on something inside of me. As an artist I was thrilled to find there are others who love and collect little oddities and curiosities too. 

Over the course of ten Fridays I am honored to introduce ten different guest artists who will share some of the objects they love. You may recognize some of these names, while others may be new to you, each one is somebody whose style I admire. Check out the photos of their found object-and in a virtual show and tell, read about how it caught their attention and what they plan to do with it. Then check out their bios and links to learn more about each artist. . .

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Robyn Gordon is actually my eleventh artist for the Found Object Friday series and it's an absolute joy to have her join us here! I may have stumbled on her work on Tumblr or another blog, I don't remember exactly when or where. All I remember is being absolutely enthralled with her wonderful carvings. Robin is an artist in South Africa and has found a way to incorporate the found objects from her region into her work that at once creates a sense of ancient tribal artifacts with a touch of modern aesthetics. Read on to hear about the treasure that Robin shared with us, but first, I can't help but show you an image of her outstanding work to illustrate the setting within which her found object might be used. . .

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Artist Robyn Gordon

What is it?

I think they are fragments from a Leatherback Turtle shell.

Robyn Gordon, Found Object

 

Where did you find it or purchase it?

My husband found a large pile of turtle bones on the beach when trudging back after a long day's fishing. He was laden down with heavy fishing bags and these pieces were all he could manage. He had hoped to find the skull but it seemed to be missing.

 

What caught your attention about it?

I love the jaggedness and the scrubbed, weathered surface of the fragments. It amazes me that several of these pieces would have interlocked  to form the underside of the shell.

 

How will you use it?

Initially I thought I could use them for tribal necklaces for my carved totems but I'm loathe to spoil them in any way. I might use one piece in a carved sculpture but the others are just lovely to look at .

Robyn Gordon, Found Object 

 

Bio

I am an artist living in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.  As a child, growing up on a farm, I loved to touch and feel nature in my hands. The smoothness of acorns and pebbles, the roughness of pine bark, the hollowness of birds nests .... anything tactile under my fingertips. At a  young age I commandeered my mom's unused carving chisels and I found that I could create many tactile qualities in the wood by chipping, gouging, whittling and sanding. Now I carve wooden totems and panels incorporating found objects.

 

My website: http://robyngordon.weebly.com/

 

My blog: http://artpropelled.blogspot.com

Meet Tracy Proctor: The Many Faces of EncaustiCamp

Another edition in the continuing series designed to share with you the many faces of one of my favorite places to teach, EncaustiCamp. Held each summer in the Seattle area, this extraordinary retreat not only has captured many a student and teacher's heart, but also become the subject of a book featuring each of the instructors and a few of the camp VIPs. I hope to bounce around between teachers, vendors and former students (or "lifers" as they become affectionately known), throughout the series to give you a taste of the goodness from many perspectives. 

This week artist Tracy Proctor shares an experience she had as a result of attending EncaustiCamp as a student last year. I simply love serendipitous stories like this, and especially when they are accompanied by the visual feast that is Tracy's art. Read on and be sure to check out her bio and links below!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seattle Installation by Buster Simpson

Before heading to Encausticamp last year, I had a wonderful weekend with my husband in Seattle to celebrate our second year anniversary.  We were walking through Pike Place and stumbled across some laundry hanging from buildings in Post Alley.  I was so inspired by the photo I decided to do an encaustic painting from the photos I took. I wanted to find out more about the laundry hanging behind the market, so I goggled it and found that it was an installation hosted by the Frye Art Museum: Buster Simpson//Surveyor the first retrospective survey of work by Seattle artist Buster Simpson, a pioneer in the field of urban environmentalism and art in public spaces.

A friend mentioned that I should email the artist a photo of my painting. I was a little nervous as Buster Simpson is a successful artist in the US for the past 45 years, but I decided what the hell.  I just received an email back to him and one of his collectors wants to purchase the piece! I guess I made the right decision by sending him an email.

"City Laundry" Encaustic Painting by Tracy Proctor

See more information on Buster Simpson

http://fryemuseum.org/exhibition/5096/

Tracy Proctor in her studio

Bio:

I have been working in Encaustic for the past eight years and teaching encaustic workshops in Alberta and BC for the past six years.  I have been to four encaustic conferences over the years but I am now definatly an ecamp lifer. I look forward to this year’s conference and will be spending the weekend before the conference in Seattle to celebrate my third anniversary!   

www.tracyproctor.com

I will be teaching this September in a Canadian Encaustic retreat in Penticton, B.C.  (email swirlfineart@icloud.com for details).

My Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/tracyproctorartist 

Slow Down Sunday Review: A Day In the Life of an Artist ~ "Making Your Mark"

Slow Down Sunday Weekly Review: A recap of my daily activities in and out of the studio to give you a glimpse behind the scenes, both the highs and the lows, of the life of an artist- well at least this artist- Crystal Neubauer.

"The Writing's On The Wall" 10" x 10" Collage by Crystal Neubauer

I made a commitment to report in weekly for this series back in March and then came all manor of events, planned and unplanned, that got in the way of following through. Life. It happens.

So I am renewing my commitment here - not to the once-weekly-idealistic-version of this series- but the sometimes weekly, sometimes monthly, occasional, and happenstance version that is far more likely and realistic for me to commit to. Now that I can do.

It has been one of those weeks. Not the shake your head and sigh kind of weeks. No, it was more like the get up and dance a little jig to celebrate kind of weeks.

• Last Sunday (Mother's Day) - I drove to Cincinnati where I spent the entire week.
• Monday was day one at FW Media's Cincinnati studio to begin the photo shoot for my book (somebody pinch me!). 
• Tuesday I was back at the photography studio. We ended the day way ahead of schedule, having finished the section on mark-making, basic collage techniques, and the use of photography in collage.
• Wednesday's shoot focused on encaustic with collage.
• Thursday we wrapped up (a day and a half early!) with material and supply shots and included some deconstruction of materials. I dragged along a scrumptious dilapidated old box and a time-worn old book for this and regaled the photographer and editor with my highly skilled ripping and tearing techniques.
• Friday I packed up and drove down the road a spell to spend time with my mom and step-dad before returning home Saturday evening. 

I love to travel, especially for such an exciting reason. And I loved visiting my mom and seeing her latest garden salvage creations. But coming home always feels so good!  

This month I was invited to be the guest artist at the Midwest Collage Society's monthly meeting where I spoke and demo'd on making your mark, both in your art and in the art-world. After the talk and the photo-shoot, my mind has been reeling with thoughts on the subject of making your mark as an artist.

Though mark-making may simply refer to the act of making a mark on the canvas, regardless of the medium the artist chooses, the movement toward mark-making as an artistic expression has more to do with recognizing the artist's hand in her work. Whether done with a tight grip and repetitive nature, or loose and gestural, the intent is spontaneous, intuitively applied, and tells a story to the viewer. It is evidence that the artist was here.

Sometimes I am asked how I manage to get into certain shows or galleries, or how I am able to write articles or be written about, or how I was accepted to certain venues to teach, or how getting a book proposal accepted came about, and my answer is always some form of "I applied". Not in a cocky self-assured tone, and by no means implying that all I have to do is apply to get accepted - believe me, there are more rejection letters than not- but I determined long ago what kind of mark I wanted to make in the art world and knew that I wouldn't get there if I wasn't intentional about doing it.

All these thoughts on making my mark remind me of the story in the book of Daniel when the Babylon King, Belshazzar, was throwing a party, proving what a schmuck he could be by showing off for his guests and desecrating sacred artifacts. The king and his fellow revelers are whooping it up drinking wine from the temple goblets when a hand literally appears in front of them and writes the words "mene, mene, tekel, parsin"  on the wall - interpreted to mean "Your days are numbered. You have been weighed and found wanting." and "Your kingdom will be divided." The word Mene, the one that means "your days are numbered", is written twice for impact. "Your day's are numbered . . .Dude, brace yourself, because, Your. Days. Are. Numbered."

Imagine seeing that message written to you, "You are going to die and you have been found wanting" - it makes me shudder to think about!

There is a catchy little saying in the Christian world  that kind of makes me roll my eyes, as many catchy little sayings do, but it gets my attention: "If you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?" What kind of evidence would you need to call me a Christian? I read my bible. I pray. And my vocabulary is sprinkled with words like "blessed".  But so what? Is this enough to keep me from being found wanting?

I have to think about what kind of mark I want to make on the world as decisively as I do planning my next art move. If I don't, I easily slide down that slope of self-centered behavior and busyness. And lets face it, no matter how many days we are allotted, they just seem to fly by with it all. I love making art. I love that I get to write a book about it and that I get to travel around and teach others how to do what I do. I love sitting in my studio and pushing these scraps and bits around until they start to tell a story. I am wired for this. And that is key.

I don't have to fear that my purpose and call in life have nothing to do with my passions. I can use art to connect with others to build relationships. I can open my studio door and invite the neighbors in and show them the healing power of art. I can use the money I earn from selling my work or teaching to take a group of kids to a museum and help them to see a bigger world than they realized was available to them. I can explain the deeper meaning behind my work to a hurting person and help them to understand they are valuable and loved.

Making your mark on the world requires as much thought and intentional action as planning your career. What kind of legacy do you really want to leave? How do you want people to remember you? If you were put on trial for it today would there be enough evidence to convict you?