Artwax

I entered the Broward Art Guilds Juried Art Show-”In the Mix” and I came in 3rd place. I have been happy all day. I dropped off 2 pieces on Sunday and was given a receipt with a phone number to call back on Wednesday to see if my work made the cut. So this morning when I awoke, I pulled out the number, but afraid of rejection, I told myself that I will call at 3pm (why ruin my morning if it was bad news) at 1pm the phone rang and from the caller ID I knew it was the guild but I decided to let my voice mail get the call (why receive rejection in person when voice mail can do it). Now anyone that knows me, the Type A personality that I am, I have no fear. I a run a multi-million dollar division of a major corporation and deal with people all day, the good, the bad and the ugly. But this was different. So I retrieved the message while holding my breath, to find out that it was a congratulations call and one of my pieces titled “A Train” came in 3rd place. I have been smiling all day. This Saturday is the gallery reception and originally I was to be out of town, but my plans changed and I will be able to attend. Did I say I have been smiling all day!!!! You can view my work here or please visit the gallery this Sat. July 19 from 6-8 (the work will be on show until August 23rd)

Leche-VItrines Art Alliance (it is on the second floor) SE corner of Oakland Park Blvd and Federal Hwy (US1) you can also go to www.Browardartguild.org or www.lechevitinesart.com for the address.

Stop bye and see the other artists work.

I had been wanting to use a propane torch to fuse my work, so today I went to home depot and $25 poorer I now own a blow torch.  I let it sit in the package all day, as I have to admit, I am a bit afraid of the thing.  Two days ago a house in my community had a fire (no one was hurt) and when I was 14 yrs. old the gas grill at my house singed my hair/eyebrows and lashes (my brother went to light it but I guess there must have been fumes so it made a big fire ball when he lit the grill) and then 2 weeks later I caught my sleeve on the stove and it caught on fire (I grew up in a house with an industrial range before they were in vogue that had huge gas jets) I now only have electric in my house, stove oven and all. So this Torch is a huge leap for me considering my bad experiences with fire.

So I went outside on my patio, with a fire extinguisher, removed any items that looked flammable, locked the dog inside and after many attempts finally got the torch ignited. I took a few sample of boards that I prepped outside to test. One panel caught on fire because I had some paper that was stuck in the wax so it flamed up, the others went okay, the problem being- I could not see the flame.  A few more attempts and then I decided back to the heat gun. Since my studio is in my den; I can’t use the torch inside. I can see the practical use if I was working on a very large surface as the flame fuses fast and even. But for right now I will stick with my heat gun

Any one have an suggestions on the torch let me know as I am sure with practice I can get the hang of it and not hurt myself or anyone.

It has been a challenge for me to find time at home to do any artwork. I just cleaned out my studio space and rearranged my hot plates so I hope this configuration will work better for me.  I also just sent out my check to the Atlanta Artists Center to take a one day encaustic workshop. These workshops always help me to kick start a project and I can concentrate on just the work. Since my studio space is in my house, I have so many distractions. The TV, phone, dog, laundry, dishes, etc… So I find I have to fly away to be able to work.  If I could find affordable space I would rent it. The Miami art district has space but it is to far to travel to and many of the art lofts do not have adequate ventilation for encaustic work. I also like to go to the workshops as I hope in the next year or two I can offer these workshops in South Florida.

Just finished a group of 3 monotypes. I used metallic encaustic so I am calling this group “Gold Rush”  They are small pieces 8×11 and they are done on Rice Paper and mounted on wood panels. The photo’s don’t show the “shine” & “matte” areas. Since the encaustic medium is on both sides of the paper, when I polish the artwork, the areas that have encaustic medium create a high gloss shine when buffed.

During my last art workshop in Santa Fe, I learned a technique that everyone in the class came to refer to as “transparentized” the paper. Of course we all decided that it was made up word in the class. It is the process of taking your paper and adding beeswax to create a transparent appearance. So everyone started calling it transparatizing, as in “I finished my monoprint but now I want to transparentize it…” So it was the on going word that we keep using, but always thinking that the word was just created by use in the workshop. It became one of my favorite techniques. So last week will visiting my hometown of NYC, I went to MOMA and there was my word. William De Kooning has a work on display and the info card reads “transparentized”. So of course I took a picture (not of the artwork, just the card on the wall). So the word really does exist

A few  weeks ago I put out a call for artists who use encaustic/wax in their artwork. I am looking to form a group in South Florida so that we can exchange info, start workshops and create our own group shows. If you are in the South Florida area and interested please send me an email. I know you are out there!!!!

Thanks to everyone for letting me know that my web site was down. Since I run it on  my own server I can’t tell if it works. So with that fixed please click to view it. www.ajgrossman.com

Okay, it is just a start, my web site is up and running. I didn’t realize how much stuff I had. First I needed to sort all of my work and catalog it (something I always put off for later, but now I realize I need to do it every week) , Then I had to sort out my work by medium. Then I had to sit and build the site (I hate doing that). So I just kept it basic and simple. It is about the artwork and not the site design. Then I had to make sure it can run on several browsers. This is the hardest part since it is on my own server, I have to take my laptop to a place that has wifi so that I can view it, as I discovered that you can’t see the website when you are running it on your own network (I am not that technical but something like that) Now I just have to discipline myself to update it on a regular basis. So go to www.ajgrossman.com and thanks for looking.

I have finally decided that it is time to build a website to showcase my work. I have been putting it off for over a year. I have designed many websites over the past few years and have decided that “I hate it”. As a former art director and graphics designer, one would think that it would be just another creative “thing” for me. In the past the web sites that I designed were for doctors, consultants, non-art related businesses. Real boring stuff. I even took a course to learn dreamweaver so that I would not have to deal with”code”, but I learned nothing. (the teacher only wanted to teach color theory to all these techies in the class as I was the only artist). So with that all said, I dread the job ahead of me. But I know that it is important for me to help promote my artwork. If anyone knows of a create program that can help me do this task, I am all ears?

Since I started working in Wax for over a year now, I am always looking for workshops, other artists, venues that also use wax. I have found many on the west coast and the north east, but none in the south. So I started my research and contact the other organizations to see if they wish to have a south east or Florida representation or to assist me. Kim Bernard (www.kbernard.com) was very helpful as to how to start a “group” of artist that work in wax. So this is the call to all artist that are in South Florida (we need to start local) who use wax in their art (painting, sculpture, mix-media etc.) and looking to be part of an artist organization that can promote and create our own shows, conduct workshops and to better give our art more exposure. If you are out there, please contact me. I do not want the group to be “my” group, but a group of artists that are looking to form a our own community for artists that work in wax. Please contact me if you are interested.