Stir the Slurry

8"x8", encaustic, oil bar, and coffee grounds on panel
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Sleep not at all

Some advice:

• Buy local! M.E.Swing Co. 
• Highest Rated Coffees, as per the folks at Coffee Review. Note: same roasters appear over and over again. Hmmm.
• Pour-over brewing tips from Sweet Maria's
• Cold-brewed Iced Coffee how-to from Smitten Kitchen
• Miscellaneous this n' that at INeedCoffe.com
• Ristretto / Pour-Over Coffee Drips Into New York - More detail on the fine points of pour-over, from the NYT. Including the delightful Hario Buono Drip Kettle, from Japan.
  

Remember:

☛ "Ground coffee loses a lot of its aromatics and other stuff in the first minute after being ground." So don't dilly dally.
☛ Fresh-brewed coffee is "fresh" for 10 minutes or less. So 'pour over' only one cup at a time.

Next up: cyclonic windstorm

As mentioned, we've seen tornadoes, an earthquake, excessive heat, and excessive cold. Coming to a nation's capital near you: 2010's Hurricane Season! Actually, it began on June 1 and continues til November 30.
☛ Gather your important papers
☛ Have an Evacuation Plan
☛ Consider upping your insurance coverage
☛ Expect the worst

Transept

10-1/2" x 16", encaustic, paper, and coffee grounds on board

Studio Space

Here is my encaustics set up in the window "nook" in Studio 201, the space that I share with three others in ASalon.

(Note Stanley, the FatMax, shown open in the left foreground. The ultimate in awesomeness. Much admired by one and all.) +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This pic above was taken moments before the sky darkened, the wind whipped, and rain fell.

The good news: "The storms dropped the temperature sharply. At National, the mercury fell 25 degrees in less than an hour as the rain arrived."

Okay, wait, let's tally this: snowmageddon, record-breaking heat, a freaking earthquake (which I didn't even feel, damnit), and now a tornado? Hello?

Isthmi Locked In

8" x 10" encaustic over molding paste and graphite, on board
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La Mano del Desierto, by Mario Irarrázabal, in the Atacama Desert, Chile. (The Chilean answer to Tsé Bitʼaʼí?) I am most partial to 'earth art'.
More:
☛ Land Arts of the American West - Plan your next trip Out West!
☛ Australian Land Art (always in the forefront, downunder us)
☛ Lightning Field, by Walter De Maria
☛ the modern progenitor, Spiral Jetty, by Robert Smithson
☛ the ancient progenitor, Great Serpent Mound, by the 'Fort Ancient' people, in Clark County, Ohio. See it! For heaven's sake it's just around the corner, in Ohio!

Danger, Will Robinson!

AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING MEANS THAT A PROLONGED PERIOD OF DANGEROUSLY HOT TEMPERATURES WILL OCCUR. THE COMBINATION OF HOT TEMP- ERATURES AND HIGH HUMIDITY WILL COMBINE TO CREATE A DANGEROUS SITUATION IN WHICH HEAT ILLNESSES ARE LIKELY. DRINK PLENTY OF FLUIDS. . .

And! Wait! There's more!  ... AIR QUALITY ALERT IS IN EFFECT FOR SATURDAY JULY 24 2010... THE METROPOLITAN WASHINGTON COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS HAS ISSUED A CODE ORANGE AIR QUALITY ALERT SATURDAY FOR THE DC METRO AREA. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Roasted Gruel

Some say that bread was not invented, but discover- ed. Discovered when someone inadvert- ently roasted a glob of porridge.
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"A HEAT ADVISORY MEANS THAT A PERIOD OF HOT TEMPERATURES IS EXPECTED."
Good weekend for doing encaustics!

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions

The world is paved with flatbreads: naan, pita, tortilla, pizza, focaccia. What others, you ask? Look here.

Adobo a Go-Go

La Mona Lisa Morena posing in front of the red Adobo Mountains. But who is she? (I am actually afraid to open the can. What's in there?)
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The Sketchbook Habit, from Suzette Morrow. A 21-Day Program to get you there.

Gilded Marzipan

(Cucina, Vincenco Campi c. 1580 - click pic to see detail)
I enjoyed my day in Renaissance Italy yesterday, hosted by the Smithsonian and guided by Mount Holyoke art history Professor John Varriano: Appetite for Art and Food in Renaissance Italy.
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Cosmolloid Deployed

Renaissance Wax. Is there anything that Renaissance Wax ain't good for? I have been using it to polish and seal the surfaces of encaustics. CAUTION: Make sure the surface is well-cured -- a couple of weeks old -- before you apply the Renaissance Wax, otherwise you get minute -- I suspect chemical -- abrasion.
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The Perfect Wax Melting Pot, at only three C's. I might try this instead.

What? No tv?

Old Lady #1: Oh yes! Our trip to Denali was wonderful. Unfortunately after the third day of hiking my left knee swelled up to the size of a soccer ball.

Old Lady #2: Wow! Ha! Just in time for the World Cup! 

Old Lady #1: Oh no, we didn't have a television at the lodge.

Thirty Seven to Heaven

I am beginning to see the same folks over and over again in the front half of the 37 Express bus home in the evening. Yesterday, when I put my reading aside I looked up to see a familiar face, a lovely older lady, serious and with much poise. In the most private and inconspicuous and unassuming way she was saying her rosary.
I hope it rubbed off on all of us.

It's my Heritage too

Emilio and Senaida Romero, New Mexican tinsmiths extraordinaire.

☛  Recipients of the National Endowment of the Arts National Heritage Fellowship.

☛ Their children and grandchildren are featured in a story in the New Mexico Magazine in July 2009.

☛ Included in the New Mexico Museum of International Folk Art's current show 'A Century of Masters: The NEA National Heritage Fellows of New Mexico'.

May Workshop Vid

Vid of our May encaustics workshop with Ellen Koment, in Santa Fe. Shot and edited by my friend and colleague Paula Scott:


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Instruction from Ellen: Part One: The Basics (9:59)/ Part Two: Some Really Cool Tricks (9:37)

☛ NWEncaustics Studio (in Seattle) panoramic pic (sigh)

Other World Surface(s)

Mars from Viking orbiter, 30 years ago.

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Encaustic on board, with paper and oil bar; 10" x 10"
(See growing Chain Series here.)

Chain Rule

The chain rule is a formula for the derivative of the composi- tion of two functions.

(Encaustic on board, with paper and Pigment Stick. 12" x 12")
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The Curse of Greed

Some thoughts today on the current state of copyright found -- surprise! -- in the Wall Street Journal.

(Wait. Since when has the Journal found any fault at all with overweening greed? Historic.)

"If restaurants behaved that way, not only would they deny you the right to take home leftovers to your dog, they'd try to charge you for smelling their food when you pass by."

More here.

Sketching in the Atrium

Sketching in the Atrium on Saturday, at the Corcoran:
☛ July 31, noon to 3pm
☛ September 4, noon to 3pm

Be there or be cubical.