Through The Looking Glass

MOVED

2007-06-29T16:52:46Z

This journal hasn't been updated in a while, and its because I have moved my blogging activity elsewhere...

check http://www.edzarts.com for my art blog/ramblings and

http://f1point0.com for my photo blog,

"Untitled #2"

2007-01-22T16:16:48Z

"Untitled #2"
Originally uploaded by edzarts.

"Waterfall #2"

2007-01-22T16:16:34Z

"Waterfall #2"
Originally uploaded by edzarts.

after a while doing encaustics, I've been going back to acrylics again... a few new pieces to come...

an art filled week...

2006-12-13T20:43:55Z

Just got back from a nice week long vacation in Miami Beach.

I can't believe how incredible the art scene is there... just in the past few years there seems to have been a huge renaissance in art in Miami. The galleries are wonderful, and the whole art scene seems incredibly vibrant and energetic!

a big thanks to Louis & Linda Ulman (http://www.abbafineart.com/LouisUlman.htm) for giving us the gallery tour... what a blast!

of course it was just coincidentally the week of Art Basel (http://www.artbaselmiamibeach.com/ca/cc/ss/?lang=eng). Total sensory overload!!! the entire convention center filled to the brim with art... it was simply too much to handle - And I only made it through about 1/2 the booths. Plenty of stuff I didn't care for (faux-edgy, self indulgent, masturbatory drek - IMHO) but it was great to see what is new and hot in the contemporary art world. I was really impressed to see so much excellent fine-art photography.

... AND it also happened to be the opening weekend of Dale Chihuly's second installation in the Fairchild Botanical Gardens. If you are going to be in south florida before May (when the exhibit closes) GO SEE IT!!! it is breathtakingly beautiful. I have seen Chihuly's work before, but this installation is just out of this world. I went through about 2.5gb of pictures through the gardens and am going through them now. amazing.

anyway, time to go paint! being surrounded by so much great art for a week is a great way to inspire yourself!

of course now I want to move to Miami...

New show...

2006-11-21T14:56:18Z

another show update...

I will be having some selected works in a new show at the Fox Gallery in philadelphia

Fox Gallery: 249 South 36th Street, in Logan Hall at the University of Pennsylvania

the opening reception is Friday, Dec. 1st, the show runs through the 8th.

The theme of the show is "Fusion", and I will be showing pieces from my "Windows of the Mind" series, along with a few other abstracts.

another encaustic...

2006-10-30T18:11:36Z

untitled
Originally uploaded by edzarts.

finished this one up last week. still haven't photographed my newest experiments... it's proving tricky to shoot them without glare...

experimentation...

2006-10-23T16:58:51Z

... I love it when a plan comes together...

recently I have been focusing a lot on my encaustic work... I was at Utrecht, buying a few clayboards for some new pieces and picked up a few packs of their mini panels (around 6" clayboard panels) on a whim. When I got home, I opened them up and wondered what to do with these cute little mini boards. Then an idea struck me. I am always interested in combining my materials/techniques to come up with new ways of working, however my two abstract techniques are completely incompatible - acrylic and encastic cannot mix, simply because the mediums are totally incompatible. Add to that the fact that my acrylic abstract technique only works on canvas, and encaustic *cannot* be done on canvas and well, I never even thought of trying to combine the two.

... but what if we could?

I grabbed a pre-stretched canvas from my pile and quickly began an acrylic abstract. at the same time I began a small encaustic design on one of the little 6"x6" clayboard panels. I left the acrylic canvas rather rudimentary - only 3-4 layers as opposed to my normal 15-20, but it didn't matter as this would just be a technique test.

after the canvas was fully dry I took the clayboard panel, sanded and scored the backside (note to self: do this *before* painting next time) and applied a thin layer of PVA adhesive. I attached the encaustic panel to the acrylic canvas, and let it cure. VOILA- mixed media of encaustic and acrylic, each on their own substrate and combined into one mixed media piece. I was very pleased with the results.

after a day of curing, I did a stress test of slipping a blade under the edge of the panel and yanking it to dislodge it from the canvas. The PVA bond held beautifully. That thing is not coming apart under normal conditions.

this whole thing is very cool, and may become a completely new technique for me. Im currently photographing the 2 test pieces I did, and will post photos soon. I'm beginning my first *real* piece tonight :-)

edzarts @ 2006-10-17T17:47:00

2006-10-17T17:51:52Z

Well, POST has come and gone... a big thanks to all the art lovers who made it so successful. I had a great time, met some great artists and generally interesting folks. Definitely looking forward to doing it again next year.

After a short break, focusing on acrylic abstracts I've found myself itching to do some more encaustic work.

I'm going to start playing around with a few new techniques, and some new support options... I'm curious to try watercolor paper (absorbent) glued to a masonite/wood panel (rigid). I may cut the panel bigger than the paper, so the deckeled edges show... could be a nice effect.

Windows of the Mind (part 6)

2006-10-15T22:23:22Z

Windows of the Mind (part 6)
Originally uploaded by edzarts.

A new encaustic...

REMINDER: Philadelphia Open Studios Tour

2006-09-29T19:16:22Z

postflyer
Originally uploaded by edzarts.

Just a reminder... I will be a host on the Philadelphia Open Studios tour, next weekend october 7th and 8th.

check http://www.philaopenstudios.com for studio locations and more details!

Peggy's Cove lighthouse

2006-09-06T15:20:09Z

Peggy's Cove lighthouse (best viewed large)
Originally uploaded by EdZphotos.

Got back from our cruise last week, it was a ton of fun... 5 days, Halifax and St Johns... This was just one of the shots I took at peggy's cove in halifax. It was getting a lot of activity on flickr, so I figured I'd post here as well!

I thought it came out pretty well, although it looks best viewed large. I made a 13"x19" print that really shows off the detail.

untitled abstract

2006-08-08T23:11:30Z

"untitled"
Originally uploaded by edzarts.

I like the piece, but it was very spontaneous, I didn't really have a specific plan/idea in mind when painting it... I kind of just let the piece develop on its own.

hence, I didn't have a title in advance... maybe I'll come up with one after the fact...

"Headland #2"

2006-08-08T23:08:43Z

"Headland #2"
Originally uploaded by edzarts.

Just a new landscape...

11"x14" acrylic on masonite, done alla-prima with painting knives

it's a beautiful day...

2006-08-08T18:34:51Z

...after weeks of oppressive heat. Now the hard choice is do I go out for a bike ride, or out shooting (photos, not guns!)

A lens, a lens... my kingdom for a lens...

2006-08-02T14:40:50Z

I love my Maxxum 28-85 on my minolta 35mm... almost 15 years old and still never a hitch and sharp as a tack. Unfortunately, 28-85mm just doesn't cut it for a "general purpose zoom" on a digital body (7d) with a 1.5 crop... (works out to approximately 42-127, a nice midrange zoom, but I miss that wide end...) plus I already have the 85 f1.4G (GOREOUS LENS!!!) for the mid-zoom end....

so begins the quest for a wide/mid zoom for a dSLR... in the end it comes down to - sigma 18-50/2.8, the tamron 17-50/2.8, or the sigma 12-24. I like the idea of the superwide 12-24, but I really want the fast aperture and the 12-24 just doesn't have the sharpness...

between the sigma/tamron, I finally decide on the tamron (mostly because of spotty CC reports for the sigma)

great.

only one problem.

THERES NOT A SINGLE STORE IN ALL OF CREATION THAT HAS IT IN STOCK.

"Sunset"

2006-08-02T00:19:52Z

"Sunset"
Originally uploaded by edzarts.

A new abstract, this piece was inspired by a landscape I did long ago... I tried to capture the sense of the sunset without explicitly showing "what it was"

GO LANDIS!!!!!!

2006-07-21T00:56:02Z

LANDIS IS THE MAN!!! THIS IS GONNA BE THE COMEBACK OF THE DECADE!!!!

(for anyone not following the Tour de France, landis is the early race favorite who had a horrible day yesterday, lost a ton of time and was written off as pretty much "out of the race". guess he had other plans!!! with a truly EPIC ride today, he totally dominated the stage, destroyed the competition and slammed himself right back into race... woohoo I am jumping out of my seat!!!)

BACK TO NORMAL!!!

2006-07-20T22:49:56Z

looks like everything is back to normal - I think I've got everything back up and running!

I SCREWED UP!!!

2006-07-20T03:13:16Z

yeah, so you may have noticed that my website is messed up... I accidentally overwrote the live version while testing out a new design... trying to recover the site now, bear with me... I know things are screwey right now, but should be sorted out in a day or so...

Very cool...

2006-07-13T15:28:42Z

Life Imitates Art?

very cool - a bunch of people recreating the scene from "LaGrande Jatte" live... good job too judging by the pic. Whoever came up with that gets a cookie :-)

updates! updates!

2006-07-13T02:51:40Z

... bear with me, working on the laborious process of transferring over posts from other blogging software... yeah, I can't settle on one... I think livejournal is it for now though... stupid lack of an "import" fuction...

abstract waterfall

2006-07-13T02:46:56Z

"Waterfall #1"
Originally uploaded by edzarts.

update: here's that first abstract waterfall piece

Philly Fireworks

2006-07-12T23:54:23Z

Philly Fireworks
Originally uploaded by edzarts.

just a quick test of my flickr photoblogging link... this is a nice firewroks shot I took on the 4th