Gearing Up For Colony

2009 - B. Paiji (pages) - 48x38 - mixed media

It's been a long time... didn't realize I miss it so. In the beginning, around 1986 or 87 when I first learned of Mississippi Art Colony and signed up, I attended religiously every spring and fall. Never daring to miss out on the benefits of working with my peers and absorbing whatever the visiting artist (not instructor, everyone works independently) chose to part with. Some were able to deal with the hungry crowd of 45-50 better than others... stopping to talk at each personal work area at least once if not twice a day can be a trick... especially if he/she gets caught in the web of one of our talkative little southern social types! But most did their best and we were all the better for it... more than a few exclaimed that they learned as much from us as we did from them. Well... the regulars include teachers on college level and a number of professionals in their own right. We all have something to give... and that's what's so remarkable about this group, there's a lot of giving going on.

So what happened that I began to slack off and skip sessions, and finally not attending at all for a number of years. Well, thanks to Colony, I began having a lot more confidence in my work and my own career began to take off. There's only so much energy to go around and gallery inventories began sucking it all up... a good thing for sure, I'm not complaining. Then we moved from NOLA to B'ham and I was still in studio mode much of the day... my social life became more entwined with the Internet and less with real life participation. I knew few artists locally, very few.

But being busy has a way of hiding details like this, until one day you realize what you're missing. Fortunately, I do have a number of real life friends scattered around nearby states... and many of them are Colony regulars. So I look forward to getting back in the Colony habit, becoming a regular again. Kickoff is Tues, April 21, and proceeds through the following Sunday morning.

I'll be working small oil studies, using techniques that have long been on my mind since Rebecca Crowell pointed out the magic of cold wax. My encaustic supplies have long been packed away, hot wax had a good run but it's over... so now I'll try it cold! And since in my early enthusium I bought a gallon of the stuff, I'm more than ready to go! Not knowing how to work with trial sizes means I have super size tubes of oils on hand as well. Now to sweet talk my personal carpenter into building a few more panels...