The encaustic medium is magical, vibrant and translucent.  My creative muse guides, inspires and feeds my soul through this medium, mixed media and collage.  Blessing me with endless moments of creative joy and harmony...providing those ahhaa moments about life.  Join me on this creative journey, spend some time reading my musings about this life, the blessed other souls that come into contact with mine, however brief or often, that can leave everlasting imprints on our journey....perhaps our lives might share some similarities, bringing us closer and more connected...and less isolated.

"I suppose there is one friend in the life of each of us who seems not a separate person, however dear and beloved, but an expansion, an interpretation, of one's self, the very meaning of one's soul." ~ Edith Wharton

Here's to finding those expansive moments.....

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Capstone Final Piece completed….and Presentation done…..

So here is my final capstone piece that I completed for my MSW program, and which I presented to a panel yesterday.   The many layers of encaustic mixed media and collage represent the diverse layers of what health means to me, as well as, how the whole MSW program has fed this knowledge, the definition of health and how it will influence my practice and who I am in the world. 

It was a great experience to first journal and reflect on this past 365 day journey, and then to put it together in a creative piece that was an intriguing process on the whole.  Health is so much about the intersections of so many layers for me, physical, mental, social and spiritual.  Using a narrative approach I layered symbols that represented these elements of a holistic approach to health.  Critical to this process of health is the relationships we form and create, they sustain us, help us to find meaning and value in the world.  This is what the spiritual element of my grandmother does for me, she guides my creativity often and fills spaces I find hard to name, I didn't know her as a child, she died when my mother was eight years old in a horrific train bombing in India.  But her life is there in spirit and guides me.  The other relationships very present in the piece are represented by the pieces that were given to me, keys and watch parts, and rusty bits are all given by friends who are present today either far or near, but have valued the connection to think of me to pass on these mixed media treasures to feed my creative muse.  Thank you to these lovely friends, Jill Davey and Deborah Pryce.  
Health is so much about relationships and the sense of belonging and knowing without a doubt you are loved and matter.


Capstone Piece, 18 W x 40 H inches, 2015.

Monday, August 3, 2015

Part 2 - Capstone creation parts coming together

Spent the weekend pulling things together for the Capstone project -- and since my usual process is to begin with journaling some reflection, I did that and then decided to organize my thoughts and feelings into a mind map.  This mind map is a synthesis of what concepts resonated with my learning and how I view health from a social work & artist lens….



And here are the parts/elements that are being completed -- almost ready to put the parts together….












I love creating these gel skins, 8 layers of medium gel dried in-between and then paper soaked and rolled off, leaves this skin of translucency.    Still work in process, trying to decide on the layers and how they are to come together and the details.

Thanks for your thoughts or comments.