http://www.catherinecheek.com artblog and writing resume Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:47:47 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Every time I see a new artistic technique or medium I have the urge to try it.  Such it is with encaustic, using colored wax.  I thought this would be a fun project to do with my children, becasue for the pigment we used crayons, and who doesn't like crayons?  Since ... http://www.catherinecheek.com/2008/07/17/encaustic-adventures/ I'm so happy the mural is finally done, and I got the scaffold out of our foyer.  Painting the overglaze was the most difficult part of the entire process.  I was able to do some of it from the hall on the second floor, but then on the middle part ... http://www.catherinecheek.com/2008/07/13/finished-mural/ This is the project I'm currently working on.  It's pushed my other projects to the side, so I'm in a hurry to finish it.  I had to take a break when we went on vacation, but now I'm home again and I can see the final stretch.  You can see ... http://www.catherinecheek.com/2008/07/12/mural-progress/ I took a stained glass class at a local shop, and this is what I created.  I'd never done stained glass before, though always figured I'd try my hand at it some day.  I have a picture window that really cries out for a large stained glass panel. Of course I ... http://www.catherinecheek.com/2008/07/01/first-stained-glass-panel/ I made this for a contest posted on one of Jeff Vandermeer's blogs.  The contest instructions included a youtube video about how to make this.  I had to fold it five or six times before I got the hang of it. Each page has a sketch of a crow on it, ... http://www.catherinecheek.com/2008/06/21/origami-book/ Here's another tile from my low-fire 2007 collection.  Another fact: Instead of rolling out the slabs, I pounded them with a wooden mallet, flattened on one side, that I got at a workshop by Junya Shao and Xiaoping Luo at the Vihel center in Tempe.  I find that if you ... http://www.catherinecheek.com/2008/06/17/agave-tile/ This shrine was inspired by the Mexican folk art shrines that honor Maria de Guadalupe and other Catholic saints.  They're usually bedecked with candles and marigolds and photos. I love the look, but I wanted something different. I started with an old deck of Morgan Greer tarot cards.  It took me ... http://www.catherinecheek.com/2008/06/13/rose-and-violet-poppy-shrine/ I got a book called 'Creating Personal Shrines' by Carol Owen after Jane Cheek showed it to me.  (Jane and I tend to inspire each other.)  The focus of Carol Owen's book was creating memory boxes based around family ancestors.  Like most contemporary collage, her work is heavy on vintage photos and ... http://www.catherinecheek.com/2008/06/10/owl-and-bone-shrine/ This is my favorite book, and I almost considered keeping it rather than giving it away.  I wanted to do a cover that was almost entirely cloth, because I like the soft tactile feel of it.  I collaged it using a sewing machine, as I did with the glass fish ... http://www.catherinecheek.com/2008/06/05/orange-and-violet-coin-book/ For this book cover I started by gessoing over cotton cloth.  Then I impressed in the wet gesso with some stamps. There's a crysanthemum, a cherry branch, and a geisha, as well as something that looks like a stylized five pointed blossom.  When the gesso dried, I painted over it ... http://www.catherinecheek.com/2008/06/02/gold-japanese-book/