New prints available- Trees #1 & Share


Trees #1
5″ x 5″ image size, 7″ x 7″ paper size
Giclee Print

I have about half a billion prints that I’ve ordered and still have to list.  OK– that’s a slight exageration, but you get my point.  I had gotten so many pre-made for some art shows and have a good deal left in stock.  

Today was a day of renewing energy and I decided to list a couple!  These are more of the small 5×5″ ones, I also have some larger sizes but I think I need better pictures of them. 
I love the way that these giclee prints come out!  Sometimes the texture looks so real that it could pass for a painting…almost!  If you’re looking for a place to get yours printed, check out Iprintfromhome.com  I swear by them!
5″ x 5″ image size, 7″ x 7″ paper size
Giclee Print

Artists I Admire: Lauren Simone


Farm Utopia
9″ x 9″
Watercolor, india ink pen, drawing ink, and thread on handmade rag watercolor paper
by Lauren Simone

I absolutely adore the detail and the color that Lauren puts into each of her drawings (click on the image to zoom in). They are wonderful imaginary landscapes which make you feel as though you are stuck inside of a great adventure novel.  Perhaps my favorite part of her drawings are the details.  I love the threading that she does around the land masses and the fact that she goes back to them and paints them in varying colors.  It gives such a great depth to the piece.  
Lauren has been my Etsy bud for a while now and we are both fortunate enough to live in Maine and be on the Etsy Maine Team! Visit her shop-– she currently has a Valentine’s Day Sale running!  Tell her Jamie sent you!
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New Painting- Ghosts of the Past #4

I love when an idea works out better than expected!  I had this image which I pasted down yesterday (see last night’s post) and had an idea of what I wanted to do with the officer’s bodies but not sure about exactly how to incorporate the background.  The trees are what initially drew me to the image and I knew that I wanted to keep them in.  I wound up painting around them and then chasing after the lines with scraping/carving and drawing them in with charcoal.  

This painting, along with 1 or 2 more, will be submitted to a gallery show called “White, Black, & Shades of Gray.”  I’m glad that I decided to do this and challenge myself by taking the “color” out.  Of course, I still mixed actual colors into the painting to give it depth.  Can’t wait to get paint on the next board!  Hope this makes it into the show.  Wish me luck!

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Ghosts of the Past #4
Encaustic, Photograph, & Charcoal on Cradled Birch
12″ x 12″ (30.48 cm x 30.48 cm)
January 2009

Not currently for sale, please inquire if interested.
(click inage to zoom)
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Work in Progress

Today I started working on 2 new paintings.  In a previous post I stated that I usually have a few pieces going on at the same time and that’s no lie!  Currently. I have 3 encaustic paintings and 1 oil painting in progress.  The oil hasn’t been touched in a while but it’s still there staring at me jealously.  The encaustics include 1 that is waiting for the final step; still unsure how to proceed and finish my thoughts on him.  

The other two are these 12 x 12 pieces.  I was printing out these images for a much larger painting and had the weirdest error with the ink.  The black decided not to work so these B&W photos wound up being printed with color ink only.  The result was sort of solarized and I thought that I could explore this further and see what I could make of it.  After all, I hate wasting paper!  I found the it opened me up to the way that I ‘m using the photographs.  I’m picking and choosing the pieces that I want much more carefully and I’m excited to get some paint on these soon!

Andrew Wyeth 07/12/17 – 01/16/09

“Artists today think of everything they do as a work of art. It is important to forget about what you are doing – then a work of art may happen.” 


“When people want to bring sex into these images, OK, let them,” … “The heart of the Helga series is that I was trying to unlock my emotions in capturing her essence, in getting her humanity down” – Andrew Wyeth

Hot Mess: Painting with Wax, an intro to encaustic painting tutorial


JUST RELEASED!
Hot Mess: Painting with Wax,  an introduction to encaustic painting PDF Tutorial 


-Want to learn encaustic painting but don’t know a darned thing about it? 
-Maybe you’re wanting to learn more before diving in and buying supplies? 
-Or perhaps you just love learning?

Then this is the tutorial for you! Learn everything you need to know about painting with beeswax! From set-up to clean-up. It couldn’t be easier.

This 6 page tutorial is written in a joyful voice that is very easy to understand with clear photographs showing you every step of the process. Includes a handy supply list with detailed information and tips on where to find the items inexpensively! This intro will walk you through buying supplies, setting up, basic encaustic painting, fusing, embedding objects, clean up, caring for your paintings, and a list of supply resources.

**What’s encaustic painting?** Encaustic painting is the use of beeswax and damar resin melted together and combined with dry pigments to create a painting medium. This paint is applied hot (not a cold paste) and manipulated with a direct heat source. This makes for a lovely layered image into which objects and photographs can be added. If you’ve seen a Jasper Johns painting then you’ve seen an encaustic painting!

I am always available & happy to answer any questions that you have about painting!


Find this and forthcoming tutorials in my Etsy Shop: JamieRibisi.etsy.com

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Influences- Nathan Oliveira

As I work, I’m always thinking about other artists and their work that sticks in my head.  When I get stuck and can’t think I usually will turn to an art book.  I have a nice collection of monographs and my favorite one is of Nathan Oliveira.  He’s one of my favorite painters and someone that I look to often.  When I was doing figurative work, it was his movements and compositions that really turned me on.  As I studied his paintings and got to see some in person, I began to look at the broader picture.  I was really attracted to the paint itself and the layering of colors.  The simplicity and intricacy of his color palette really astounds me and heavily influences my work.

Another thing I admire about Oliveira is how his work has changed over the years.  I love that he isn’t afraid to completely change the look and subject matter of his paintings and prints.  That is something that everyone should strive for, I know I do. 

“Given all the technology that we’re in the middle of, I would be so pleased if someone would look at one of these prints and say, ‘You know, I feel like that.’ What I’m concerned about now is creating a metaphor for what the figure really is.”
-Nathan Oliveira
Very interesting link to a tour of his studio– always amazing to see how an artist works!
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The Amount of Tea I Drink in a Week



Ok, I have a problem. I *love* tea. That may not sound like a problem but I *REALLY* love tea and when I made this group of paintings I actually sat down and figured out how much tea I drink in a week, on average. I drink about 17 cups of hot & iced tea a week. I’m ok with that, especially if there are cookies involved.

These are the 3 paintings that I was working on Sunday.  They have actual tea leaves embedded in it– vanilla spice chai to be exact (my favorite!). Each have the a tally of 17 hatched into it to reveal the underpainting color. The overall color is how I like to drink my tea– milky! This was really a great mix since the painting smells like chai tea with honey– perfect!  I really do love the smell of encaustic so adding tea to it is like a dream come true.


I’m hoping to make a bunch more with different colors but for now, these are available via jamieribisi.com or jamieribisi.etsy.com

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The Amount of Tea I drink in a Week, orange, red, & green versions
Encaustic & Vanilla Spice Chai Tea on wood
6″ x 6″ (15.24 cm x 15.24 cm) each
January 2009
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Cutting up

Today was a cutting day!  I needed to make some supports for the back of the panels that I painted yesterday so I found some wood scraps from our recent flooring project in the studio (read about it here).  Took them to the mitre saw and had some fun!  Well, to be honest– that darned thing scares me!  I used to love going into the woodshop and using power tools but these days I don’t feel coordinated enough to feel safe with myself.  And yesterday my friends were all talking about injuries that they recently sustained and I don’t want a story to add!  

Luckily, everything turned out perfect and I’ve glued my supports on and will hopefully get to photograph these new paintings tomorrow and list them on my website and shop!
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A productive day!

I had a very productive day today! I made three new paintings!  These have tea leaves embedded into them and hatch marks actually hatched in– more on that soon!  I painted these on thin plywood so I just need to build a support for the back and add hardware.  I know I should do that first but when the idea moves me, I just have to get to painting!  

I’ve been saving up these tea leaves and had a rough idea of how I wanted to use them but not what I wanted the story to be.  It came to me this morning when I was thinking of another painting that I’m working on (I always have a few going to keep my mind occupied).  This other painting is part of the “Ghosts of the Past” Civil War series and I wanted to do hatch marks representing the number of people who died in the battle pictured.  I looked it up…. 28,900!  I don’t think I can make that many hatches.  So I moved the idea to these tea paintings– the amount of tea I drink in a week.  The number was also a sad one but easier to deal with!

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