workshop updates] I'm home after another inspiring, exciting and exhausting workshop weekend, this one at Whispering Woodlands in Verona, WI. The location was a beautiful natural setting, with windows looking out over snow covered fields and woods. Eleven artists came from five states and Canada, and included professional, exhibiting oil painters as well as people who had not used oils in years, or were new to the medium completely. It was a very compatible, friendly group, with many ideas shared and stories told. But there were also the times I like best, when everyone simply worked quietly and intently. For more photos of the workshop, please click here. (All photos courtesy of Whispering Woodlands.)

I'll be updating the information on upcoming workshops on my website this week, because there have been some changes--for example, the workshop scheduled for Longmont, CO in April has been canceled due to low enrollment. I'm trying not to let that be too discouraging, because overall the degree of interest in cold wax has gone beyond anything I imagined when I started teaching a year ago. I get email inquiries and comments from around the country, and from other countries almost every week. The online forum that I started to facilitate discussion and sharing of images has grown to 135 members since November.

Plans to team up with encaustic painter Shawna Moore for two workshops this fall continue--we've been searching out venues and working on setting dates and fees. We anticipate holding the workshops for three days each, one in Telluride, CO and one in Santa Fe, NM, in late September and early October. We'll each instruct for one day--hot wax, cold wax--and the third day will be a chance to tie things together a bit, and to work with both of us in the studio. I give Shawna all the credit for coming up with this idea--and look forward to meeting her in person in May when she comes to the area for her exhibit at Circa Gallery.

I've also been signing up artists for workshops here in my studio (in Osseo, WI) with two classes definitely scheduled--on May 15-16, and on July 10-11 with an optional third day on the 12th. There is one place open in the May workshop, and two in July. If you'd like to jump into one of those spots, please contact me for more information at crowellart@yahoo.com.

I'll schedule more of these as requested, so let me know if you have something in mind and I'll see if I can accommodate you--with your choice of private, semi-private or small group format of 3-4 students. I'm excited about these workshops in my own studio, where all of my resources are available and the instruction can be very personalized. These are good opportunities for former workshop participants to come for a refresher, as well as for those taking their first class.

2010 looks very busy for all aspects of teaching, and for now I am not making definite plans for 2011...I may need a break by then. As much as I love the actual time I spend teaching, the other stuff, the planning and researching--all the business end of things--eats up a lot of studio time....and my own painting has to be my priority. Time will tell, I guess. For now, it's good and I am thoroughly enjoying the other artists in my classes, and what happens when they discover the joys of oil and wax.  ¶ 8:18 PM