People have been asking about my resin art “process”; that is, how do I create these exquisitely lovely pieces.  (Ok, “exquisitely lovely” is just my view but that view seems to be shared with quite a few buyers so far.)  Apparently, inquiring minds DO want to know.  I will attempt to give a relatively brief answer to this question, which sounds like a simple question but is not. The answer will be a summary of over a year’s worth of experimentation using this difficult, toxic, wonderful, impossible, messy, crazy substance that sometimes, but only sometimes, does what I want it to do.

        So here goes.

        I literally paint with resin.  That is, I mix the resin, which is a clear viscous liquid, and then add either acrylic paint or acrylic powder and apply it to panel or canvas.   The procedure is roughly as follows.  First, I put on my carbon filter mask and latex gloves.  Trust me, nothing that smells this bad and is a chemical reaction can possibly be good for you.  (My friend Stacey Thorum Schultz, who uses clear resin on top of her pieces, also wears a carbon filter mask while applying resin.  Apparently, I am not alone in wanting to keep the brain cells I have left undamaged.)  I then am ready to pour the colored resin onto a prepared surface.  

In my current series “Lustre”, I pour the background color and then pour additional colors on top while the background is wet.  The mix of colors and types of acrylic paint in resin does strange and wonderful things. 

For other pieces such as “The Surf”, I pour colored resin over part of the surface and let it dry.  After the first color is fully dry, which takes at least a day, I pour another color adjacent to the first, and so on until I achieve the desired effect. 

        The result varies both with the method by which I apply the resin to the surface, by the “tools” (old credit cards, craft sticks) I use to manipulate the wet resin, by the type of acrylic color mixed with resin that I use (fluid, powder, hard body, etc.) and by the amount of time that elapses as I manipulate the resin on the surface.   The possible variations are endless.

Resin sets up (dries) very quickly.  Unlike oils, one cannot scrape off a resin mistake.  Unlike acrylic, one cannot (usually) “paint” over a resin mistake.  All that one really can do with a mistake is consign it to the dumpster.  Thus, I have to be ready from the get go to move quickly to apply and move the resin into the desired forms or shapes.   I also have to be ready to modify my plan for the piece if that plan is not working out as originally anticipated, which happens more often than one would think (or hope).

Once the piece is “done”, meaning that either I’ve reached either that “Oh, wow!” stage or that “Well, ya can’t win ‘em all” stage, I take off my carbon filter mask and gloves and leave my studio in order to allow the fumes to dissipate.   In the summer I open the windows but in the winter I just leave.  I let the piece sit for at least one day before moving it.

As toxic and inherently uncontrollable as resin is, I love it. I love creating with it.  I love the results; the lines, shapes and colors formed by the addition of acrylic paint to resin.  The difficulties in working with this medium and the often-unexpected results simply add to resin’s charm for me as an artist.  I love the challenge of resin.  I love the whimsy of working with this medium, which for me, a control freak at heart, is saying a lot.   

I have, at last, found my medium.

  Man, sometimes you just need a little land snorkeling, don't you?  What?  You say you're not familiar with land snorkeling?  No surprise there.  I hadn't heard this term until recently.  It derives from landsnorkeling.com and is: 

"Land snorkeling is taking the time to savor aspects of nature we ordinarily don’t see or pay attention to. Land snorkelers wander thru nature with no intention of hiking to a destination. One contemplates what we find in nature and explores every possible connection with all parts of our natural world. Each blade of grass, rock, or creature has some connection to us. We ask questions looking at nature and find out what that connection might be – we develop our cognitive and abstract muscles to solve the problem. We have fun doing it. It helps us to think. Our imagination and creativity is enhanced and richens our lives in a healthy and productive way. It’s free and it’s fun.

Land snorkeling is reestablishing the ancient connections to our landscape. We open up all of our senses to experience the hidden treasures of nature. We develop our intellect thru our senses. We sniff it, touch it, examine the texture, color, shape, etc. etc.
We look closely at things – like a feather found in the grass, a wing design, a rocks texture, and the pattern of a tree growing.

  This is entirely a Buddhist point of view - and one that I continually have difficulty doing.  I've been multitasking for so very long that I almost do not know how to NOT multi-task.  But land snorkeling; now that's a different thing.  When one leaves the house to enjoy the outdoors, the computer and cell phone are left behind.  It's just us and the great outdoors.  If we take the time, we can land snorkel even in the city.

  I would have to say that none of us do enough land snorkeling.  We're so very busy; meeting deadlines, crossing off things on our "to do" list, rushing here, rushing there.  We forget that we must land snorkel, even if briefly, in order to retain our true selves, our humanity and to recharge our "batteries" which are drained by the pace of life today.

  So, if you see me wandering gently, and slowly around Cheesman Park or Wash Park, smiling at the geese and staring at the incredible beauty of our city parks, you'll know I'm land snorkeling.  

  Some dear and lovely friends of mine asked me to dinner in order to meet a young artist friend of theirs and give her marketing advice.  I have been thinking about what advice I will give this youngster (whether young in calendar years or young in art business years) ever since.

  What art marketing advice would you suggest that I to said art youngster?