Tuesday, September 4, 2018

None Of My Students Make The Same Painting

I have been looking through my photo albums of student work over the last 13 years that I have been teaching the encaustic technique in San Miguel. The images reinforce my dedication to teach not only the technique, but inspire each student to explore their own inspiration and creativity. My studio is loaded with everything one would want to expand their experience of what encaustic painting can produce.
   Here are some example of work that was produced in just the introductory workshop.

There are hundreds more, but this sampling shows my mission to help others create their own visions.







Monday, April 30, 2018

Fun With Fire

There were 4 participants in today's workshop, and what started out with trepidation because they have never used the gas touch for a couple of people, turned out to be a fusing fiesta. All became comfortable with the torch quickly and proceeded to create unique encaustic paintings.



Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Why I Love Teaching

The February group encasutic workshop was a delight for me. It was my privilege to meet four people I would not have encountered if not for the workshop. Each person was open and eager to learn the encaustic technique and brought new, interesting energy to my studio.

My encaustic workshops last for 5 hours, most other teachers offer just 4 hours. I include a break for lunch or snacks where we can sit down together and get acquainted. I bring out 3 big photo albums of other students and workshops that go back to 2005 .These photos of each of the other participants in the classes proved that no one creates the same encaustic painting.







Monday, January 29, 2018

Workshops and online classes

Please go to my website; http://www.ezshwan.com/classes-and-workshops.html  to get the latest information on the workshops and online classes.









I have not yet been able to clean up this blog and I hate to lose all the years of photos of students.

But here is some information about the in-studio workshops.:


Join me in the studio for an in-depth exploration into the art of painting with encaustic. I will demystify the process of working with this seductive medium and share many of my trade secrets for creating unique painting effects  This workshop will help push your artwork to the next level and many students have gone on to exhibit and sell their own work. Each class is held in my own art studio, so class size is small that allows for a very personalized experience. Students of all skill levels gain from the intimate learning environment.

All skill levels are welcome here! This workshop is two 5 hours days, packed with  the information you need to start creating your own beautiful works in encaustic.

Once we cover all the basics,  we'll focus on unique painting techniques.

We'll have fun experimenting with mixed media and I'll guide you through any technical issues so you can take your encaustic work to the next level. All workshops take place in my professional studio located in beautiful San Miguel de Allende: https://tinyurl.com/yb4pzn8u

     •    Resources on materials, safe studio practices and so much more.
     •    Mastering a smooth surface.

    •    Creating a flawless image transfer.

    •    Embedding elements into wax.

    •    Incorporating mixed media such as oil paint, pastels and papers.

    •    Tips for unusual mark making techniques.

    •    How to make your own medium 

    •    Resources on materials, safe studio practices and so much more.  


Friday, January 26, 2018

Oh No!

As I was trying to edit my workshop posts, somehow posts from my other blog appeared and I can't get rid of them. Years of workshop posts are still available if you scroll down to the very bottom to the lists of postings. If anyone can tell me how to get rid of the other blog posts, please help me.

Thursday, January 18, 2018

Online class is available for purchase


I have created and posted my online class, Painting Portraits in Encaustic. https://vimeo.com/ondemand/134921  It is an hour and 27 minutes of instruction, and step by step painting of a face. It is not slick. It is like standing next to me in my studio and watching me work. The whole class is $75 U.S and can be watched over and over.

If you have no experience in portraiture, you can learn the simple basics of drawing a face; how to measure and lay out the features from another class. https://vimeo.com/ondemand/21068

There is a Face Book page for the participants in the class to post progress, share and ask questions. If you have ever wanted to paint faces, here is your chance. After you have purchased your workshop, contact me so I can add you to that Face book group. ezshwan.winding@artbyezshwan.com

Here is the portrait from the class







Monday, January 8, 2018


Like Magic

I had a wonderful 10 day tour of the state of Veracruz before Christmas and took many pictures.
We traveled almost the whole state and experienced different places and energies.
When I got home, I attempted to download the photos to my laptop, but it didn't happen. I tried every tip and trick I could think off, but nothing. Then yesterday, they appeared! I am not a computer geek and I am just trusting that some magic genie removed the obstacle.


My most outstanding adventure was visiting the island in Catemaco at the Reserva Ecologica de Naciyaga. Here witches meet annually for cleansing, and many are living here permanently. I choose to call them healers rather than witches, but make up your own mind. One can have a spa experience with mineral mud or get a shamanic style spiritual cleansing. Ceremonies are conducted, using much of the Olmec or Toltec traditions wedding. 

The 1992 movie, Medicine Man with Sean Connery was filmed there.
This stone god has the traces of black around his mouth, because after a person is cleansed physically and spiritually, this god eats all that has been removed.

This circle is were ceremonies and weddings are held. The church holds no influence here.

The pure mineral water was served to us in a real disposable cup

The on-duty shaman, offering cleansings and magical potions to aid in all aspects of life

The sister triplets. I forgot their significance, but notice the black around the mouth.
The sweat lodge

Tuesday, December 26, 2017


No Honor For Aung San Suu Kyi !


the posting below is quoted from the Guardian newspaper

  The Myanmar leader should be cut from Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, critics insist

It is one of the most popular children’s books of 2017, a collection of stories about female role models from Amelia Earhart and Marie Curie to Hillary Clinton and Serena Williams, inspiring girls to aim high and challenge the status quo.

"But Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, likely to be in many Christmas stockings, has run into controversy because of one of the 100 women included in its pages. When the book was written last year, Aung San Suu Kyi was deemed a worthy subject: winner of the Nobel peace prize and epitome of courage in the face of oppression. But her fall from grace over her response to violence against Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims, described by the UN as possible genocide, has triggered calls for her to be taken out of future editions. In response, the authors, Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo, are considering removing her from reprints.
Labour MP and shadow justice minister Yasmin Qureshi, who has raised concerns in parliament about the Rohingya crisis, said: “I often wonder how it can be possible to go from being one of the most admired and respected civil rights champions, a symbol of courage, patience and principle, to someone who shows such lack of compassion.
“I have no doubt that history will remember her as the leader who watched on while mass killing, systematic rape and ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands who were forced to live in squalid refugee camps. I’d encourage the authors to consider that there is an entire generation of young Rohingya children who are stateless and hopeless, suffering a miserable existence. Aung San Suu Kyi’s refusal to condemn makes her complicit.”

I had included Aung San Suu Kyi in my "Women Who Changed the World" series, but now I realized who she really is. This painting is removed from my website and Saatchi gallery. I will scrape off her face and use the board for something more deserving.


Tuesday, December 19, 2017


Happy Holidays

This is an old oil painting that I did many years ago. It lives in San Francisco now
And a  Happy Hanukkah to my Jewish friends.

I had been traveling for 10 days in the state of Veracruz and planned on posting many photos of my wonderful trip along with a story of my adventure. I used my iPhone camera to take these precious images, but when I tried to download them to the computer, I couldn't, so I will try again when Mercury Retrograde is over, but in the meantime I want to wish you all a happy, healthy holiday season and a prosperous new year.

I have been posting an image a day on Instagram and this one has been the most liked. It is very different from previous work, and I am wondering if I can create some more in this vein. It is cold wax and oil, 24" x 24" and I titled it "Waiting"


Monday, December 4, 2017


November Has Been a Good Month

 6 paintings and a print were sold in November.  I am completely recovered from the E-coli infection and parasites in the blood. I had been feeling listless, exhausted, with a daily headache and a queasy stomach. I didn't have the energy to create or plan future workshops. I felt as if some old person had taken over my body. I didn't know why until the lab tests.

Well, I am back, excited to make new paintings and to welcome students to my classes in encaustic; both beginning and advanced and oil and cold wax. I am even considering offering portrait painting in encasutic.

Tomorrow, I am off to Veracruz for 9 days. Life is good.
Encaustic Diptych

Oil and Encaustic on panel

Encaustic diptych

oil and encaustic on panel

6 paintings and a print were sold in November.  I am completely recovered from the E-coli infection and parasites in the blood. I had been feeling listless, exhausted, with a daily headache and a queasy stomach. I didn't know why until the lab tests.
A print of this painting was sold by Saatchi gallery

Wednesday, November 22, 2017


I Didn't Stop In Time!



It has been spotty working in the studio. Since we moved into a large house with a large back yard and loads of plants to care for, I seem to find many other things to do rather than paint.  I could pretend that I do all this extra work, but actually I have a wonderful assistant and he can do everything and I mean everything; gardening, plumbing, electrical work and he is also my studio assistant. Of course the stumbling block could be that once again I screwed up a perfectly good painting by thinking I could improve it. Well, I certainly didn't.

Also I have been a bit under the weather and that became a real challenge 5 days ago. All will be well. I saw my dear doctor this morning and he assures me that I will be perfectly well for my planned trip to Veracruz Dec, 5.
I decided to attack a lovely encaustic diptych that had a few scratches. I painted oil and cold wax on the first layer
Next, I went back with black cwm and oil. I should have stopped at this point
This could have been a painting on its own.






Same painting. Getting worse and worse. if I had used encaustic, I could scrape it off and start again.





The saving grace was ordering 3 perfect boards that my assistant prepared; one for encaustic and the other 2 for cold wax and oil. Now the fun and challenge can begin.



I had a nice surprise. I opened a Face book post by one of the authors of the new Cold Wax book and found that one of my paintings was posted as an example.
DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE HOLIDAY SALE FROM NOW TO DECEMBER 22. 30% off plus free shipping from Mexico. The online workshops will be discounted also, BUT in order to participate you must sign up for my mailing list. If you already have subscribed, you are registered and can choose what you want. I can offer gift certificates if you want to choose something for a someone else.

Friday, November 10, 2017


How Important Are the Arts?

I got that question this morning during a live interview at a gallery opening in Denmark. It was an honor to be part of the opening exhibition even though we are in different countries and different time zones.

How important are the arts? this reminds me of my father's comments as I pleaded with my parents to go to art school. He said. "What good is art? You can't eat it or wear it?

My answer to the question today was something like, "Without art, life is colorless"

Here are some other artists' quotes; "Art is art. Everything else is everything else." Ad Reinhardt

"Art is lies that tell the truth." Picasso

Perhaps my favorite quote, at least for today;   "A great artist...must be shaken by the naked truths that will not be comforted. This divine discontent, this disequilibrium, this state of inner tension is the source of artistic energy." Goethe

I am sure not only artists feel the divine discontent. It is what we do with that discontent, isn't it?

I was discontented with this painting several years ago and I destroyed it. The image popped up on  a post from Pinterest. Someone had saved it. I thought, "Wow, that was a good painting. Why did I not let it live?"
encaustic. I may try to re-create it.







Online Encaustic Classes

Online Encaustic Classes
Advanced encaustic techniques

Painting Portraits in Encaustic

Painting Portraits in Encaustic
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Drawing and Painting Faces, click on image

Drawing and Painting Faces, click on image
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I have been an artist most of my life, except for the time off working as an interior designer while I supported my three daughters.

Now I am a full time painter and teacher of the encaustic process.

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