rekindled

Thanks to everyone who stopped by on Guelph Studio Tour! See you...

Sun, 18 Oct 2015 17:56:53 -0400

Thanks to everyone who stopped by on Guelph Studio Tour! See you soon!

2019/2020 Upcoming Encaustic Workshops$95.00 materials...

Sat, 28 Mar 2015 23:25:04 -0400

2019/2020 Upcoming Encaustic Workshops
$95.00 materials included

Saturday, November 9th 1:00-5:00pm
Friday, November 29th 6:00-10:00pm
Saturday, December 7th 1:00-5:00pm
Friday, December 13th 6:00-10:00pm
Saturday, January 11th 1:00-5:00pm
Sunday, February 9th 1:00-5:00pm
Sunday, March 8th 6:00-10:00pm
Saturday, April 18th 1:00-5:00pm
Saturday, May 9th 1:00-5:00pm

Other dates by request. Minimum 4 person for a group session.

Email to sign up or read more about the workshops below.

This is a photo of the studio in 2014, awaiting finishing...

Wed, 26 Nov 2014 10:52:00 -0500

This is a photo of the studio in 2014, awaiting finishing details and getting ready for workshops and creation. It has changed from a place of possibility to a centre of creation. If you’re interested in taking a workshop or being part of the Open Studio space please email me.

Join my email list.

Mon, 24 Nov 2014 17:24:11 -0500

R.E.L.A.X. They had their whole lives. This piece is my happy...

Tue, 03 Dec 2013 19:29:50 -0500

R.E.L.A.X. They had their whole lives.

This piece is my happy subconscious at play. The inspiration is layered: childhood, life by the lake, and a sense of idleness that I am nostalgic for – or rather, curious about. The story begins with a fantastic vintage photo of European adults sitting on a beach. The white waves (created with a simple technique called intarsia or inlay) remind me of all things watery: plastic swim caps and cartoon oceans with seagulls bobbing on the horizon. A blue marble popping out of the dark blue ocean furthers the whimsy. And for a final bit of fun – there are sparkles.

6x6 encaustic on birch SOLD

orange brother about this piece: The photo is from an old set of...

Wed, 30 Oct 2013 22:25:00 -0400

orange brother

about this piece:
The photo is from an old set of photos I found while on a trip to Paris. The image has a lovely sense of nostalgia, and the little boy’s dog reminds me of an old metal dog on wheels. Orange brother was the clear title, taken from a teachers set of stamps that I have from the early 1900s with a magical assortment of single words. The techniques involved: image transfer, incised drawing, gouged and filled red line, stamp, texture created with a wire brush and oddly enough, a peach pit rolled into the surface. The colour and luminosity of this piece is amazing. I’m working on a varient of this as an 18x18, so consider this a study for that work.

4 x 4" encaustic mixed media on wood. 2013 SOLD

Upcoming Encaustic Workshops

Mon, 16 Sep 2013 12:18:00 -0400

Saturday or Sunday

Explore a variety of techniques in this 4 hour workshop. Cost is $95 per person including all materials.

The encaustic medium offers so much room for individual expression. This workshop will help you find your voice. Whether or not you consider yourself an artist, here in the studio, working with colour, molten beeswax and found objects, you will be one.

These sessions are playful and exploratory with lots of hands-on time and individualized instruction along the way. We’ll start out with the basics: safety, tools, fusing, layering, collage and then set off on creating a unique piece of artwork. You are free to work at your own pace, and try techniques that resonate most with you.

Core techniques: fusing, collage, gouging, and working with texture.

She loved the summer. encaustic and mixed media on wood....

Mon, 16 Sep 2013 12:14:00 -0400

She loved the summer. encaustic and mixed media on wood. 3x7" $200
Julia Grady 2013

She loved the summer. The clear water. The forest and the magical pines. It was years ago now, but so much a part of her that she felt she was still there.

about this piece:
I came across this photo at the antique market, and I was immediately captured by this woman in a beautiful jacket on the lakeshore, posing beside a seemingly monstrous wooden structure. The other half of the image is an encaustic interpretation of a forest, with a tiny pine cone hiding in the small metal box. Texture is so fun to work with in wax!

Year of Magical Thinking

Thu, 22 Aug 2013 21:28:00 -0400

One of my favourite excerpts from Joan Didion’s profound book, The Year of Magical Thinking:

“Grief turns out to be a place none of us know until we reach it. We anticipate (we know) that someone close to us could die, but we do not look beyond the few days or weeks that immediately follow such an imagined death. We misconstrue the nature of even those few days or weeks. We might expect if the death is sudden to feel shock. We do not expect this shock to be obliterative, dislocating to both body and mind. We might expect that we will be prostrate, inconsolable, crazy with loss. We do not expect to be literally crazy, cool customers who believe their husband is about to return and need his shoes. In the version of grief we imagine, the model will be “healing.” A certain forward movement will prevail. The worst days will be the earliest days. We imagine the moment to severely test us will be the funeral, after which this hypothetical healing will take place. When we anticipate the funeral we wonder about failing to “get through it,” rise to the occasion, exhibit the “strength” that invariably gets mentioned as the correct response to death. We anticipate needing to steel ourselves for the moment: will I be able to greet people, will I be able to leave the scene, will I be able to even get dressed that day? We have no way of knowing that this will not be the issue. We have no way of knowing that the funeral itself will be anodyne, a kind of narcotic regression in which we are wrapped in the care of others and the gravity and the meaning of the occasion. Nor can we know ahead of the fact (and here lies the heart of the difference between grief as we imagine it and grief as it is) the unending absence that follows, the void, the very opposite of meaning, the relentless succession of moments during which we will confront the experience of meaninglessness itself.“

With the phrase - the "unending absence the follows” - my mind races with a flurry of thoughts, and it feels that none can come to the foreground. I will look for the words and the images to pull out and record here. The time feels close.

I find my muse in two places, most often in a kind of empathic sorrow that is warm and comfortable, and sometimes in beauty and love. I tiptoe into this place with a little more caution, as the moments are fleeting, and then they are gone. I hope to be stepping here more often.

The beautiful photo above is from Algonquin park on our 3 day canoe adventure.

Date Night!

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 11:54:52 -0400

This series of 4 workshops provides an opportunity for couples to create a collaborative piece of work for their home.

Over a period of 4 evenings, reflect and share stories and ideas while we work on a series of 3-4 small pieces. We will focus on one encaustic technique each evening. You can work at your own pace, as each person will be working on their own small pieces. On the last night, your pieces will be joined with your partner’s to create a collaborative mosaic that truly tells your shared story.

We’ll also sample some tasty craft beers from Royal City and others. Feel free to also bring your own beer or wine and snacks.

Thursday November 19, December 3, January 14, January 28.
6 person minimum to run this series.

Rekindle your creativity, or just escape from the everyday.

Email to sign up.

encaustic workshops and studio time for everyone. this is more than a workshop, it's a chance to rejuvenate your creative self.

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 21:45:00 -0400

Encaustic workshops and open studio time!

reflect. discover. create.

We are all artists and sometimes being in the right place at the right time is the secret to letting our creativity flourish.

Encaustic Play for Everyone!

Studio Workshop Format (4 hours $95.00):
The encaustic medium offers so much room for individual expression. This workshop will help you find your voice. Whether or not you consider yourself an artist, here in the studio, working with colour, molten beeswax and found objects, you will be one.

The workshop style is learn as you go. These sessions are playful and exploratory with lots of hands-on time and individualized instruction along the way. We’ll start out with the basics: safety, fusing, layering, collage and then set off on creating a unique piece of artwork. You are free within the session to work at your own pace, and try techniques that resonate most with you.

These are offered on many Sundays throughout the fall. Past participants can continue in future sessions, and also join us on Open Studio days.

Open Studio Format $25.00
(3 hours select Tuesday evenings or Friday afternoons)
Is quite simply, the beautiful encaustic studio – open for you to explore. Materials not included. Please bring encaustic medium and your work in progress. Most Fridays and Tuesday evenings or other weekdays by request.

What to Bring:
The studio is set up and ready to go with all of the base materials, wood frames, encaustics, paper, various materials to collage, but to personalize your pieces, you may want to bring:

Small bits of anything special to you or interesting in pattern, texture, age. These items can literally be anything: rocks, buttons, drawings, old screws, rusty things, bits of fabric, string, photos, feathers, etc.
Photocopies of old pictures - laser copies will let us transfer them onto the wax. Ink jet printed items can be glued on/into the wax.
Please wear a work shirt or something you don’t mind accidentally getting wax on.

The Studio:
Lovingly referred to by friends as the ‘art shack’, this modern light-filled, DWELL inspired studio offers visiting artists the perfect home away from home. The art shack is a creative retreat within the city, a place that is guaranteed to help you engage your creative energy.

The Artist:
Julia Grady (that’s me!) has spent the past 20 years of her creative career doing it all. She simultaneously runs a successful design business, supports a community-focussed not-for-profit, raises two amazing children, and designs interior spaces that fulfill the soul. At her core, Julia is a mixed media artist who enjoys creating pieces that quietly reach out and try to speak to the soul of the viewer.

A skilled designer and intuitive facilitator, Julia helps lead workshop participants through their own creative process.

“When I taught my first encaustic workshop, I realized that years of working as a designer, problem solving, art directing, ensuring that each project had its own voice, had provided me with a perspective that I can use to help others create their own artwork, in their individual style. This workshop format is created with you in mind.”

Let’s Get Started!
Email julia@juliagrady.com phone 519.546.5640
If you have an idea for a custom event or are interested in a weekday session that is not listed, please email julia@juliagrady.com and I will do my best to accommodate your schedule.

encaustic workshop and open studio timing

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 21:01:00 -0400

What do you think? I’m organizing my fall/winter schedule for the art studio around YOU.

I would love to offer a combination of daytime/evening and weekend encaustic workshops, let me know which times generally work for you and I’ll make the schedule work best for everyone. Comment below or send me a quick email.

Fall is here, it feels like time for fire. The beeswax in the...

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 21:58:00 -0400

Fall is here, it feels like time for fire. The beeswax in the art studio is also heating up.

At Gow’s Bridge, Guelph. June 2012. First time paddling...

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 22:30:00 -0400

At Gow’s Bridge, Guelph. June 2012. First time paddling our beautiful antique cedar strip canoe.

"Things to make happen: soloing the cedar strip canoe."

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 22:21:00 -0400

“Things to make happen: soloing the cedar strip canoe.”

This workshop was so great, everyone just dove in! We are about...

Tue, 15 May 2012 21:45:00 -0400

This workshop was so great, everyone just dove in! We are about half-way through the evening, and each of the pieces are coming together in magical ways.

Outside looking in, evening encaustics crash course. I love the...

Tue, 15 May 2012 21:41:00 -0400

Outside looking in, evening encaustics crash course. I love the studio at night, so warm and glowy. The perfect space for free-flowing art play.

This is me. Very happy on an art trip in Paris. Fall 2011.

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500

This is me. Very happy on an art trip in Paris. Fall 2011.

Photo

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 23:08:00 -0400

Photo

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 23:07:00 -0400