Rebecca Wachtman

My apologies to you all - I am going to be upgrading/remodeling my site.  Things will probably look a bit weird for the next few weeks as I play around with adding shopping carts etc.  Once I'm done, I'll share what's next on the horizon. Thanks for your patience and see you in a few weeks (or sooner)! Rebecca

I am thrilled to announce that my award-winning, sculptural bowls  A Resinable Trio were sold while on display with the travelling Fiber Fusion show!  They are currently in Port Townsend at the Northwinds Arts Center (which is where they were sold!). They will continue travelling with the show to the Schack Art Center in Everett and then will head to their new home.   Congratulations to the new owner - I'm thrilled you have once of my sculptures created using my Resined Fiber (E)Mergent Method ™ ! I will soon be announcing some more exciting art news - AND I am working diligently on updating my website (and will be adding a storefront, which I am VERY excited about!).  Just a reminder that the Fiber Fusion show closes at Northwinds on the 26th of February, 2017.  It then moves to it's final location - the Schack Art Center.  It will be at the Schack from March 9th through April 15th, 2017.  This will be your last chance to see the super-fabul...

Can you guess who's artwork Is On Northwind Arts Center's main webpage? Yup it's mine! (Okay, I kind of gave the surprise away).  It's a big honor to have my artwork displayed along with  Nancy Loorem Adams artwork to advertise the opening of the Fiber Fusion show at Northwinds!  Thank you Northwind Arts Center for selecting an image of my artwork to use on your webpage! The opening reception is on Saturday the 4th, 2017 from 5:30-8:00 pm and coincides with the Port Townsend Art Walk.   Fiber Fusion is the title of the Washington State Surface Design Association Travelling Exhibit and it's really an amazing display of fiber art.  Plus Northwinds has a wonderful facility with lots of other interesting art to see as well.   I'll be attending and hope to see all of you there!!  

I am thrilled to announce that in conjunction with the Fiber Fusion show, I will be teaching a  Silk Painting Workshop for Beginners at the Schack Art Center in Everett, Washington.  It is a 4 hour workshop on Sunday, April 2nd, 2017 from 12:30-4:30pm.  The cost is $55 for members or $60 for non-members.   Each student will come away from this workshop with the experience of having made their own, hand-painted, 12" square piece of silk art which can be used as a handkerchief or mounted as wall art.  It's a lot of fun and a great opportunity to try something new! Hibiscus In Serti Artist:Rebecca Wachtman <--- This is one of flowers you could pick to paint! For more information about my workshop or other workshops and classes related to the Fiber Fusion show while it is at The Schack, please go to   www.schack.org/announcements/new-fiber-basketry-workshops/ A Resinable Trio, Artist: Rebecca Wachtman Fiber Fusion is the travelling...

Frost on Thistles (Rebecca Wachtman Artist) I don't know about you, but sometimes I get a bit depressed after the holidays.  I tend to go all-out for the holidays and decorate my house and yard as much as I can.  To me, the absolute, most-depressing day of the year (baring someone dying or major illnesses etc), is the day I take down all the holiday decorations! This year to help redirect my attention to more positive thoughts, I've been making a strong effort to see the beauty of the winter surroundings.   This winter has been a chilly one with lots of ice but not much snow (which is a shame because snow is a lot more fun - and usually cancels school! lol). Frost on Pine (Rebecca Wachtman Artist)     I've been taking some early morning walks before work and found that a new park along a river has some gorgeous examples of frosty/frozen nature at it's finest.  The frost has not only decorated all the plants, but it's highlighted the bea...

Sophie & Kingston Ready For Xmas I've taken a month off from posting to my blog and spent a good deal of time during the last month, enjoying time with my family and friends during the winter holidays.  Now that the holidays are over (boohoo), it's time to get back to the business of making art.  I don't know about you, but it seems like I am always game to review the business-side of my art!  (probably because it allows me to procrastinate instead of actually making art!).  But I do honestly think that reviewing your business once or twice a year is very good idea!  While I am not one for making New Year's Resolutions, I think it's the perfect time to review and making small (or even large) changes.  What do I mean? Well, I been taking a class from a website called  www.ArtistsU.org  which has offered some great insight and new ways of looking at myself and my art business.  My little group meets once a month and so far, I've fou...

So excited to see the Fiber Fusion show in the new VALA space!  VALA moved to a new location - it's still at Redmond Town Center, but down a few stores (to the East).  It's in an old clothing store retail space...so it has lots of windows, lots of lights, and it's a very pretty space!!  PERFECT for the Fiber Fusion show!! I helped unpack the show and get it ready for hanging, but haven't seen the full show in the new space yet.   Here's a picture of my two paintings at the show.  I thought I'd submit the two tulip paintings I did using the same pattern but vastly different techniques.  The paintings have been titled "Tulips Two Ways"  "Serti" and "Stop-flow".    And I LOVE the other painting that they've been hung with.  It's a colorful, eye-catching wall for sure!!  If you get the chance to stop by the opening reception, it would be great to see you!! We'll have munchies of course (and maybe even wine!).  Many o...

I am sharing this post because it pretty much sums up how I'm feeling right now.  FYI - it is a rather long read. :-) Hello Mr. President-Elect, You have no idea who I am and to be honest... if you met me you'd probably walk on by.  I'm not glamorous or chic.  I'm not young or sexy.  I am truly just an ordinary, every-day, middle-class, woman.  Mr. President-Elect, I am one of the millions of people that you are going to be leading as the next president of the United States.  Additionally, I am one of the many who did not vote for you.  I am a bit of an odd duck in that I REFUSE to choose a political party to follow blindly.  I vote what my conscious tells me to (sometimes that is Liberal, sometimes Republican, and sometimes Democrat) and this time my conscious was screaming at me to vote against you because of some VERY inflammatory things you said as you ran your campaign.   Mr. President-Elect, I am not stupid.  I unde...

Hooray!  In spite of nasty weather, the threat of power loss, and serious time constraints due to muggle life interfering with art life...   I FINALLY managed to finish (and take pictures of) my latest silk and resin sculpture!  WHEW!   Just in time to submit it to a couple of art calls that I REALLLLLY wanted to get it in to! SO here's the sculpture.  I've tentatively titled it "Risen again". It was originally a painting that I created to be a part of a quad.  But they didn't turn out as I had hoped.  I then removed the painted silk from the canvas and had been playing with it - trying to figure out how I was going to use it.  Originally I had thought to incorporate it into a mixed media piece with acrylics. But this turned out to be a MUCH better option!!  Have I mentioned, I just love Ice Resin!?

Saturday, October 1st, 2016 was a fun evening at Vision 5 Art Gallery.    Me and my two art pieces "Oh my, Camelia!" and "Sweet Lil'Tulips" I belong to the Surface Design Association (a fabulous organization, by the way) and our local group (called the Eastside SDA) has a month-long show at Vision 5.   Saturday was the opening and as always, it was beautifully curated by Crystal Edwards.  I've selected some pictures of the artwork to share.  We have a LOT of talented artists!! The artists include:   Virginia Franz Turner GJ Gillespie Louise Roby Crystal Edwards Gale Whitney Maura Donegan Rebecca Wachtman

Have you ever heard the chirpy little saying "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade". I've always found that saying to be rather annoying... perhaps it's because I happen to strongly dislike lemonade!    Plus it the saying makes it sound like it's just sooo easy to just turn your lemons into lemonade.  Well I don't have the right tools, I don't like drinking lemonade (even with tea or fruit flavors in it!), and I think the whole saying downplays the real-life drama and frustrations that come with receiving lemons instead of whatever you thought you were supposed to receive! SO I've decided that when life gives you lemons, you need to take a few moments (if possible) and re-imagine what those lemons could actually be! When I am stuck, I've found it best to let my mind think about the possibilities, and then augment my mind's processes with some good, old-fashioned research.  I'll look at Pinterest, my favorite blogs, my favorite F...

I don't know about you, but there are MANY times when I struggle to create art. Not because I lack inspiration, but because I am usually very limited on time. And when I do sneak a few minutes to create art, I find myself swept away by business needs (updating my blog, Facebook, Instagram etc, or doing taxes and other office work), or I find a million other things in my studio that keep me busy but also keep me from actually creating art (like cleaning up the messes that I have previously left, or playing with new art supplies).   But then I visited a friend's house  and she has a lovely ceremony she does when she starts art or any endeavor that is creative - she creates an art alter (complete with candles and incense) and invites her muse to join her.  I LOVE that idea!!  (thank you Jacquie Calladine , for providing such wonderful inspiration!)     So I created my own little art alter.  Mine has bits of nature found on walks, bits of t...

I have to admit, I'm rather liking the resin and silk sculptures!!    Unfortunately, since I have a small studio, that means that I'm not getting much painting done (sigh).   But my sculptures are coming along nicely. I have one that is twice reclaimed (and it's name will probably reflect that).  I've been experimenting with how to create interesting curves with it.  It started off as reclaimed silk which I then painted a partial flower upon using the Serti method.  I decided I didn't like it and I removed it from the canvas (which took some doing since it was adhered with matte medium), and now it's becoming a flower sculpture!  I have a transparent one with pink and blue streaks, that started off as a large, sculptural bowl.... but it's larger size combined with a hot car ride to a local show - caused it too droop (something it wasn't supposed to be able to do, according to the manufacturers of the resin!).  I've been adding additional res...

Jacquard's Water- based resist I was very excited to test out Jacquard's new Water-based Resist for silk painting.  I've used a variety of resists and each has their pluses and minuses... and this new resist is no different. On the plus side: It's premixed and already at a good consistency for applying with an applicator bottle.  It drys fairly rapidly It repels dye very well Dye painted on top of the line doesn't soak through Once dried it can't be scrubbed away It is relatively inexpensive and easy to get a hold of (Dharma Trading carries it - as does at least one local store) Dye can be added to it to tint the resist But there are some issues that I am having some challenges with!  So to be fair, on the negative side: It doesn't always flow out of the applicator nicely and I often get bigger globs (meaning I have a hard time getting nice, crisp edges on my lines!) Along with coming out of the applicator unevenly, it also tends to ...

I am thrilled to announce that my silk & resin sculpture Enlightened Flower has been accepted into the Silk Painter's International (SPIN) Silk-in-Transitions Art Show - which will be held at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee!  I am honored and excited to have one of my pieces accepted into such an amazing show!!  The Silk-in-Transitions art show takes place during the SPIN conference and while I'm sad that I can't personally attend, it's exciting to know that my artwork will!  My artwork will be available for viewing from October 1st, 2016 through November 5th, 2016.  Thank you SPIN!!  I can't wait to see pictures of the show!!

New painting in progress My daughter is off at camp for a week.... lucky girl!  And I miss her dreadfully, but to fill the void - I am getting to spend some quality time in my studio!! HOORAY!  Because I normally work full-time, getting long periods in my studio is a very rare thing.  SO what have I done?  Well, I've played with my new camera (hoping to learn enough to get some good bird shots to use as reference for painting), I also have been cleaning and organizing my studio space, AND I've been painting.    Am I getting 8+ hours a day of painting done?? No.  sigh.  It's amazing how so many things crop up to kill my "free" time (sick dogs, household chores, multiple date-nights with my wonderful hubby, and a guilty pleasure I like to call Pokeman Go).     The under-painting for shadows  Here is the beginning of my current painting.  I started off under-painting it with shadows (an experiment based on Jud...

Silk Painting Workshop at Allied Arts Gallery At The Park It has been an exciting and fun year so far!!  After attending the Fiber Fusion Show opening (where I won Best Use of Mixed Media!!), I went back to Richland the next weekend and taught 2 workshops... Intro to Silk Painting and Resisting Your Dyes with an Ice Dyeing Kicker. Resisting Dyes/Ice Dyeing Workshop at Allied Arts Gallery At The Park - yes it was messy, but fun!!! You can see we were making quite the mess in the Resists (Shibori) class!! Thank you to all the wonderful ladies that took my workshops!!! You made the workshops so much fun!!!! The next week was graduation for the Transition students at the ACT Program where I have a muggle job as a vocational specialist and was responsible for the slideshow/movie presentation. I am SO proud of these young people!!!! And then the next weekend I got to demo Silk Painting at the Whidbey Island Garden Tour.  I was located at the...

Me and A Resinable Trio with my certificate and prize I have to say I'm feeling a bit gob-smacked!  I went to the Fiber Fusion opening today at Gallery At The Park in Richland, WA and ended up winning Golden Acrylic's Best Use of Mixed Media prize for A Resinable Trio !! It is such an honor just to be juried into the show - but to receive an award as well.... wow!!   Especially in light of the INCREDIBLE pieces I saw in the show today!  The venue is fantastic and the show is incredibly well-curated!! My bowls are in the center,  The egg-shape entitled The Birth of the Grid (to the right of my bowls) won the Juror's Choice award!  It's amazing! Our show even made the news again! Here's the link to the Tri-cities NBC Affiliate (KNDO/KNDU) piece they did about our show (my bowls are shown near the beginning of the piece and then I'm shown accepting my award towards the end).   http://www.nbcrightnow.com/category/189473/...

I've been enjoying creating a few examples of different Shibori techniques for my upcoming workshop Resisting Your Dyes With An Ice Kicker at Allied Arts Gallery-in-the-Park on June 11th. I was having so much fun, that my daughter decided she had to join me (which I LOVE!) - and then we decided we couldn't just make a few samples, we had to dye some shirts too (12 to be exact - which is a LOT of shirts!).   It was a lot of work (a lot more than I was expecting because of the additional shirts!), but it was sooo much fun!! In fact, I'm thinking I may see if I can find an old tablecloth and dye it for my studio worktable and maybe my dining room table too! Just a couple more weeks before the workshop - I can't wait to see what my workshop students create! FUN! FUN! FUN!