Aboriginal Art - Inspiration

"Outback", 12" x 12" encaustic on panel

Recently, when I was in Seattle, I was disappointed that I could not make it to see the Australian Aboriginal Art exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum. I have always been drawn toward primitive art, particularly Native American and Art of the Southwest U.S., which is why my attraction toward Australian Aboriginal Art seemed natural.

The next best thing to seeing the exhibit was ordering the exhibit book "Ancestral Modern". While waiting for the book to arrive, I began learning how the Aboriginal outlook of the world was a most unique perspective - sometimes a view from the sky looking down on earth, other times from the ground looking up to the skies; abstract patterns representing anything from landscapes to animals to people, often times telling a story or describing a dream. Predominant colors are earth tones although I have noticed a minimal use of greens, this would make sense as the desert (and desert colors) are most predominant on the Australian continent. I am looking forward to researching further.

I decided to paint 2 panels at the same time using the same layers of color, 12 x 12 and 6 x 6 - the smaller panel is now ready for an upcoming encaustic demonstration I will be doing at the Copley Society of Art on September 15. Both panels were taped around the edges in order to keep them paint-free.

After fusing many layers of wax, I then removed the tape.

I have still not decided if I prefer the clean taped edges to the random drips revealing how the layers were created although I have been told galleries prefer the clean edge, a more professional presentation.

Chihuly in Seattle

The past week I have been in Seattle helping my oldest daughter setup in her new home. I had never been to the Pacific Northwest before although I knew the beauty of the mountains combined with the dense tree growth would be artistically inspirational to me. I did not expect to absolutely fall in love with the area.

One highlight for me was visiting the Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibition located next door to the famous space needle. The exhibit rooms and garden were spectacular. To quote Dale Chihuly, "I want people to be overwhelmed with light and color in a way they have never experienced".

A few highlights -

Northwest room 

Sealife room

Mille Fiori

Persian Ceiling

 Outdoor garden installations, absolutely spectacular.

Aside from the glass exhibition, there was an Aboriginal Art exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum but unfortunately the museum was closed on Monday and Tuesday and I could not get in to see it. I did visit Pike Market place several times (also location of the original Starbucks).

And I did manage a ferry ride to Bainbridge Island. The ferry allowed me views of both the Cascade Mountains (east of Seattle, seen below in the distance)

And the Olympic Mountains, west of the island, seen just below the clouds. This trip to Seattle now has me wanting to go back to spend more time closer to nature, hopefully that will happen before the end of the year.

NOAA radar images

NOAA stands for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They are the people that put out marine and hurricane warnings using doppler radar images. Throughout the summer I have been inspired by the weather, storms, and the energy associated with these events.

Hurricane Ernesto radar map from earlier this month

"Cyclogenesis", 6" x 6" encaustic on panel

"Eye of the Storm", 6" x 6" encaustic on panel

I have learned about weather terms used when describing various storms and decided to name these 2 paintings accordingly.

The abstracts are a new direction for me and although I plan on continuing to develop this series, I am also preparing for my upcoming shows and will include my small encaustic landscape paintings because of their salability. Below are additional versions of the same lighthouse I painted last week. I now have 30 shadowbox framed works ready to go along with assorted larger works.

Cape Cod lighthouse

Discovery

Encaustic painting has led me into an entirely different creative process. I am also relating to abstract art for the first time with a simplified vision and new understanding.

"Upstream", 8" x 8" encaustic on panel

This morning I spent four hours painting two panels with over 20 layers of encaustic paint. I learned this process in the workshop Laura Moriarty taught at Castle Hill last month and I am continuing to work with the paint in new ways, knowing that each completed painting is a stepping stone toward improving and mastering the technique. 

I decided to paint both panels with the same layers of color however sculpting and shaping with scraping tools will be done without planning to match one piece to the next. This is an experiment to learn more about the sculptural qualities of the paint, to see what creates similarities and differences. Tomorrow I will sculpt the panel on the left, the one common denominator will be linear shape.

These 2 pieces will be additions to my newest series, Maps

Places and Maps

"Cape Escape", encaustic triptych, 12" x 28"

I had in my mind that if I re-created with paint the places I visited during my week on Cape Cod, I would retain the feeling you get when you go on vacation, indefinitely. I already had the panels and frame, and by adding greater dimensionality with textured wax, then floating each piece in the shadowbox frame, I felt the paintings together had a life of its own.

Painting the dunes was the most challenging because of the tricky shadows and mounds of sand. At a distance the shadows work but close up, not so much. I started another dune painting at the same time and will finish that to be shown on its own.

Simultaneously, I am in the midst of discovering a new direction with my encaustic work, and I am excited about the unknown of where this is taking me.

The abstract paintings I began last month have developed with the underlying idea of maps, horizon lines, aerial views, earth, (and everything else that you have shared in comments on previous blog posts!) I am going to go with the flow. This is the third piece I have completed and you can see the other works together here. I am being consistent with the size for now and have thought about possibly attaching the entire body of 8" x 8" paintings together as a single piece, but it's still too soon for me to know where this will end.

Untitled, 8" x 8" encaustic on board

Cape Cod

Even though I am having tons of fun creating abstract works, I have to take a break until I receive the additional panels I ordered over the weekend. I want to remain consistent with the size of these paintings and feel that seeing the abstracts grouped together will connect the dots, or more literally, the horizon lines.

In the meantime, I have been inspired by my recent visit to Truro on Cape Cod last week.

"Cape Cod Lighthouse", 5" x 5" encaustic 

Cape Cod lighthouse is probably the most famous on the Cape, due to the fact that beach erosion forced the lighthouse to be moved 450 feet from the shoreline. The history of this lighthouse can be read here.

"Funnel Clouds in Truro", 5" x 5" encaustic

One late afternoon when we were sitting on the back porch of our hotel room we watched a storm approach. This particular storm made the news and when I found out later there were several funnel clouds that touched down over the water, I knew I had captured it.

A third painting I started today (of sand dunes) should be completed tomorrow. I plan on putting all three small works in a triptych frame.

Processing with Practice

Since last week I have been reviewing several new encaustic techniques I learned at the workshop I attended. I have not decided if I will continue in this style of encaustic painting or if I need to step back and re-assess the best direction for me to find the balance in nature I constantly strive to create with my art. This is such a new way of deciphering a landscape composition that I am sure the challenge is healthy.

Incorporating simple lines with inlay techniques help to establish essential landscape composition elements in these abstract paintings.

"Horizon Lines", 8" x 16" encaustic on panel, diptych 

It happened by chance, the 2nd 8" x 8" piece I completed at home this week pairs up beautifully with the first one completed in the workshop (shown together above), the horizontal inlay lines were placed at almost identical heights. 

Each of these paintings is 8" x 8"

Our first "assignment" during the workshop is shown below. We were limited to color choices and the primary focus was building up layers to allow for more interest when we scraped them away. I added the light yellow color a day later when our palette choices weren't limited by using the inlay technique. These linear additions changed an unsuccessful painting into something successful.

5" x 7" flat encausticbord 

At the end of the workshop I visited the Provincetown Art Association and Museum and saw the Motherwell exhibit. For someone that has always had a hard time connecting to abstract art, it was the first time I felt a strong connection to the simplicity of the line. I could relate to the openness of Motherwell's work, and the abstract shapes and color associations that represented tangible images. 

I continue processing thoughts of the simplified landscape and will see where it takes me. It's funny that when I was an art history major in undergrad school I avoided contemporary art with a passion. Now, 30+ years later, it's the one thing I am drawn toward in search of a better understanding not just in art but in life. 

Afterthoughts: Encaustic workshop at Castle Hill

I am still processing all of the things I discovered last week in Laura Moriarty's workshop and have now been inspired with new ways to create landscape elements using encaustic techniques. One of my goals is to break down a landscape composition into abstracted form.

Untitled, 8" x 8"encaustic on panel

Excavating:
layered, contoured, inlayed, and scraped. I still plan on burnishing some of the excavated areas in order to have a smoother, cleaner surface.
Leaving the stain of the pigment on the edges of the cradled panel (seen below) was more appealing to me than leaving the drips of wax over the edges.

Sculpture:

We painted layers of flat and textured wax on a flat panel, then rolled and sliced in half. Laura invented this technique which she incorporates in many of her sculptural paintings.

Artifacts: 

these were created to be added into poured sculptural pieces.

After pouring layers of wax into a mold we could sculpt and burnish areas to expose various artifacts.

I prefer the green side up (above) as the top of the sculpture however it looks completely different if you flip over to the other side.

We had open studio time in the afternoon and I also experimented with rice paper, powdered charcoal, and the wax that was left on the griddle. These are just a few of the monotypes I created, each is 18" x 12". I may incorporate these into wax sculptures but I need more time to decide.

Then to top off an incredible art week, the last day of the workshop I received an email from the Copley Society informing me that my painting "Tempest" was the juror's choice 2nd place award in the upcoming Marine Art show. 

My head is still spinning!

"Tempest", 12" x 12" encaustic on panel

Excavating Encaustic, workshop with Laura Moriarty

It's been enlightening for me to see new ways of using this incredibly addictive medium with much more to still cover in this week long workshop and I just wanted to share a few of these new encaustic techniques.

Excavating with layers, our first project:

We built up many layers of color in order to then "excavate" by using a variety of carving and printmaking tools. We cut and scraped and carved to expose different levels of layered wax. I also added lines of inlay in yellow and gray to make the pattern more interesting.

What is so different for me is not having a representational idea but rather to only focus on the qualities of the wax and the experience of simply exploring it.

Early stages of excavating -

There are only 4 of us in the workshop, seen below after the first day.

Tomorrow we will be using the "artifacts" that we created out of wax and I plan on posting once I learn and understand this next technique.

Workshops

Yesterday I offered a small, 3-person watercolor workshop in my home. Two of the three students had participated in past workshops and we focused primarily on contouring with color, specifically sky. I used a photo from last week's storm for a demo and had time to finish painting this morning.

"Storm Over Boston", 18" x 24" watercolor

student works -

We enjoyed a short lunch break in the sun on the back deck and the day flew by. I am not usually in my home when I am teaching and it was a pleasure having the computer to access visual examples plus I had my own finished works for specific technique references.

The next watercolor workshop I am scheduled to teach will be in the fall at Montserrat College of Art. The class schedule is available on their website.

My big event of the summer starts tomorrow morning when I am driving to Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill. Laura Moriarty, artist and gallery director at R&F paints, is teaching a 5-day encaustic workshop and I am looking forward to learning more about the medium. Being a student in her class will also allow me to be a better teacher for my own workshops. I hope to share my progress and workshop updates throughout the week.