Tuscan Stay-cation

In New England, President's Day is the start of a week long vacation for the public schools. My youngest daughter has been waiting to hear from colleges and I am waiting to hear on an apartment lease in Chicago (should know what's happening by weeks end) and the best way to calm myself is to paint. I decided to pull out favorite photos from my Tuscan vacation several years ago and re-used them in small image transfers.

"Silhouette"

6 x 6 encaustic on panel

"Road to Cortona"

6 x 6 encaustic on panel

and I made some minor adjustments to the piece I shared here yesterday...

"Cobblestone Alley"

6 x 6 encaustic on panel

 Together these paintings create a fond memory of my visit to Tuscany.

A week from Saturday I am back at Montserrat College of Art teaching my last watercolor workshop until I am moved. It's a strange feeling to know so much will be changing but I look at it as a new chapter waiting for me to mold it as best I can. 

Red

"War"

12 x 12 encaustic on panel

In the mind of a visual artist, color conveys ideas better than words. I continue to play with "primitive scratchings" in order to build a more cohesive body of work that can bring us closer to the indomitable human spirit.

I am also having fun replenishing my Etsy shop (with more new work to post soon).

"Cobblestone Alley"

6" x 6" encaustic on panel

3 out of 4

"Nemo", the blizzard of 2013, has finally ended. Traffic bans have been lifted, and it will take most of us at least all day tomorrow to shovel out the over two feet of snow we received in the past 24 hours. Fortunately where I live we did not loose power and I was able to spend the time working on new submissions for an upcoming small works on paper show.

My substrate of choice has become encausticbord however for the show all work must be on paper. I decided to re-use some of my favorite images and now I have the task of choosing three submissions. 

Each painting is 3.5 x 2.5 and will need to be mounted and matted on 8 x 10 paper if accepted. I usually float, stamp with my chop, and place in a shadowbox frame (and that's what I will do if my work is not accepted).

Which 3 would you choose?

I continue to develop two completely different bodies of work. These small representational landscape paintings are my bread and butter in art sales plus I love creating textures by etching into the wax. Just today I sold another piece on Etsy and it's hard to ignore the success. 

The other work I am developing challenges skill and represents my thought process. I am hoping to put together a proposal for a solo show at the Copley Society in the next few weeks featuring my primitive works. Submitting requires an artist statement, something I edit on a regular basis.

The motivation behind the work is as important to me as the work.
new statement - Artist Statement

new work - Primitive 

A few blizzard photos: this is what I woke to, Charlie just wanted a way out!

My driveway, and Charlie.

Beach at high tide, down the street from my house.

More processing

"Remains of the Day"

24 x 24 encaustic on panel

My newest encaustic painting finds inspiration from a study of cave paintings, Native American symbols, earth and clay, and even sumi-e line work, all with a lean toward landscape. The Sumi-e  influence is transferred with simple lines and open space.     

After completing "Remains of the Day" I decided to rotate it and now I am unsure which direction this should hang. A successful abstract painting can be viewed and hung in more than one way, right?

In my home I have objects with the same earthy qualities. A favorite vase, a clay planter, shells in a glass bowl, are just a few things that bring me closer to the earth.

When I decided to clean the catch-tray to my electric griddle because of the wax buildup I was surprised to see such beautiful layering from colored drippings. I was going to melt down and recycle the drippings but it's too beautiful a "happy accident" to loose.

Drippings as they appeared in the catch tray, top view -

bottom view -

side views -

Process in Stages

"Fire and Wind"

8 x 8 encaustic on panel

The above painting was the result of three continuous days in the studio, working through personal and creative challenges, and completely changing direction. I hesitated to share the stages I went through because I am sure there will be someone who prefers one of the versions that no longer exists. Maybe if I explain the thinking behind the process you will understand what I was trying to achieve.

Starting with more than 10 layers of colored wax, I carved, etched, added colored inlay, oil pastel and used the panel as a demonstration piece.  I scraped away to expose layers of color and wanted students to see how versatile and forgiving the wax can be. When I came home I had decided the remaining color was too busy and I toned it down by adding a translucent layer of yellow. I thought if I could adhere some of the scrapings on top it would be more interesting. The only problem was, the next day when I viewed the small pieces on top they were too busy for me.

I decided to pull off the scrapings and began etching into the top layer of wax. I also added some light blue inlay although it became too chaotic again.

It was time to do some serious "erasing" by melting off several layers of the existing wax. After the surface was smooth and down to a cream color I could once again try and create something that felt "right". I added the warm colors of sunset combined with the cool colors of water. This now was a landscape waiting to happen, and I drew tree shapes. I almost stopped at this point, but it seemed too pretty and too literal.

Easy enough to add a few more layers of wax, draw in a few more organic shapes but now the warm yellow colors were missing. Plus, I was still being too literal. I have been working toward a simplified understanding of land and earth.

After adding a few more layers of cream, orange, and warmer colors I was able to find the color palette that worked for me. The piece below is an idea and a feeling - the natural elements of fire and wind recreated using color and brushstrokes rather than representational drawing.

Encaustic Workshop

The past two Saturdays sure kept me busy. I was teaching an Introduction to Encaustic workshop at a local art studio. It was important to me to start by sharing safe studio practices and review essential tools used with the encaustic medium. The first Saturday I demonstrated image transfers and collage, and we discussed artistic copyright. The second Saturday I demonstrated more transfers, free hand drawings using tracing paper, and shared inlay and scraping techniques.

It is always interesting to see the different styles of expression each student gravitates toward. I have their permission to share finished work. My 2nd demo piece (directly below) is still a work in progress and in the morning I hope to add final touches. It has changed quite a bit since class ended. I was able to share inlay, scraping, and oil pastel transfer techniques all on this one piece. 

Image transfers are my small work staple in sales on Etsy. I incorporate pigmented wax and oil pastel to make the image "pop" and this was the most popular technique with my students. We all had lots of fun and I may be offering additional classes next month, details to be determined.

Student work below -

Ginger Zeller 

Jon Corbino

Betty Dumas (2)

Pat Marshall

Pam Jones

Threes

Working in threes has always felt good to me. Whether it's "politically correct" in the art world, or just intuitive artistic sensibility, triptychs make better sense. I have just completed another series of 3 paintings that work independently of each other but viewed together make a stronger commentary in regards to Native American life and an intrinsic appreciation of the earth.

"Broken"

12 x 12 encaustic and oil pastel on cradled panel

The other 2 paintings:

"Cave Dwellers"

12 x 12 encaustic and oil pastel on cradled panel

"Rain Dance"

12 x 12 encaustic and oil pastel on cradled panel

Round is better than square

My small encaustic works have always been signed with a personalized chop, a translation of my name in chinese characters. Last month I ordered a round stamp to replace the square shape I had been using. I don't know why I didn't figure this out sooner but the circular shape eliminates the worry about lining up the hard edges with the art.

These new works are all 2.5 x 3.5, mounted with foam core on 6 x 6 watercolor paper then placed in a 10 x 10 shadowbox frame. I continue to have success selling in my Etsy shop as well as in local galleries. My favorite subject is the New England landscape, particularly from my visits to Vermont and Maine. I love being able to add depth and texture to the wax by using paint brushes and sculpting tools.

"Rangeley Lake"

"Beyond the Meadow"

"Golden Mist"

Stamped, Mounted, and Framed

This last piece below still needs to be stamped and framed, what a difference it makes.

"Morning Passage"

I also wanted to share the final version of "Rain Dance" seen below. It is important to me to keep the cradled panel edges clean of wax, something I just started doing several months ago. What started as a series of paintings inspired by Topography then moved into the direction of the Australian Outback is now taking me into a study of Native American and Primitive art.

"Rain Dance", 12 x 12 encaustic painting

It feels good to be back in the studio plus I am looking forward to teaching a beginner encaustic workshop over the next two weekends.

Cave Painting

Finally, I was able to focus on new work today, and have been patiently waiting to do so. The last 2 abstracts from my Outback series were inspired by cave paintings and my drift toward native american influences are obvious. I need to explore further the primitive art that ties me to the earth.

I will have to wait for morning to add several more layers of wax and rephotograph with daylight, but I wanted to share this work in progress.

"Rain Dance", work in progress
12 x 12 encaustic and oil pastel on panel

The most exciting gift I received last month was a full set of Sennelier oil pastels. I had started using them with wax in November, transferring simple drawings into the encaustic medium.

LOVE these pastels.

It's encouraging that just last week I heard one of my new cave paintings "Cave Dwellers" was accepted into the Copley Society winter show, juried by Kaveh Mojtabai, the founder and publisher at Boston Publishing House LLC, Artscope Magazine. This is the first time I submitted new abstract work into a juried show.

Opposite of the abstracts, I continue to paint and sell small representational mixed media works. It almost feels like I am working in 2 completely opposite directions but no complaints here, just call me Sybil!