Encaustic & Cold Wax Paintings
ENCAUSTIC PAINTINGS and COLD WAX AND OIL PAINTINGS:
In this series of encaustic and cold wax works I use elements from the natural world such as wax from the tiny bee, resin from the mighty tree, pigments from earth’s minerals and the natural element of fire; these elements all come together to create an alchemical process of transformation, turning the colorless, solid, material of bees wax into a liquid that flows across a substrate in a swirling dance. Within this dance there is an undeniable sense of both control and surrender with the artist and the medium alternately taking the lead in the dance.
The surfaces of my encaustic paintings are often carved, etched, and/or embedded with other objects from nature: sand, glass, bark, twigs, stones, handmade papers, silk, wool and more. The subtle scent of molten bees wax fills the air, and the flame of the torch gently warms the studio. The experience is always a very sensory, visceral and intuitive one.
The translucent and luminous layers of wax create an effect that is rich and varied allowing colors laid down previously to shine through. The intriguing effects of layering mirror the many layers of life, both in human existence and within nature. Layers tell countless stories of life.
Encaustic painting is a perfect medium to convey the idea of transformation and rebirth that is a major part of my creative work. Encaustic literally goes through an alchemical change in the process of painting, starting out as solid colorless material, then changing into a molten liquid and finally transforming itself into a solid hard archival material of many different hues through the addition of special pigments. In this work, it is the "process" more than the "product" that sings of transformation. The artworks that result are abstract forms and surfaces that suggest organic and cosmic elements.
COLD WAX & OIL PAINTINGS:
An additional medium I work in is cold wax mixed with traditional oils paints, which is the cousin to encaustic painting, and also combines wax and pigments. While encaustic painting uses molten (melted) wax, cold wax is not heated or melted. It is a paste-like, translucent medium that is mixed with oil pigments. The results also yield a luminous, semi-transparent, lustrous result. These lustrous works explore the same concepts as all of my art work: the processes of transformation within nature and human existence.
