Painting: Encaustic and Cold Wax
As a painter in the contemporary and abstract style, I am a process artist. I invite people to experience the process of the work, to see every stroke, every color choice, every line. Process, materiality or physicality is what speaks to me. As a “mark maker”, I work in both the encaustic and the cold wax/oil paint mediums.
Encaustic is hot beeswax melted with resin and color pigments to form the paint. I apply many layers of the hot, molten paint on a wood support, fusing each layer to the underlying one with a torch or heat gun. This produces a painting that can never fade, since the colors are permanently locked in the wax/resin. Encaustic is fluid, which allows my message to subtly change as I'm creating it. The luminosity of the medium allows for a painting with many layers, evoking many stories and inviting touch. Viewers are much more involved with a painting that can be touched as well as visually enjoying the sensual experience of encaustic.
The cold wax/oil paint process allows for more time to to explore, change and complete my message. Because its drying time is longer, I am allowed the freedom to try new techniques, to develop new directions. Both mediums take me on elaborate, colorful journeys.
Encaustic is hot beeswax melted with resin and color pigments to form the paint. I apply many layers of the hot, molten paint on a wood support, fusing each layer to the underlying one with a torch or heat gun. This produces a painting that can never fade, since the colors are permanently locked in the wax/resin. Encaustic is fluid, which allows my message to subtly change as I'm creating it. The luminosity of the medium allows for a painting with many layers, evoking many stories and inviting touch. Viewers are much more involved with a painting that can be touched as well as visually enjoying the sensual experience of encaustic.
The cold wax/oil paint process allows for more time to to explore, change and complete my message. Because its drying time is longer, I am allowed the freedom to try new techniques, to develop new directions. Both mediums take me on elaborate, colorful journeys.
Whimsical Bling
Whimsical Bling is the taking of vintage, antique and junk jewelry that would otherwise be discarded, and re-purposing it to have another life. To become something beautiful. Maybe it’s a cross, or a star. Maybe it’s a bowl or a globe. Whatever form it takes, it’s beautiful, fun and ‘blingy’!
A Thousand Stories Come Together
Every piece of ‘Whimsical Bling’ I create is one of a kind. It takes a great deal of material and time to create a unique piece, as each item of jewelry must audition for its place in my art. I often wonder about the items and their owners. Were these women happy when they wore this jewelry? What were their lives like? It’s as if "a thousand different stories come together.”
A Thousand Stories Come Together
Every piece of ‘Whimsical Bling’ I create is one of a kind. It takes a great deal of material and time to create a unique piece, as each item of jewelry must audition for its place in my art. I often wonder about the items and their owners. Were these women happy when they wore this jewelry? What were their lives like? It’s as if "a thousand different stories come together.”