Ettie , 8×10, Encaustic collage
This piece is inspired by the black and white photos of convicts taken by Australian police in the 1920s. They are not your typical mugshots. Each face tells a story and Ettie Sultana’s is one that seems to me to be more of a book.
This piece is 8×10 in. and the medium is encaustic collage….hot molten wax and papers in other words. It is my attempt to tell one chapter. I think there might be more. I love her face.
Early Spring: Ridge Ice at MacGregor Park
Finishing touches just completed and now there is only the hanging wire to attach. The first cold virus of the year has hit and is managing to slow me down. Consequently, I am really happy to have started this when I did. The edges of the 3/4″sides of canvas show some of the finger marks and brush work.
Personally, I like to see evidence of paint covered fingers and active brushwork left by someone completely involved with creating something and blissfully unaware of anything outside of making marks and colouring stuff (IMHO). If I were Leonarda da Vinci this would make my work sooo…much more valuable. Since I am not (sigh), cleaning up the edges will be the final step….if there is time before drop-off on Thursday.
I am certain that the expected crowd of several thousand visitors will be very intent on the visual feast presented in these specially chosen homes; including everything from Christmas decor to the actual room design and layouts. Visitors may not be as focused on purchasing paintings so if I pick it up again on Saturday evening this piece will find a good home on my wall (until the next show). This is an image that I have wanted to paint for awhile and as is often the case, an event like this is just the motivation I need to put a few more miles on the paintbrush.
What are you doing in the studio these days? People who don’t paint expect a list of works to roll of your tongue. My answer tends to throw them a little. I say simply, “I’m practicing”. If I were playing a musical instrument, even someone who’s tone deaf would nod knowingly and mumble “Oh yeah, huh”.
Musicians and visual artists even have similar vocabulary. When I took piano lessons growing up, theory was a separate class and there I learned about changing the key, composition and ear training. This augmented the physical practice of scales and chords, which trained my hands to find the right notes. If I made a mistake in practice, I only offended those within earshot and so my work evaporated into the atmosphere.
Learning to paint has eye training to assist in the production of the right visual notes. Colour chords and keys depend on the hand eye coordination too. The record of the work is often incomplete but records the struggle nonetheless and so is worth keeping but not showing to anyone else necessarily! Often, it disappears into the waste basket.
Lately, I’ve decided to change my palette; the group of pigments that produce key and colour chords and to work on composition. As is traditional, I practice the compositions of artists I admire and have done so many times over the years. ( This one is inspired by Ian Roberts).
That’s what I’m posting today, one record of the changes that will eventually take their place in new work.
This little piece appeared on a Christmas card I created a few seasons ago. 2016 has been a busy year with big changes and this year finds me unpacking and setting up my new studio and waiting for working lights to be put in. That is happening today. Yesss!!!
So here is a souvenir of Christmas past. It also reminds me of my former home. The congregation of small birds, depicted here in ink and wash, used to meet and eat at the bird feeder, just outside the patio doors.
This post goes up with a message for all to have a wonderful Christmas and holiday season– with food and friends of course!
