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.
Life Gull
Soaking up rays.
Taking a break from the studio to enjoy this beautiful weather and just be outdoors. Went to the beach and, between swims, managed to capture one of the many people who flocked to the water for this gorgeous gift of a day. Included is one non-human model who also migrated here with ‘friends’. What do they say about ‘birds of a feather’?
Luckily both these ‘birds’ enjoyed just sitting and catching some rays long enough for me to catch quick sketches from my bird blind under the sun umbrella.
Purple is a nice color to use as under drawing. It maps out the lights and darks so colour can be added on top later or left as is. Either way, I can summon all the sensations of this rare and beautiful sunny day just by looking back through the sketchbook. Love it!
In an earlier post, I mentioned that I am a fan of the late Alex Colville’s work. This is another painting, inspired by memory, and hopefully suspended in memory and paint, when completed. While working, I spend a lot of time being mindful of all the ways to represent a 3D subject on a flat surface. Colville breaks a lot of the traditional ‘rules’ and yet his images seem to become effortlessly locked into visual memory. Inspired by a few of Colville’s ‘rules’, this work in progress depicts a moment in time when one of the boys of summer eagerly takes a leap off of a cliff It seems to me a fitting metaphor for life–a leap of faith, a work in progress.
oil on canvas, 11×14 in, collection of the artist
I love to do life drawing. It is the best way to learn about all that stuff that helps create something that resembles the subject in front of you. But, it’s hard–not just at the early stages but every time I am in front of a model. What keeps me at it is the reward of catching something of the beauty that is found in everyone.
That’s right. All ages, shapes and sizes. Light falls on a shape and you have form but the human form, the one we thing we know the best, is the most complex and elusive subject to capture well. Anne, the instructor of our weekly sessions, recommended a book by Douglas Graves. You can google him if you like…old, classic reprint of excellent charcoal work. Right now, I’m working through some of the exercises, in charcoal, because that’s where all good drawing and painting begins, in black and white.
It’s vine charcoal so it’s really messy and I love that too. Right now my fingers are black and my nails will soon be full. I can wear gloves but then it won’t smear as well. Nothing feels so good as getting messy and making mistakes. It’s been my motto for a long time now.
Some of the pics show the result of starting with black and either pulling lights out or adding them versus the opposite method of, yes, adding dark to a light surface. Really good exercise for learning to see form. Anyway, back to the drawing board. Anyone know a good soap for getting this stuff off your hands?
