Saturday, February 13, 2010

Close Ups of Encaustic Studies




Encaustic Wax Studies


Examples of small encaustic experimentations with adding chemicals and either torching or setting on fire. Also practicing my transfer skills - transferring is a real pain in the as**.  

Works In Progress Show Feb. 15 -28 Lewandowski Gallery, Winthrop


At Winthrop, the MFA program has a a "Works in Progress" show featuring work by continuing MFA students (not graduating MFA candidates).  The new work is either part of their body of work or unfinished work in their body of work.  I submitted six of my 12 panels for the next painting in my Holocaust series.  This series is continuing my exploration of the memory as it relates to generational witnessing or narrative, in this case, my obligation to continue the dialogue on the impact of the Shoah on the lives of today's Jews - and me, in particular.  In addition, how to connect viewers in an intimate way by relating the imagery to something personal to themselves.  I was successful in doing this (in some ways) with Panim el Panim (my first painting) at its show at the Landing Dock, Gallery Up, Rock Hill, NC in December.  These new paintings began as 12 panels.  I am connecting the larger panel to the smaller one through both a visual and an esoteric manner - more conceptual representation of the gaps of memory and the juxtaposition of memory and reality.

Lastly, I am excited and obsessed with my continued exploration of the medium and how its organic nature lends itself to the process of building layers and meaning into the artwork.  These three panels are in different stages.  Like in Hebrew read from Left to Right - first two panels are prepped panels, the center two have been just started, and the last two are not quite finished.  Half-dozen layers of wax, etched and rubbed with oil paint on the larger panel and a transfer of one of my drawings on the lower panel.  The drawing was reproduced in a variety of ways onto the smaller panels. I am working in inorganic materials and have further experimented with the medium.  I have learned to torch and set the panels on fire further creating a controlled chaos in surface expression.  Wild! Really liked it.  I will be added materials, pouring wax on top of the materials and then pulling them through the wax to create and emotive tactile surface - Pictures to be forthcoming. 

No Opening Reception - Closing Reception is being tentatively planned.
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1st Encaustic Painting

1st Encaustic Painting
Gesso'd Birch Panels

Lacuna

This is the first beginning steps into encaustic painting.  While waiting for supplies, I set up the grad studio at Winthrop, and built my worktable (my husband was impressed).  It took a couple of weeks for the materials used in encaustic painting (refined beeswax, damar resin, carnuba wax AND controlled heating elements, etc).  While waiting I built my first concept for the painting, nine (9) approx 13x13" birch plywood panels with white pine 1x3"frames.  This picture shows the panels, six (6) of them gesso'd with encaustic gesso and three (3) left plain birch - all of them fused with a double layer of pure beeswax to set the foundation for the painting.

I actually drew the random graphite marks prior to fusing the first layers of beeswax - that's what it looked like below.

Lacuna

Lacuna
Random Marks

Next Step

Next Step
Adding Tone

Next Step

Next Step
Breaking Up the Tone

Cutting in a tone

At this stage, I painted on two coats of encaustic medium w/out pigment and fused them on to the surface of the panels.  I then cut in straight lines which I taped off on one side and then rubbed a blended oil hue (greyish blue-green) into the lines and wiped off, covered with another layer of encaustic medium and fused.

While fusing I began to break up the layers so that I could break up the oil lines and have them float between the layers of clear encaustic paint.  This "tone" gave me a platform to begin to work with the painting concept.

Hester Panim

Here is where I am two weeks later.  I am into the fifth or sixth layer and now I am working back into the surface of the piece. Part of my artistic journey from painterly oil paintings and collages has been obsession with working the surface of the art piece, constructing and deconstructing.  This medium has already given me great joy in its flexibility and versatility in working with the surface as a way to express my narrative.  In addition I am finding that I want to move the surface in and out of three dimensional space which works well with the concept of memory.  


I began to build boxes that I affixed to the panels of wax.  The panels are broken up like memory yet built from a stable shape (equal square panels).  The internal boxes are irregular attached/unattached to the wax memory. They provide me an opportunity to increase the ethereal effect.

Lacuna

Lacuna
Hester Panim