ANOTHER ROSE

So here's the second in the series I'm endeavoring to create.  (See previous post)  It went through many stages
and revisions.  Some parts I liked, some not at all.  A lot of evolving went on over time.  I guess the final result is a personal metaphor.  I love the luminosity of the colors embedded below the wax.  I don't know if you can appreciated it as well in the photo but it's really appealing in real life.  Other than this I've been in an organization mode in the studio.  Taking stock, so to speak,  both physically and creatively. It was a weird week.  I know there some shifting in the works.  I've had more dreams than I know what to do with too!  Am finishing up the third in Anne Truitt's journal trilogy.  Here is a link to the first one. Her writings are so personal to me sometimes it feels like it is me I'm reading about.  It makes me feel connected and that is the whole purpose of art to me. More on Anne next time, much more!

BACK IN THE STUDIO, AND ON THE BLOG

 Mackintosh Morphed

After one year plus of grieving, grappling, loving, healing, writing and making a living,  I am back.  I'm still loving the lure of the encaustic.  Other pending projects in the studio include an "art guitar", a memory book from my travels to Paris and London and big format paintings. A version (loosely speaking) of the Mackintosh Rose seems to keep popping up lately.  Okay, my version is less graphic, more organic and free flowing, just like the wax.  One thing I notice about my work overall is that it does not have cohesiveness.  This makes me curious to experiment with creating a series.  Maybe to be the best I can be it takes more that just one attempt, further exploration, which I think I'm gonna try with this intriguing rose.

A HIGH SCHOOL INSPIRATION

Do I remember Murf from my days 100 years ago at South West Miami High School?  Well, frankly, no. But I do seem to run into him frequently at all the local art festivals.  I always recognize the COLORS!  His work is simply awesome as you can see.

Story of the beginning of terror

Portrait of Rainer Maria Rilke by Lucia Portretten

Yesterday I transformed myself.  Actually I had some help from a colorist (hair) and stylist. Tyler, the colorist, was my favorite kind of person, very grounded but perhaps a little like Kerouac's "mad ones".

He had an interesting array of tatoos that made me want to freeze the whole salon for a second so I could examine and read them all.  As he mulled over my hair I did notice one that I was able to read.  It said "Beauty is the beginning of a terrible terror."  Wow.  There are some major implications here.  Did he make this up?  I thought not and I was right.

  This is a paraphrase of a quote by poet Rainer Maria Rilke.  It is from a poem called Duino Elegies
What an interesting statement for someone who is in the business of beauty. So what do you think?  Does beauty become terror?  Perhaps the terror is found in deceit.  Beauty seduces and allows a vulnerability.  So now you know.  It's the good looking ones you have to watch out for.  Happy Halloween.

WELCOME INSPIRATION

 
This weekend has felt very creative to me.  Could it be the moon that is affecting this Papermoon Goddess? I'm also reading the historical novel Beneath a Marble Sky: A Love Story and thoroughly enjoying it.  How could it be otherwise?  It is set in India and is all about the building of the Taj Mahal.  This brings me back to my own magical experience visiting this great wonder.  I supposed this must have influenced this mixed media painting that I completed yesterday.  It remains unnamed but I'm up for suggestions.  Here's what you're looking at:  The eye is an image transfer from one of my older collaged pieces.  Gesso was the medium used to transfer the image.  The rest is a combo of fluid acrylic paint and water soluble crayon. The white pattern was created using an antique wooden Indian printing block. I also even worked on my new book today.  If you're interested you can hop on over to my other blog, Kitchens for Living and check out the post about The Intuitive Kitchen.

MAMA IN MIAMI STRIKIN' A POSE

My mother married my father in 1959 and immigrated to the US from her homeland of Jamaica.  The image used in this work is taken from a photo from around that time in Miami.  The windows in the upper right corner were also from a building in Miami and they symbolize the very new view of the world she must have had as a stranger in a strange land.

This is a collage using photo copies, found papers, acrylic paints and mediums on stretched canvas.  I also used Claudine Hellmuth's peeling paint technique on this one.  I wanted an old weathered look.    If you'd like to see more bathing beauties, check out Lisa Bebi's Retro Bathing Beauty project at www.lisabebiart.blogspot.com

NEW ENCAUSTIC ART

Encaustics remain my art of choice these days.  It seems I just can't escape the allure of  melted beeswax.  This piece is called Romani.  She is a gypsy (perhaps with a secret), you see.  She's about 8"by 8" on Masonite.  I began this piece by applying many layers of natural unbleached beeswax to the board. The colors of the flowers are actually oil pastels which are compatible with wax and a lot more inexpensive than encaustic paint.  The pastels were melted on to a small iron and applied directly to the wax.  The image was embedded into the wax and the cross hatch texture was created by carving into the wax and rubbing in oil paint so that it settled in the crevices.  
The Art of Encaustic Painting: Contemporary Expression in the Ancient Medium of Pigmented Wax by Joanne Mattera is a great resource if you'd like to learn more about this very sensual and satisfying medium.  If you'd like to learn more about my process in creating this piece please leave a comment and I will be happy to chat with you.