No, it’s not more snow in store for us today. Sorry, but I’m only posting this because I’ve just spent a good part of the day in my encaustics studio, cranking out a few new pieces. I actually finished (finally!) a piece I had been working on for a while, got pretty far along on my “fiasco in plum” and also worked on another piece. It was a productive day, though now I’m, how do we say it? A bit pooped. (Yeah, that about sums it up.)
So, Ive been working on this one piece for a while and now it’s finally done. It’s an odd piece, even for me, as it’s sort of a diptych that’s hinged together with ribbon. I know that sounds odd but, trust me, ribbons do cool things when dunked in wax. Anyway, the piece is called “Pool of Hurt Tears” and is about crying. It’s got a blue background and half of the diptych is fashioned to look like hair, only it’s white, and the other half is made up of marbled encaustic wax with beads embedded into it, to represent a pool of tears forming. Like I said, very odd indeed but it’s done now and I’m all ready to show it off. The next time I get around to doing some copy work, you might get to see it, so watch this space for upcoming views (of sorts.)
I also did another piece that started out too dark but turned into a pretty cool piece after some working over. It’s almost done and it’s not looking too bad either. I’m finally getting some pieces I would be proud to exhibit though I do still sort of feel like working with encaustics is all but a happy accident.
I start out so strong, with a very fixed rigid finished piece in my head and wind up with nothing that looks anything like that but some stuff that I think is almost, kinda cool anyway. It’s an odd state of being, that is, as, on the one hand, it’s frustrating. As an artist, you always want that control. But then, on the other side of the equation, sometimes a little serendipity goes a long way and it’s almost fun to relinquish a bit of that control. It’s part of the “fun” of using a new medium that I haven’t even begun to master yet. Encaustics are wonderfully difficult and graciously easy all rolled into the one that way. It’s only hard if you refuse to give into it, sort of like “Zen and the Art of Wax” (or some such thing.)
It’s also shaping up to be a busy weekend photographically, as I might be going out tomorrow to do a bit more of shooting. Not sure about that yet, as the urge to paint is really strong and I really want to follow up today’s session in the studio with another-want to really get these ideas in my head out on paper and tangible before they drive me nuts. But then, all that and the weather is supposed to be nice tomorrow so, we’ll see, we’ll just have to see.
At least it’s been a creative weekend for me. I hope it’s creative too, where you sit.
Until next time…
Author
Interesting to read about Zen and the art of wax. It's something I've come to realise about art and crafts – knowing the products and how they work is an important part of being an artist. And yes, I agree, part of the fun with something like encaustics must be discovering what happens when you do X and then working out if you like it or how you can work with it to produce something you like.