Capabilities & Possibilities

Last Memory (encaustic, oil, and found papers on 6"x12" cradled panel)

Pale  (encaustic, oil, monotype fragments on 8"x8" cradled panel)

Solutions (encaustic, oil & found papers on 8"x10" cradled panel)

Working more with the encaustic method and exploring the capabilities and possibilities of this medium. After several burnt fingers and waxed appendanges (don't ask!), I find myself in a love affair. It's as simple as that.

We argue and fight; we grapple and dance to ultimately find middle ground somewhere on the surface of the panel.

Things I had not anticipated occur -- small bubbles and striations that make me think of old walls and pitted stonework.

I rub and scrub and the oils converge with the hot wax and beautiful hues emerge. Bits and pieces of old works sink into the wax and take on a patina that I could never achieve on my own.

Over the hours the hot wax, the oils and the papers continue to converse with me, and I with them. We become better acquainted and agree to meet again soon.

Who knows what will happen next? But they will leave me, just like the others.  Off to the Gallery next week and someone else will fall in love (I hope), and they will no longer belong to me. . . sigh . . .

Encaustic Explorations

Sometimes it works, sometimes it's a drudge.  But one can't give up as there are so many terrains to explore in the hope of finding a medium that "works" for you, that helps express the inexpressible --

Today was a "teach myself something new" day, something I haven't been able to do for some time.  Putting the gardens in order, work, the holiday, then trekking up to some awesome Open Studios in the Amhert/Northampton area in Massachusetts have all kept me on the go.

Detail of Solar (6" x 18" cradled panel)

But today was for finally girding up my courage and tackling the intricacies of encaustics.  So, armed with the encaustic medium, heating pans and heat gun, I ventured forth and was amazed at the process and with the encaustic medium as a creative tool.

There's so much to learn, to try, to experiment with that I lost track of time, then ran out of the medium.  The sun was going down but my spirits were soaring.

Vernal  (5" x 5" cradled panel)

What did I find out?  One, that encaustic and oils seem to love one another, that now I can work with oils in layers almost immediately.  Thank the art gods on that one, I say!  Two, that it truly does buff up to a brilliant surface once cool.  I stuck some of the smaller ones in the refrigerator to speed up the process, I was so pumped.

And three, I now have a way to incorporate my shibori silk, dupioni and organza scraps from my days of dyeing scarves. These fabrics are so beautiful, even the "mistakes," and I've been hoping to come up with some way to integrate these with other mediums.  I feel that the encaustic method will be ideal for this.

Terrain (8"x8" cradled panel with hand-dyed silk organza fragment)

Another aspect that I want to experiment with is using wood plaques with the encaustic, especially circular ones. Over the years, mainly due to my own inability to follow through on finishing a project, I've kept my quilting projects in embroidery hoops and hung them around the house. I have one in the living room by the fireplace and find the abstract patterns of the batiks couched within the circle very meditative. Perhaps the same for encaustic paintings? Always something to try . . .

The only rule in art is what works.

Lee Fleming