Winter Heat

Winter Heat 

Encaustic Painting, 11" x 11" panel 

I posted this painting a few weeks ago in a horizontal format.  Eileen Mayhew, founder of Imago Gallery in Warren RI, suggested I rotate it.  I  really liked it once I saw it that way; thanks Eileen  The verticality makes it more dynmic.

encaustic painting on cigar box

This painting is a mixture of an old photo and wax pigment fused, my father and myself with part of a plow in the picture.  The horse is not in the old photo unfortunately. The red pigment symbolizes the red clay of South Carolina that my father  worked so hard.  One could say this painting is an  exploration and reclamation of my past history of childhood, (finding the positive aspects).  

Winter Heat

Winter Heat
11"x 11 " encaustic on panel

This is one of several encaustic ( hot wax + pigment) paintings I have recently started.  Abstracted landscapes of winter,  finding some bright color in what feels like grey monochromatic winters.  Ususally the most colorful part of my day is sunset.  Often the only time during the day I get to see the sky is on my drive to and from work.  Luckily for me, that means being able to enjoy the vivid sunrises and sunsets.

New Year, Clean Studio Air

 Finally, got it together this new year to order and install an exhaust fan for my studio.  The 3 speed fan is from TekSupply and it goes from 555 cfm ( cubic feet per minute) to a high of 1,115 cfm.  So far the fan is working well and I hope it last for a good while.  Also, I think it will work as an all house fan to cool my studio/apt. come summer.  On low it takes most of the fumes out from heating wax for encaustic painting or any other artwork smells and if not, medium takes the fumes out for sure.  When I turn the fan on, the shutters open to take air outside and I usually put on a fan or window behind me to blow air past my face.  But the exhaust fan works so well that it sucks most everything out without the other fan on.  And it passes the incense test also.  I really should have got this fan sooner but I am glad I took the plunge to buy it.  Framing the fan in the hole and bolting it in was a little work but things went fairly smooth.  And I truly recommend a good exhaust fan to take care of one's lungs whether painting in any medium especially encaustics.  

Other Artists/ Encaustic and Mixed Media Painting

While googling about small torches for encaustic painting I ran across this website:  Rebecca Shapiro Art.    I really enjoyed the luminosity and soft depth of her encaustic paintings.
And thank you Rebecca for your article about your encaustic painting techniques and creating a green studio which I found very helpful.  I am trying to improve on my studio air quality and safe disposal of materials etc and I would love feedback from you or other artists how and what they are doing to achieve this.
Also, check out , on Rebecca's website,  links to artists like:   Kim Edwards Keast , a multi media artists which appeals to my three dimensional side with no holds barred with whatever material works, she uses.   Please check out these artists and enjoy.   Happy peaceful holidays.