In Remembrance, encaustic on board, after covering the board with a soft background tint, the bottom of an old tuna can was dipped in contrasting tones of melted wax and applied. Then another coat of the original was was brushed on, sealed with a heat gun, after which a hot iron smoothed and blended everything to make a soft, evocative piece.
A new medium appeared on the horizon. Actually, not so new; encaustic painting can be seen in the tomb paintings of the ancient greco-egyptian period. Hot wax painting was new to me, and I Iove its viscous fluidity, its translucency, and its ability to accept all sorts of abuse–scraping, scratching, stamping, remelting. Code Blue, encaustic on board, has been the victim of all of the above. I used a dentist’s tool and a ravioli cutter to make the impressions.
I took advantage of a class in painting in the abstract, offered by my artist organization, Indian Valley Artists. This group later evolved into the spectacular Marin Museum of Contemporary Art in Novato, California. It was like diving into the water for the first time and discovering I could actually stay afloat. Cathedral, acrylic on paper, was a first attempt. Paint was applied in thin layers with a large hake brush. Then puddles of color were chased around with a hair dryer to form interesting patterns. More thin paint layers were applied, and scraped with a tile layer’s tool. Finally, relief printing was added, using my own hand-carved blocks.
I noticed that I was beginning to veer away from the traditional, towards more simplification. Stinson Beach, acrylic on canvas, illustrates my new interest in shapes and their relationship to each other, while indulging in my love of intense color.
I began painting traditional landscapes in oil using strong color, reflecting California’s golden dotted with oak trees.
