September 11th Series

shock and loss

I suppose these paintings are my diary, a place where one can see my interests and the current events of the time. One never knows from where inspiration will come. Here I was, happily painting about global warming, and then I moved into the Workhouse Arts Center. My studio used to be part of a prison that once held Suffragists imprisoned for protesting at the White House. Thus began my Feminism Series, where I try to tell the stories of these brave women and attempt to pull their issues into the modern day.

Most of my paintings are created with encaustic paint. You can learn more about this below.

encaustic paint

Encaustic paint is made from beeswax, damar resin and pigment (color). It is an old medium and was used thousands of years ago to waterproof ships, decorate statures and to depict the faces of the deceased on mummy cases. 

The paint looks like bars of soap in all the colors of a rainbow. To paint with it, I melt the encaustic on a heated metal sheet. Then I pick up the paint with a natural hair brush and apply it to a birchwood panel. To ensure the paint is firmly attached to the painting surface, I then heat or “burn in” the paint by pointing a heat gun at it or a torch. Sometimes I apply a flat metal tool to flatten out the paint and remove any brush strokes, or to incise into the paint to create marks and lines.

With encaustic paint, I can create three dimensional objects and collage paper and other items right to the surface. The paint can also create luminous transparencies or can be used to fill spaces between glass mosaics. If you look at my work closely, you will see all the ways I have experimented with this amazing substance!

encaustic with pigments