more SMALL GESTURES

I am now doing some small triptyches with bold, free flowing brush strokes on a simple background, then adding some detailed line and texture to a 'centre of interest'. I think they could be sold as a set or individually. I am happy with the way they are evolving.

 

 

 

 

This set is titled 'Fly Away 1,2,3' [with details].

SMALL GESTURES [cont. 2]

 'Strength'

'Trust'

SMALL GESTURES [cont. 1]

I have completed some more of my paintings for the upcoming Christmas exhibition in Main Street Gallery, Montville.

'Nobility'

 

'Pride'

 

...details.

BAZOLA UPDATE

Yesterday I delivered another 12 Bazola pieces to the Main Street Gallery in Montville. Yes, we have sold 7 pieces in just a couple of weeks.

Barry suggested that I do a post on the 'before and after' stages of production -from his beaten metals to my final designs - so here goes.

If you'd like a more comprehensive look at the beaten metals and the joy of the process, click on  Barry's blog, 'rustnstuff', and if you'd like to see the finished jewelley pieces, click on my link on the right which says 'Gallery - Bazola - Art to Wear' - this will take you to a slide show of the finished pieces - Oh, by the way, if you like anything you see, Mark at the Main Street Gallery is happy to sell off the web site and send overseas.

SMALL GESTURES

Yes, I am back to producing what I know and love - the flowing, linear, mark making with enhancements here and there. I'm building up a stock of small canvases for the 'Small Pleasures and Treasures' Christmas exhibition at  Main Street Gallery, Montville. Coincidently, I am calling these 'Small Gestures'. These are 300 x 300 mm - mixed media on canvas.

...below are some pics of the developmental process [there are 6 paintings in this series] - I used rusted steel wool mixed with PVA to get these lovely rusty details.

I gave up on the encaustic - didn't get the results I wanted and as it is a messy and intrusive medium, I have put it away for the time being. However, I WILL get back to it when I don't have a deadline to meet.

On another Main Street Gallery note, our Bazola range is selling well - 7 pieces to date, so Baz has forged up a storm for me over the past few days. This is what he delivered yesterday [photo courtesy of Baz's 'Rustnstuff' blogsite].

No rest for the wicked!!

ENCAUSTIC WAX MADE

Firstly, thanks to all of you in the blogger sphere who are keeping track of my encaustic progress and thanks for the advice and hints. It has made it easier for me to confidently go ahead and make my encaustic medium this afternoon. Isn't it silly that even after 40 years as an artist, playing with all sorts of media, that I feel a bit nervous about a new medium? Maybe it's the threat of health hazards, or working with heat, or maybe it's just because other people see it as difficult or dangerous - don't know.

Because I am concerned about the wax melting in the Queensland heat, I have gone with a slightly higher percentage of damar than most 'recipes' recommend. Hope it works.

100 grams damar to 400 grams beeswax.

So here we go with the pics.

 ...raw damar crystals [it is resin from a tree found in India and East Asia and is commonly used as a glaze in foods as well as in art materials],

...I used a 'Bamix' hand held blender to grind the crystals - worked really well,

...sifted the damar outside - a bit powdery,

 ...actually not all that powdery - lots of bug bits in the mix - oh well, I like wabi sabi,

...found my block of beeswax I've been carrying around from Caulfield Tech days in the 1960's [hi Jan, I'll bet you have some in the back of the cupboard as well!!],

...scraped the worst of the gunk off the wax,

...melted chunks of beeswax in a 'double boiler', actually my equally old electric frypan with a cake tin inside - just as well I'm over baking cakes these days,

...added the damar gradually and mixed well,

...topped up with the rest of the beeswax and after an hour of melting and mixing, it was done,

...used a small metal ladel to pour the wax into little cup cake papers [that's all I had on hand],

...this is not the true colour of the wax - it is not as yellow. I even mixed a bit of black shoe polish into a couple - seemed to work well,

...and fortunately the paper will come away from the wax reasonably easily,

...voila!!! upturned little wax tablet. Delicious. This is more like the true colour of the wax.

...not worried about the impurities.

I plan to use the wax as a surface medium to create a subtle, diffused, mysterious sort of finish. I won't be using strong colours - maybe a bit of brown/black/blue created with shoe polish. I have given away all my oil paints.

I'll post more once I try them out over the weekend, so....watch this space.

Thanks for taking an interest :)

ENCAUSTIC WORKSHOP

I had a fun day yesterday 'playing' with encaustic. Fiona and I ventured 'down the hill', half an hour away, to the seaside tourist mecca of Caloundra [usually best avoided if you are a quiet life, mountains and nature lover, and non consumer like me]. We were late because I didn't count on peak hour traffic at 8.30am. Don't know if I have EVER done the peak hour thing to Caloundra before.

Anyway, a lovely mum and daughter duo, Lyn Reading and Shell Maximous were teaching the essentials of encaustic 'painting' at the fabulous Caloundra Arts and Crafts Centre - [yes, Fiona and I had serious Art Centre envy as our 'Maleny Arts Factory' is no closer to happening]. Lyn and Shell have done many hours of research on the net, many hours trialling various materials, spent oodles of dollars on supplies and equipment and warmly and enthusiastically shared all they had learnt with their bunch of willing students.

It was a joy for me to be a student, to spend a day with Fiona, and to venture out of my warm, cosy comfort zone which is Maleny and my own studio.

Here are some of the results - all play of course - none close to finished art works.

I love the soft and subtle surface created with the wax and the blending of layers that happens when the wax melts through.

Most of these samples are using bits and pieces of 'collage on paper' I took with me. Some with Japanese text, some with modelling paste, some with canvas/teabag/stitching, and most have a smearing of black acrylic paint pre applied and some have bits of tea from emptied teabags embedded. The gold is REAL gold leaf supplied by the ladies and heated to bubbling point with a heat gun.

You can click on the images to see more detail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am still not totally convinced how 'stable' the wax is - ie if left in the car at 50 degrees, will the wax melt? Not much of an issue in most scenarios, but if I am to sell works with an encaustic finish, I need to be 100% certain that customers won't be left with puddles of wax in unwanted places. The next step is to buy some damar varnish [I have the bees wax] then make up my own solution. I will leave one of my samples in the hot sun and see what happens.

I had a quick look on the net last night, and thanks to Lorraine Glessner of 'oh what a world, what a world' blog site, I found Louise Strawbridge - LOVE her work - check it out, even if you are not into encaustic. She is also a lover of used teabags amongst other fabulous 'wabi sabi' stuff.