Sunday, March 29, 2009

Wax on, Wax off


Signs of Spring...for me its the amazing fiddleheads that emerge through the debris of autumn and winter. I've always had this fondness for ferns, growing up my mother would take us into the woods in spring to harvest these wonderful things. The smell of thawed earth and the crisp snap when we would break off the tender spirals that were luminesce with new life. Oh yes, I love fiddleheads.
We ate them, you know. I remember her cooking them then freezing them and we would have them all year. They're sorta portabella-y in that meaty way.
This painting started out with spirals of tissue paper mounted with white glue on plywood, it sat there for weeks and weeks before the image unfurled itself to me as my beloved fiddleheads. Its a mixed media piece using acrylics, tissue paper, beeswax, oil pastel, pearl-ex.


"Home is Where the Heart is" another mixed media piece. This one is in a private collection in Washinton DC. This photo fails to capture the luminosity of this piece. To the right are squares of joint compound I put on plywood, then engraved elemental images into them. This is one of my favorite pieces, I think because of the black and white parts. I really need to get back to doing some more of these.
These were pieces that I did from my heart right after the fire, they were my therapy, my escape from the reality of losing so much, not everything but so much. Hours I would spend on each one, becoming lost in the movement of melting wax and the blending of the oil pastels and your fingers control which way to bend the colors. These were really the first pieces that I did for me, not caring what they came out like, who would see them and if they might sell.

5 comments:

hula-la said...

I love to look at your art. Can't wait to come over and see more at the Tea Party! You continue to inspire me. Thanks!

Denise Aumick said...

The Fiddles are wonderful and the house mixed media piece is incredible. Love them.

melicia's fiber art and mixed media said...

These are lovely pieces. Nice blog.

carrie jacobson said...

Hey, cool stuff! I reallly love the fiddleheads piece - wow! - so different and so tactile - makes me want to dive in. I like the other one, too, but I LOVE the fiddleheads.

xoxo

Matthew Halem said...

Hi, I was doing a google image search and came across this picture. Is it for sale? I love the image and was hoping that I would be able to use it for my business logo. Would you please contact me if you get this. My email address is halemm1@gmail.com
Thanks!
Matt