Some small Christmas work

I haven't had much time in my studio lately. I hope that will change in mid-January. These are a few of the things I came up with for a Christmas small works show. They are each 12"x12", painted (the black and grey parts) with black gesso and Sumi ink. The color is added with encaustic. I displayed each one by putting 4 ferrous nails - one in the location of each corner - in the wall, I set the painting on top of the nails then put 4 magnets on top of the painting in the location of the nail. The magnets hold the painting up quite nicely. The nails sit out from the wall 1/2" so the paintings are floating. The magnets aren't in  these photographs.

#2

#1

#4

#5

#6

#10

#11

#17

#19

Secret Lives of Waves Install

So, after much tooing and froing this piece was reinstalled. It is called The Secret Lives of Waves, subtitle: Tribute to Manganese. 30"h x 72"w

detail:

The subtitle because manganese will no longer be mined, I believe. Too bad. It's a beautiful blue. Every square in this piece that has color in it has a bit of manganese. The little stainless steel connectors are fabricated for me. The squares are 4" square, 1/4"d acrylic with encaustic painted on them.

Secret Lives . . .  is installed in the conference room of a commercial space in downtown Ann Arbor.

Returning -

After a long hiatus I'm returning to my blog. I've been very active in my art life but I haven't talked about it much. I just read "Show Your Work" by Austin Kleon - that's what made me decide to return to this blog.

So, to begin, this is a 40" x 40" piece of BFK Rives paper painted with encaustic. I'm trying to decide how (if) to continue working on it and then how to present it.

Blue Night, 40"x40", encaustic on paper

Sphericon - September 2012

Meet Sphericon, 3" diameter, out for a walk. Sphericon is a carved ball of wax (encaustic). It will be on display for three days (Oct 4, 5, 6) in the "little SCULPTURE Show" at the ISC Conference in Chicago.

HARMONY's Story

HARMONY has been sold to the EAI - Encaustic Art Institute. Here is the link for the full story.

HARMONY FINISHED!

Here is the link for the finished collaboration between 32 artists working in encaustic. The work is entitled HARMONY (in case you didn't know). It will travel and be for sale for $5000. The money from the sale will be donated to Habitat for Humanity.

If you follow the link above you can see the finished artwork, the names of participants below the artwork. If you click on the individual squares in HARMONY you will be led to an image of one person's work and the story of that work.

Silver Liquid: a tribute to water - part 3

Exhibition dates: October 19 - November 28, 2010

"Sumi Pond"
encaustic on Sumi drawing on wood panel
22" x 22" x 2"



"black ink"
encaustic on Sumi drawing on wood panel
22" x 22" x 2"


WSG Gallery
306 S. Main Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48103
734.761.2287
WSG website
WSG blog

more to come -

Silver Liquid: a tribute to water - part 2

Exhibition dates: October 19 - November 28, 2010

"Rain"
collaboration between Lynda Cole and
Candace Compton Pappas
silver leaf on polyester film, cement
10'h x 5'w x 5'd
The hanging sculpture rotates and the individual squares move with air currents.



Perceptual title: "Peace Ball"
Conceptual title: "Wrapped Pond"
encaustic with EPS center
2' diameter
the dish is wax on concrete


WSG Gallery
306 S. Main Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48103
734-761-2287
wsg website
wsg blog

more to come -

HARMONY continued

This is what I received from Rodney Thompson - the panel (beautiful without anything on it) and the template of my section of HARMONY to paint with encaustic anyway I want.

I've done my painting but have to keep it secret for awhile yet. We all had to use the same color palette: green gold, Indian yellow, titanium white and raw umber. Using someone else's colors was an interesting challenge. I usually constrain myself to a red, a yellow and a blue + white. This was quite different with 2/3 of the color wheel not available.

HAROMONY

Here's a link to a blog about a new project I'm working on with thirtysome other people - HARMONY. It's an encaustic art project with this goal, "Together, we will be creating a work of art that is greater in sum than its individual parts. We will be working in harmony for the benefit of humanity."

That's kind of a tall order but, at least, we'll be creating something in collaboration. Maybe it will come to stand for something bigger than itself. We'll see. I like the concept.

As yet I don't have the part I'm to work on but I'll post photos to this blog as it gets underway. I'll be given the composition and I know the basic colors to use. Other than that it's up to me.

Ebb and Flow

This is a quick visit to my blog to add this installation image of the piece I was working on all summer. It's up in Beaumont Hospital, Sterling Heights, Michigan. I'll have a better photograph (without morning shadows)soon. This is called Ebb and Flow. It measures 20 ft high, 14 ft wide. The medium is encaustic on 12" x 12" pieces of plexiglas linked together by stainless steel, fabricated hangers. For scale, the two rectangular shapes below it are interior hospital doors.

where I spend my days

My studio is in a 20'x20' building west of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Here are a few interior views.

looking out the front door (north)


looking out the back door (south)


a side wall (west)


The blue and green and dark colored squares on the table and floor are 12"x12" plexiglas with encaustic wax. The finished piece will be 280 of these squares hanging in a grid.

At the moment I'm still painting individual squares, keeping them in organized piles on the floor as I finish them and trying to make one square blend into the next. I'm following a drawing I made that was chosen by the client.

Welcome to my studio

I'm going to keep a history of my work on a current commission. I decided to do it in this blog. So . . . welcome to my studio.

These are some views I see when I'm there.

the front door -


a little meadow -


a nice confluence of lines -

Wax and Wire in UM Hospital Lobby

"Stillness in Motion" is on exhibit in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the main lobby of the University of Michigan Hospital from February 16 to April 13, 2009.

Most people will look at these paintings and see the wax patterns - they are the subjects. But for those who care to observe more carefully, the Moire pattern is there. Look and the motion of the Moire pattern will take you on a journey, the wax pattern with its stillness will bring you back to the present. Opposites - one doesn't exist without the other.

"Chinatempo", 36"x36", wax on 2 layers of aluminum screen, painted background


"Moire 1", 36"x36", layered aluminum screen


"Circle", 36"x36", wax on 2 layers of aluminum screen


"Traveling", 36"x36", wax on 2 layers of aluminum screen


"Stillness in Motion", 36"x36", wax on 2 layers of aluminum screen


"Lightness from Dark", 36"x36", wax on 2 layers of aluminum screen

"Stillness in Motion" at WSG Gallery

This exhibit at WSG Gallery in Ann Arbor, Michigan runs from September 23 - November 2, 2008.

"Bulging Flat", patinated silver leaf on polyester film, 60x40


Installation view of 4 screen pieces.


"Indotempo", encaustic wax on 2 layers of screen creating a Moire pattern, 36"x36"



"Stillness in Motion", encaustic wax on 2 layers of screen creating a Moire pattern, 36"x36"


"Lightness in Dark", encaustic wax on 2 layers of screen creating a Moire pattern, 36"x36"


"Traveling", encaustic wax on 2 layers of screen creating a Moire pattern, 36"x36"


Patinated silver leaf on 12"x12" squares of plexiglas - four of 20 in the grid


"Reflection", patinated silver leaf on polyester film, 24"x36"


"Waterfall", patinated silver leaf on polyester film, 72"h x 60"w

new work at Wenniger Gallery in Rockport, MA

Here are the encaustic paintings on cradled panels that I have at the Wenniger Gallery. I'm showing work there with Mari Marks Fleming and Chris McCauley. My assignment was to make small paintings and to work from photographs taken the year before at Wingaersheek Beach in Gloucester, MA.

"beach 5", 12" x 12" x 2"

"beach 1", 12" x 20" x 2"

"beach 15", 12" x 12" x 2"

"beach 13", 20" x 12" x 2"

"beach 14", 18" x 16" x 2"

"beach 7", 12" x 12" x2"

"beach 8", 12" x 12" 2"

"beach 4", 12" x12" x 2"

"beach 11", 12" x12" x2"

another grey - CCQ

This is a really useful grey. I was taking a workshop on "Painting Still Life" which is a stretch for me. I used these three colors (Cobalt blue, Cobalt yellow and Quinacridone red) to get to a nice dark black, the greys and the bright, various oranges I needed to paint the orange (fruit) that I was using as my subject. Because I know these colors will work together to make black and grey, as opposed to mud or some dull greenish black, I had a full range of bright, primaryish colors through the secondary colors and on to black to work with. Plenty of choices and they are guaranteed to all look good together since they're incestuous.

The workshop was an extension of the Second Annual Encaustic Conference held in Beverly, MA. I learned lots and made new friends - nice.

black

grey

cobalt blue

cobalt yellow

quinacridone red

variation 1

variation 2

variation 3

I tried to make these color samples smaller but no luck - maybe next time.