"Aspens (2)"

($40.00....mounted on a 1/8" depth clayboard panel)


"Aspens and evergreens live together in perfect harmony." This is another photo from Hyde Park in Santa Fe. Before Christmas overtakes us all, it is refreshing to the soul to linger a bit in the company of Aspens dressed in yellow. Enjoy.


If you have a desire to learn this "encaustic like" effect over a favorite photograph, refer to "Aspens (1)" for details. There is a tip regarding the lettering that might be useful before you get carried away. This is not like writing on paper. You will not be able to attack this surface with the same energy you do on unprimed paper. It requires an extremely light touch, barely skimming the surface. The energy and form of your lettering must be practiced on paper first with a pencil to get the movement down before writing on your piece. The good news is that the surface preparation allows you to dip a stiff brush in water and remove any mistakes. (I have taken out whole lines of lettering before.)

As for all of you color enthusiasts....it's time to analyze what is going on with the colors in this photo and why we are captivated by this particular arrangement. First of all, yellow and blue are split complements, so by including a portion of the sky, you automatically have a combination that satisfies that need for the eye to find the complement. Second of all, even though you may not see any red, I can assure you that if you tried to mix a "rich" deep green as you see in the evergreens, you would need to use some red. And red and green are the two most powerful direct complements. The conclusion is that a close study of nature will actually help to understand what colors to use together and why. So get out your "trusty" color wheel and mix away! Just something to try or think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"A Thankful Heart"

($40.00)

"Fall is quickly fading, but a thankful heart is eternal." It is refreshing to be around people who are truly thankful in a world of entitlement. All of us are blessed to have shelter and food, not to mention the enormous abundance of other blessings. This is a great day to be thankful. Count your blessings!

These decorative gourds have been in my studio for weeks now because they have been a visual source for several of my postings. You will recognize three of them that I painted for other postings. Today they are featured in a bed of rocks by our patio. This is a photograph with an encaustic look created once again with pouring medium (Liquitex) and a touch of fluid acrylic paints. Encaustics are typically created with a wax plus some damar varnish which is heated and poured over imagery. It has a very ethereal look with the possibility of endless inclusions buried beneath the surface. It is heated with a heat gun between layers to smooth it out and prepare for the next layer.

The look is mysterious and "veiled" beneath the wax. Pouring Medium has the same ability to allow for this look with the possibility of adding lettering and imagery followed by the medium and preparing for the next layer. So far, I am in the beginning stages of my experimentation, but pushing the limits of a particular technique is one of the many advantages of posting a piece every day. It enables you to keep a continuous creative dialogue going until each technique is fully explored before moving to the next thing.

So keep your digital camera close by and practice observing unusual arrangements of anything and everything. My pictures of cracks in the concrete could easily be a piece of art with nothing added. The main job of the artist is to keep eyes wide open to all of the possibilities. Just something to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.