Phew! The dust is starting to settle, in the aftermath of the TOAE. Overall I’d have to say I had a terrific show. I sold eight of my new encaustics, which not only lines the coffers for a while, but is extremely encouraging in terms of the more abstracted direction my work has taken.
The weather was hot — as always! — and the show was exhausting and physically demanding (as always! — artists must take home their work each night… re-hang in the a.m.) — but the crowds were fantastic, and visitors to my booth were full of wonderful comments and appreciation for my work. Many, many people were interested in a further understanding of the encaustic process — which is truly fascinating — so I will publish a page in my blog on that shortly.
Thanks to all who attended, and to numerous friends who stopped by to say hi.
a few folks at my booth“but does it match the carpet.…?”the happy artistthe client who purchased this large painting, “Canoe Route” told me he felt it was a cross between the work of Tony Sherman and David Bierk — a compliment that made my day!
Its down to the wire (as usual!) with art show preparations! Last minute details, final touches to paintings, wiring and framing, gathering all show materials together, making sure my canopy is waterproofed!!!.… lots left to do yet.… and all fueled with a high level of pre-show excitement/stress/anxiety/anticipation. I’m fully charged up and exhausted at the same time.
So this is my last pre-show post. This piece is one of the farthest abstracted ones I’ve done to date. Its still about the sea, time, distance and navigation… and a powerful longing to travel — not on a plane — but real-time travel, and to watch the sea and the land and the day unfurl as they should.…
navigational chart series #2, 16″ x 16″ encaustic, oil, image transfer and collage SOLD
Welcome to my new blog! I’m really excited at this opportunity to be able to show off new work as soon as its complete, and to share my thoughts, progress and process with this fabulous medium of beeswax encaustic.
I’m currently preparing a lot of new paintings for the rapidly approaching Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition — Friday July 8th, Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th, at Nathan Phillips Square. This year I am once again located at Booth Orange 138, at the south west corner of the pool. All of my new work is encaustic — which I am mixing and layering with oil paint… sometimes also with collage, image transfer, watercolour, ink and graphite.
Also very exciting to me is my new path of more abstracted works. My paintings continue to be very much based on the landscape and inspired by the natural world. However, I have been exploring new ways of expressing the concept of the landscape by incorporating ideas that are recurrent and important to me; ideas such as geography and maps; science and environmental conservation; weather; exploration and navigation; history and memory; and the concept of one visiting an unknown terrain and one’s attempts to make sense of it. I’m fascinated, as well, by the charts, documents and iconography that represent human efforts to effect, manage or classify an environment – an environment over which the indomitable force of nature — I like to think — will prevail eventually.
I find the medium of beeswax encaustic marvelous for exploring these diverse concepts. Beeswax is a sensual and organic medium – it seems very much alive – and works in harmony with my intuitive, archaeological-like process. I build up layer upon layer of wax and oil, then scrape and excavate — adding and removing, obscuring and revealing, until I have achieved a surface that is rich in depth, luminosity and texture, and an image replete with history, atmosphere and meaning.
So I’ll be posting more new images asap — a bit of a preview of what can be seen at the TOAE.…. and I hope to see you at the show!
