Arrhythmia

Following "Spondylitis" and "Hemorrhage",  "Arrhythmia" and a small collage, 9"x12". The background is a painting mounted on wood with an encaustic fill and a collaged heart. I really enjoy this colorful background. I think I'll do more of this in the future. 

Spondylitis

Like "Hemorrhage", this is a 15"x24" collage with a clear encaustic fill. The background is also an abstract painting using acrylic and ink.

A hand drawn spine is collaged into the fill. 

Hemorrhage

This piece is the first of my larger encaustic fills. Typically, encaustic fills are done on a small scale because of the weight of the finished product and the higher risks of cracks with increased size. It is also difficult to melt as much wax as is needed to do large fills and to get it onto the canvas evenly without it drying before all of the canvas is covered. Despite the challenges, I believe I will continue to pursue large works like this in the future. This piece is 15"x24". 

The background is a poured non-objective painting with acrylic and ink.

I pour a clear fill into the canvas and collage a hand drawn brain into the center. 

Small Piece

A new small piece. It is a 3D collage of found items; skeleton, nail, wood, metal, and text with an encaustic coating.

Words Unspoken

A new assemblage. Wooden letters, paper mache face, and wax in a box.

A Circus Affair

A simple 3D encaustic piece. I collaged the images of the circus family in the background. Then I added black and white encaustic paints, tissue paper dots, thread, and the little horse. Colorful and fun, I want to make more like this. 

Florasaurus

Another work for Two-Tone Gallery's June Dinosaur show. This is the Florasaurus. 

It is an encaustic collage with a drawn dinosaur, paper scraps, flowers and encaustic paint. 

And a picture for size reference. My biggest encaustic collage so far. 

Mal de Mer

This piece is finally finished...why do we procrastinate the things we want to do?

At school a few weeks ago I found one of those lovely old paper world maps, about 5'x3', in the trash. It's ok for art teachers to grab things from the trash, so I snatched it and I am excited to use it on many projects.

For this piece, I cut a bit from the ocean and collaged it into a box. Then I used the swirling technique that I used on Tempus Fugit (I have to remember to take a video next time I do this!) with white encaustic paint to create the "waves" at the bottom before doing a clear fill.  

Then I drew and collaged an old ship on top.

I also added some fishing hooks using a dual-surface fill like it did on the Lux Mentis Lux Orbis piece to hold them in place. (Again, why don't I film these things?) 

I added a few flicks of white encaustic paint to the surface, and that is Mal de Mer, a French phrase for seasickness.

Murfreesboro Art Drops

 

As a way to spread the word about my booth at the WMTS Vinyl fair this weekend, I did a few "art drops" around town this week. An art drop is where an artist leaves an artwork somewhere in public, takes a photo, and posts it to social media for others to find. I also posted some clues about the location so that others could find them. Each artwork had information about me and my work on the back so that people could easily look me up if they had inquiries. Hopefully they found good homes. :)

 

 

La Mal du Pays

A simple piece: Wooden frame, written letter background, found metal piece, inscription on copper, and a chicken.

The metal piece was found on my parents' farm. Not sure what it is, but I enjoy it.

"La Mal Du Pays" is a French phrase translating to our "homesick".

And a little plastic chicken makes it all the more "homely".

Wanderlust

Another experimentation in "large" art. This one was a (I believe) wooden serving tray, again, thrifted. I loved the background design and almost just kept it for decoration. But I decided to go with a travel theme, hence the name, and add a clear fill and small planes. Fun fact: airplanes are really difficult to draw and cut from tissue paper.

The planes were drawn on white tissue paper then dipped in clear wax to collage into the piece.

The compass is made from a metal sheet. I carved in the design with a wooden stick and filled with black paint. The arrow is an old clock hand which took me 3 days to find. It was where it was supposed to be, but upside-down and, therefore, invisible. 

I laid some turquoise and black thread into the wax to give it some direction as well.

The handwritten directions were the last thing added to this piece. Again, I am sitting and waiting for it to fall off the wall, but it is so far doing well. :D