Getting Back to My Color Roots....

I'm not sure how many people are aware of this, but when I first started painting, I was a fan of color...LOTS of color. I used to paint brightly colored still life and then moved to a more monochromatic palette, but color was still there. But last year I decided I needed a challenge and started painting people. Having never painted figures before, I wanted to limit my palette so that I could concentrate on form and not worry about color and skin tone. It's been over a year since I have incorporated any color into my work and I was starting to miss my old friends.

Recently, I had the opportunity to bring color back to my work, even if only in a limited amount. Every year, the Montserrat Encaustic Conference, which is held in Beverly Massachusetts in June, has a juried art show for attendees. This year's show is titled "Flow and Control" and is juried by Joseph Carroll, of Carroll and Sons Art Gallery in Boston. Artists are encouraged to experiment and create work specifically for the show so I figured this would be a good time for me to combine something old (color) with something new (figures).

The following images are what I painted to enter into the show. I don't know if this may be another series that I will continue or whether this is a one time deal. I do have to say that I enjoyed painting the images and then covering one side with colored wax. I also used some graphite drawings that were transfered on the colored side to mimic old wallpaper and continue with the antique feel of my work. I love the way the wax smeared the graphite and made it barely visibly in some spots. I also love the quilt-like feel of the pieces and how well the images worked with it's colored side. Who knows, there may be a few more of these in my future...

Images: "Girly Girls" 2010, 14" x 11", oil, graphite and encaustic on panel.

"Girl and Puppy" 2010, 11" x 14", oil, graphite, and encaustic on panel.

"Something Especially Desirable" 2003, 24" x 24", acrylic and paper on canvas. This is one of my older, more colorful paintings. I really loved that orange color.