Butterscotch and Blue Wave
The high tide agitated by a storm slams into the rain swollen river along the Coquille river jetty creating a lovely mix of froth, butterscotch and blue watery depths.
Watery Gold Stones
This is another in my series of 12″x12″ jetty water encaustic paintings with “Jetty Surge,” “North Jetty Splash,” “Watery Wings,” “Watery Swirls” and “Watery Aqua Sweep.” These paintings are done from reference photos taken in about the same place on the Coquille River jetty. It is amazing how individual each painting is with the ever changing water movement, light and atmosphere as well the highly fluid encaustic process. In “Watery Gold Stones,” metallic gold encaustic paint was used on the wet stones and in some of the green waves to help capture the wet glitter of the scene.
Watery Aqua Sweep
This is another in my series of 12″x12″ jetty water encaustic paintings with “Jetty Surge,” “North Jetty Splash,” “Water Wings” and “Watery Swirls.” These paintings are done from reference photos taken in about the same place on the Coquille River jetty. It is amazing how individual each painting is with the ever changing water movement, light and atmosphere, as well the highly fluid encaustic process. In “Watery Aqua Sweep” the translucent aqua colored section sweeps through, dividing the rocky splashes and the next wave.
Watery Swirls
This is another in my series of 12″x12″ jetty water paintings with “Jetty Surge,” “North Jetty Splash” and “Water Wings.” “Watery Swirls” shows the action before the splash as the wave cascades over the rocks.
Southern Coos Hospital and Health Center “Art for Health Fundraiser”
These two 10″ x 10″ encaustic on canvas paintings were created for the SCHHC “Art for Health Fundraiser” event to be held November 6, 2016. They are of the same jetty rock with different wave action surrounding it. I have a favorite place on Bandon’s south jetty where I can stand and look down and see the action as the waves come in and crash against the rocks. The first one is titled “Watery Rock” and captures the wave flowing smoothly over the rock before crashing against the jetty. In the second, “Yellow Rock,” the big wave has not quite yet hit. The sun painted the rocks yellow and reached through the water to the rocks below.
For a chance to own one of these paintings, just buy a ticket and attend the fundraiser: http://theworldlink.com/bandon/entertainment/art-for-health-fundraiser-will-benefit-hospital-art-shows/article_6442a37d-2ead-5eea-bcee-349f13614b62.html
Water Wings
This is another in my series of 12″x12″ jetty water paintings with “North Jetty Surge” and “Jetty Rocks.”
In “Water Wings” the water is darker and the wave action more intricate as the froth separates into wing like shapes. The encaustic is great for painting the transparent depth of the water as well as the frothy swirls.
Coquille Point Gold
The sun set behind the Coquille Point sea stacks in Bandon, Oregon, causing the rocks to blur and glow with light and color.
North Jetty Splash
The waves glittered and splashed along the jetty rocks just west of the Coquille Lighthouse in Bandon, Oregon. The jetty at the Coquille River’s mouth is a great place to get up close to the wave action and to stare down into the water’s depths. And, encaustic is a great medium for capturing the water’s flowing action.
Art by the Sea Gallery and Studio Miniature and Small Works Show
The opening celebration of the Art by the Sea Gallery and Studio in its new location included the awards for the Miniatures and Small Works Show. Congratulations to all of the winners. It is a great show in a great space. The judge, Terry Magill, had this to say about my second place award winning painting, “It swirls me in and out as each clear green wave encounters rock and creates the timeless vortices in the mesmerizing interplay between land and water.” For more information and pictures from the event check out the Art by the Sea’s Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/ArtByTheSeaGalleryAndStudio/
First Place: “Token” by Susan Lehman
Second Place: “Jetty Rocks” by Pat Cink
Third Place “Moonscape” by Joan Madden
Honorable Mentions:
“Rescue” by Alex Zenzuni
“Pensive Purple Crow” by Susan Gifford
“Red Couch” by Pam Leneve
“Pillar Point Harbor” by Christine Hanlon
The following is the list of winners in the miniature section of the show.
First Place: “Golden Warrior” by Joan Madden
Second Place: “Two Tugs” by Christine Hanlon
Third Place: “South Slough Path” by Pat Snyder
Honorable Mentions:
“Purple and Gold Beach” by Pat Cink
“Lovely” by Deborah Fisher
“Autumn” by Jean Boynton
“Mountain Road” by Victoria Tierney
Encaustic Painting: What and Why
Encaustic painting involves painting with hot wax, damar resin and pigment mixture on prepared wood. This method of painting was most famously used to create the Fayum mummy portraits in Egypt around 100-300 AD. These portraits can be viewed in museums today in their fresh rich colors due to the excellent preservative properties of wax. Before the Fayum mummy portraits, encaustics were used to paint ships as a method of weatherproofing and decoration. This technique was refined for the art of painting on panels in the Classical Period (500-323 BC). The technique went into a decline after the 7th century and became a lost art as tempera painting was cheaper, faster and less demanding to work with.
The revival of encaustics started in the18th century after the archaeological discoveries in Pompeii and Herculaneum. Artists strove to rediscover the techniques of those early painters. In the 20th century numerous artists explored the method which was made easier with the invention of portable electric heating implements. In 1988 R&F Handmade Paints was founded and began to offer expertly prepared encaustic mediums, paints, surfaces and tools. http://www.rfpaints.com/resources/encaustic/346-history-of-encaustic
I find the flow of liquid wax, the layering of translucent colors, the depth and sculpturing possibilities of encaustics to be an excellent fit in my pursuit of painting the Oregon Coast. I am fascinated by the colors of the varying coastal light as it reflects off the ocean, sand and rocks, or filters through the lush forests. The excellent archival qualities of encaustics are a definite advantage.
