Thursday, April 25, 2019

An Artist Can Only Paint What Is Inside Of Them


I have always felt that painters paint who they are. When I look back on the many years I have been a working artist, it is almost a catalogue of my life, experiences and emotions.

A friend, an artist ,who was my first encaustic student when I moved to Mexico almost 15 years ago, says he likes to paint chaos and uses mostly black on his very large paintings. One of his series is called Melancholy and the Lost. There are symbols that look to me like nuclear clouds. He was the one who told me that to be recognized as a Mexican artist, I had to paint angry art. That is never going to happen. The deeper I get into my spiritual, meditation practice, the less I want to bring more tension in my work.

I have spent a few hours going through images going back to about 1968 and almost got lost in memories of where I was emotionally when I made these paintings. Nothing stays the same and it is interesting to see my artist's journey following my physical and emotional journey. All of these images are figurative.

Since last August, 2018, I have been working on my series, "The Lightness of Being", all abstract. www.ezshwan.com (If you would like to sign up to receive my monthly newsletter, there is a form on the welcome page.)

I did not start photographing my work before the 1960's so the examples are all after that date.




about 1968

1969

about 1975

1978

1976

 
1987
The Circus Series, 1989



Every Woman Is A Goddess, circa 1991

Her Journey, A Woman's path to self-realization ,circa 1993
circa 1994
1995

1999

2000
The Love Letter, 2016
2017
2018


Tuesday, April 16, 2019

What Have I Done?

I just got these two big boards from the carpenter. When I ordered them, 100 cm x 150 cm, ( 39 1/2" x 55") , I did not plan ahead. I went to pick them up Saturday and found that they were too big for my little car. I ordered a truck for Monday morning. When I got to the carpenter's workshop, the driver wasn't there. Not surprising in Mexico. I drove home and my daughter offered to use her larger car to retrieve the boards. They are now in my studio, overwhelming everything else, including me. The first free day I have this week, I will start with a few layers of white milk paint.


I wonder if I had been feeling very creative when I ordered them, or just ridiculous. These will be the largest encaustic painting I have ever made. Finishing the 48" x 48" Tetraptych was exciting enough to make me take on the challenge of creating an even bigger encaustic painting, or two. I will post process photos.


The last creation of the Lightness of Being series 48" x 48"