Back to encaustic abstracts

I am getting ready for a gallery show in January and although I have lots of new figurative paintings to show, I wanted to make a few new abstracts. I have piles of older paintings that I am not satisfied with and started painting over a few. Here are the results:

This was the under painting

after a few days work it turned into this

Similar feel, but smaller and no shot of the under painting

I had started to scrape off all the encasutic paint and I discovered that the board had a beautiful stain. I left the side painting and worked on the middle part for a couple of days, filling in the lower scraped part with clear encaustic and working on top of that.

Marilyn Monroe icon, oil and encaustic

This is the third posting from my Modern Icon Series that I made 10 years ago using encaustic over oil and carving through the encaustic to reveal the under colors.

Marilyn Monroe is still worshiped as a goddess of beauty, sexuality and vulnerability. The center panel contains a black and white pencil rending of Marilyn's face and hands, making her appear even more remote and other-worldy. Although she is portrayed in a typical Madonna pose, there is no baby. As with all of these icons, I researched the life stories of the star of each icon; what they symbolized and their personal stories. It was reported that even though Marilyn Monroe claimed she desperately wanted a child, both time she became pregnant, she refused to stop drinking and taking drugs, which probably produced her miscarriages. 

The left panel hold Joe DiMaggio as an angel. Di Maggio was her second husband and did mot want Marilyn to continue playing her sex symbol roles in the movies. He would have her be just Mrs. DiMaggio. though they had little in common,  after their divorce he continued to love her. It has been reported that his last words were, "Now, I will see Marilyn again." I have shown him in a welcoming pose; remaining loving and receptive.

Arther Miller, Marilyn's third husband, is portrayed as an angel who is hold up his hand as if to say, "That's enough Marilyn!" Their tumultuous marriage was irreparably damaged by Marilyn's increasing erratic behavior and heavy use of drugs.

The back is painted just in encaustic. Because of Marilyn's desperate need to be a star, there is a large sun-like star surrounded by many smaller stars.

Encasutic collage and beyond

The third encaustic class I am preparing is collage. Hopefully you will want to take your collage to the next level, considering balance, contrast and composition.
Here are a couple of examples of what we will be doing.

Advanced encaustic workshop

This is a video of an advanced technique workshop that I held about 2 years ago. The art made by this group of artists was outstanding. What talent. Check it out.


Artists: JudyWise, Pat Parnell, Shelley Wuitchik, Carole Meyer, Sona Sandalian
http://youtu.be/EBPzAX_EWmQ

More encaustic on paper

The gallery sold 3 of my works on paper last weekend and asked for more. I had been busy teaching for 5 days, but finally was able to spend some concentrated time in the studio. Here are the 3 I took to the gallery today. I don't have titles for them. Can you help me?
I am working on some more pieces on paper. I am finally in the grove.

a big encaustic painting

Another Hungarian Dancer painting.

32" x 40" encasutic on board.

2013 encasutic paintings

I haven't posted in a while because my daughter moved from San Francisco to an unfurnished apartment next to mine ( for 6 months) and I have been busy helping her get the need things to make her apartment into a home. I was able to get into the studio for a short time yesterday and am working on another re-do. But for now here are the paintings I have finished so far this year.