Champing at the Bit

On Sunday I picked up the panels for my Arden Gallery commission. On Monday I began gathering things together and making the elements for the work. I'm ready to roll, but in between all my preparation, I was framing and wrapping the work that I'm delivering tomorrow. Until I get all that out of my studio, I can't began moving ahead.

Antares, 2007, encaustic and mixed media, 12"x36". This painting was hanging in our living room for more than three years. Will I miss it?

I am really anxious to get going on the new work, but I thought I would show you the pieces that are moving out of the studio and into a new home at Boston Medical Center. (Click on pix to enlarge.)

Halcyon, 2007, encaustic and mixed media, 12"x24". I had this piece hanging in the opposite direction with the leaf at the bottom left, but suddenly I looked at it and decided that it should go this way. Strange after all this time.

All the work is framed in black wood frames that I installed. It always seems like such a good idea to frame the work myself - until I'm actually doing it. Then I wonder how I ever got myself into this and why I am so self-masochistic.

Bellatrix, 2007, encaustic and mixed media, 12"x36". I was always fond of this piece. It has sculptural stenciled areas and embedded flowers.

But it all got done and they are wrapped and ready to travel.

La Dolce Vita, 2007, encaustic and mixed media, 12"x24". This piece has plaster under the pink ovals.

When I look at these pieces now, I recall how much I was experimenting with various techniques, trying to get  it all to come together. I think they are quite decorative, but maybe people in the hospital will find them soothing.

Wrigley's Best, 2009, encaustic and mixed media, 24"x24". This piece was completed by the deep frame I put on it. It looked like enamel or glass after I polished it up.

Happy Family, 2009, encaustic and mixed media. These two are not really soothing - rhythmic?

It's odd that I feel so disconnected from all this work in some ways. Wrigley's Best and Happy Family were made for the show that Lynette Haggard and I had together in 2009 called Physical Geography: Explorations in Rich Surface. That seems like eons ago.

The Portal, 2009, encaustic and mixed media, 20"x32"

The Maze, 2009, encaustic and mixed media, 20"x32"

These last two were also shown in Physical Geography. They were painted on top of old drawings that had those wavy blue lines. The Maze is one of my favorites.


There are also two works on paper included in the selection. These are painted with thin washes of acrylic on Okawara ricepaper. I have sold a lot of this work to corporate collectors in the past until the recession hit.

Fruition, 2009, acrylic on ricepaper, 24"x24"

Correspondence, 2009, acrylic on ricepaper, 24"x24"

These two I did not have to frame personally - luckily for me. That's a whole other thing. You know how those little specks of fluff, dog hair, cat hair and whatever get on the mat and you don't see them until you have fastened on the frame and the glass magnifies everything?

Finally, the piece de resistance - the new Ooooo. I'm sure you must be tired of this painting by now, but rest assured, tomorrow it's history in my studio - and blog.

Ooooo, oil and cold wax on canvas, 36"x36"

And it did look good in the deep frame that Bonnie helped me to attach. It's a good thing that we have four hands when called for, and that I have a willing partner with an expert eye and a propensity for exacting measurements.

Now, on to the new...