This week my work has been consumed by my school’s art show. It is a neighborhood event, and generally a big to do. The parents in our community always expect great things from this event. Most nights I am at school to the late hours of the evening making these installations of student work. I thought I would share it because I do make many of the “stands” for the work such as the bath tub. So, this week, I had no choice but to really put my personal work on the back burner because I can not disappoint my community. I hope to put some more pictures up of the even next week, and some of my personal progress on my own work.

In my current work, I have submitted pictures of the overall process. I have the image of the raw pastel, the layers of wax, and the carved layer with oil paint. On top, I zoomed in to show the last layer which was the line drawing I did with the addition oil paint. I used an oil paint stick which was quite fun. I hope that it is easier to register in the zoomed in picture. I am curious if the line and the pastel drawing register as a cohesive unit. I was concerned with that when planning the piece. I did enjoy Lindsay’s recommendation of keeping the negative and positive space in the work. I will try that in a future work, or zooming in on a building like she recommended. The recommendation gave me some ideas.

Studio work seems to be going well. I still am collecting images. This will happen as I progress with my research. I am trying to get a lot of work done these next two weeks because my school’s big art show is the 30th of March. This art show every year in the past has consumed at least two weeks where I am at school roughly until 9:30 every night. The work load this month is causing a bit of anxiousness for me, and I am a little nervous of how it is going to affect my time for studio and research work.
However, many of my concerns for my studio work are how I am going to approach the lines applied last with oil sticks. I have been contemplating using writing on top of the Pan Pastel images. I am going to try a practice piece with utilizing that idea. I also am concerned with the size. I feel as though I might be able to move quicker if the size is larger. Many of the tools I use for the Pan Pastels are too large for 8″ by 10″ pieces. The small intricate designs cause me to slow my pace and progress. The little bit of Pan Pastel that has been applied in the images attached took me roughly three hrs. I want to try a way in which I can expedite that. I will try to double the size of the same image, but then I have my concerns with Encaustic applications.

I finally completed painting with wax and pigment. I think I will stick to the soft pastels. I am currently making test pieces with the information I got from the class I went to last Sunday. I am going to test carving into cold and warm wax then proceeding to rub oil sticks into the grooves. Looking forward to eventually trying this on top of a pastel drawing.

Currently my work has been focused mainly around material exploration. This spring semester has started with my continuation in encaustic exploration; the exploration that started at the end of the fall semester and continued on into our winter session. Recently, I have been completing 8×10 inch pieces that involve the incorporation of pan pastels, oil paints, and actually painting with pigmented encaustic. So far, my exploration has resulted in favoring layering Pan Pastels. I want to proceed in this direction with placing a second layer with another image. One image will be a photo transfer and the other will be with the application of more pan pastels. I might also attempt creating transparent layers of encaustic paint over the Pan Pastel. My plan that I worked out over winter might need to be a little altered. The details that will be required for the application of images takes me roughly four hours for one layer with Pan Pastels (not including the second layer that will involve an image transfer or painting). With that said, the numbers of completed final pieces might be hard to accomplish. I am hoping to finish up with material exploration by the 13th of February. Once I complete that, and figure out the method I will be using, I want to collect material images around Rochester.
The images that I will be collecting will pertain to my conceptual focus. I am looking at visual culture within the city of Rochester. The images that I will be utilizing will include two images. Those two images will have some sort of juxtaposition that will in turn hopefully question conceived perceptions the imagery evokes.
Once I have decided on the images that will be used, I still have the intention of removing areas of the encaustic wax to highlight the image below. I will also block out areas on the top layer with cross hatching of layers of colored wax over the encaustic paint. This is intended as a form of beautification to direct the viewers’ eye to areas I perceive to be important to the conceptual theme. This is the more immediate form of encaustic exploration that will take place in the next few weeks.

The work seen here is my progress on one piece and another work started on Masonite. Each encaustic I am starting on Masonite. I have tried both the textured and smooth side. These pieces are test pieces for the final method I will be using for my summer work. Out of the four images, the one image that possess the teapot with layers of wax is the farthest I have been able to get. Each piece is about 8 by 10 inches. They take me quite a bit of time because of the methodic process. I intend on cover that image next and then carving into the wax.