AUTUMN ASSET - 18x18 - oil and cold wax on board
TIMBERLINE - 18x18 - oil and cold wax on board
Over the years I've often been asked by younger artists what advice I could give them to further their careers. I feel pretty inept at giving advice because I've always considered luck the most important constant in my career. But it is said that we make our own luck... and it's a good idea to believe it. But as to advice, the two words I suggest are BE READY! You don't know when an unexpected door will open and there is nothing sadder than a missed opportunity.
That said, I realize I'm not following my own advice lately. Have been fooling around, trying out different techniques, mediums and ideas and not finishing anything... not updating the website with new work and it looks stale... and now I've directed two important connections to take a good look. It's like all of a sudden you've got company coming and you look around your house and see it through their eyes... ARG! Embarrassing even if there's nothing to be embarrassed about... you just want it all to be the best it can be... and you know it isn't... you didn't plan ahead and... you aren't ready.
The above paintings are two of the cold wax technique I've been playing with at the lake house studio... two that I did finally decide were finished. There are at least a dozen more that are in various stages of exploration. Neither the oil medium nor the subject of trees are new to me but it's been a long while so it feels new. Whether they make the cut or not remains to be seen... I'm simply enjoying the process.
But now... to get back to work and finish a bunch of acrylic abstracts in the other studio!
4 comments:
I love the Autumn Asset!! I feel it!!! I love the whole cold wax process...it makes me slow down and savor the properties of the paint, each layer is a new lesson, and you are forced to study it long and hard, or at least overnight! I need it sometimes, it is a welcome respite from the wild quick dry world of acrylics and water media, that being said I am hooked again on inks and paper....I am a hopeless cause it seems! Great blog and good advice!
I do enjoy the carving in aspect! That's what I liked about encaustics, too. And this is so much more accessible, if not quite as deep. Still lots to learn about the process and not enough time to spend on it. Decided I would just have to find some stopping places and quit!
i find these interesting and refreshing karen, i'm drawn to timberline for the diversity and autumn for the color. exciting! nice to see :)
Thanks, Paula! Glad you like ;)
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