Dog Bore?

We got Hector back in late September (23rd?), and I'm quite smitten by him..we all are. I have Hector as my phone wallpaper and as my profile picture on FaceBook. He is pampered, walked over 7 miles per day, 4 days out of 7 (I walked 24 miles with him in the first three days of the Christmas holiday), and bathed every other day (medicinal and a bit of a chore. He's not keen). I drew him as a demo for one of my sixth formers, and experimented with varnish on the drawing ready for my year 10 class (the first picture). I have now painted him (second picture) in wax from the drawing. I did this as an exercise in trying to paint figuratively in wax.....and because I like the drawing. I think he looks quite noble. Funny really; he's a handsome dog, but when he runs I'd swear that he's a cross between a short haired pointer and Scooby Doo.

Hector.

Small Study

A lot of the abstract painting that I have been doing is suggestive of landscape. I think in part I tend to read that into them during the painting. They often start out with no fixed destination, and I react to what is happening on the board, tweaking, refining and steering as I work. I do like this way of working because it's exciting. I also like the suggestion of something more. Some interesting conversations with Sara and Seth about what they see in them.
I'm really taken with encaustic (did I say that in a previous post?) because I love the material fact of paint. Encaustic is direct, immediate, and slightly out of my control.
I also love the smell of beeswax.

Recent Encaustic Landscapes.

This was drawn and painted after taking Hector for a walk. Although the rain had stopped we were wet through, and I decided to go home over the hill and around the road, rather than back through the field (which was a quagmire). As we dropped down to the bottom of Claypenny the sun came out briefly and shone from above and behind a house. There was a lot of glare with the sun reflecting off the road and it created a beautiful scene - blue/black shadows, reflections and sparkles of light. When I got home I drew the scene (first picture) and painted it the following weekend.

The sketch.

Subsequent painting.

 Winter River Scene?

 The Path Home? Boroughbridge Weir? Minarets Calling The Faithful To Prayer?

Not sure that this 'landsape' doesn't work better upside down.

Figures in Landscapes.

I've been interested in figure in landscapes for some time. Here are a few very recent encaustic paintings of nebulous figures as part of the landscape.

This one has got me thinking about taking the camera down to the allotments where we sometimes walk Hector. I love the way the individual allotments make up a patchwork of spaces, marked out with an assortment of homemade fences and gates using old wood, corrugated sheets and string.

Encaustic 9

Untitled.

Encaustic 8. Landscape.

A slightly larger scale this time. I'm really taken by encaustic. I love the effects you can create, but more than that it is forcing me to work in a different way, and to think in a different way. I'm far less concerned with representation and thinking more about design. My consideration of composition is less intuitive and much more explicit. I look at the image differently, trying it upside-down and from the side, and I'm thinking far more about what affect each shape and mark will make to the overall image than whether the mark is describing what I want it to describe. I have no real idea of how each piece will look until I'm well into it when the shapes and colours start to suggest something that I like.

Encaustic 7: Abstract Landscape

This is a small painting, but probably my favourite encaustic to date. 

Encaustic 6; Red Heads.

Small scale on panel.

Encaustic 5

encaustic 4

This is painted on the back of a wooden box for holding cassettes. Since we no longer have any cassettes it was destined for the tip, but was ideal for painting on. Encaustic needs a rigid substrate, usually wood. Apparently it will cause canvas to sag because of the weight, and could crack and break. It goes on much thicker than oil paint. It hardens immediately, so there is no blending and you have to fuse each layer with a heat gun. You have far less control over it than oil paint.