ENCAUSTIC EVOLUTIONS: i'll fly away in the morning

New work. Busy work. I need to be working. I've got so many things going on in my life. Busy life. Working hard, family life, always learning. Creating. My abstract art takes so damn long to create! My abstract art is the slowest thing in my life. I love it. 

A large part of the process involved with creating my abstract art is the process of not touching it while it weathers for long periods of time. But I've got energy and I've got the need to be creating all.the.damn.time. These hands don't idle. So I've got this new body of work I got going on. Little paintings, little birds. 

This work was made by hand-cutting the silhouettes into Union Square heavy weight paper. The paper was then painted with hot encaustic paint. Encaustic paint is a mixture of beeswax, damar resin and pigment. Some of the tools typically used include a heat gun, a pastry torch and hot plates. Generally, I use R&F encaustic medium and pigment sticks, though I often make my own from scratch. When the cut paper is painted, an uncut paper is also painted, and the two are collaged together onto a DaVinci hardwood panel.

These are called "Evolutions" because each new work is cut from a copy of the previous work. Since these are hand cut, slight variations occur each time. These variations, as well as more directed changes, will make the works change slowly over time.

The story: I've got a restless soul that can be traced back to my early childhood in Southern California. While all the other kids were busy playing games, I'd spend countless hours on swings or in the tops of trees watching the birds and daydreaming that I could fly away with them to wherever they were going. That sense of restless wonder never left and I've spent the last four decades moving to & fro between California, Texas, and Florida. My home in Austin, like many places I've lived, is very close to the airport. I enjoy watching the steady flow of airplanes coming and going, knowing that each plane is full of people, all with their own unique motivations and destinations. Now, with this body of work, that sense of restless wonder is captured with a flock of small paintings. I love watching these paintings fly away, leaving me to wonder where they’ve taken off to.    ​