At the beginning of the lockdown I found myself drawing with pencil and paper as I couldn’t get into the studio. I’ve been incorporating those drawings into my mixed media pieces. But for a while now I have been drawing into wax as well which I love to do. Instead of a pencil I use a pintool. That’s what I did with the plant drawings above.
This piece incudes drawing into the wax, encaustic paint, fabric fragments, and pencil on paper.
One of the interesting things I have found during these past 2 months in my studio practice is that I start my studio time with creating a quick page in my pandemic journal while my wax heats up. This journal includes black and white photographs, collaged bits, and found text and it tends toward the dark and moody as my feelings towards the pandemic is definitely dark and moody.
And then when my wax is ready and I paint, these more light-hearted pieces were showing up. I’m not sure if that would have been happening if it hadn’t been for my journal entries. It’s almost like I have to go through the dark feelings of our current times and process them before I can get to the joy that coexists right beside the darkness.
There was a moth in there, and it still had its wings crumpled up, and it was just starting to pump its wings up. Life continues in lots of places, and life is a magical thing -Laurel Clark