Soul Friend

soul-friend
Soul Friend
encaustic mixed media
24×18 inches

I have about a week until everything needs to be absolutely wrapped up. I have moments of freak out and moments of where I feel like everything is under control. No matter what though, I am grateful for the opportunity to just create this new body of work. And grateful to be stretching myself as I start to paint on larger panels. More surface mean more space to explore. Right now I am working on a 48×36 inch encaustic, which is really a bit more physical for me. Maybe it is because I am a small person and I keep having to move my panel around to reachWhen I work that large, I turn to my torch to speed up the fusing. Lots more scraping too leaving my wrists and fingers feeling a bit achy after several hours. I use my scrapers or razor blades as much as I use my brushes in my process.

This painting makes me happy. I had thought it was done about a week ago, but then returning to it over the weekend, I knew it wasn’t. I continued on, completely changed it. Felt stumped a few times. Switched directions and then it came together. I feel calmed, looking at it now.

These past few months I have slowly been reading and taking in Anne Truitt’s Daybbook in bits and pieces. The other night I read this:

“The poem needs to be written, the paintings painted, the sculpture wrought. The beds have to be made, the food cooked, the dishes done, the clothes washed and ironed. Life just seems to me irremediably about coping with the physical.”

10 Comments

  1. Love this piece – and the title is perfect. And it’s always fun to hear a little about your process.
    I enjoyed reading Anne Turitt’s Daybook too.

  2. beautiful color and texture here and as always your work is so very emotive (is that a real word?) i have a few larger pieces in the works as well and know how challenging it can be but the depth and texture of the wax is so gorgeous. it suits your style and i can’t wait to see more of your new work over time.

    1. Thanks so much Beth! I think the thing that is frustrating is that everything shifts with the bigger size. Also the time it takes to complete! Looking forward to seeing your new work too

  3. It’s really beautiful Bridgette. I think painting larger is very physical too. I had forgot that because it’s been a long time since I’ve worked on anything larger than a 16 x 20 inch.

    The colors in this are so well balanced and the whole painting is like a nature quilt. It’s like each different patch represents elements of the earth…sky and ground..air and seed…all the things needed to make something grow and live…like that tree. That’s the message I see anyways.

    I have not heard of that book. HOW do you have time to read?

    1. “nature quilt”- i like that! Thank you. yes, I was trying to pull in the essentials that we need to be nourished and thrive.

      I actually don’t have all that much time to read! Her book is not that long and it’s already been about 6 months since i started it. ha!

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