paper, coloured pencil, beeswax, encaustic and oil on 12x12 mdf
I wanted something happy for the kitchen. And having finished this one, I now have some more ideas that could turn into a nice little series of "kitchen art".
I recently bought myself "The Principles of Uncertainty" by artist Maira Kalman. The book, which started as a blog of sorts in the New York Times, is like... like what? Candy, and colour, and a circus, and finger paints, and Christmas morning :-) This book will keep me occupied for months to come. I am so inspired by the loose, "un-perfect" style. Women have triangles for noses. Men's eyelids are bright blue. Working with the beeswax, I think I am finally starting to find a style that feels like me, and forces me to stay loose. It's a funny thing, because most of the artists and illustrators I love work in a loose and (can I say?) messy way, and yet I struggle to allow that in my own stuff. You'd think I would just be able to draw and paint in a way that echos the style I like in others, but it doesn't seem to work that way. If I was drawn to realistic oil paintings, say, a la da Vinci, well hello, of course that might be difficult to achieve, but my inspiration seems within reach of my talent and experience, but just out of reach of my comfort zone. What I love in others work, I want to "fix" in mine. Funny that.
Inspiring:
Maira Kalman
Diane Bigda
Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw
