This painting by Meagan A Irving is titled “Fur Boat” and it is encaustic with oil on canvas with fur, 6”x8”. Here is what she has to say about this extraordinary painting and the process of painting in encaustic:
“When I first started to work with wax I was very afraid of its innate beauty and just studied it for months. My primary questions were, how do I use this material for all its best qualities? How do I do more with it than is expected and avoid making paintings that are only concerned with the beauty of their materials? Fur is presenting a similar question. It is so pretty, has so many layers – physical, political, and symbolic– and it is so horrifyingly “luxurious”. Yet using fur provides a drawing solution the way it coats the surface with its gorgeous spiky textures. More importantly it provides a clear and direct reference to death. The sense of the bits of fur emptied of the flesh of animals, the fact that it is literally protective skin brings enough reality to my other worldly landscapes to tie up the theme I am most interested in; the persistent oscillating feelings of loss, loneliness, fear and gratitude that mortality presents us with.” See more of her work at lMeagan A Irving