global warming series

“Before the Trees Caught Fire”, 60″x 60”, encaustic ,2023

“Balancing on Ice”, 14”x42”,encaustic, 2006
“Fall”, 14″x42″,encaustic on board, 2008
“Spring”, 14″x42″,encaustic on board, 2008
“Surfing”, 14”x42”, Encaustic on Board, 2007

“Before the Oceans Rose,” encaustic with lights, 2023

“Summer”, 14″x 42”, encaustic on Board,2008
“Listen”, 14″x42″, encaustic on board, 2008
“Winter”, 14”x42”, encaustic paint with digital transfers , 2007
“Dolphins Swimming in Warm Waters”, 60″x 30″, encaustic with paper, crystals and rhinestones, 2009

 

 

about the paintings

about the paint

All these artworks are painted in encaustic. Encaustic paint is made from beeswax and color. It looks like a big bar of colored soap and I melt it on a large metal surface. Then I pick up the color with my brush, apply it to a prepared board and repeat. The paint cools immediately, and thus becomes hard. Next I use a heat gun or torch to “burn in” the color, or to smooth the surface. It’s hard to tell online, but in person my painted surfaces can mimic  stained glass. Other times, I paint out thin sheets of it, and construct wax flowers. The beauty of this medium is it’s versatility.

Four of the paintings take their names from the seasons: Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer. Each painting depicts the ideal weather in the central panel, and the “new normal” (meaning weather extremes) on the sides. The year I painted the “Winter” painting,  there was almost no snow, in a region that usually had multiple snowfalls.

The painting “Surfing” is a somewhat humorous look at what we will do when the oceans rise-take up surfing! On the sides of this surfer, two headed frogs, jellyfish and wasps float in an all too warm sea. I painted this after reading how rising ocean temperature cause some species to flourish, and others to mutate or die. Clearly the winners in a too warm ocean will be jellyfish.

“Balancing on Ice” depicts a fragile human baby on melting ice flow. A polar bear and a walrus sit beside him, and the ends of the painting depict severe weather.

“Listen” asks us to listen to all the planets animals, who are reminding us about the nature of global warming. A large figure above the women throws fireballs, representing the rising temperature of the planet.

Hardly a day goes by without some news about Global Warming. This series of work has been inspired by the predictions of rising sea levels, dramatic weather changes, melting ice caps, and the loss of beloved animals such as the Polar Bear. The following paintings also represent my first series painted in encaustic, a paint made from beeswax, damar resin and pigment.