In a further move towards Impressionism and larger scale works, today I completed Blast Furnace. I have plans to craft several impressionistic pieces revolving around singular colors and sensations. Blast Furnace is designed to evoke overwhelming sheets of stifling heat. Below is a detail section of the painting.
I’ve had such a good response to yellow sail, which is not available, I wanted to recreate it but instead produced sailing into the waterspout thus proving to myself how mercurial my painting impulses are. But to my surprise I had forgotten that I had done an earlier study of yellow sail. That piece, now entitled full sail, was six times as wide and much more comprehensive in scope though calmer in emotion. Therefore I decided to finish off that piece. On the website you can see more detail and some examples of how full sail might look framed and matted.
After several permutations, reworks, and completions, I’ve now finished Sailing into the Waterspout and have it posted at https://christophergreenstudio.com/portfolio/sailing-into-the-waterspout/. This is definitely a change in style and technique from my earlier works and I plan to make it the beginning of a “storm” series. To get a feeling for the texture and light play on the surface I’ve provided a couple of enlarged, detail photos on the site but as usual the painting needs to be seen in person because the highlights of the reflected light change as you move around the piece. Here’s a small section of the overall vertical painting.
Sometimes your piece takes over and insists on a new direction. I was deep into Full Sail when I stepped back and in addition to valuable feedback decided I was forcing this piece down the wrong path. Therefore, I’ve renamed this work Waterspout and will proceed with that concept in mind. You can still see the shadow of the sailboat I just removed, and will blot out, and I’ve blocked in the white border to give you a better feel for the final piece.
It takes a bit more imagination and faith to see it in its raw form.
It’s always satisfying to finish a painting but it’s fun to mull over new subjects for the next piece. I have a large backlog of paintings I want to work on and had already started developing and laying out two new ones tentatively entitled childhood and fossil. But as often is the case I step back. I realize that I’ve had lots of interest over the past several months in one of my earlier pieces, yellow sail, which is no longer available. I’ve now decided to create a companion piece based on that one called full sail. Like yellow sail, full sail will be a hybrid of traditional encaustic painting and my personal take on the medium. So I now find myself staring at a prepped, blank surface awaiting me to engage.
The next painting entitled bee and flower is progressing well and should be finished very soon. Here’s a close-up detail. The bee’s body measures about 1 inch x ½ inch so its only slightly larger than life size.
I had the fun of doing a live painting event at Ansbach Artisans a few weeks ago. The reception was great and the interest was strong. The intention was to paint and talk but I had so many people asking questions and discussing my work that I actually painted about a square inch of picture in over 3½ hours. All in all a fun night with a return invitation for June.
To know my paintings you have to know a little about me. Or maybe not. Either way is good. I grew up in a small town in Tennessee drawing and photographing constantly. Didn’t matter what I drew it, political cartoons in the newspapers, photos in magazines or the encyclopedia, and photoed it, sunsets, trees, whatever. When I grew up I worked jobs and followed opportunities all over the world and dabbled in furniture making, acrylic paints, home renovation, tinsmithing, etc. as hobbies. When I moved back to Tennessee I found that my wide-ranging life didn’t quite fit in with employers’ expectations so I turned to what I’ve always enjoyed, art. But not just any art, encaustic painting, not the first thing most people would think of or have heard of. Thats me in a nutshell/case. Next post I’ll tell you a little about my approach to encaustics.
christopher green studio 