Encaustic

I recently read an article by Morgan Meis relating to "No Regrets" an exhibition by Jasper Johns at MoMA, New York. As well as getting me thinking about a number of artistic issues, it also got me to thinking about encaustic painting. Jasper Johns was the main artist whose work I looked at in the 80s for guidance on this medium. Johns flag paintings from the 1950s, inspired by a dream, encapsulate the visceral tendency of pure paint: with encaustic painting the immediacy of each brushstoke is preserved.

On my first trip to New York while at art school in the early 80s, I would have come across Johns's work at either the MoMA or Whitney and fallen in love with the painterliness.

I was also interested in Johns's use of newsprint layers providing extra surface texture on the canvas.

I found out that encaustic is a mixture of beeswax, oil paint and turpentine melted and mixed together and I began my own experiments with the medium. The mixture is applied while melted and therefore still warm. Although I did a few paintings on canvas they do not exist any more, nor did I photograph them. The only thing I have left to show that I ever painted in encaustic is a photograph of a large triptych on paper. This hung on the walls of several of my apartments in Toronto, until, with all my moving around, it totally fell apart.

Last year, while participating in The Big Egg Hunt Dublin (fundraiser for the Jack and Jill Foundation) I was delighted to make the acquaintance of Niamh O'Connor, whose encaustic egg I had admired. On meeting me, I remember that Niamh was surprised to meet another artist who was familiar with encaustic. She might have found it amusing to see me delightedly sniffing the heady beeswax and oil smell of her giant yellow egg, reminiscing with myself about this wonderful medium.

Inspired by Eileen Gray

In the spring of 1980 I went to New York for the first time as part of the school trip while in second year of Central Technical School's 3-Year Special Post Secondary Art Course. Visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art was a fantastic experience and there was a major exhibition of the work of Eileen Gray. The exhibition showed examples of all types of work: paintings, drawings, architecture, photography and furniture design. I remember being amazed by her painted furniture and screens especially. I had an old DIY set of drawers that had been passed down to me by one of my sisters and that summer decided it needed some freshening up. Althought somewhat battered by my frequent moves (especially in the 80s) I still have the set of drawers with irises painted on them. Here is a detail. The irises are based on the variety which grew at the side of the porch at the house in Toronto where I grew up.

Before my daughter was born, my husband found an old cabinet in a skip that he thought we might make use of. I cleaned and painted the tulip and rose rain cabinet (middle) in the 2001, adding a new wooden knob. We bought a changing mat and it became the changing table for our new baby in 2002, with storage for diapers, cream, wet ones, etc. It is now the end table by her bed with lamp on top and lego and DS games and paraphernalia inside. The pink and buttercup drawers (right) were a very tired dressing table, given to me from a neighbour. I again added new wooden knobs and removed the mirror before painting. The purple daisy locker (left) was part of a bedroom suite that my older brother gave me in 2002 when he was updating his own furniture. He had seen my painted furniture and knew I would turn it into something when I had a chance. I must have painted it while my daughter was napping, it is dated 2003!

A few years later I had a chance to paint the clover cabinet/dressing table for my daughter. Again this originally was a very dull piece of furniture, part of the suite given to me by my brother (thanks Bro!).

The ash berry wardrobe was the last piece from the suite, painted for my daughter in 2008.

My husband lowered the hanging bar and added another shelf before I painted the inside.

With no more furniture to paint, I happily took part in The Big Egg Hunt Dublin a year ago, and had another irregular 3-dimensional surface to paint on! The event was a fund-raiser for children's charity The Jack and Jill Foundation, and my egg was part of the auction. It now resides in IBM Legal Services in Dublin!