Encaustic Collage Art | Studio Update | Tissue Paper Printing

Hello all you amazing creatives! What a great week. The first week back to school from Christmas break is always exciting. For me personally I spent a few weeks cleaning out and reorganizing the art room at school and some on the home studio. I finished the countertops and backsplashes at school and only have a bit of clean up remaining. That reorganization combined with a revamped curriculum are the base for a totally new start to the new year. Great things are happening this year!

As I reflected on the most recent loss of my Mother-in-law, a short film called, The Kite, came to mind. Filmed in 2019, the narrative of the stop-motion animation addresses the concept of death and loss through metaphor, using a kite, weather, and materials as symbolic ways to broach a difficult yet important topic. I really enjoyed this animated short film by Martin Smatana from the first time I saw it. Click image for a link to watch the video.

From an artist's perspective I love the simplicity of design, texture, color and especially the pattern. I also enjoy the message masked slightly with metaphor. Martin says of his film, "They are both made out of layers, which symbolize their age. The boy has many of these layers… he has all his life before him. But grandfather, on the other hand, has already lost most of his layers, and he has only few left. As he gets older, he also gets thinner, and at the end of his life, he is as thin as a sheet of paper. One day, the wind just softly blows him away and takes him up to the sky… but it doesn’t have to mean the end of our journey."

On the easel this week is a tissue print, collage and encaustic piece that is still untitled. The image last week was a work in progress, it is now complete. Check out my Youtube video and leave a name suggestion. There were some challenges and I really appreciate this weeks struggle to get this painting completed for hanging in the local show. I will have a few things to tighten up when I get it back but the lessons I learned through failing forward I can use right away.

Have an AMAZING week!

TO