There’s been some debate, with encaustic coming on so strong as the hot and sought after as it has in the past few years, on a few issues. I used to consider myself a liberal; all inclusive and everyone happy and all that. With time, research, continued exploration for myself and a determined passion to share, I’ve come to realize this liberalistic stand of my applies only to certain topics; I am a conservative at heart and with that, and the aforementioned time building backbone in me, I take a stand.
For any of you who don’t know, I experiment. I push limits, try the untried and answer the ‘why not’s of encaustic inclusion. No stone unturned, to material unexplored no method untested in my studio! I believe encaustic is the liberal medium in a conservative art world. It allows for and embraces not only art store shelf fare, but craft store, hardware, flea market and junk heap as well. Without being flip about it, ‘if there’s a will, there’s a way’ in encaustic. I like to say, it is just that good~
But not all agree. This going wide of mine has put me in a position to be frowned at, and in extreme circumstances unabashedly scorned. Don’t get me wrong; I am not alone in this desire to embarce the wide range of possibilities in encaustic, and I by no means have the loudest voice or most beautiful methods of embracing and including. And there is a big big part of me that wants to fly under the radar, keep doing what I do and let everyone else just continue on in their way as well undisturbed. But I can no longer ignore where I stand. I’ve set myself up, so to speak, through my passion to share and determination to inspire and spread the wax wide to take on adversaries. And it taking on adversaries, to grow to the point of taking a stand. Temptation to lock the studio door until the tempest passes aside, at 45 a quiet boldness has crept into my spine, causing me to listen more intently, look with more clarity and unwittingly take on determinately a stand. No matter that it may appear inconsequential to some or flippantly irrelevant to the big picture of life on this planet, this stand is important and the passion to steadfastly remain in it cannot be ignored. Who as I to say whether it is a passing fancy or a stronghold for further growth and generational liberation? would that Rosa Parks had gotten wearily up from her bus seat….
The topic at hand is two fold: This aforementioned wide verses high view of encaustic, and that of archival, ‘proper’ if you will, painting. While closely linked, I am going to address them separately.