Monday, February 1, 2010

Touching ART . . .


Today I’m participating in a blog carnival. This is when several different bloggers combine their thoughts about a single subject. In this blog carnival, we are exploring the concept of “touching art” – how we feel about people physically touching our art. Bethany, a fantastic painter, has gathered some views and opinions about this subject. You can read about other artists and see their art on her blog, Dirksen Dabbles
I work in a medium that is multi-sensory and rather sensual, encaustic beeswax painting. When melting the beeswax, there is a faint honey fragrance. I paint with encaustic paints so there is of course the visual but there is definite a tactile quality to many of my finished paintings.
While photograph the paintings, I try to capture the texture, rough as well as smooth, created by the encaustic paint. Often photos of the pieces do not convey the true texture and depth one can create with encaustic beeswax. 
I have found that when people see the paintings in person they are like children, drawn to touch the pieces. 
I encourage this behavior. With this beeswax mixture unique to encaustic, fingerprints are easily wiped clean off the painting.
Buffing the surface of the painting with a soft lint free cloth can bring the shine back to the painting and remove the finger smudges. In allowing the viewer to touch my paintings, it gives them one more way to enjoy my art.

3 comments:

  1. Looks great Susan! The photos you chose are really fantastic :) Thanks again!

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  2. I think to fully understand a piece of art, touching is a major thing.... I love the smell of beeswax, but have never got the "guts" to paint with it.
    You have beautyfull works!

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  3. they are all wonderful ! such talent

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