Marilyn Fenn Studio

The idea behind this series was inspired by ecological succession, a natural sequential process in which there is a gradual supplanting of one community of life forms by another, each stage building upon the previous stage.
This first final work is a large painting made up of twenty 12″x12″ panels. The process of creating each new [...]

Find out about the encaustic painting process, the qualities of encaustic and how to care for a work created in encaustic on this page.

Organics

The E Word

The Tornado Series

Hot Hot Summer

Succession Series

Abstract Oils & Acrylics

Abstract Encaustics

Mini Paintings

Sketches

Archive

“My Alien Friend”
Oil on Canvas
6″x6″
©2008

“Planet’s Edge”
Acrylic on Canvas Paper, mounted on Masonite
6″x6″
©2008

This is that time of year when I think it’s natural for us to look back and see what we accomplished (so we’ll know what to focus on next year, and what to pat ourselves on the back for).
This has been a really good year for me, artwise, and I think–even with this sucky economy–it’s [...]

“Painting on the Train…in Vain”
acrylic on canvas paper, mounted on masonite
6″ x 6″
©2008
We took the train to LA and back last week, and I brought some small art supplies, and tried doing a few tiny paintings on the train.
Nothing much great happened, painting-wise.  Ostensibly, one could say I painted 5 little paintings on the [...]

Today I mapped out about 4 different exhibits I wanted to get to, and they weren’t necessarily that far from each other (Westwood, Hollywood, and Santa Monica); but we got going too late, and had to return to Pasadena too early to be able to fit in more than one of them, especially considering LA [...]

“Soaring”
Acrylic on Canvas
36″ x 36″
©2008
This has been a very busy month — the month began with transporting our paintings up to Fort Worth to prepare for hanging in the “Real and Imagined” show at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center, which took two trucks to transport all the work for the five of us in [...]

Five Austin Painters Show in Fort Worth
Jill Alo, Kathleen Claps, Linda Anderson, Bill Wahlgren andI had a big show at the Fort Worth Community Art Center on October 3rd (the day the Dow fell 777 points!).  A lot of people came for the opening, though perhaps not as many as we had expected.  But the [...]

“Succession Series #42”
Oil on 20 Canvases
48″ x 60″
©2008
I finally finished my 7-month Succession Series project of 20 interrelated paintings, painted individually, but with connecting edges and related ideas. I painted these in oil, after spending the past 2 years painting primarily in encaustic.
It felt like coming home to paint in oil again, yet I [...]

“Crossing Over”
Encaustic on Board, cradled
12″ x 12″
©2008
I’ve been working on a complicated 20-panel oil painting for most of the year, which is getting close to completion (for an October show in Ft. Worth). On Friday, July 18th, I had the need to loosen up, so turned back to encaustics, which are just naturally a [...]

“Succession 01 #3-1 (Life Forms)”
Oil on Canvas
12″ x 12″ (part of 20-panel series, O.D. 48″ x 60″)
©2008

“Succession 01 #2-3 (Arabesque)”
Oil on Canvas
12″ x 12″ (part of 20-panel series, O.D. 48″ x 60″)
©2008

“Scenic Route”
Acrylic on Canvas
5″ x 7″
©2008
Donated to Arthouse

“Solar Breach”
Acrylic on Canvas
5″ x 7″
©2008
Donated to Arthouse

“Waterfall”
Oil on Canvas
12″ x 12″
©2008
Another green painting. I have been working on the most recent batch of about 7 paintings below throughout February; they will be more to come in the next few weeks.

“Spiral Jetty”
Oil on Canvas
12″ x 12″
©2008
Inspired by the…Spiral Jetty by Smithson, of course.

“Ice Floes 01”
Oil on Canvas
12″ x 12″
©2008
This one may or may not end up as part of the succession series; it was inspired by more ice floes.

“Jovian Landscape”
Oil on Canvas
12″ x 12″
24″ x 24″
©2008
Inspired by a huge yellow painting I had done years ago, I was wanting to play a bit with a mild push-pull in the yellow ground, and then some other stuff happened.

“Succession 01 #3-3 (River Courses)”
Oil on Canvas
12″ x 12″ (part of 20-panel series, O.D. 48″ x 60″)
©2008

“Succession 01 #4-1 (Molecular Motion)”
Oil on Canvas
12″ x 12″ (part of 20-panel series, O.D. 48″ x 60″)
©2008
As you can see, the ice-floe-like forms in the previous painting extend into the bottom of this one, and then start to flop over, and – well – you can see what else is happening there.

“Succession 01 #4-2 (Pancake Ice)”
Oil on Canvas
12″ x 12″ (part of 20-panel series, O.D. 48″ x 60″)
©2008
The idea behind this series is similar to the idea of ecological succession, which is a sequence of gradual supplanting of one community of (life) forms by another, each stage building upon the previous stage.
This painting evolved from the [...]

“Succession 01 #4-3 (Space Dancing)”
Oil on Canvas
12″ x 12″ (part of 20-panel series, O.D. 48″ x 60″)
©2008
The first painting in the previous post below was inspired by an aerial photograph of cracks in an icy lake. This second painting evolved from the top edge of that painting, and takes a whirl into space with [...]

This was my booth at the Blue Genie Art Bazaar.  I love the way they organize this show.  You set your stuff up, and they man the show, take the sales, and sent you a check when the almost month-long show is over.  Al you really have to do is make sure your keep replenishing [...]

The tour this year was great. Even with a little rain on Saturday, over 110 people did make it to my little home studio for the tour. I believe most of the people who came had specifically picked out my work to come see. Considering there were about 210 artists and over [...]

“California Burning”
Encaustic on Board, cradled
12″ x 12″
©2007

“Tocharian Vignette”
Encaustic on Board, cradled
12″ x 12″
©2007

“Nebulous Nebula”
Encaustic and Beeswax on Paper on Board, cradled
12″ x 12″
©2007
Our vacation interrupted my rhythm of painting, and shooting pictures, and blogging…so here it is late September, and I have finally gotten the paintings I finished before vacation shot, and am just now getting them posted.
This one is a fairly fanciful voyage into creating a [...]

“All the Way from Africa”
Encaustic on Paper on Board, cradled
12″ x 12″
©2007
This started out as my first Cel Animata painting, and after much work, turned into another painting; but I wasn’t satisfied yet, so today, I scraped the whole thing down and started over; after months and months of work and 1/8″ worth of wax [...]

“Behind the Wall”
Encaustic and Beeswax on Plywood Panel, cradled
12″ x 12″
©2007
This is the first encaustic I’ve painted directly onto the plywood panel, with no intermediary watercolor paper.  There is so much visual depth to this that cannot be seen on a computer monitor!

“Number One Campfire”
Encaustic and beeswax on paper on board, cradled
12″ x 12″
©2007
Brand new abstraction.  This feels like a new direction for me.  I gotta say, I like it!

…or so.
I love the idea of doing a painting a day…whether or not I can is another story.
Here’s the first in awhile: an abstracted landscape in oil, 10″x10″.  Not sure if I’m done with it or not…
“Green Day”
oil on canvas
10″x10″
2007

Painting by Karen Jacobs
“Hope Ridge”
mixed media on canvas
30″ x 30″
Here’s another really gorgeous abstract landscape — makes me wish I were there (kind of like Robin Williams in “What Dreams May Come” or that bit in Akira Kurasawa’s movie (I think it may have been called “Dreams”) where Van Gogh wanders through his own paintings.
Anyway, [...]

Painting by Cheryl McClure
“Little Pieces of Land IX”
acrylic on canvas
36 x 36″
Favorite painter of the day: Cheryl McClure, whose beautiful abstract landscapes I found online at the Jezebel Gallery. This is my favorite! Gorgeous colors, and I love how it works as a landscape and also as purely abstract shapes. I’m really led [...]

Painting by Scott Barber
title, medium, size, date unknown
I stumbled on an exhibit by Scott Barber while taking a few days off in Galveston for our anniversary. Very keen abstract work, a lot of which had a very topographical look, was manipulated from photographs using PhotoShop into unrecognizable beautiful forms which then make their [...]

Sketch by Marilyn Fenn
Copy After Leonora Carrington’s “Juan Soriano de Lacandón,” 1964
Sept. 1991
at the Art Institute of Chicago
Pencil
7″x5″
Class notes from SAIC, 1991
The image must communicate something special which appeals to the senses through the way they are presented.
Abstract concepts help to provide visual meaning (aside from subject matter).
The subject supplies literal meaning.
The essence of a [...]