Transformations: The Struggle to Create
“Twisters”
Encaustic and Wood on Panel
12″ x 12″
© 2010 Marilyn Fenn
Creativity is about play and a kind of willingness to go with your intuition. It’s crucial to an artist. If you know where you are going and what you are going to do, why do it? — Frank Gehry
This is a very comforting quote for me. When I paint, I frequently have only a very vague idea or sometimes — no idea at all — of what I am searching for in the new work. I start somewhere, and often, the finished piece is so far away from where it started, it’s unrecognizable. One of my favorite things about working this way is that I discover things — such as shapes and images — that I just couldn’t invent.
New Tornado Paintings
Tornado with Debris Cloud, version 2
Encaustic on Baltic Birch
10″ x 10″ x 2″
© 2010 Marilyn Fenn
I have completed two new tornado paintings; one was the one I started a few weeks ago while being interviewed for a Weather Channel segment about my tornado paintings. It’s changed a lot since it was filmed in progress (final version above; first version below).
Interview with the Weather Channel
“Most storm chasers use a camera.”
– a guest at one of my studio tours
I have some exciting news! I was interviewed last week by the Weather Channel. They plan to air a little feature on my paintings of tornadoes sometime in April at the start of tornado season. The local cameraman who works for TWC came to my house/studio, set up lights and interviewed me about my paintings and why I paint tornadoes, and also shot footage of me starting a new tornado painting to demonstrate my process.
From the Blogs: Original Art for Under $200
I’ve had a painting included in this post about original artwork on “Confessions of a Renaissance Woman” by Kelly J. Callahan. Please check out all the artists in this treasury.
A Cool New Painting for Winter
Jetsons’ Holiday
Encaustic on Baltic Birch
10″ x 10″ x 1.75″ deep
© 2009 Marilyn Fenn
This is the second of my Organics series using encaustic. I have started several more in this series in oil, and will likely attempt some in acrylic, as well. And of course, there are all the sketches.
Kind of a Surprise: New Encaustic Piece
Happy Together
Encaustic and rice paper on Baltic birch
10″ x 10″ x 1.75″ deep
© 2009 Marilyn Fenn
Painting in Encaustic: Liberation and Challenge
For about the past year-and-a-half, I have been in a bit of despair over how to continue working in encaustic.
I started using encaustic paints in 2006. Encaustic paint is pigment suspended in a mixture of beeswax and damar resin that the artist heats and paints with while in a melted state (the paint, not the artist 
) – you can read more about encaustic here.
Getting Excited About My Solo Exhibit!
Floating Islands
Oil on canvas
Triptych, 36″ x 12″
© 2009 Marilyn Fenn
In eight days, I will be greeting friends and fans at my solo show at Bay6 Gallery in East Austin. I am really looking forward to that moment!
Getting ready for this has been an amazing process. Doing all the necessary organizational stuff besides trying to paint every moment that I can for weeks and weeks and weeks, that is.
I sent out email invitations to most of the people I know; and Bay6 has also invited a large number of folks. We’ve notified people via email, Facebook, Twitter, EventBrite, Eventful and word-of-mouth, and we may be expecting a great turnout! I picked up my beautifully printed postcards today from Tom at ipgprint.com; I will be mailing those tomorrow. Plans are set for music, food and drink, and we will start to hang the show next week. I owe some responses to emails and blog commenters, which I will try to get to as soon as my mental energy rolls in that direction.
6 New Encaustic Paintings
Confetti
Encaustic on Panel
10″ x 10″
© 2009 Marilyn Fenn
This one is very highly textured, and looks really amazing in person.
As promised, here are 6 of my new encaustic paintings — 5 of these were begun at last weekend’s encaustic workshop at Majestic Ranch. I completed them and created one new painting (so far) after returning home.
Encaustic Workshop at Majestic Ranch, Boerne TX
I spent this past weekend with ten other members of the Austin group of Texas Wax in an encaustic painting workshop at Majestic Ranch in Boerne, TX. Boerne is a lovely little Hill Country town located not too far from San Antonio. Majestic Ranch is an Arts Foundation atop a hill with classrooms for painting, printmaking, ceramics, photography, sculpture and more. It also includes a pavillion and gazebo…and many breathtakingly beautiful views of the Hill Country. When R&F comes to Texas, this is where they hold their workshops.
Early Saturday morning, I met up with the other Texas Wax artists in the hilltop classroom for the two day, all-day workshop. It was wonderful — kind of like being back in advanced studio classes at art school — each of us working on our own creative projects, and meanwhile chatting with other members of our art tribe. Only this was over in just 2 days instead of a whole semester, so there wasn’t much chance to watch each other’s creative development, nor to get to know each other much better. We did hang out for awhile after the Saturday workshop, over dinner and a beer at a brewpub in Boerne.
Color is the Thing for Me
ZOUNDS!!!
Oil on canvas
6″ x 6″
© 2009 Marilyn Fenn
I am getting very excited about my upcoming solo show. I’m painting like a madman, and I’m beginning to be very happy with some of the results.
When I made arrangements months ago to do this show, I had no fear about showing my work, as I had just come off of a long period of intense and successful creation, and was (and still am) very happy with the work I had created.
But I was ready to move on to the next thing creatively, though I wasn’t sure what it was.
So I began this year by doing lots of tiny sketches and many small paintings, searching for a satisfying direction. I attempted a few larger paintings, but they went awry. At a workshop, I created some new work in encaustic, though in the end I wasn’t happy with most of them. To date, I have completed about 70 pieces this year — which is a lot for me — though most of them are sketches and small paintings.
Then, finally, the realization that color is the “thing” for me, and as long as I’m true to that, I’m happy, and my work succeeds. The other issues – the other elements that go into an abstract painting (shape, form, surface quality, etc.) I continue to think about and work on as well.
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