Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Allyson Levy





Rhoaeshock Study II, 2008, Encaustic and poppy petals on wood, 15 X 15 , For Johann, 2008, poppy petals, beeswax on wood panel, 12 X 12 , Once There Were Violets, 2003, encaustic, violets, and elm on wood panel, 24 X 24, Birthday, 2008, Encaustic and plant material on wood, 17 X 18 , Ash III, 2005, plant seeds, beeswax on panel, 15 X 15

After relocating to rural upstate N.Y., I became keenly aware that the natural environment that surrounded me is never static, but constantly in a state of change. It struck me that I had never noticed the seed keys of a maple tree, or the minute differences in the shape of an ash seed, the swelling of forsythia buds.

By combining natural materials with wax, I to try to capture human interaction with nature. I hope that my treatment of these organic materials with various techniques of encaustic painting will convey the feeling of particular moments of time and how they effect human emotions.

These paintings are my attempt to portray these brief moments.
like most encaustic work, these paintings are best viewed in person, but you can get a sense of the beauty of the surfaces and the sophisticated use of simple materials from the large images on the site...see more here.

2 comments:

  1. The surface is really beautiful... but will these last? Won't the petals and leaves eventually start to mold underneath the wax?

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  2. no, that's the beauty of working with wax. the petals and leaves are embedded under the layers where they can no longer oxidize, so they are permanently preserved.

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