A day in the studio...

Preparing to mount some linen...

All prepped and ready to hit the studio...

The colours of the day...

First stage... Pastel on raw linen...

And the magic begins as the colours mix...

Time to heat up the wax...

First layer of encaustic medium on and fused...

Setting up a little photo shoot for the next stage...

Photo shoot felt stilted and fake... Hopefully more time playing will help uncover some authenticity...

Blah! Heat gun just died - it does that sometimes... Must be a sign to start working with the flame...

Contemplating an image...

Line work...

Burnishing the transfer...

Revealing the transfer, now to fuse...

Not yet titled

Encaustic and transfer on mounted linen

600 x 600mm

2011

  

New work…

Fear and Sadness

Kylie Marie Stevens

Encaustic, pastel and transfer of mounted linen

600 x 600mm

2011

I can feel a new series bubbling away within me here…  

 I feel that I will be able to developed a “language “with this style which will make my work more “readable”… 

I’m excited, but also apprehensive about putting so much of what is in side “out there” to be looked upon…  

I feel it’s time to be more open… 

There are more changes on the way as I begin to shed the protective layers…

Tea Taking Paraphernalia

Tea Taking Paraphernalia

Kylie Marie Stevens

Encaustic, tea and spoon on mounted linen

600 x 600mm

2011

$250

The opening night of Infused is tonight at The Swich Contemporary Art Space.  I have been in and had a look at the show and it looks fantastic.  It was so much fun working on this piece and contemplating all things tea.

This is the artist statement that accompanies my piece...

“Tea Taking Paraphernalia”

While exploring tea for the Infused exhibition I began contemplating the parallels between tea and other drugs. 

Both the taking of tea and drugs are often steeped in ritual, both provide comfort, become ingrained in habit and require specific paraphernalia. 

Similarities can be seen between the chopped leaves at the centre of both the tea and marijuana rituals.  Connections are also present between the spoons used in tea making and in the cooking up of injectable drugs. 

“Tea Taking Paraphernalia” is a mixed media encaustic painting, created using real tea for the pigment.  Tea leaves float within the texture and the used spoon adds a sculptural element, hinting at the parallels between tea and drug taking.

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If your local or in the area during July I hope you can get along and see the exhibition in person.

 

SOLD

Starlight

oil and silver leaf on linen

920 x 730mm

2002

I just got word that this painting sold in at the Black and White exhibition at Drawing Point Gallery.  I’m sad to see it go as it’s a long-time favourite, but I hear the new owner loves it and that makes me smile. 

I’ve also sold a couple this week in my 9th… 9… $90…9:00… over on facebook.  Why not pop by to see which ones or perhaps nab yourself a bargain. 

A lovely infusion…

Stopping for a cuppa is often a stalling/procrastinating tactic on a painting day, but not today.  Today I shall be making lots of tea and it’s all in the name of research and “paint” prep….

Delivering Donations to the Displaced

Hot off the work bench, I literally only finished this piece minutes ago.  I’m really happy with it, but I am not sure about the name, I’m hoping something more eloquent will come to me…

It’s the latest in my community series and it is about my memory of the well worn path through our local evacuation centre during the floods.  Many, many locals who were not affected donated anything they could to those in our community who had lost so much.  It was such a help to me to be able to do something positive amongst so much devastation and I hope that in some small way it gave comfort and practical assistance to those in need.  

Every time I visited the evacuation centre the piles of donated goods was larger and not just piles of used things, but specially purchased items, the specific requirements that were called for, one day it was toiletries and baby goods another day it was, sheets and towels or cleaning gear and gum boots. It was uplifting to see the community reaching out to help those in need

In my painting the evacuee’s are represented by the scattered dots, the people I saw when visiting the evacuation centre where in shock, wandering, seemingly aimless and scattered around the grounds.  The ark of dots in the corner represents those on a mission to deliver goods and offer a hand in any way they could.   It still brings tears to my eyes to think about just how many people where at that evacuation centre and it was just one of many. 

Anyway I didn’t intend for this post to be sad, so to end on a more positive note here it is, my latest painting…

Delivering Donations to the Displaced

Kylie Marie Stevens

Encaustic on mounted linen

600 x 600mm

2011

What do you think?

Disaster in the studio…

While threading the twine through the copper balls late yesterday afternoon I bumped one – hard, I cracked the wax supporting it near the base which meant it was no longer embedded firmly.

I was furious with myself and walked away to calm down, when suddenly the solution for how to mend it came to me.  Wanting to get it sorted out straight away, I took a deep breath and headed back into the studio, I should have just stayed away…

Heating the substrate from below was a good idea, but it required more delicacy and patience than I had to give at the end of the day.  Now I have a smooth puddle in my lovely textureL.  

I don’t think it is reparable; I am going to try, this morning while I am feeling fresh, but I think I am going to have to end up melting the whole painting off and starting again.  It is one of the beauties of encaustics that I can do that, but it’s so sad as I really loved the texture in this piece and I was ready for it to be finished so I could move onto the next piece that is on my mind.  

I suppose these days happen to make us appreciate the days when everything goes right…

"Entwining"

Detail of “Entwined in the Community” in progress

Encaustic and copper on mounted linen

Today I hope to get the entwining part of my latest work “Entwined in the Community” done.  It will involve lots of carefully, but forcefully find paths through the copper balls for the needle and twine.  

Detail of “Entwined in the Community” in progress

Encaustic and copper on mounted linen

Time consuming and a little frustrating, but oh so satisfying as it the piece is so close to finished…

I wonder if anything simular is happening in other creative spaces across the globe…

“Community Connections”

“Community Connections”

Kylie Marie Stevens

encastic on linen

300 x 300mm

2011

Each little circle - a person…

Each little line - a connection…

Each connection - a building block with which strong communities grow…

This piece symbolises the connections and community that I have found online.  Such beautiful and fruitful connections with so much room to grow.

Create some more online connections of your own over here.  

Community Ties

My blogging space may have been quite slack lately, but my creative space is still full steam ahead.  I am madly in love with my latest painting.  It doesn’t always feel like this when I finish a piece, but this is the feeling I am always chasing.  Knowing that it can feel this good is what pushes me along through all of the hard work.

"Community Ties"

Kylie Marie Stevens

encaustic, copper and twine on canvas

450 x 550mm

2011

I am embarking on a new series exploring the concept of “Community", for me the copper balls represent the people within the community that are tied together with the twine that symbolises different strands or groups within our larger communities. 

Community Ties - detail

I’m hoping to do a piece soon on my involvement with the bloggy community, but I haven’t yet come up with a way to represent it.  What does community mean to you?  Do you feel a stronger connection with your physical/locality community or your online community?

I hope you are having a good Creative Space day… Pop on over here to join in the fun.

A Fresh Start

"A Fresh Start"

Kylie Marie Stevens

Encaustic on timber

240 x 290mm

2011
$90



I had a really creative day on Tuesday.  I started and finished a new encaustic and reworked two which I had previously thought of as duds...

This is one of the reworked duds, I didn’t have a title for it until this morning, but as soon as I thought of it I knew it was perfect...

I have called it “A Fresh Start”, it seems appropriate on so many levels to me at the moment… 

• I hope that this beautiful sunshiny day is a fresh start for the weather in poor old battered Queensland… 
• I hope the fact that I have now blogged two days in a row is a fresh start for my slack start to blogging in 2011… 
• We put our house on the market this week, as we are soon to make a fresh start in our beautiful purple tree house…

Are you embarking on any fresh starts yourself?  I’d love to hear about them…

New Work

“Create”

Kylie Marie Stevens

Encaustic on canvas

400 x 500mm

2011

$120

No words today, just wanted to share and play along…

Sometimes it’s hard to say goodbye….

 "Byron Bay"

Kylie Marie Stevens

915 x 610mm

oil on canvas

1999

Today I deliver this painting; I thought I was quite happy to let it go... l until I wrapped it up last night.  

It’s been part of my life and home for such a long time now and was painted after a much needed beach escape.  I’m sad to see it go, but I know it will be loved in its new home.  Do you ever feel sad as your creations leave your life?

Support

"Support"

Kylie Marie Stevens

oil on linen

900 x 990mm

2010

I survived the floods unscathed, so many in my community are not so lucky.  It’s overwhelming and so very sad to witness the devastation so close to home.  The last few days have been a flurry of getting batches of donations to the evacuation centre and keeping an eye one of our family’s homes for flood waters and looters.  

Curly Guy was out offering his muscle to the clean up yesterday, but I was home with Little Guy, I feel so useless and want so desperately to help anyway I can.  

I have donated the painting above “Support” to The Queensland Flood Appeal Raffle. I thought it was appropriate as it has been amazing watching the way the community has pulled together to “support” one and other through this disaster.  

There are so many fantastic prizes on offer in this raffle, please pop over to the page and find out how to purchase a ticket and help us get as much money as possible to the people who are suffering. 

ArtofDay feature

I am fully entrenched in holiday mode (I had plum pudding for breakfast!!! – loving Christmas leftovers)  but I just had to drop by, to share that my work was featured on ArtofDay today. Thanks for the mention, I love having to opportunity to share my work with new people!  

"Namaste"

Kylie Marie Stevens

90 x 90 cm

oil on canvas

2010

SOLD

This is the piece that is featured; unfortunately the image on the site is a bit blown out (my fault, not theirs) it looks a lot more like this in real life.  

Drop by and check out the other 17 artist featured; there is some really interesting work in this bunch. 

I hope you are enjoying the festive season, I’ll be back to more regular posting next week.

Our builder has let me in on a little secret…..

They are ahead of schedule, fabulous news!  BUT it leaves me with a dilemma….  

Our beautiful dream house has lots of huge doors and windows, so we can take in the view of the tree tops we are nestled amongst.....  That means not many walls for me to adorn with paintings.  

So I have to find new homes for heaps of my paintings.  To that end I am doing a little editing of prices (read – slashing prices ridiculously!)  in my “Paintings Available for Sale” album over on facebook and adding lots of new paintings to the album as well.

Do pop over for a little look, please feel free to send your friends over too, I’d really appreciate your help with spreading the word about this one!  I’m starting to panic about just how many truck loads, my studio supplies and paintings are going to take up in the move…

Happy Dancing…

“Circle of Friends”

Kylie Marie Stevens

Encaustic on canvas and timber

300 x 290mm

2010

$90

I just love a great painting day…. The ones when the painting actually exceeds my expectations.  I had one of them today and I am so in love with this one!  

Mesmerising…

There is calm returning to my studio.  I am finding my feet and my confidence painting with encaustics.  The wax is so surprising and enchanting to work with that it has been worth all of the heartache, disappointments and doubts of learning to work with them.  I really love this one; it just feels so comfortable and calm to me and shows a glimmer of where I may head with this ethereal medium.

“Mesmerising”

Kylie Marie Stevens

Encaustic and imt silver leaf on canvas and wood

300 x 290mm

2010

$90

I like the other piece I painted this week too...  I popped it up over here and there is a bit of a debate about the title going on.  I’m still not sure what I will call it, but I am so thrilled it has engaged people.



Bones

I took a call the other night about a commission… a gift for an orthopaedic surgeon… something about bones...

I just happened to have this piece in my studio; I painted it a few years ago on a “bad back day”.  After a few emails back and forward it turns out it will be perfect.  How nice to have just the right thing on hand! 

Home Grown

Today I delivered one of my favourite paintings “Abound”, to The Ipswich Community Gallery.  It will be part of the Home Grown exhibition. 

It’s the first group show I have ever been a part of, so needless to say I am very excited and just a little bit chuffed!  

I’m really looking forward the opening event on Sunday; it will be very exciting to see my artwork displayed along side the creations of so many of my talented peers.