My Beach Walker Series is intended to capture how we relate to the timeless atmosphere of the ocean.

The photographs are meant to feel a bit anonymous – as the ‘subjects’ gestures appear as silhouetted profiles –  and the ‘location’ is identifiable primarily by the subtleties of the waves and sand.   The photographs are contemporary, black and white, and are intended to have an aged quality.  It’s candid, utilizing natural lighting, and the scene is just as the camera and I see it – I do not combine multiple images into a composite.  I suppose I could – I just don’t.

It may be a couple holding hands walking at the water’s edge, a little child playing in the sand,  someone playing fetch with their dog, or an entire family portrait.

MY PROCESS

Mixed Media – Encaustic, photography, oil, pastel, ink
Encaustic is a paint comprised of beeswax, resin and pigment.  The paint is melted on a hot palette  and applied with a brush when it is in its liquid state (molten).  A black and white photograph becomes part of a multi-layer painting – the photograph is not the first layer and its not the final layer – but it is well encapsulated in the wax.  I paint with a monochromatic palette of mixes of white, cream, silver, charcoal, and black, almost always something is iridescent.  I also use oil, pastel, ink, and anything else that adds interest to the particular piece I am working on.

Using encaustic with this series allows me to use this medium’s unique qualities of surface, texture, and transparency.   Areas of the painting may have more than ten layers,  and then this allows me to scrape back, carve into, build back up.  This layering effect means that every painting has its own unique qualities.

COMMISSIONS ARE ACCEPTED

If you would like to be a Beach Walker, please contact me and we can discuss what you would like to do.   We can either arrange a photo shoot at the beach, or I may be able to work with an image that you have already taken.