Original artwork description:

The title comes from Shakespeare, but I was thinking of T.S. Eliot's "The Wasteland" (Eliot refers to Shakespeare) when I titled this small encaustic painting, that, despite its sinister title, seems more floral than gruesome. I've used oil stick and violet metallic powdered pigment (visible in the upper portion), the oil breaking through the pigment-rich, hardened beeswax, and those the intricate patterns of lines are shaped by the thermal energy of the fusing process (each layer of an encaustic painting needs to be fused to a prior one), as well as the contracting of the wax back into an integral state as it goes from a liquid to a solid state. Turquoise, white and light blues complement the violet. This is painted on a cradled panel which is painted cobalt purple and does not require framing (in fact, looks better without a frame). This is small, colorful, dynamic and unique, and would look best in an entry way, or on a staircase, bookcase, or grouped with other works, or under a reading lamp: any space were bright, tense color would enrich the surroundings.

Materials used:

encaustic paint, powdered pigment, oil stick, pearls, on cradled panel

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