Final 3

I finished up my last 3 pieces for Waxy Buildup. I've had so much fun doing these. I want to do more!

Deanna Wood - I Clean, 12" x 12", wax transfer, collage, and encaustic

Deanna Wood - Poise, 12" x 12", wax transfer, collage, and encaustic

Deanna Wood - Cooking and Cleaning, 12" x 12", solvent transfer, collage, and encaustic

Special thanks to Trish for giving me the vintage wallpaper!

So now Trayc and I each have 13 pieces. Unless she sold some in her show, which would be great!

Artist's Statement

The idea – Create a two-person show using the encaustic technique. We brainstormed on a title that played on the idea of wax and came up with “Waxy Buildup : Cleaning House.” We decided to interpret it each in our own way. We posted our progress on a blog - www.waxybuildup.blogspot.com.

I decided to take the approach to this theme from the inside out. I have been doing some personal-inner work and felt that this was the perfect opportunity for me to finalize and release some of the old habits and beliefs I had gotten rid of and honor the new points of view and truth that have moved into those spaces. I chose to use the image of the woman’s legs in red pumps as a metaphor for my process of killing off “the wicked witch” in myself that no longer served me. The other elements, images, and text represent new lessons learned and ways of “being”.
- Trayc Claybrook

When we came up with the concept and the phrase “waxy buildup,” I immediately visualized the stereotypical 50’s housewife – happy to not only serve her family and clean her house but look beautiful to boot. The subtitle “cleaning house” led me to search for imagery and words that related to housekeeping and traditional “women’s work.”

I went to thrift stores for my supplies – old dress patterns and doilies. My imagery came from retro 50’s clip art. I used words and text that evoked the advertising aimed at the typical 50’s housewife – “saves time!” “…for your family,” and “clean and pure.”

These words combined with the house shape and imagery of the happy housewife create a body of work that is both nostalgic and cynical. The nostalgic images and words elude to a happier, simpler time that most likely didn’t exist, except perhaps on TV. The perfect housewife was supposed to conform to a strict set of rules and expectations.
– Deanna Wood

Update

When I finished my 10 pieces, I still felt like I wanted to continue. I had so much fun working on them and I didn't feel like I was done with the theme.

Deanna Wood - small Waxy Buildup paintings - collage, oil, and encaustic

So I did a bunch of small paintings. They're each about 2" x 4" or so.

I really liked some of the things that happened on these smaller pieces. So when I found out that Trayc had made 13 paintings (she had thought we decided on 12 each and I had thought we decided on 10 each...), I took the opportunity to order some more boards and I'm going to do 3 more pieces.

I have to admit, too, that seeing Trayc's finished pieces made me feel a little self-conscious about a couple of mine that I wasn't really happy with. So I trusted my instincts and redid them.

Here are the updated pieces, still in progress:

Deanna Wood - Home for Your Family - 12" x 12" - collage and encaustic - in progress

Deanna Wood - Duty/Beauty - 12" x 12" - collage and encaustic - in progress

I'm just waiting on Trayc's artist's statement (hint, hint!) and then we're going to send out some proposals!

Update to the update - Here are the two paintings above in their finished states:

Deanna Wood - Home for Your Family - 12" x 12" - collage and encaustic - final

Deanna Wood - Duty/Beauty - 12" x 12" - collage and encaustic - final