Studio Work....eyes shadows....

Three Graces
by
Cathy Hegman
cold wax oil painting on board
24x36

Here is one of the latest in a series of Medusa or eye shadowed paintings. I believe this series is a reflection of how I see the world after the age of 50. I feel like the figures I am painting lately, with eyes shaded and incognito is an attempt to be in this world and not of it with the sole desire being to avoid being crushed by societal changes and pressures of the world. I am not sure but maybe living in the middle of nowhere makes this a much easier task these days and the fact that after a certain age I am quite sure that people become very translucent and unnoticed in the world by those of a younger age. I think one of our greatest fears is being irrelevant and useless.

The depth of this painting is in its complexity. The development of layers and subsequent excavation of parts of the painting have given this a feeling of movement even though the figures are quite stagnant, and the overall feel is one of stability,unity,and strength. There are many of the symbols that occur in most if not all of my work, they work in design and in thought for my work. The repetition of many elements gives this piece its intrigue, which I think is key in paintings. The more I paint the more that I think I dig into my psyche and dredge thoughts that are suppressed by the fear of what others might think but somehow the cloak of pigment and medium make it benign enough to share with the world. I began this piece with ampersand board and I generously coated it with gesso, 3 layers to be exact. I then designed my painting, at first thinking I would keep it very simple and plain much like the others in this series but somehow things took a u-turn and I got really into texture and pattern. I painted this with oil paint, cold wax and liquin. I also created the lettering by cutting out letters printed on regular bond paper in a generic font. I arranged them on the area that I wanted the print and then painted many layers over them, I had not planned on lifting the letters. I woke up on the fifth day after probably 5 layers and felt the letters were too strong ( I had printed them in black but had several layers of paint and medium over them)so I decided to try to lift the bond paper letters off revealing the under layers of collage and paint. I felt like if this failed ,well then,I would just try to leave the letters off and work more with just texture in that area.The oil paint with the wax was dry to the touch but not cured; so I lifted them with no problem, and it made the piece so much more cohesive and related having these previous layers revealed. All of this to say go with the flow, don't stick to a plan just to say you did, you might miss a wonderful opportunity to teach yourself something new.
Hope you will find something new and share it with someone...
Till I blog again, thank you for reading my thoughts and processes...

Cathy Hegman AWS,NWS,MSWS,MOWS, SAA,SW, ISAP
www.cathyhegman.com


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