What Lay Ahead, Ruth Hamill, Encaustic on Canvas, 60x40 inches
Sunny Skies, encaustic on canvas, 24x52 inches
Time to Think, encaustic on canvas, 24x48 inches
Lucky Day, encaustic on canvas, 20x38 inches
Swim, encaustic on canvas, 60x34 inches
The Big Moments, encaustic on canvas, 60x40 inches
Sun Time, encaustic on canvas, 10x18 inches
Toes in the Sand, Ruth Hamill, encaustic and oil on linen, 40x60 inches
Relentless, encaustic on canvas, 40x60 inches
Courage, Encaustic on Canvas, 6x6 inches
I have to surrender to the unruly medium of encaustic. Like sailor to sea, I make peace with it.
This body of work is not just about the translucency, light, and movement of the wave; but that too. It is about transiency. The existence of a wave is really a fiction. There cannot be a stop-motion wave caught in time; as soon as the wave exists, it changes, moves on.
I like to paint with traditional materials in new ways and believe it is best for the subject to dictate the medium and the handling of that medium. My desire to paint this body of work brought me to the difficult and generally underachieving medium of encaustic.
Now, with years of experimentation and practice, I can get the encaustic paint to rise to the challenge of the water: to produce the transient or translucent effects I seek.
There is a materiality to my paintings. My process and studio practice is messy. Gravity is engaged. Pigment is poured, blown, and manhandled. Patterns evoking the sea, sand and sky emerge and I coax them, exploiting the materials to my end. Color and form become sea foam carried by the wind or the purposeful movement within a wave.
Additional work available at Gallery 1871 in Chicago: https://artwork.chicagoartsource.com/artists/72-ruth-hamill/works/