The 2016 Kensington “Paint the Town” Labor Day Weekend Art Show is September 3-5, 2016. One of the requirements for artists participating in this annual show is to create a painting inspired by is Maryland town. The town co-sponsors the event with the Montgomery Art Association.
My 2016 “Paint the Town” entry is based loosely on a map view of the streets around the Kensington Town Hall / Armory, at 3710 Mitchell Street. I fused several layers of green and yellow shapes, in paper and encaustic representing street blocks in a map view. The green and yellow mirrors the colors on many of street markers and signs around town as well as the town clock.
This painting will be at the MAA’s “Paint the Town, 2016” Labor Day Weekend Art Show. If you’re in the area then, stop on by. I’m also showing 5 other encaustic paintings and many new pieces in my black art bin. Plus, you’ll find many other artworks by artists from the Montgomery County, Maryland region.
⇒For information about this artwork,contact Janet Fox.
Sometimes I feel like a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. Other times, I feel like a square hole, seeking a round peg. In both situations, the fit just isn’t quite right. When I can stretch myself in the direction of something where I don’t usually fit, I feel like it also gives a little and meets me somewhere in between. And when the squound and rare come together, it feels like magic.
Perfection
Finding “perfection” is often a matter of adjusting my expectations, attitude, and seeing a different point of view. Is that yellow dandelion in my yard a weed to uproot? Or is it a delicate yellow flower that will be in a child’s bouquet? Is the painting finished by a gut feeling, or does my brain tell me I need to add one more spot of paint? Is that pain in my back a curse that torments, or a gift reminding me that I can feel sensations? As in many things I’ve experienced, is it really some of both, rather than one or the other.
Good enough
Don’t let perfection be the enemy of good enough. I’ve heard this many times before. Sometimes adding another small detail would be nice, but I need to stop to do other things. Prioritizing can help, so that I can do what is crucial first, then I can add less important items as time allows. I’ve found that practicing painting with a timer can also keep me from over-thinking things. I’m also practicing “listening to the painting,” letting it tell me when it’s finished.
Now for fun, try saying “squound hole, rare peg” five times fast – it doesn’t have to be perfect!
About Squound Hole, Rare Peg
My encaustic painting, Squound Hole, Rare Peg is inspired by the same dream as was my Dreamers Orb painting, where molten iron was thrown over the edge of a roof, forming a square-round ingot as it rained down. I used my favorite complementary colors, turquoise and rust, highlighted in gold. And creating that perfect fit felt kind of magical!
The dreamer’s dreamscape… I’m in a big city, sometime during the daylight. I’m positioned high enough to see onto the flat rooftops of multi-story buildings. On one in particular, I see a small group of burly men working with vats of molten iron. The first man, with dark hair and closest to the roof’s edge, takes a shovel full of the hot liquid iron and puts it into the second vat. The man at this second vat then does the same thing, shoveling it into a third vat. The third man does the same thing again, into a fourth vat.
Suddenly, my attention speeds back to the first man. As he toils away, a spec of the hot iron splashes on his arm and he thunders out a throaty roar as it burns him. Instantly angry, he throws a little blob of the molten metal from his shovel and over the edge of the roof.
Instantly, my perspective changes and I’m down in the beautiful cool green park below. I see that the hot blob raining down has formed a small ingot as it cooled off. This ingot is orb-shaped and simultaneously also forms a small rectangle, which slightly protrudes from one side of the orb. The rectangle has a company’s logo on it, although I don’t recognize it.
I’m far enough from the building and safely out of the way. I hope none of these flying blobs will hit anyone innocently walking by, as it would definitely hurt… or worse. I think I need to warn them, although I don’t see anyone else in the area. I’m also not sure how I would warn them…
The heat of raw energy
Exploring this dreamscape, I’m struck by the intense masculine energy on that flat roof. Big, burly men in repetitive, machine-like actions that no weak or refined person could, or would, do. This intense raw energy is a brute force to witness. But there’s not any particular end purpose, such as a molded metal object, for all of this doing. Or perhaps the purpose is to gradually cool off the hot metal.
Pain and anger instantly spark, though, when the heat burns. The instinctive masculine energy cries out, forcefully throwing the molten iron away after it has hurt him. And he does so without regard to what, or who, might be below.
Calling cool and calm energy
As my dreamer’s perspective changes, so does the feeling. It’s almost tranquil in the coolness and greenery of the park below. The energy in this space feels much more feminine and nurturing. But in this park space, which could easily be full of playing children and their adults, people could be at grave risk of being hurt from above. My dreamer is thinking ahead, but thankfully, no one is in immediate danger.
Dropping molten metal from a roof
Reflecting on the raining hot metal reminded me of historic “shot towers” in our country’s early days. In the 1800’s, men built and used these towers, such as the Philadephia’s Sparks Shot Tower, to more efficiently make lead bullets for muskets. They dropped molten lead (not iron) from the top of the tower into cooling water below, forming round bullets. Hopefully, nobody below was hit by any of the cooling bullets!
Iron’s symbolism
Iron is a curious part of this dream. Iron, by mass, is the most common element on Earth. We use iron, combined with other materials that strengthen it, for so many structures and objects. It’s also a critical component of our red blood cells, transporting oxygen throughout our bodies.
Mars, often associated with the masculine, is red due to high iron content. Iron’s atomic symbol is “Fe.” In the context of this dream, these two letters also start the word “fe”male. In past days, “ironing” clothing was often women’s work. And how many times have we had “too many irons in the fire?”
About The Dreamer’s Orb
While creating this dream-inspired encaustic painting, I focused on finding harmony between masculine and feminine energies. Choosing simple lines, shapes and color palette felt right. I’m enjoying exploring this dream imagery and with many other ideas swirling in my head, The Dreamer’s Orb will be the first in an eventual series.
This painting was also selected as the cover art for the spring 2016 issue of The Rose In The World.
How do you “too many irons in the fire?”
⇒For information about commissioning a similar artwork, contactJanet Fox.
