White
The artist Robert Ryman said: “The white is just a means of exposing other elements. White enables other things to become visible.” This notion also comes to play in my mostly white encaustic paper sculptures.
There is a sense of purity with snow, especially a first snowfall. My studio is situated among towering evergreens, a few feet away from a pond. When the first snowfall happens, there’s a sense of stillness in the air, everything blanketed indiscriminately. It's the quieted mind.
La Paloma shows how light plays across the paper, 24 x 48 x 5 inches
I’ve always been drawn to making and sculpting with white paper because the shadows on the white make one really look at the paper. You can see the texture of the paper. In my work, I am honoring paper, rather than painting. Paper is usually in the background of artists’ work. It’s what they cover-up, and paint over. I'm bringing it forward to the foreground; I don't want to cover it up with color or any materials beyond the encaustic medium.
“The white is just a means of exposing other elements. White enables other things to become visible.”
The artist Robert Ryman in his studio, New York, 1999. Photograph by Bill Jacobson
My arbor of tranquility in winter
The gate to the orchard and my Jakuan Studio