Lavender Canopy Painting

Robin Denevan’s recent paintings of the Amazon River were created from sketches done from the cockpit of a Cessna. In an effort to push the perspective of his landscapes, these latest works often have a high horizon. The paintings emphasize the scale of the basin and the serpentine nature of the river and her tributaries. Taking advantage of the seasonal high waters, his work also explores the jungle canopy emphasizing the viewpoint from the river surface. This body of work is a continuation on the theme of deltas, flood plains, and the world’s great rivers. Denevan has been working with encaustic for over a decade. His process begins with drawings of the exotic landscapes he visits which are the source material for his paintings once he has returned home to his studio in San Francisco. The paintings are on canvas stretched over a wood panel, which provides a rigid and porous surface. Denevan melts resin and beeswax together and applies it with a brush. His paintings have many layers of wax and oil paint. He continually adds materials and then removes them with solvents, sandpaper, and a variety of sharp tools. The finished work is both luminescent and beautifully textured.