OPAL HEARTED COUNTRY Painting

ARTIST STATEMENT FEBRUARY 2021  I am a painter in the encaustic medium of eight years standing.  I was initially interested in the process of the encaustic –firstly the history of the medium being so ancient dating back to 1 AD. Then the alchemy of the mixing, fusing and layering of the beeswax so that once it dried,  which is virtually immediately, it became translucent and the detail and work on each layer became evident as the layers were scraped back  - and oftentimes buried.  The detail below is muted but still there for the viewer - exciting. I am also recently painting in Cold Wax – CWM.  This process informs by pulling and pushing.  The cold wax is mixed with oil paint which allows it to dry faster with great texture :  layering and scraping can happen whilst still pliable without turning into mud.  I started working in this technique so as to be able to work in the very hot months of summer in Sydney when the heated wax palettes sometimes only allowing work for a couple of hours! So, my work is a visual synthesis of memories stored over my lifetime of travelling the world. This group of paintings is a collection of work which has emerged from the catalogue of very Australian images which I hold in my memory – this time inspired by the poetry of Dorothy Mackellar “Core of My Heart – My Country” and the big brown land in which I live. © Verity Roberts