LARRY CALKINS
I find that the challenge of wax is making it your own .
It seems to me that many people use encaustic as an interesting technique without delving deeper into what the medium has to say or what an artist has to say .
I like the convenience of wax . It is easy to add pigments . It dries fast . It is sculptural . It has its own natural language and historical energy . It is a complete , biological product of nature that is renewable and sustainable -- provided we exercise good stewardship of our environment .
I am looking for the poetry of the ordinary in my work . The extraordinary , beautiful uneventfulness that goes on day to day . Often times one does not appreciate its significance until it is manifested in memory .
Under the big tree there is a cacophony of yelling and laughing children . The big limbs shelter the ground and keep the earth dry .
Hens roost up there and drop little feathers on us as we play . Under the big tree the men repair their trucks and split firewood .