Diptych Finally Completed!

Finally, my diptych is complete! Here's what it looks like when put together. It is called, "What If They Find Out?" and measures 36" x 18".




I've been involved for some time now in The Diptych Project. I wrote previously about this collaboration between East Coast and West Coast encaustic artists. Each of us on the West Coast sent a completed panel and a blank one of the same size to our diptych partner on the East Coast. Our partner completed the pair we started. They sent a completed and empty panel to us and we did the same process. The diptychs will show simultaneously in Portland OR at the Brian Marki Gallery and at the Whitney Gallery in Portland ME. You can find more information about the two groups involved in the Project by googling their eponymous websites: International Encaustic Artists and New England Wax.

I used my versions of my partner's colors and motifs and added a collaged drawing of a mermaid, as her design made me think of an underwater theme.

I've written here previously on struggling some in figuring out how to complete a piece done in a style so different from my own. My diptych partner says she had the same challenge with the piece I sent her. I haven't seen her completed piece yet--I'll post it as soon as I get it. I took the title of the piece I completed from some very small writing that my diptych partner, Dawna Bemis, wrote on her panel. I don't know what she meant by that text, but it intrigues me!
Here are larger images of the original pieces.

I'm still struggling to photograph encaustics well. The luminosity and variations in the surface I find hard to photograph in a way that does them justice. I'll keep practicing!