fayum portrait

based on the fayum portraits.

encaustic is bee's wax and pigment.
You can add hardeners
(damar resin or carnauba wax).
what makes it "encaustic" is a final heating, to fuse the layers of wax.
for this painting, I used a very minimal palette -
white, black, ochre, burnt sienna, and prussian blue.


encaustic on panel
click to see large

detail
encaustic on panel
click to see large

encaustic paintings

I haven't been able to do "a painting a day" this summer,
I'm busy with commissions.

However, I've been hankering to try encaustic painting....
It probably doesn't make the most sense to choose the
hottest summer on record to stand over a hot plate of molten beeswax,
but when the urge strikes...
The beeswax smells wonderful, right now, I am making collages,
gathering up the courage to paint with wax...
these are my first paintings.
summer special,
30 paintings in 30 days,



click to see large



"now every passion sinks to rest"
bees wax, ephemera on panel
6 x 8 x 3/4


"plant the grain"
bees wax, ephemera on panel
6 x 8 x 3/4



"not me"
diptych
bees wax, ephemera on panel
8 x 8.5 x 3/4
$140 +shipping



"tierra"
bees wax, ephemera on panel
6 x 8 x 3/4
not for sale


"beneath water, beneath ice"
bees wax, ephemera on panel
6 x 8 x 3/4
not for sale

woman brushing her teeth

acrylic on panel
click to see large


detail
click to see large

death

based on a character from a neil gaiman "sandman" graphic novels.
one thing that interested me is that the characters from these books are fluid,
and have been interpreted by a number of artists.

my boyfriend gary goes down to san diego comic-con each year
(well, if he can find a place to stay), and I sending him off with prints of this piece

acrylic on panel
9 x 12
click to see large



detail
click to see large

girl in a slip

(this is an older piece)
oil on panel
5x7

portrait (after L.F.)

acrylic on panel
9x12
click to see image large




this is a study of a early lucien freud - I've always been fascinated by his early pieces.
It was interesting to stare at the original for the few hours it took to paint - I never noticed that one eye is blue and one is brown. Couldn't capture the amazing subtlety of the original, but I enjoyed the process of studying it. I'm even more impressed now. The original is oil on copper.

nurnberg

acrylic and mixed media on paper
click to see large

cigarette break

acrylic on panel
16x20
click to see image large

this is a painting that I started as a demo in class, and finished at home.
open studio tommorrow, and still alot to do...
back to the studio!

portrait with cowboy

acrylic on panel
5x7
click to see image large

self portrait with shirt on inside-out

acrylic on panel
5x7
click to see image large

woman in front of refrigerator

woman in front of refrigerator
acrylic on panel
5 x 7
click to see image large

lap swimmer

acrylic on panel
5x7
click to see image large

last-ever-open-studio +painting a day

gearing up for my last open studio!



untitled (two women and a horse - intuition)
acrylic on canvas 1997
click to see large

i've been doing open studios since 1992, and this will be my last.
Nothing omininous or exciting happening, just that I'm going to being showing my work only in galleries.

(ok, I will probably have the occassional jewelry trunk show -
I need an excuse to keep buying beads).

Now that classes are out for the summer, I'm starting back with my painting a day blog
(though it will probably be more like "7 a week", I get lazy about the computer part of things.)

come visit, and help me clear out the accumulated studio mess.
june 3 and 4, and 10 and 11
11 to 5:30

(or check out daily paintings at
http://clairebcotts.blogspot.com/)

:-)

claire

going once, going twice......

the two shoshannas
acrylic on canvas
45 x 60 (click to see large)

a painting of mine, a lovely one, has come up for auction.
(It's very strange to see yourself refered to as "Claire B. Cotts American (Californian 1964- )", that weird question mark of space that follows the dash..... )

check it out...
live auction at Harvey Clars, saturday, june 4, 10:00am

landscape, petaluma (paulsen lane )

a landscape done with my painting class
Very fun!
click to see any image larger



a schematic diagram. I encourage my students to try break the landscape down to its basic forms, as if it were a jigsaw puzzle.



blocking out color and value



a bit further along




my super cool new-to-me easel, an excellent garage sale find. (It's very james bond, with all sorts of neat gadgets, including retractable spikes!)


one of my talented students at work.

self portrait (with turkish scarf)

here is another painting that started as a demo in class

acrylic on panel

click to see large

self portrait

my painting class was working on self portraits -
here is something that started as a demo in class

acrylic on panel

click to see large

squash (and lemon)

acrylic on panel

click to see large

I painted this while visiting at my friend lisa's house.

She's an awesome painter, I've always wanted to try my hand at a little fruit still-life (she does really great ones)

you can see her work at
lisabeerntsen.blogspot.com

abstract 8 (spring)

acrylic, mixed media on watercolor paper
click to see large

abstract 7 (spring)

acrylic, mixed media on watercolor paper
click to see large

abstract 6 (spring)

acrylic, mixed media on watercolor paper
click to see large

abstract 5 (spring)

acrylic, mixed media on watercolor paper
click to see large

abstract 4 (spring)

acrylic, mixed media on watercolor paper
click to see large

abstract 3 (spring)

acrylic, mixed media on watercolor paper
click to see large

abstract 2 (spring)

acrylic, mixed media on watercolor paper
click to see large

abstract 1 (spring)

acrylic, mixed media on watercolor paper
click to see large

birthday

acrylic and collage on panel
click to view large

spiral (no. 1)

acrylic and collage on panel
click to view large

firefly

acrylic and collage on panel
click to view large

firefly (detail)

acrylic and collage on panel
click to view large

laocoon

acrylic and collage on panel
click to view large

jigsaw

acrylic and collage on panel
click to view large

esther, 1965

acrylic on panel
11 x 14
click to enlarge image

moose lodge, petaluma

acrylic on panel
9 x 12
(under painting for oil)

cherry tree, berkeley

acrylic on panel
9 x 12
(underpainting for oil)

man at night

My first stab at representational oil in a long time
5 x 7
oil on panel
available

click image to see large

(sorry for the awful photo...I can't lay these on the scanner :-)

mosaic #2 (in progress)

still needs to be grouted...
(it's hard to tell from the photo, but alot of it is mirror glass)