Helen DeRmus, Strolling Deeper, encaustic and silk on cradled panel
Image courtesy of the artist
Image courtesy of the artist
Appreciating the
power of silence during a Hambidge Residency, my current series includes
drawings, monotypes and paintings. The paintings and monotypes are created
using encaustic paint while the drawings are India ink, lith crayon and
watercolor on paper, with encaustic medium as well. While immersed in the
beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains, I
started the series with a hundred drawings and innumerable photographs now the
impetus for the present ongoing series of images and video.
With an
admiration for the dignity of the landscape, this series is a journey and
renewal of the spirit. The inspiration derives from a close observation not
only of the physical landscape but also of the intangibles. This journey is now
encompassing layers of memory as well.
The color
palette began with the almost watery blue tint I observe in the birch bark
along the paths in the mountain forests along with the rusty siennas and grays,
and the greens of the pines pierced with a scattering of golds. As the series
continues from my first observations in the winter, new textures and hues are
beginning to appear encompassing each season of the year. The temporal quality
of the images are important to me, often using line and compositional elements
to portray that quality. I like to think that the images are a meditation
on the passage of time.
A strong
component of these paintings is my continuing interest in the alternating
themes of strength and fragility and to convey that theme with the imbedding of
organza photographic prints as well as monotypes on rice paper.
Helen DeRamus
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