The Eye of the Sky - Encaustic Art: Oracle of the Bee 2012
Oracle of the Bee 2012
Today I am meditating on the colour
BLUE
as I prepare for our next Encaustic Art workshop (painting with beeswax). The colour Blue is the theme for this step into the living breathing moving art medium that I associate so much with liquid energy and the element of water. And so it has led me to dreaming of all of the ways the full spectrum of this colour inspires me. As a child I spent most of my time gazing at or into the sea. A favourite pastime was to drift into reverie in the enormous rockpools off the coast of Catherine Hill Bay or to lie in the dark and cool sea caves of Caves Beach and watch the sea swirl in. Blue is often used to represent the colour of the unconscious, dreaming, a colour that creates a sense of calm and peace.
Encaustic literally means 'to burn in' and is an artform that blends pigment with beeswax to create luminous paintings that never fade or lose their vibrancy. It is believed that this ancient art form was created by the Greeks who painted portraits & famously, masks to adorn mummies in Ancient Egypt - found intact & unblemished when they were discovered. The Ancient Greeks were also known to paint large blue eyes on the front of their ships and sea vessels in encaustic wax to ward off any evil - I love imagining the sight of those ships heading out to sea.
I’m reminded of this photo that I took on our honeymoon inside the Grotto Azzurro in Capri, Italy, these luminous blue waters look very much like the 'inner light' we create when painting with wax.
Oracle of the Bee 2012 Sacred Familiar