Featured Artist Dianne Jean Erickson

Dianne Jean Erickson works with encaustic to create a portfolio filled with compelling portraits of women. View more of her artwork by visiting her website.

 

 

Working with encaustic has satisfied all the longings I had while working in other mediums. I started using encaustic around 2009. At first I was hesitant, thinking I might burn down my studio. But eventually I couldn’t resist. So far the studio stands! My work includes non-objective paintings and monotypes as well as figurative/portraits.

 

 

The portrait series “Women With Attitude” happened spontaneously one day as I was playing around with shapes and color. I often start by splashing colors on the substrate in random ways to see what develops. An object or partial face appears and I decide whether to follow where it leads, or keep working in abandon.

 

 

I decided to pursue the face and when completed, I knew a series was likely to follow, and it did. There is something so interesting about the human face, and I have found that my audience of art lovers have proven me correct as I have sold many of these pieces. Influential figurative artists I love include Marlene Dumas, Susan Rothenburg (love her use of “dirty white”), and more recently Chantal Joffee. They all have a contemporary look in their work that to me is so “right on!”

 

 

I have found having two, three or more pieces in progress is helpful. Going back and forth allows me to leave a piece that isn’t resolved and return later with fresh eyes. I enjoy changing mediums occasionally, painting with oil/cold wax or acrylic, working with sculpture, or printing monotypes.

 

 

Starting late as a professional artist, I am an experimenter. I use many mediums; ceramics, sculpture, installations, printmaking and painting. Using encaustic as a medium gives me a way to utilize all of these techniques. My most recent discovery is using encaustic for monotypes. Using a hot plate, wax bars are used to draw on the plate, tools used to push the wax around, and then laying the paper over the wax to see what develops. What fun! And cleanup is so easy compared to other monotype processes.

 

 

This helps to give a fresh outlook to all my work, and many times I combine pieces. “Whatever works” is my motto. I’m not stuck on one medium. This opens all kinds of doors for experimenting and completing a piece. I especially love using charcoal on encaustic, along with oil sticks, old monotypes and inks.

 

 

I was born in Portland, and ended up in San Jose and Palo Alto, California for many years, where I raised two sons. I owned a graphic design business with a friend, and we worked for many of the Silicon Valley companies and startups.

 

 

My husband and I moved to Jacksonville, Oregon where I finished my BFA in studio art from Southern Oregon University in Ashland. We now live in Portland, Oregon. I show my work nationally and I’m represented by Basic Space Gallery in the Pearl District of Portland.

 

Dianne Jean Erickson invites you to follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube.

 

 

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