Eileen Goldenberg

Tea House #92
encaustic on wood panel
18 x 24 in.

I paint because I have to. Daily expression is necessary and the meditative repetition of dots of beeswax informs my work. I paint intuitively, building layers of color, conjuring in a palette of rich vermillion, magenta, yellow and shades of white. The loose organization emerges from the whole, shifting the eye from the details to the whole and back. I strive for complexity within the simple constraint of form and color. This allows me to fully expand my vision.

The “Tea House” series was inspired by the book The Tea House Fire, by Ellis Avery (I listen to books while I paint) that describes in detail the ancient Japanese ceremony of Chado, or Tea. The serenity of the tea ceremony is very close to what I try to convey with my art.

My medium is tempered beeswax with pigments, each layer fused with heat. I paint many layers of wax and then carve back, excavating until I feel I achieved my goals. It is difficult to reproduce the tranlucency and depth of wax with photography. The surface is waxy and lush, similar to human skin.

© Eileen Goldenberg