Walnut Trees and Stone Wall

16” X 20”

An original painting by oil and wax artist, Martine L’Etoile, is painted with light green and Lemon Yellow to emphasize the glow of morning light. The trees are old, growing twisted branches painted in Burnt Umber. Beneath them is a stone wall, crumbling to the ground with grass growing in-between its mortar. We can sense the heaviness of the stones as they are large and thickly painted. There is a light feeling to the rest of the piece as our eye moves up to the top of the image and where young green leaves catch the morning light and blend in with the yellow sky.

The painting as a whole is a soft and dreamy portrait of walnut trees growing by a stone wall. The wall is collapsing at one end, giving way the the earth as is grows up through the stones and meets the tree trunks.

There is dampness to the image as we can feel the morning dew on the rock surface and the dark wood of the tree trunks. The use of wax creates this wet appearance.  While oils are wiped over the surface of the wax, it also sinks into the crevices and shadows appear darkened. Also, a translucent feel is noted with the smooth part of the wax showing through the oil paint. The process is unpredictable because there is not a lot of control over how melted wax will adhere to the canvas. There may be bubbles or tiny ridges of the brush that happen to make a realistic stone or branch.

A soft hill in the background takes your eye further into the distance and gives the eye a chance to rest in the void space of the sky. The yellowness of the air drenches everything and creates warmth to the overall image. Blades of grass are gently painted in the foreground and up the stone wall in shades of green and yellow.

This is a peaceful and delightful work of art. The size is relatively small compared to Martine L’Etoile’s usually larger pieces. Painted on a gallery wrapped canvas, stretched onto heavy duty stretcher bars, “Trees and stone wall” is a picture of nature in a calm setting, just beginning its day. The light tones of green and yellow are nurturing and emphasize new growth. Weathered stones appear heavy and give the picture a feeling of foundation through the ages of seasons. All the while, the viewer is reminded of nature’s beauty.

Signed and dated on back, comes with a Letter of Authenticity. The sides are the white of the canvas, left unpainted, gallery style. It is ready to hang. No framing necessary.

New England oil and wax artist, Martine L'Etoile, paints original art on canvas and occasionally sells work on eBay as well as online galleries such as Art Span. She has been published in several books and magazines on modern art. Her unique style is unlike any contemporary work. "Deeply engrossing", "unknown feelings", "powerful" and "ahead of its time", are a few words describing her art. Some of her subjects include rooms, factories and attics in decay and others are stories of creatures, called Chamilles, who come to life in painted scenes.  Discover the strange and endearing world of Martine L'Etoile on the web.

The Encaustic Style

One of the first things that come to mind when using wax as a medium is that it brings multiple perspectives to the imagery. Layers of wax are like pieces of energy that are piled on top of the core image, which is the sketch itself. The very first movement on the canvas is the sketch, painted in black oil thinned with turpentine. The sketch is lucid, free flowing and bold, it defines the concept, the direction of the intent. Because the dark lines of the sketch are painted over and over with thick white gesso and layers of melted wax, a series of concepts arise, giving way to new perspectives.

The first concept is that the image wants to know more about itself. Layers of wax that are brushed on the canvas are unpredictable texture -wise. This spontaneous creation is the idea of random perfection. The artist here does not control exactly how the wax will cover the canvas. In the beginning, the wax is in liquid form, allowing it to adhere to the cotton fibers of the canvas in multiple ways, sometimes with air pockets of bubbles, other times with deep crevices where the pigment of the oils concentrates and sometimes it accumulates in lumps, dense and hardened. With all these variables, the image then takes on a story of its own, enriching the first intent the artist hand in mind. Whenever a medium is not controlled, it is willing and free to create itself, lending to the depth of emotion the viewer can cognize. Layer over layer of information is directed towards the overall intent. What happens is a moving or stirring of feelings, igniting the viewer’s imagination to something relative or completely new.

The second concept is vulnerability. Wax is then scraped away allowing the raw canvas to show through, called ‘abstract deconstruction.’ This creates a vulnerability that is powerful. Since the medium is then taken away in parts and left in other parts, certain information can be conveyed, leaving the viewer with a sense of a time line. The process, another words, can be seen clearly. When we see how something has been worn away or sliced away or discarded, we are allowed to feel the vulnerability. The image is being authentic, creating itself in front of the viewer’s eyes, showing how it came into being and is constantly becoming itself. 

Texture of the painting is what brings the third concept to life; texture equals movement. Even though this is two dimensional art, movement can be felt. Layers of emotion are the tones of pigment used along with wax, together creating texture. These deconstructive, encaustic paintings are meant to be touched causing another dimension of the image. Through the tactile sense, these paintings feel smooth and rough in parts. The paintings themselves are static, but to be static in the first place there has to be friction, here, being layers of energized wax. The painting’s surface can be felt with the fingertips, going over the crevices and bumps, sending a palatable experience to the brain. Inside this experience of feeling, texture is movement.  Also, the random scraping away of wax and oils is a deconstructive process. It too is spontaneous, not completely controlled by the hands of the artist. ‘Abstract deconstruction’ has been compared to being ‘static’, as in electricity being built up by friction and then releasing a shock. All at once, the image appears still and silent, static if you will, from raw canvas to scraped away particles, to texture build up and finally release of intent, making the piece of art move as a whole.

Encaustic art has been around for many years in of the history of art and it has been developed creatively in countless ways. In this particular style, ‘abstract deconstruction’, the artist finds the subtraction of the wax alongside the layering of wax to speak volumes. The emotional content arrives first, as abstract in form and leaves the viewer with a sense of knowing.

Martine L’Etoile is a New England artist who paints in her own original style called abstract deconstruction. A method of painting she started in 1998 in Western Massachusetts after graduating in 1996 from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her work has been described as “spiritual”, “before its time”, “deeply engrossing” and “powerful”. Several pieces of her art have been published in art magazines such as Direct Art and New ART Review as well as books including, “International Contemporary Artists, Volume I and International Contemporary Masters, Volume III.”  Presently, Martine continues to add on to the bleedthrough series and to ten different other series of work.

CV