Larain Matheson
Encaustic and oil, mixed media, gemstone jewelry.
My art is inspired by the natural architecture of the sea and land, as well as composing abstraction. Oils, beeswax, and a torch to fuse the layers are my tools, learned from an ancient tradition from centuries old. My journey is to create beautiful compositions with transparencies.
Directions to Studio #24 at 34101 Highway 1, Gualala
From south of Gualala: Anchor Bay is 3.5 miles north of Gualala. From Anchor Bay, drive 1.3 miles north. At mile marker 5.79, turn east, then into driveway past Ohlson Lane. Follow tour signs.
From north of Anchor Bay, drive to mile marker 5.79. Turn left into driveway BEFORE Ohlson Lane. Follow tour signs.
Studio Tour Hours
August 23-24 & Aug. 30-Sept. 1
11 am to 5 pm
My studio is also open all year by appointment.
Encaustic art is a 2000-year-old medium dating back to the Egyptians and Greeks. I’ve been exploring this medium of using beeswax and oils mixed together for the past 15 years. My inspiration comes from the beauty of where we live, and I emphasize the elements of air, earth, fire, and water in my work.
My tools are melting pure beeswax, mixing my colors by adding oils, and melting them at a high degree of heat. The process is labor intensive but allows me to mix many hues of colors, which I paint with brushes, onto a wood panel. The process can also be subtractive where I use scraping tools or mixed media like photo transfers, collage, and papers embedded into the wax. I fuse each layer with a torch, to the underlayer of color and wax. My work has between 5 and 15 layers of wax and oil paints in it, which creates transparency and depth.
I received my MFA, from UCLA back in the 70’s where I worked with artist Richard Diebenkorn, who was influential in my perspective of the architecture of the landscape in California. Of all the mediums I have worked in for the past 40 years, encaustic has captured my heart. I love working both in realism, from photos I take, as I walk the coastal trails, and also abstracting from nature. Encaustic painting allows me the freedom to explore and add layers from the unseen to what the finished painting will be, making the unseen more visible.
I have received many awards in the Art In the Redwoods shows, and the Salon Show (both at Gualala Arts Center), and exhibit in Santa Fe, NM, Encaustic Museum, at the Discovery and Dolphin Galleries in Gualala, CA, The O'Hanlon Center for the Arts in Mill Valley, CA, and in Colorado. My work is in many collections throughout the USA.
I invite you to my studio to see the many compositions I create, from realism to abstraction.