Laura's Art Blog, Exploring the Material World

If I were a student right now, I think I’d have to pick data visualization as my major. Data visualization is the craft of presenting complex data in a comprehensible, visual format. Aaron Koblin’s work is both playful and stunning. (Check out The Johnny Cash Project for a hypnotic taste of a crowd-sourced animation.) Ben Fry’s static illustrations are also worth a peek as is Tableau Software, a data visualization tool for businesses.

If you’ve got any good data viz links up your sleeve, send them my way! I cannot get enough of this stuff.

Strawberries picked by someone I love.

It’s that poignant time of year.

Courage, also known as bravery, fortitude, will. “Physical courage” is courage in the face of physical pain, hardship, death, or threat of death, while “moral courage” is the ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition, shame, scandal, or discouragement.

Lion Passant, fresco mounted on canvas, The Metropolitan Museum Cloisters, New York

New paintings. These are in the same vein of the work I did last summer, though more raw and saturated. These three remind me of animals.

Tusk, encaustic and ink on panel, 5″ x 4″

Using a new pigment here, Burnt Scarlet from R&F.

Serpent, encaustic and ink on panel, 5″ x 4″

This one, Chalice, could be a cup or a snout/trunk.

Chalice, encaustic, gold leaf and ink on panel, 5″ x 4″

I love white encaustic.

What happens when you put a scanning electron microscope in the hands of an artist?

This new book…

Bee by Rose-Lynn Fisher

Bee by Rose-Lynn Fisher presents sixty photos of magnified honeybee anatomy.

Antenna joint, 400x, Rose-Lynn Fisher

For beekeepers thirsting for a better understanding of honeybee anatomy this book is indispensable. For artists, it’s inspirational.

Antenna pollen, 1100x, Rose-Lynn Fisher

Available at Princeton Architectural Press.

Breaking news in the encaustic world. Joanne Mattera, founder of the Montserrat Encaustic Conference and author of The Art of Encaustic Painting has decided not to renew her contract with the Montserrat School of Art. You can read the whole story in all its juiciness on Nancy Natale’s blog.

Joanne says,

“I am thinking about what to do next. I don’t want all you fabulous artists to jump off the cliff with me–this is not “Thelma and Louise”–so while I have departed, I want to see what I can come up with next, and where, before I make any big pronouncements.

In the meantime, you can follow what I’m up to at www.encausticconference.blogspot.com.”

Hang in there, Joanne! We are with you.