North Gate Vineyard Artist-in-Residence Program

Anne Stine Newly Appointed as Artist-in-Residence Purcellville, Virginia

June 18, 2018

North Gate Vineyard is pleased to announce the appointment of Anne Stine as the program’s newest Artist-in-Residence. Anne will be hosting a public reception showing her work entitled ‘Living Water’ at North Gate Vineyard on Sunday, July 8th, from 3PM to 5PM. Her art will be on display through October 1st, 2018.

On exhibit will be a collection of Anne’s encaustic mixed media paintings centered around the theme of water and its ever-changing moods captured through movement, color and texture. Anne concentrates primarily on the ancient wax based medium of encaustic paint into which she incorporates oils, pigmented shellac, vintage papers, textiles and salvaged found objects. The manipulation of the fluidity of the wax allows her to evoke a realistic element as she captures the beauty of nature using vivid color, rich texture and multiple transparent layers of wax.

Here are a few examples of the work that will be included in the collection ranging from sizes 8″x8″ to 48″x48″ .

A native Virginian, Anne began painting at a young age and developed a love of working with a variety of media. After a career in Arts Marketing, her passion for painting led her to leave a conventional career and open her first creative business, Anne Stine Decorative Painting in 1999. For many years, she delighted residential and commercial clients with her murals until 2014, when she shifted her focus to original art work. In her inspirational blog, Anne encourages others to pursue their creative passions no matter their age or artistic abilities.

Anne’s work has been exhibited at: Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing, China; Gross-Downing Cultural Arts Center, Newport News, VA; AiM Gallery, Middleburg, Va.; Tryst Gallery, Leesburg, Va.; The Gateway Gallery, Round Hill, Va; 8 Chains Winery, Purcellville, VA; Franklin Arts Center, Purcellville, VA; Harvest Ball Art Show, Salamander Resort, Middleburg, VA 2016; and several local boutiques. She lives in Purcellville, Virginia, with her husband and three children where she works and teaches from her home studio.

“My art focuses on the emotional essence of nature and allows the viewer to slow down, take in the view, and reconnect with their inner self and the natural world,” states Anne.

The North Gate Vineyard Artist-in-Residence program was created to support local artists by providing a venue to show their artwork in a public, formal setting. The program also provides a facility for the artists to conduct other art-related activities such as educational seminars, instructional classes, or in-depth lectures on their artwork or creative process. Displaying their work in such a way provides flexibility for the artist to work at and achieve certain goals they may have in their profession.

North Gate Vineyard hours are Thursday – Monday, 11 am – 6 pm.

www.northgatevineyard.com

For more information on the art shown in this exhibit, click HERE.

Blue Stream, 11″x14″ encaustic on aluminum panel

I’m the type of mixed media painter who enjoys experimenting with different types of medium to see what it can do. Recently, aluminum panel caught my eye as I was scrolling through Instagram and saw an example of an oil painting using it as a base. The artist posted a quick video showing how light reflected off the metal background through the oils. The way the panel caught the light as the painting moved triggered all sorts of ideas in my head how I could use this kind of background in my contemporary landscape paintings.

I couldn’t wait to see what happened when I applied encaustic paint (a combination of beeswax, pigment and damar resin) to metal and quickly ordered panels online. I decided on a winter theme of a chilly rushing stream hoping that the reflective aluminum that peeked through the encaustic would emulate icy water. The panels arrived quickly (love Amazon Prime) nicely wrapped with protective film.

As I started setting up my materials, I thought for sure that the aluminum would hold heat causing the encaustic to stay molten longer.  I found out immediately that the opposite was true. When the panel was heated using a blowtorch or hotgun it held the heat for a shorter period of time making it difficult to manipulate the wax.  This required a lot of scraping as the wax wanted to cling to the panel as it cooled quickly. It was a dance of heating, scraping, and heating again to get a clean design.

Bonus tip for artists: You can elevate the panel using tuna fish cans on a hot plate to keep the panel warm. Placing the panel directly on the hot plate will make the paint very molten and difficult to manipulate.

The process was more tedious than I’m used to when using wood as my substrate, but I really liked the effect the aluminum created in the end.

Rushing Stream, 11″x14″ encaustic on aluminum panel

Here is my short YouTube video showing the reflective effect of using aluminum panel as a substrate with encaustic.

These paintings are on their way to the frame shop and will be posted in my online shop in the next couple of weeks. You can access the shop HERE.

Interested in giving aluminum panel a try for your next project? I found Amazon had the best price of $12.96 for a 11″x14″ panel. You can click the image for more information.

(I am a member of the affiliate program. I will receive a small commission if you choose to purchase through the link with no additional cost to you.)

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I’m always a little sad in September. The turning of the leaves and crisp morning air means fall is coming to Virginia. My spirit longingly desires to be back at the Outerbanks, North Carolina where the smell of salt water permeates the air. Fall is a time when I try to recreate summer moments from favorite vacation photos or the images locked away in my mind.

“Descending Dusk” is just such a painting. However, I never made it to Mantel, North Carolina, where the photograph I used for inspiration was taken. My dear friend posted this image on Instagram and with her permission, I knew immediately I had to paint it.

This view from the bay just after sunset portrays that sleepy, cozy feeling you get at the beach when the day has ended and all creatures great and small are making their way back home after a lovely day in the sun. A warm blanket of dusk falls upon the landscape. You can imagine hearing the sounds of locust buzzing, seabirds calling, and a faint hum of a passing boat. Beachgoers slowly drag their beach gear up the dunes and back home with visions of a shrimp dinner in their heads.

“Descending Dusk” is a cold wax mixed media painting on 20″x20″x1.5″ gallery wrapped canvas. I like to make a textured underpainting of acrylic medium before applying the wax. You can see here how I used medium with a stencil to create the numbers and letters. Vintage french dictionary text and more number images are added to emphasize the theme of descending day and time.

Next, comes the cold wax application with a palette knife.

Since this painting was created using a palette knife exclusively, it is rich in texture and movement. You can see how the paint builds up on the canvas layer after layer and I’m able to scratch into it with a sharp tool for added visual texture.

The final piece beside the original photograph shows how cold wax medium can add great visual texture to landscape paintings.

This piece will be exhibited in a local art show this month. Contact me for more information if you are interested.