Giselle Gautreau, Uncharted Waters, oil and encaustic on panel, 12 x 36 inches.
“I began work on Uncharted Waters as I was listening to the news in my studio, before the pandemic reached our doors. I felt a compelling need to make a red ocean painting. The painting felt direct, unreal and with an edge of unease to it. Prior to this, my color palette was all cool blues and calm, and now red was working its warning way into my work.”
“Intersecting and interrupting the encaustic nautical maps is the red sea. The center panel is painted in oils, adding an additional contrast in surface and materials to the encaustic wax.”
“The red sea is flanked by nautical maps that are embedded under encaustic wax. The maps and incised lines represent place, distance, tracking, connections.”
— Giselle Gautreau (Charlottesville, VA)