Mark Tisdall; Recent Work In Encaustic

Mark Tisdall has been painting since 1997 and began painting using wax in 2004 after attending a summer school at Elam led by Jill Sorenson. Many of these paintings are created using encaustic medium; a mix of bee’s wax, pigment and damar resin.

Encaustic medium presented Mark with the opportunity to combine two of his loves: beekeeping and art. The wax (which is the main component of encaustic) is collected from the “cappings” that bees use to seal each cell of honey and they are collected during the process of honey extraction. They are then melted and the wax is cleaned by boiling it in water.

Mark loves the process of painting with encaustic as there are tensions between the artist’s purpose and the fluidity of the heated wax, and between the colours which each have varying degrees of hardness depending on the amount of resin used.

So whilst the artist retains control over the structure of the painting this tension encourages the emergence of unplanned and magical moments within that structure. The outcome of encaustic is a very special texture and shine on the surface of the painting.

Mark’s inspiration comes from the natural world, poetry, cultural icons and current issues. His purpose is to create a painting that will make the viewer pause for reflection, and that will be interesting and beautiful to look at.

Mark has had solo exhibitions at Thermostat Gallery and Square Edge in Palmerston North. He exhibits regularly with the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts (NZAFA) in Wellington. He was a finalist in the Norsewear Awards and shown in the NZAFA Governor General’s Millennium exhibition.

To view other art work by Mark Tisdall please visit his website www.marktisdall.com

Mark’s work will be on display in the CAN foyer for the month of October.