Vera Gates

Open Studio Tour

I work on rigid, wooden panels, and paint, using an oil and cold wax mixture. In the early stages I block out general forms and build texture. It is both an additive and subtractive process. I use palette knives and crumpled paper, cloth and found objects, pressed into the paint, and then removed, revealing the layers. Typically, there are at least a dozen layers of paint and wax on a piece, minimum. Some have many more.

At times I embed other materials in the work, or it embeds itself. I use sand and cheesecloth. I love to use old thumb tacks though they are troublesome. The occasional bug crawls onto the wet work, gets stuck and sacrifices its little self for the work. I’ve incorporated bat guano in the work and that is a very cool material. I wish I had more of it but the bats are seasonal and I have a very small colony.

As the piece reveals itself, I ease up on the texture and switch to brush work for finish details. A painting typically takes four to six weeks to complete and I work on multiple pieces at any one time.