SOOT PAINTINGS

(Terry explaining how he began this technique)

Back in the 1985 I was cupping a candles flame from the wind and later noticed the hard to wash off soot on my hand. I thought "That is a good pigment." Having painted in watercolor for years I understood working from light to dark very well, so I took a candle and tried this on some paper and then rag surface illustration board.

I found that while never physically touching the paper at all and simply by burning various materials and catching the soot from the flame I could get some fantastic patterns and wonderful soft edged forms. This technique creating much looser and ethereal works of art than I ever had created before even in my occasional loose watercolor. A new art medium on the cusp of total abstract and yet if some finesse is used forms can be influence to be seen. I love it, a new form of art yet unexplored by most. I have played with this since then.

A new art medium on the cusp of total abstract and yet if some finesse is used forms can be influence to be seen. I love it, a new form of art yet unexplored by most. I have played with this since then.

Sometimes Idrew with an eraser through the soot but I like the pure untouched works as a better challenge.Sometimes, I drew with an eraser through the soot but I like the pure untouched works as a better challenge.

Selling some and giving away several from my studio I felt encouraged I began doing larger and more serious works to bring to my art shows in about 2000. These works garner praise from fellow artists and are collected by an eclectic group of art lovers who see some subtle beauty of soot paintings. No doubt cavemen have done this in a cave with a burning stick or a prisoner to his cells ceiling with a flame. So I would never presume to claim discovery but what fun it has been to revisit and refine this most ancient and lost form of art.

I hope you enjoy them.

Terry