Prayer Wheel, Circa 2000

Greg Angus  

Each painting is made with wax and oil paint on wooden panel. Two different types of wax are melted down and oil paint is added to the liquid wax to create a variety of colours. Each colour is applied to the panel in a single, complete layer. Layers are built up in specific colour sequences in order to achieve the correct frequency for the base of the painting.

From there the composition is drawn onto the base panel. The negative areas of the composition are removed down to the panel allowing for a second, multiple layering of colour. This second layering is different from the first and is based on the quality of energy needed within the painting. Furthermore, because the second set of layers is applied to a base that has an uneven, almost landscape like surface, the layers of wax move into these cracks and valleys in unexpected ways leaving behind an exponentially more complex surface that marks the beginning of the final stage.

Scrapers, chisels and knives are used to whittle away at the surface revealing the overall skeleton of the painting. Over the course of days and weeks this delicate excavation is repeated. It is a painstaking, intuitive process that demands absolute concentration and a complete letting go. When this state is arrived at the by the panel/wax/colour/painter the painting is complete.