A native Californian who has lived on both coasts, Lisa currently lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area. She received her degree in painting in 1990 from University of California Santa Cruz, and has been painting for twenty-five years with a variety of mediums. She has raised and educated two children while maintaining a thriving studio practice, and is currently working her way though a certificate program in Technical Communication and Editing. Her passions and enthusiasms include art, family, writing, being outside, processes and problem solving, reading, travel, and really good food and conversation. Lisa exhibits her work nationally and is currently represented by Hang Art in San Francisco.
Lisa’s paintings explore themes of complexity, memory, and sensory experience through the subject of landscape. Her paintings challenge traditional ideas about time and place, and re-negotiate the concept of landscape to accommodate a broad definition that comprises multiple moments, multiple views, and abstracted perceptions. Her working methods are simple, yet meticulous, and utilize mediums that allow for transparency and layering to communicate spacial and temporal ideas. The result is a series of paintings that is rich, subtle, and defined by a sense of floating space.
I really love your work Lisa! Alyson is also a mentor for me and I agree at how amazing she is! I am just starting to work with encaustic and paper and resin. Quite excited about it.
Take care and happy painting!!
Warm regards.
Mary Scrimgeour
Mary, love your work too. I’m putting a link to your site in my sidebar…
L.
A quick note to tell you how much I’ve enjoyed your work, reading through your blog, viewing photos of your studio, especially seeing how you work through your processes. Thanks for taking time to write and share!
thanks- comments like this help motivate me to keep on keeping on with the blog. I really like your work, by the way, and will be adding you to my sidebar. Esp. the roomba drawings. Wonderful.
I am going to be taking my first encaustic art class this weekend and am so excited. Your work was what inspired me. It’s breath taking! I was wondering how you incorporate your little tiny white dots and the black dotted outlines. It would be so much fun if I could use your technique to draw a picture of my kids using this idea. thanks Mark….
I’m glad my work was such an inspiration, Mark. There really isn’t much mystery to how I make my tiny marks, and once you take a class It’ll be obvious to you, really. I make them with tiny tools and lot’s of patience! I use an awl for the dots, filling them with pigment, and the for the white I use a very small brush. Have fun taking your class- encaustic is a unique process, and it will continue to teach you for a long time…Best, Lisa
Taking my first lesson in encaustic next week so have been searching the internet for help…your site is a great…saw the pic of you cat and would swear it was ours…sounds like the same personality too…we got him at the shelter the spring of 2008 and think he is 50/50 Siamese and tabby…he’s about the same age as yours also…looking forward to my journey into encaustic…Jim
Hello
I would like to take classes in encaustic painting and have yoga as part of the process – any recommendations??
That sounds wonderful, but I don’t know of anyone that offers that particular combination. It wouldn’t be too hard to find a workshop in your area, and find yoga classes nearby. Good luck!
I’m so very glad that I found your site. I recently began using encaustic and I have often returned to your site not only for tips but for inspiration. Your work is wonderful! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
Best
Caitlin Boyce
You are welcome, Caitlyn; thanks so much for commenting! I’m glad my little blog is helpful…
Just found your work, then your blog, love it all. I am in Canada but would love to se it in person at a show some day. You don’t seem to have posted much lately, you still doing this, if so more more!!
I just found your blog also. I love your work. You’ve given me new inspiration. THIS is what encaustics should be – ethereal.
Thank you for your blog! I am so excited to begin working with encaustics. Like other people here, your art and your artists links are inspiring and helpful. Thanks!
Pinterest has been a door that opens for all of us to see beautiful work like yours Lisa. You are inspiring. I love encaustic painting. I have been a student of Susan Ukkola and attend her open studios. You can find her on pinterest as well. I would like to do some work at home but I am not sure about the ratio of beeswax to damar and I know it can be very toxic. Can you purchase it already mixed? Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you! As for the medium, it is a bit of a production to make, but with good ventilation it is not a toxic process. You must control the temperature. Your ratio of damar to beeswax can be anywhere from 1:6 to 1:9, depending on your preference for hardness. You can find directions online, just google “making encaustic medium”. People have developed slightly different methods, but it’s basically just a matter of melting the two ingredients together and pouring into molds. Good luck!
On 12/18/12 8:03 AM, “Lisa Kairos: Open Studio”
Hello. I like your blog and I want to let you know I nominated you for the Very Inspiring Blog Award. Please click on this link to find out more: http://jaclynkateart.wordpress.com/2013/03/01/very-inspiring-blog-award-2/
Thank you for sharing your work. I’m relatively new to encaustic so it’s great to find others who work in the medium.
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