The artwork represented here is the studio work of Merriam (Merry) Ryding, living and working in northwestern Pennsylvania.
I am currently captivated by encaustic, a medium ideal for the layered approach I take to painting. I see layered landscapes as metaphors for abstract ideas, translating the regional landscapes of the Allegheny mountains where I live and also take road trips searching out (and easily finding) inspiration in the many varied regions of this wide wild country.
Lately I've been driven by the theme "Searching for Beauty in a Broken World." These paintings are abstract or impressionistic landscapes and townscapes that find the light in the cracks of brokenness and also highlight those places of respite needed for renewal.
I have worked in a variety of media, with a focus on a few techniques that have played pivotal roles in the history of art including encaustic, used by ancient Egyptians and Minoans, egg tempera, primarily used in Byzantine and Gothic era painters; woodcut prints, perfected by Japanese artists in the U-kiyo e tradition; and collage or mixed media which transformed the working process of many modern artists. My handling of these techniques tends to be a looser interpretation.
View my encaustic work here: Encaustic
I am currently captivated by encaustic, a medium ideal for the layered approach I take to painting. I see layered landscapes as metaphors for abstract ideas, translating the regional landscapes of the Allegheny mountains where I live and also take road trips searching out (and easily finding) inspiration in the many varied regions of this wide wild country.
Lately I've been driven by the theme "Searching for Beauty in a Broken World." These paintings are abstract or impressionistic landscapes and townscapes that find the light in the cracks of brokenness and also highlight those places of respite needed for renewal.
I have worked in a variety of media, with a focus on a few techniques that have played pivotal roles in the history of art including encaustic, used by ancient Egyptians and Minoans, egg tempera, primarily used in Byzantine and Gothic era painters; woodcut prints, perfected by Japanese artists in the U-kiyo e tradition; and collage or mixed media which transformed the working process of many modern artists. My handling of these techniques tends to be a looser interpretation.
View my encaustic work here: Encaustic
Artworking...it's all about the process
My blog ArtWorking is a random record of inspiration, ideas and artwork.
My studio work, by category:
"Creativity is not the finding of a thing, but the making of something after it is found.” -- James Russell Lowell, American poet and critic
