Light and Fire - Ali Sainsbury’s art experiments

 January is the calendar's asshole; short half-light days and a damp that seeps into your soul. Of course, this is a very British way of seeing things. This is the time of year I'm most drawn to charcoal as a medium, it finds the resonant frequency of my mood. Maybe it's the darkness of it, or that it's made from destroyed wood. This is Manor farm country park, the sun breaking through the early mist.

I want to melt wax and paint with fire; I like the physicality of the process, the rush of applying the medium before it changes temperature and the interplay of adding and subtracting, translucence and accretion. The language of layers and contour. But it's too cold in my January She-shed - I could heat it but I need good ventilation. I could wear a hat and gloves but the wax would set too quickly. I'm going to be patient instead and hold out for milder times.  So here is Red Line (2) A wild and untamed wilderness painted whilst inwardly raging about Gaza. A clear red line which reaches beyond us. A line crossed. Truth exists. Reality cannot be re-written to suit the power-hungry. This isn't 1984. It was Gaza I was thinking about, raging about when the wax was hot, but now I see Greenland. A3 encaustic on wooden panel. (I thought I posted this a week or so ago, but it turns out I didn't when I walked away from the computer screen, cowering from yet another impending mi...