ONCE UPON A TIME… THERE WAS A PLANET CALLED EARTH

Once Upon a Time …there was a Planet called Earth
Magic Square, Pine Barrens Collection by Maggie Simonelli

Encaustic (cosmetic grade beeswax), smalt, bark, Japanese coral, lichen, silver leaf, seawater (Atlantic Ocean), garnet stone, deer fur, fox fur, duck feathers, human tooth, smoke, cranberries, Japanese dyed cranberry silver leaf, chrome ironstone, bog iron ore, 23 kt gold leaf, 16 kt gold leaf, grasses, glass beads, glass slag from Martha (old glass factory site in Pine Barrens), copper leaf, pine cones, artist hair, cosmetics, pigments, fresh water, peat, aluminum leaf, pine needles, charcoal, cedar, cedar swamp water, sphagnum moss, crushed blueberries, flame, sand, ground copper pigment, rose madder, casein, imprint from stiletto heels, and mica on floating birch panels

25 @ 9 “ x 9” (Private commission)
** organic materials collected in Pine Barrens, NJ

DETAILS, MAGIC SQUARE : Once Upon a Time…there was a Planet called Earth

LEFT: detail, Stone, Mica
Encaustic, mica, stiletto heel imprint, aluminum leaf, rose madder, lipstick, pigments and casein
RIGHT : detail, Fire, Pine Cone
Encaustic, 22 kt gold leaf, pine cones, flame, smoke, lipstick, artist hair, oxidized copper leaf, aluminium leaf, pigments and casein Both on floating birch panel each 9" x 9”

detail, Water, Cranberry Bog from Once Upon a Time… there was a Planet called Earth
Magic Square, Pine Barrens

Encaustic (cosmetic grade beeswax), water (Pine Barrens), cranberries, smalt, Japanese dyed cranberry silver leaf, ochre and pigments on floating birch panel One of 25 @ 9 “ x 9”
(organic materials collected in Pine Barrens, NJ ** ) 

  • ** COLLECTIONS in the Pine Barrens used to make these paintings was researched by
    Pine Barrens Ecosystem and Landscape by Richard T.T. Forman

Pine Barrens: Ecosystem and Landscape focused on Pine Barrens of New Jersey was a groundbreaking study and the beginning of Landscape Ecology in a multi-displinary sciences. The book focuses on the relationship between the ecological and landscape aspects of Pine Barrens of New Jersey. The idea in this book is based from the discussions of Rutgers University botanists and ecologists at the 1975 American Institute of Biological Science meetings, and from the interest generated by the 1976 annual New Jersey Academy of Science meeting, which focuses on the Pine Barrens.