For Siren and World of her Own I experimented with a texture medium called paper Mache clay. It is glue, spackling paste, and a paper pulp. The advantage is a texture that invites touch. The disadvantage is that once the composition is final it's very final.

I had a lot of fun with the experiment, but the labor involved was so very costly that I didn't find it profitable. I would rather create dimensionality with shading.

After building up the texture I let it dry for a few days and then sealed it in with a acrylic clear coat. I spray painted the whole thing silver. I painted in Acrylic over that. This painting, The Siren took my a whole year, and to date is the largest painting I have made.

It is at the home of my good friends Robert and Zoe.

Seed of Hope Surrealism Portrait

Seed of Hope, 6x12 inches, oil paint and wood burning, $950.00

Seed of Hope is about the ability we each hold in hour hands, the power to change. It's the seed within that we can draw from to accomplish our creation. When you look deeply inward you find everything you need, the wisdom to see clearly and to bring your life into harmony with it.

Pyrography and Oil Process

I use the characteristics of the wood to determine the design. I begin with looking at the grain of the wood, and I wait to be inspired by what my mind imagines there. Sometimes I get the whole painting in a flash and go looking for the right piece of wood. Generally I like swirling, water like, patterns.

I may spray a thin layer of metal paint over the wood, perhaps stain it any color I like, or I will leave it natural. Then I draw the design out, keeping in mind the flow of the wood. I blend my lines into the that. Then burn the dark lines in with a phyrographic tool. All the shading I do with oils.

I will detail the face of my figure, but only draw out with minimal shading, her companion subject. I like to blend many styles (drawing, painting) of image making together to provide interest, and to also express my message which is that change is constant and that all things are connected. To finish a painting is to kill it with perfect stillness. I want movement, a sense of growth, appearing and disappearing of elements.  

Transformation in the Fall, Portrait in Oil and Silver Leaf

Artist Statement for “Transformation” by Amanda Carey Scott

“Transformation” 14x24” Oil and Gold Leaf on Canvas, February 2016, $2300.00

She is reveling in falling leaves, symbol of the changing season. She is immersed in them, embracing nature. I also suggest that the leaves are transforming her. Like she is disappearing into them.

I created this piece wanting to illustrate that not only do we affect nature, but that it in turn transforms us with mercurial wisdom. In the painting I do not know if the leaves mean to bury her or give her wings. I suppose that change is always like that.

The idea for the painting came to me in a flash and I've spent the rest of the time painting and learning the meaning of it.

The Process

The canvas was gessoed and sanded smooth with many layers until the texture of the canvas disappeared. I then spayed a layer of silver. I drew out the figure and started painting. I had meant to keep the leaves simple. They were moving after all. But then, later I decided that I loved to paint leaves and detailed a few that were closer to the viewer. I then added silver leaf and tinted it to look between copper and gold.

This painting took over six months to complete because I was learning as I went and have, therefore transformed it many times, adding layers upon layers of detail. This painting had a mind of it's own and I fallowed its lead.

Amanda Carey Scott

I came to Maui with nothing, and through the grace of Maui and the many kind people I met, was able to live here. I had a dream of living here as an artist. It took me 9 years to make that life a reality. I have lived on almost every part of this Island. Today Huelo, Maui is my home.

Hawaiian Mermaid, Lilies of Desire

Lilies of Desire, 12x24 inches, oil paint and wood burning. $1700.00

Amanda Scott

This painting is about the sensual and joyful immersion of the senses in nature, specifically what it's like to take a dip in clear blue water. The lily is a symbol of spiritual growth. As the story goes, the beautiful flower grows from the muck at the bottom of the pond. As we are shaped by life's imperfections, so too we reach for the light and bloom.

Somehow, when I submerge myself in water I remember the overwhelming power of nature. In stark contract the earthly cares seem so insignificant; only a nutrient rich mud.

Pyrography and Oil Process

I use the characteristics of the wood to determine the design. I begin with looking at the grain of the wood, and I wait to be inspired by what my mind imagines there. Sometimes I get the whole painting in a flash and go looking for the right piece of wood. Generally I like swirling, water like, patterns.

I may spray a thin layer of metal paint over the wood, perhaps stain it any color I like, or I will leave it natural. Then I draw the design out, keeping in mind the flow of the wood. I blend my lines into the that. Then burn the dark lines in with a phyrographic tool. All the shading I do with oils.

I will detail the face of my figure, but only draw out with minimal shading, her companion subject. I like to blend many styles (drawing, painting) of image making together to provide interest, and to also express my message which is that change is constant and that all things are connected. To finish a painting is to kill it with perfect stillness. I want movement, a sense of growth, appearing and disappearing of elements.  

So She Seems...nice.

“So She Seems”, 8x10 inches, oil paint and wood burning, $700.00

Artist Statement by Amanda Scott

So she seemed like a nice girl, yet there was something more to her, something hidden just below the surface.

I would like to keep this one a mystery, and it is, because it's up to the viewer to determine if this beautiful and dangerous creature is worth knowing.

She is carnivorous, but perhaps she eats only fish. How can you know for sure?

Pyrography and Oil Process

I use the characteristics of the wood to determine the design. I begin with looking at the grain of the wood, and I wait to be inspired by what my mind imagines there. Sometimes I get the whole painting in a flash and go looking for the right piece of wood. Generally I like swirling, water like, patterns.

I may spray a thin layer of metal paint over the wood, perhaps stain it any color I like, or I will leave it natural. Then I draw the design out, keeping in mind the flow of the wood. I blend my lines into the that. Then burn the dark lines in with a phyrographic tool. All the shading I do with oils.

I will detail the face of my figure, but only draw out with minimal shading, her companion subject. I like to blend many styles (drawing, painting) of image making together to provide interest, and to also express my message which is that change is constant and that all things are connected. To finish a painting is to kill it with perfect stillness. I want movement, a sense of growth, appearing and disappearing of elements.

Spring Maiden Surrealist Portrait Nature Inspired

Spring Maiden, 11x14", oil on copper painted wood, $1200.00

The title given to the most beautiful virgin of the springtime, A pagan beauty pageant. In this case, the title has gone to a girl who can speak to birds. She inhabits such a sweet and serene spirit that the trees call her one of their own. And the birds, so long as she is still, endeavor to build a nest in her hair. In this portrait she is discovered for the first time in her solitude and wonders who you'll prove to be.

Pyrography and Oil Process

I use the characteristics of the wood to determine the design. I begin with looking at the grain of the wood, and I wait to be inspired by what my mind imagines there. Sometimes I get the whole painting in a flash and go looking for the right piece of wood. Generally I like swirling, water like, patterns.

I may spray a thin layer of metal paint over the wood, perhaps stain it any color I like, or I will leave it natural. Then I draw the design out, keeping in mind the flow of the wood. I blend my lines into the that. Then burn the dark lines in with a phyrographic tool. All the shading I do with oils.

I will detail the face of my figure, but only draw out with minimal shading, her companion subject. I like to blend many styles (drawing, painting) of image making together to provide interest, and to also express my message which is that change is constant and that all things are connected. To finish a painting is to kill it with perfect stillness. I want movement, a sense of growth, appearing and disappearing of elements.  

“

Secret of Transformation”, oil paint and wood burning, 11 x 14 inches, $1700.00

As the Ancient story goes a brave troupe of koi swam up steam the longest river in China, the Yellow river. At the end of their journey they they found the tallest waterfall, it's heights unknown. Having accomplished their feat they determined to return down stream. However, there was one Koi who determined to swim up the waterfall for the challenge and adventure. Now he or she almost died many times, but verily, she reached the top, upon which time she transformed into the dragon. To this day the Koi is a symbol of worldly aspiration and advancement.

I see a relationship as a trial such as this, where two people agree to love and transform each other. In my mind every man is looking for the woman who holds the key to his transformation from a brave koi into a dragon.

This painting is also of a woman who knows the secret of success.

Process

This work is created on pine wood panel. I used the grain of the wood in my design, particularly of the water. The lines are burnt into the wood with a hot tool like a metal tipped pen. I do this to add depth, and create a tactile element to add variety. My concentration is on creating multiple dimensions to the representation. Not only is it a painting, but also a carving. And there is drawing that I have left unpainted on the koi. The Koi is symbolically unfinished until it becomes a dragon. The dragon is ethereal so it blends with the silver of the painted wood, the background.

The female figure is complete, painted in high detail, though as your eye travels away from the face she becomes more transparent, her hair blending and transforming into the water. She is more earthly, while the koi and dragon are mythical. Her hands, I like to think, are weaving her earthly hair into the element of water. So this piece is about bridging the gap between reality and dreams, and also creating one's dreams on the physical plane.

Amanda Carey Scott

I came to Maui with nothing, and through the grace of Maui and the many kind people I met, was able to live here. I had a dream of living here as an artist. It took me 9 years to make that life a reality. I have lived on almost every part of this Island. Today Huelo, Maui is my home.

Cybele's Tower, 12x24 inches, oil and wood burning, $2000.00

There are two interpretations that I like of this piece. One is that of the five thousand year old Goddess Cybele who was mediator between nature and the works of man. A common depiction of her is her godhead crowned by city walls. The other interpretation is the Tower of the Tarot, which is the life and home we make for ourselves, which supports us, but also holds us in. In the Tarot the tower is falling, stuck by lightning. So nature does demand change.

Pyrography and Oil Process

Amanda Scott Artist Statement

I use the characteristics of the wood to determine the design. I begin with looking at the grain of the wood, and I wait to be inspired by what my mind imagines there. Sometimes I get the whole painting in a flash and go looking for the right piece of wood. Generally I like swirling, water like, patterns.

I may spray a thin layer of metal paint over the wood, perhaps stain it any color I like, or I will leave it natural. Then I draw the design out, keeping in mind the flow of the wood. I blend my lines into the that. Then burn the dark lines in with a phyrographic tool. All the shading I do with oils.

I will detail the face of my figure, but only draw out with minimal shading, her companion subject. I like to blend many styles (drawing, painting) of image making together to provide interest, and to also express my message which is that change is constant and that all things are connected. To finish a painting is to kill it with perfect stillness. I want movement, a sense of growth, appearing and disappearing of elements.  

Forest's Cradle, Oil and Gold leaf on plexiglass, 36x48 inches. $4000.00

Artist Statement Amanda Scott

Fiona, a princess, cast out of her kingdom to live in the solitude of the forest. Aren't we all Kings and Queens forgetting where we've come from?

This painting is about how nature supports us. It is also about the feeling of curling up and being embraced by a cradle of tree roots.

Process:

This is an oil painting on Plexiglas. The glass was finely sanded and spray gessoed. The image was sketched out. The gold leaf applied to the negative space. The image was created using a reference photo I took of the model, Fiona. The painting was built up slowly through layers of transparent paint. More gold leaf was applied. Then a final varnish.

Air Elemental

 Artist Statement for Air Elemental

Grounded in nature she is a home for Weavers to make their nests. She is the bridge between the sky and the earth. She is appearing and disappearing, such is her supernatural gift to belong to two worlds. She is human and nature spirit. Patron of creatures that fly, to birds, and especially the butterfly. She is shy yet powerful. Eternal and graspable.

Pyrography and Oil Process

Amanda Scott Artist Statement

I use the characteristics of the wood to determine the design. I begin with looking at the grain of the wood, and I wait to be inspired by what my mind imagines there. Sometimes I get the whole painting in a flash and go looking for the right piece of wood. Generally I like swirling, water like, patterns.

I may spray a thin layer of metal paint over the wood, perhaps stain it any color I like, or I will leave it natural. Then I draw the design out, keeping in mind the flow of the wood. I blend my lines into the that. Then burn the dark lines in with a phyrographic tool. All the shading I do with oils.

I will detail the face of my figure, but only draw out with minimal shading, her companion subject. I like to blend many styles (drawing, painting) of image making together to provide interest, and to also express my message which is that change is constant and that all things are connected. To finish a painting is to kill it with perfect stillness. I want movement, a sense of growth, appearing and disappearing of elements.