More Encaustic

The lifelines in this first painting were created with loops of yarn soaked in encaustic paint and collaged on to the board.  I built the hills out of some extra chunks of colorful wax laying around on the table.  The silver lifesaver is glass, from Michael’s and a discard from my jewelry pile. 

This one came about as a result of the pattern in the initial application of clear wax. The lines suggested tree trunks to me and I proceeded with that in mind.  Hmmm…  no plan is not the best way for me to work!

This one began with the collage piece I made printing a public domain image onto fabric using Golden’s digital ground.  After I collaged the image on I added embroidery thread as a type of frame around it.  As I did this the redhead began to disappear under all that opaque wax.  I heated the area and picked up the excess wax with my brush – easy!  I love that part of this board. I used a lot of fabric in the figure’s face and collar.  On the lower left I painted encaustic through a thick lace piece which made a deep ridge pattern when pulled out of the cooling wax.  It left behind some orange paint which worked pretty well with the red of her hair. 

This was a great experience for me.  I now understand some of the strengths and weaknesses of encaustic as a medium.  I’m not excited enough to go out and purchase the gear to paint encaustic though…  I’m back to my oil painting class today and that’s really where my heart is right now.  Cheers!