Day 21 of the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge

This piece began with a mapweave. I photographed one of my favorite weaves - northpole/southpole - and then printed it on rice paper. The ground was prepared with 8-10 coats of encaustic medium, and the top layers were liquified with the heat gun. I floated the image onto the melted wax and smoothed it down. 2 more layers of wax coated the image and I incised the design, filling it with rust-colored alcohol ink. The rusty piece was pushed into the soft wax and then fused into place. Finally, several strands of multi-colored twine was fused into the rusty piece and allowed to drape over the elements.

I enjoyed making this unplanned aseemblage. I'm sure I'll go back to it and make some changes in the coming weeks as it has a certain pull. Thanks for visiting!

Day 20 of the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge

This piece started with 9-10 layers of encaustic medium, fused between layers with the heat gun. I wanted to create this 3-dimensional thread grid, and I wanted the threads to appear to float above the medium. Each layer of threads was coated with 2 more layers of medium (fused in between :) ) to create a transparent appearance. This piece was actually made last week, as a back-up in case I missed a day in the studio. Today was a full-day teaching gig so I'm posting this piece now.

I like the simplicity, the colors, and the creamy-ness of the wax. I think it works nicely with the button piece from Day 9. Thanks for visiting!

Day 19 of the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge

Today I did some "watercolor" because I am snowed in and a little under the weather, so I didn't make it to the studio. I learned this process at a workshop and always wanted to play with it again. This is a photograph of a glass of water with pigment dropped into it. I enhanced the image in Lightroom and Photoshop. That's it - simple as that. 

I love the colors this technique creates. When I return to the studio I'll incorporate it into an encaustic painting. Thanks for visiting!

Day 18 of the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge

Today is a beautiful, sunny 68 degree day with a whisper of spring in the air. So this painting is of the summer to come. The materials used are a combination of pigmented wax and oil stick, with a bit of alcohol ink. It began as a summer scene in the foothills and I added the snowy mountains in the background as a reminder that winter is still here. I built up several layers of pigmented wax so there is an abundance of texture in the piece.

I enjoyed making this painting and I learned some practical lessons about perspective and scale in the process. Thanks for visiting!

Day 17 of the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge

Continuing to work on controlling the alcohol inks. This is a little painting of a Colorado winter scene. I started with a gesso ground and added 6 layers of wax medium. I added white over the white background, using an oil stick. The trees, fences and sheds are incised with a pin tool and then filled in with alcohol ink. The excess was wiped away, leaving traces here and there for texture and depth. Oil stick created the dim sun shining through the winter sky.

I like the effect of the ink, and finally felt as if I have some control over the process. But much more practice is needed... Thanks for visiting!

Day 16 of the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge

This was a fun little collage that started as something quite different. I wanted to create a snowscape and started with a white-on-white landscape on top of 2 layers of wax medium over an encaustic gesso ground. When I incised the trees to add thin branches to the snow-covered leaves I realized I was starting with to shallow a wax base, and the ink spread out. I went with it and created an abstract collage, adding bits and pieces from old works. I encased each element into its own wax layer to add depth and then dripped some of that beautiful alcohol ink onto the top layer. Finally I added a tiny rusted pipe fitting, dead center. 

I like the abstract piece and the colors, and the rust works well with all of the materials. Now, revisiting the piece, I think I'll add some wire elements, threaded through the little pipe, so it may not be finished yet. Thanks for visiting!

Day 15 of the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge

This piece started with a section of an encaustic collage I created 2 years ago using an image of CPR dolls I took with the iPhone. I cut the waxed image to 6 x 6 and fused it to the ground so that it was flush to the edges. I then created the landscape by incising the mountains with the pin tool and incising the river along the natural color divisions in the old piece. I filled the channels with alcohol inks and then used inks and oil sticks to enhance the landscape around the figure. I left the surface clean after fusing lightly, not wanting to obscure the image with wax this time.

I'm really pleased with this piece, especially the process of following the natural variations in color to reveal the hidden landscape. Thanks for visiting!

Day 14 of the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge

This painting began with 4 coats of wax medium over a ground of encaustic gesso. The white background was painted over with titanium white wax pigment on a cool surface to create texture. The red oil stick was applied and rubbed into the textured surface. The heart shapes were incised with a pin tool, and oil stick was also rubbed into the channels. Finally I added the text using metal letter press punches.

This was a quick, fun little piece. Happy Valentine's Day, and thanks for visiting!

Day 13 of the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge

This painting started as something completely different. I started with the usual 7 layers of medium, then incised a grid and dropped a different color of alcohol ink into each square. The result was similar to the button piece, visually. I really liked the way it looked but then added some ink to it, and when I wiped away the excess I ruined the effect. I had pressed the letters "raspberry beret" into the piece because of the color and the somewhat musical structure of the design. So I let the ruined painting sit for several days and came back to it today. I decided to paint over the grid with a white version of a pussy hat, playing on the idea of the raspberry beret. I added several layers of color, using oil sticks and mixing red, white and clear wax, then incised the grid over the hat and filled it with red oil stick. Finally I pressed the letters in again and filled them with orange. This time I did not add a final layer of wax medium; I wanted it to stay gritty.

I really like the color play and how the image floats above the grid. Thanks for visiting!

Day 12 of the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge

This is a photograph of my friend's (late) car. It was captured with my iPhone and processed in Lightroom. Next, the photograph was printed on rice paper. Rice paper is a great medium for encaustic because, if handled properly the paper will seem to dissolve into the warm wax, leaving the image to appear to float on the surface of the piece. I prepared the ground with 6 layers of encaustic medium, fusing between each layer to create a smooth surface. The 7th layer was left liquid, and the image was floated onto the surface, effectively melting into that top layer. Two additional layers of medium were added, fusing in between.

I like the effect of the wax over a photograph. The wax appears to preserve the image and adds a diffused look that is pleasing with vintage subject matter. Thanks for visiting!