Wax On, Wax Off

Three new encaustics which you can find in my Etsy store. I kind of like them all grouped together like this so I'm thinking I might do sets of six or nine which I could mount on mat board as a single piece. What do you think, good idea or no?

Gratitude

Today I had to go have some minor medical treatment and, as always, this gives me the glums because it's part of the ageing process that stuff stops working properly and I rail against it. But I am also grateful for many things which are coming with age, not least that I now have more time to spend on things which feed my soul and that I seem to notice life's details more and marvel at their simplicity and complexity both.

Being forced to slow down is not necessarily a bad thing.

Spring Cleaning

Well alright, it's a little early for Spring, but I thought a bit of redecorating and remodelling was in order so I spruced up the blog a bit. Haven't quite finished yet but I hope you approve - feedback is most welcome!

One of the main reasons for doing it was that I wanted to be able to add in some larger images and so needed to stretch the page a bit. So, now we are (hopefully) in wide-o-vsion!

Encaustic Love

 

It's been a busy week, lots of new encaustics and I'm so in love with making them! Have had to slow down a bit the last couple of days though thanks to a stinky cold which is wiping me out. So many ideas buzzing round my head and not enough energy to do them. Soon, soon.

Doll Face

 

A bit of whimsy today; two ACEOs I made from odds and ends I had lying around on my desk plus beeswax to hold them all together. I adore these little doll faces I got from Kris a while back. Art cards are both fun and challenging to make as you have such a small space to work on but they are perfect for experimenting with and for showing off small treasures.

 

Kid in a Sweetie Shop

Yes that's how I feel today 'cos I've just had a delivery of some art supplies! These lovely cradled boards are just perfect for some encaustic work and I also got a couple of goat hair brushes for the wax which should be better than the house painting brush I use currently.

Can't wait to get started!

Burn, Baby, Burn

 

One of my resolutions for this year is to get back into encaustic painting, something which I love doing but haven't really touched for about eighteen months now. Encaustic simply means 'burnt in'. When applied to art it refers to painting with hot melted wax as a medium. Additives are often mixed in to change the colour and hardness of the medium but at its simplest, as here, it can be done with natural beeswax which looks and smells wonderful and imparts a subtle golden glow to the work.

These two small pieces are on birch panels and are comprised of a number of layers of collaged papers and hot wax. The layers are built up gradually and fused together to produce paintings with lots of depth and subtle effects which show up far better 'in the flesh' than they do in photographs!