Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Final day of our workshop

Mix media college with rice paper, cheese cloth and stamps.

I think this one needs something more, and think I should take off the brown paper dragon fly and just stamp it onto the piece.


Tried using magazine college with tea leaves and cheese cloth. I did add three distressed tea bag tags but lost them when I added clear wax. The wax turned white when it dried.


Final piece for the day. Lots of layers that I drew a grid into, than pushed purple oil pastel into the lines. I wiped most of the purple off and thought it was looking good. Then tried adding clear wax over that turned my piece white again so I added more color and tried scraping away some of the color. I actually think I like this. There most be something you can add to the wax that allows it to stay transparent when it dries.

On a side note one of the books our instructor suggested we purchase was Embracing Encaustic by Linda and William Womack. During lunch, I pursued though the book and to my delight one of my favorite encaustic artist's work was featured in the book,
Bridgette Guerzon Mills . I also follow her blog and left a message telling her I was taking the workshop. Please make sure you stop over to her website and blog, Contemplating the Moon.
You're in for a real treat.

11 comments:

  1. Hi Karen,
    You went a long way since the first day of the workshop! I look forward to seeing more of your work in encaustic.

    Jaime

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  2. thank karen for the mention! So glad you enjoyed your workshop.

    Encaustic medium should become more transparent if you just leave it be. "Should" is the operative word. Sometimes it doesn't and then you have to scrape back a bit. But wait until the next day and see if it clears up a bit.

    I really like your grid!

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  3. Oh, cool. I've never worked in encaustic before. I love summer art classes! jan

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  4. My Favourite? Passion at 20 or 60. This one peaks my interest - love the colours. Love the textures in all of them. Well done!

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  5. Glad you have found the world of encaustics..it is such an amazing medium...I am biased - I know : )
    But I haven't looked back since discovering it in 2006....it is awesome...Love the work you are doing with the medium..hope it brings you many days of joy...thanks for popping into my blog world..

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  6. Hey look! Encaustics! I just started encaustic painting again this week, too, now that the weather is cooler. I really like the look of the cheesecloth in your paintings. In the second painting, it reminds me of stormy seas or a fisherman's net. Isn't it amazing how many different looks one can create with encaustics?

    I'll have to check out the book, Embracing Encaustics. Joanne Mattera's The Art of Encaustic Painting has been my encaustic bible for the last few years. And thank you for the link to Bridgette's website. I'm going to take a longer look in a moment.

    You had asked about getting the wax to look clearer. What I do is fuse each layer to the one before until I don't see any opaque areas of white. Then I buff the surface up to a gloss with the palm of my hand before applying the next coat. Basically it's paint, fuse, buff, paint, fuse, buff, etc. It won't get entirely clear but it's a whole lot clearer than if I didn't fuse between each layer or left the coats of each wax application semi-fused (a basic fuse is a must, as far as I've heard). Anyway, that's what I've learned so far.

    Have fun with your painting! I want to see more!

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  7. Nice work Karen! I love Bridget's work too. I have only played with encaustics a little. I really like the effect though!

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  8. really love the corrugated cardboard? I find the layers of encaustic fascinating...

    I want to play too!

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  9. I love all your pieces here and to see how freely you try new ideas and materials! I hope you are loving these last weeks of August! I am.... roxanne

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  10. Patience, patience, patience but the effects well worth it, eh? i love how you incorporate cheesecloth of all thign, Karen. You are so creative. it's fantastic.

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  11. Hello Karen,

    What a lovely blog you have here. I am glad that I stumbled upon you via Hot Toast & Jam's Featured Fridays. Your watercolour is incredible. Wow! I'm so glad I found your blog.

    Hey, I see you're doing the sketchbook project as well! I just joined, too. :) I also created a blog for all of us sketchbook folks to gather at. I will give access to each person to be an author and post individual progress notes, questions, etc. I would love and be honoured if you would come follow and join. I just KNOW you would be an inspiration to many.

    http://sbdoodleheads.blogspot.com/

    So glad I found you. Happy Sunday! :)

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