Loving Encaustic Painting!

So I couldn't wait to get off of work today and begin my new wax-y adventures! Here is a photo of my home studio set up. It worked pretty well today.

On the left I have 3 acrylic paintings in progress. On the right I have my first encaustic painting I've done solo! Mr. Chase was so great to modify my desk to a sit down/stand up desk. Just push a button to stand or sit!

Here are 3 acrylics in progress and at different stages - the one in the middle is almost complete when I add some antiqueing around the edges...

I didn't have enough tins to heat wax in so the big one is encaustic medium, then I have titanium white, cobalt blue, cerulean blue, cad yellow light, cad red light, and mars black. I melted a few sticks on the griddle today too: burnt umber, sap green, cad green pale, and cobalt turquoise. Still to unwrap: Cobalt Violet Light and Quinacridone Red.

Here is my first encaustic painting! Two koi and a lily pad. It's an 8x8 on a cradled birch panel.

Learnings - Should have just streaked the transparent blue over the fish as the one on the right is too dark - but then, it could be deeper in the water! I am not too happy with the lily pad either - I blew a hole right in the middle of it by being too close with my heat gun!

I love the vibrant colors of the RF encaustic paint - but I won't be able to afford this habit for very long. Everything was supposed to arrive yesterday and when I still had not received my paint, I went online and it had been delayed until next Thursday! NO WAY!

I immediately jumped in the car and  in all this "eclipse" traffic headed for Oregon and went to Blick's as it was the only store still open that sells encaustic. I ended up paying an additional $200 just to get the paint last night - but at least I have it for the weekend. Lesson #1 learned.

Lesson #2 - the wax takes longer to heat up than I thought. I thought maybe a half hour would be good - but it actually took almost an hour.

Lesson #3 - try to make layers thinner. I did a good job overall smoothing out any bubbles, etc. but it seems a lot of wax was used.

Lesson #4 - don't forget to tape the edges! I had gotten half of the first layer on when I remembered and thank goodness I didn't have any drips at that point in time.

Lesson #5 - put more on a single layer if you can. I should have combined a few things, like do the rocks on the bottom of the pond and the fish in the same layer. That would have saved me 2 more layers of encaustic.

Overall I think my first attempt was a success! Not perfect - my husband didn't even know what he was looking at. "Flowers?" um, no! "abstract?" another no! I finally had to tell him.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you enjoy my journey into wax. It is so much fun. Linda Robertson @ lindarobertsonarts.com would be so proud. :-)

Encaustic Paintings

I finally took the plunge and took a class from Linda Robertson in Portland, OR this past weekend. She went through the entire set up and how to do encaustic from start to finish. It was so much fun. I have to say I thought I would become frustrated with the unpredictability of the wax but she explained so much that the frustration never materialized!

You can visit Linda Robertson's website at lindarobertsonarts.com. She has a variety of workshops and other great information, including books and learning videos at her site. Be sure to check it out!

I then did some shopping and today, all of my encaustic supplies are showing up! I will be rearranging my studio to make this new introduction into my artistic way of life. I'm in the middle of doing a series of paintings for the Makers5 Four Eights show in Sherwood, OR this fall. But I think I will do a few encaustics this weekend to see how I do!

Here are pics of the first two paintings I did while at Linda's class.

 This painting is a 6x6 on birch board. Just a little coastal wave action.

Also a 6x6 on ampersand encausticbord. Another coastal/island scene.

Linda showed us what a typical set up looks like. Wax to the left (if you are right handed), all tools are handy and a lamp to view the wax at an angle.

A couple of different substrates - encausticboard and plain wood.

Linda in her studio - she's an awesome instructor!!

Another photo of the wax on the pancake griddle - stayin' warm!

Thanks for stopping by!