There are some pieces that take a lot of coaxing to get out of their shell and this has been one of them.
It started out as a multimedia abstract, fairly straight forward, but with a vision in my head of what I wanted the final piece to look like. I wanted it to seem multidimensional, layered, as if I could see through it as if looking down into clear water.
I ordered cold wax but it didn't seem to do quite what I wanted, or maybe I didn't really give it enough of a chance to prove its talents. I have pots of beeswax that I use when I create lotions and creams as well as using it and paraffin wax for batik, and thought they might provide the depth I was looking for.
Then I visited a new local art store which carry KAMA pigment products and I picked up a couple of encaustic paints. Using small amounts of these diluted with my own beeswax, I created layers and fused them with a heat gun found in the barn. The process becomes a little addictive and its difficult to know where to stop with it, the temptation to continue to add layers is so tempting.
I bought a small muffin tin to experiment with some of my own mixes of colour for additional encaustic work as I'd like to try another piece to go with this. The fumes with melted wax can be a bit overpowering so good ventilation is needed, either an open window or an extraction fan system.
Meanwhile, I'm calling Fissure complete and apart from buffing it to a shine, it will be ready for a new home. This is an 8 x 16 piece on canvas panel.
3 comments:
I love it, love it,love it, Jeanette!I find the look of encaustic so attractive. However, I am afraid of using it because of the fumes...perhaps I could do it outside:-) You have certainly had a great success with it to complete your painting.
very nice :) looks like the surface of another planet far away
Thanks Christiane. I like it because it has a life of its own in some ways as the wax melts. You never quite know what the outcome will be.
The fumes aren't that bad and I just open a window and only keep the wax heated as long as is required to do a layer at a time. You could do it outdoors, but I wonder if any wind would affect how the wax went on or not. Worth experimenting with.
It does have a topographical look to it as if viewing something from space doesn't it Jen?
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