Surrendering Control

Task List

The end result of my latest paintings were not my vision.  I'm not an abstract painter but this media transformed my approach to painting.  I recently took a class in encaustic (wax) painting.  I tried many different techniques with the wax including collage, layering and scraping to lower colors, etching and filling grooves with paint.


But before I could experiment, I had to be willing to give up any designs I conjured up before starting the painting.  The wax hardens so quickly and the techniques to smooth and soften (iron and heat gun) do not give predictable effects.  As a result, I had to adjust my plans as I progressed.  Each of these paintings has some small part of my original vision, but most evolved over time. If you are looking for a way to learn to let go, encaustics just may be the thing for you.

Are We There Yet?

"Task List":  Many layers of wax manipulated with a heat gun.  Text (my Outlook Calendar dump to a text file) was printed on laser paper and rubbed onto the wax.  Paper then wet and rubbed off.  The hand was etched and filled in with black paint and then painted with oil paint.


"Are We There Yet?" is primarily collage (paper, metal findings) with some etching and rubbing as described above.  Many failed attempts before I finished with this one.

Going Home

"Going Home":  Many layers of colored wax.  Scrapped away to lower colors.  The poem is scrapped in and filled in with various colors of paint.  The water is also embedded with little tiny silver beads.

My First Art Festival

All zipped up under the watch of the Coast Guard Towers

My booth is set up and tucked in for the evening.  The weather is "unsettled" but I'm optimistic - I just hope future collectors are thinking the same.  While driving home I thought back to what went into preparation and how everything progressed this evening.  I wondered if there were other professions where "co-workers" and potential competition are so willing to share tips/information to help you succeed.  They will tell you where to get the best price for materials, what tent works best, how to prepare for inclement weather, and strangers will help you put it all together.  Someone complemented me on my setup, but if given an award, the band would start playing before I could thank all the people who helped me get off on the right start.

Learning To Paint Like The Masters - Part 1

I’m taking a kind of “back to basics” class.  We first stretched and primed our own canvas’ and then laid in a ground.  The ground was a glaze using a mixture of yellow ochre and raw umber for a nice warm gold.  I’m now working on the “imprimatura” stage of the painting, using burnt umber.  From Wikipedia - Imprimatura is a term used in painting, meaning an initial stain of color painted on a ground. It provides a painter with a transparent toned ground, which will allow light falling onto the painting to reflect through the paint layers.  Its use as an underpainting layer can be dated back to the guilds and workshops during the Middle Ages, however it comes into standard use by painters during the Renaissance particularly in Italy.

Imprimatura Layer

Next I work on the “dead layer" - the next step of the classical Flemish technique, also called the Gray Layer.  I paint over this layer with white and various shades of gray.  Stay tuned.

Never had a diary...

Blogging will be a unique experience for me as I never had the discipline to keep a diary. I want to take my art work more seriously, but this blog may be a bit less serious.