Waxy Bee-ing - March 9, 2012
In my world there is nothing as exciting as exploring a new art medium or idea. It is pure play. The excitement of a six year old with tadpoles on a warm spring day.
My current excitement is taking place after spending a few weeks gathering materials together, melting beeswax and damar crystals, separating out the tiny bits of fibrous matter in the damar, making giant deeply pigmented wax color sticks, and now finally it's time to paint! I'm waiting for some wood panels from a friend on which to try encaustic painting, but it's just too enticing and I had to get my hands dirty and play, play, play.
So I got out a roll of rice paper, just wide enough to lay across my vintage, St. Vinny's warming plate on which I painted with the giant crayons which immediately melted. Laying the paper across the liquid, honey-scented wax, I then drew into it with pencil or oil pastel for further layering.
The effect is mysterious and wonderful, translucent with areas of opacity. The wax permeates the paper giving the translucent quality. Just hanging from my mantel piece it is wonderful to see how the effect changes from glowing in daylight with light coming from behind, to darker and mysterious by night with reflected light only.
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| Encaustic Monotype |
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