Laguna Coast

Laguna Coast

Image Size 30" x 40"

Acrylic

I know I've painted this scene many times but this one is different.  It's pretty large and it's acrylic.  Acrylic is not the medium that I'm the most comfortable using, especially as thick paint.  I prefer using them as a type of watercolor, very thin and many layers of glazes.  I think my main complaint with acrylics is how fast they dry.  I do use a medium that slows the drying time but it still is frustrating and creates a feeling of tension because I'm trying to beat the clock.  Also, blending is not easy for me to do  with acrylics.

This is painted on a gallery wrapped canvas so there is no need for a frame.  That gives a nice, contemporary look that I really like.

The Sky Above

The Sky Above

Image Size 30" x 22"

Watercolor

I had fun painting this very patterned painting.  I wanted to get the feeling of an underpainting with an image on top.  I've done this before a couple of times with other paintings and really enjoy playing with this idea.  The overlay of white shapes is connected throughout the page to give the feeling of going through a visual maze.

Misty Morning

I've painted this scene before on a smaller scale in watercolor on Aquabord.  This one has been hanging around unfinished for awhile and I decided it was time to finish it.  I'm not sure I am happy with it but I am happy that another project is finished.  I tried to give the feeling of fog but I can see I could have pushed it a little more.  All I can say in my defense is that it looked a lot better while it was wet.  : )

Encaustic Vineyard

I'm still playing with encaustics.  We went to a wedding at a winery in Temecula about a week ago and it was really beautiful there and the wedding was perfect.  This painting isn't of any particular place.  It's more a combination of different wine areas that I've visited.

This is the most detailed encaustic that I've done so far.  It's not like I've done very many - I think I've painted 5 or 6 but I want to continue learning this fun medium.  The sky was especially fun to do on this painting and I think clouds are especially interesting in this medium because the wax gives a sense of movement.

The balloon and wine festival was happening while we were there too and I took a lot of pictures of the hot air balloons so I might try to paint a picture of them in encaustic.  That should be fun.

 

Waxy Wave

I haven't done many encaustic paintings and haven't tried one for a long time.  I love painting waves and felt like using encaustics for this one.  It was challenging to try to give a sense of movement and get the wax to move in the right direction.  I used a heat gun to fuse each layer which doesn't give a great deal of control  because it heats a much larger area than is sometimes needed.  I had fun with this and would really like to give more time to this medium and build my skills.  I love the look of encaustics and I certainly can't paint too tightly with this medium.  I think I will get a torch so that I can have more control for fusing but that open flame freaks me out.  I do work outside and have an extinguisher handy but I'm such a klutz and if anyone can cause a problem with an open flame, it would be me.

I think my favorite part of completing an encaustic painting is polishing it.  I love the gleam and the look of richness when it is polished.  It looks like a glazed tile.  The only bad thing is that it tends to lose that sheen and needs to be re-polished periodically.  It's no big deal though.  All it takes is a soft cloth or the palm of your hand (with no rings on).