Schism

"Schism"

Image Size 15.5" x 15.5"

Encaustic

This painting was so much fun to paint.  I started out by using all of the colors that had been mixed on my palette for previous paintings, knowing that my first layer rarely showed much in the finished painting.  That gave me a jumping off point (and cleaned my palette).  I also knew that I wanted to used some shellac burning in this one as well.  Usually, I burn the shellac while it is still wet and then make some adjustments after it is dry if there are areas that I don't like.  This time, I let it dry and then used the heat gun to make it react.  It didn't react as strongly as when it is lit on fire but it did make some interesting ribbon-like shapes.  I'm not sure you can really see them in this photo.  Even in person they are hard to detect because I did some layering after the shellac was added, which I usually don't do.  

I also experimented with alcohol inks.  I added them and moved them around by blowing on them through a straw.  Then added more wax.  This is the most visually textural encaustic that I've done so far and I'm very happy with it.  I can't wait to try another one using this combination of techniques.  

Waxy Waterlilies

"Waxy Watercolor"

Image Size 15.5 x 15.5

Encaustic

I felt like painting a more representational encaustic this week.  I've painted waterlilies many times but never in wax.  Now that I see it in a photo, there are a few things that I'm going to change but that's easy with encaustics.

Breaking Out

"Breaking Out"

Image Size 6" x 5.75"

Encaustic

Flip flop.  I've switched back to encaustic.  This started out with totally different colors. There was a lot of yellow initially which I didn't like.  Now, a little bit is peeking through the other layers and I'm happy with this color palette.  

To me, this design looks as though the surface has broken and something is spilling out.  What do you see?  I really like how abstracts are seen differently by each viewer.  

Off The Grid

"Off The Grid"

Image size 7" x 7"

Collage/Watercolor

I'd like to see this abstract as a large painting.  In fact, I'd like to try to achieve all of this texture using only transparent watercolor.  I think that will be a future project.

This texture was achieved using collaged rice paper so it does have actual texture.  If I paint something similar in watercolor, it will look textured but be a smooth surface.  That sounds like a fun challenge.

I've used fresh, spring colors again.  I'm really enjoying this time of year and enjoy portraying it with such a happy color palette in paintings.