Slow Burn

"Slow Burn"

Image Size 35.5" x 48"

Acrylic

I felt like painting another large acrylic abstract and this is what I created.  I started with a base of blues, reds and a neutral and let that dry.  Then, I poured a mixture of gesso, water and matte medium and spread it randomly over the surface using a small piece of mat board to create a busy, abstract texture.  Where that mixture was thicker, it was an opaque white and where it was thin, the base colors showed through.  After that, I used thin veils of a neutral to tone down a lot of the background to make it recede and threw some white paint to create a feeling of energy.  That always makes me feel good - throwing paint is the best sort of therapy.  Then, I began adding my black and rust colors.  Once I got those areas looking the way I wanted, I added the white details. I mixed the white paint with a gloss medium so that it would be different from the matte finish of the rest of the painting, but that detail doesn't show up as much as I would have liked because the lines are so thin.

I'm very happy with the texture in this painting.  The reds and blues in the background are very subtle but add interest.  One of the things that I love about abstract paintings is that the longer you look at them, the more you see.  Sometimes, I think that can make them more interesting than representational paintings.  They sure are fun to paint.

The Mist

The Mist

Image Size 6" x 6"

Encaustic

I love how this little encaustic came together.  The ethereal feeling of this painting is much stronger in person and I'm not sure it could be achieved with any other medium.  I painted shellac on the rusty color and burned it to get the texture.  I like the soft, misty feeling of the sky next to the texture of the earth.

I really need to get back to watercolors but can't seem to turn down the heat on encaustics.

Seeing Red

Seeing Red

Image Size 8" x 8"

Encaustic

I started with a red color painted on the surface and then built the other colors on top of it.  About halfway through, I did a shellac burn.  Layering more encaustic over that created an interesting texture.  After I was happy with the overall effect, I did one more shellac burn diagonally to bring in some of that warm amber color and a bit more texture.  

I think it looks a bit like a piece of stone.

Molten Sunset

Molten Sunset

Image size 8" x 11"

Encaustic

When I started painting this, I had a rough idea of where I wanted to take it but as I progressed, it went in a completely different direction.  I started seeing a sunset so I went in that direction but in a very abstracted way.  

What do see in this painting?

Laguna Beach Encaustic

Laguna Beach Encaustic

Image Size 5" x 7"

Encaustic

Well, I completely forgot that today is Monday until 7:20 PM.  That's how crazy things have been around here.  Fortunately, I had painted this one last week so I'm not missing my self imposed Monday deadline although I'm probably posting it too late for those of you that subscribe to my e-mail delivery to get it today so it will come on Tuesday to you - but it was finished today.  : )

Not that any of you probably care about it but I would have been really mad at myself if I had the painting finished and just forgot to post it.  After all, I've been posting a painting a week since 2008 and haven't missed a week, no matter what's going on in my life, so I don't want to miss one now!

I admit, it's not much of a painting, but it's done and as with all of my paintings, it was a learning experience.  I've done this scene so many times but never in encaustic so it was fun to see how different this looks from the other mediums that I've used in the past.

Peter's Canyon Encaustic

Peter's Canyon Encaustic

Image Size 7" x 5"

Encaustic

I combined encaustic with a little oil paint for this painting.  I have a lot to learn about this medium but am enjoying my experimentation with it.  I'm not crazy about the shape of this tree so I will probably try to change that tomorrow but for now, it's finished.  

I'm having problems with getting little pin holes in the wax.  Even if I get rid of them when I fuse the first layer, they seem to appear as I add and fuse more wax.  If anyone out there knows what is causing this, I would love to learn from you.  I am using encaustic gesso to prime my boards.  Maybe that is too porous and is causing the problem.  I think I will try an encaustic with no gesso and see what happens.

Pear Family

Pear Family

Image Size 12" x 6"

Watercolor

I painted this on a saturated piece of paper.  It's fun to try to control the combination of water to paint when painting this way.  It's important to add less water and more paint as the paper begins to dry.  I put the paper on a piece of plexiglass while I was painting so the paper stayed super wet for a long time.  It's a challenge to keep adding paint without getting blooms from having too much water in the brush.  I've got a long way to go before I'll feel like I'm in control when painting this way.

When I wet this paper, I could tell that the sizing was gone.  The paper becomes translucent when wet if there is no sizing.  I didn't care about the lack of sizing because when the paper is saturated, it doesn't seem to matter if it's gone.  I like the fuzzy, ethereal look that this painting has because of the combination of wet paper and lack of sizing.

Little Plumeria Study

Little Plumeria Study

Image Size 3.5" x 6"

Watercolor on TerraSkin

It seems like forever since I've painted with watercolor and I've really missed it.  This is a small study on TerraSkin, which I haven't used for a long time either.  I had forgotten how much fun this surface is to paint of and definitely need to use TerraSkin more often.  It's challenging to layer color without lifting the under layers but that is part of the fun!

Encaustic Magnolia

Encaustic Magnolia

Image Size 5" x 7"

Encaustic

I painted this from a photo of the magnolia tree in our yard.  It was a close-up of one of the upper branches and it was vertical like this.  As I look at this finished painting, I think it would have looked more natural if I had placed the branch at a bit of an angle.  Also, the branch for the bud became much thicker as I was fusing.  It's just a small study so I'm using this as a learning experience.  As always, encaustic is a lot of fun and a great challenge.

Koi Pond

Koi Pond

Image size 11" x 14"

Oil

I started this a couple of months ago and finished it this week.  I really love painting koi.  I think this is the first time I've painted them in oil.  I'm getting more comfortable painting with oils although I still love painting in watercolor better.