Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Encaustic - journeys and places

Noela and I attended a one day encaustic workshop in Caloundra earlier this month and explored the fun and joy of working with beeswax combined with damar resin.

We typically headed off in different directions to the rest of the class and each other; but both really enjoyed finding ways to bring this lovely technique and its gorgeous effects into our own work.

In preparation for our exhibition in March next year, I am continuing to build a body of work around "Journeys, places, marks and traces" and was keen to use encaustic in some of the pieces.

I have bought some encaustic medium where the wax and the resin are premixed; probably less trouble for me altho I still have my damar crystals and blocks of wax waiting for me when I want to make my own. I melted the medium in an old frypan I picked up at a garage sale, and then painted it onto some rusted tissue paper. When it was dry, I made marks on the paper with ink and a silver pen. Little traces, here and there.

The next step is to incorporate text somehow.

Here are 3 of the 15 pieces I did - I love the glossy richness the encaustic imparts to the papers, as well as the translucency. It somehow enables the papers to be stronger, and yet still appear fragile.






8 comments:

  1. ~ "Journeys, places, marks and traces"

    what a beautiful set of words to work around...the pages you created here look as if they are from centuries long ago...weathered and worn yet withstanding the test of time...very appealing to ones eye...when finished they will be a gorgeous collection you have created...much l♥ve and light upon you and yours~

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  2. Oh my Fiona....you know how I love beeswax...but have yet to take the next step into encaustics....these are lovely and move me even closer to trying it! Can't wait to see where else this takes you!!! Best wishes!

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  3. These are exquisite Fiona, only wish I could touch them!

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  4. this looks very promising, and very you.

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  5. Great results, Fiona - lusciously sensuous and tactile x0x0x0

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  6. Thanks for the encouragement everybody...I'm liking where these are heading.

    FW - the words are great aren't they? There is so much to explore within them; so much scope and so much mystery.

    Patti - I'm sure you'd enjoy the slightly different effect encaustic can deliver - I'm still exploring and am keen to get more layering happening...

    Louise - thanks for visiting; they are lovely to handle- the translucency and shine look great, but they also feel great

    Velma - thank you - they really do feel like 'me'!

    Noela - it's such fun isn't it? They are coming along nicely but there is still so much to explore!

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  7. Totally delicious Fiona. I am completely jealous and looking forward to some similar exploration.

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  8. Susan - thank you for visiting! Delicious is exactly right and I'm sure you'll do some gorgeous things with it soon - it will be fun to play!

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I appreciate your thoughts and comments; thanks for taking the time.