(On the Verge; Encaustic, Oil Pastel, & Charcoal; 4" x 4")
I've been looking to create some new paintings to enter into the First Annual Autumn Arts Painting Challenge & Competition on Facebook led by some pretty awesome ladies/artists. Really got me thinking about creating imagery free of collage-- I wanted these paintings to be pure creation- just as the Fall is. I started with this tiny block in order to experiment with some new (to me) ideas. I wanted to use oil pastels directly on the hot plate and then mix some encaustic medium into it. This creates a very rich color that is a nice thickness. I fused it into the encaustic painting and it's interesting to see how differently it moves than just regular encaustic paint. For the specks, I crushed up some charcoal and embedded it into the painting. I wanted my next effort to have finer charcoal so.....
(Untitled; Encaustic, Oil Pastel, Charcoal, & Graphite; 12" x 12")
I wanted to challenge myself to make these next two paintings vibrant with lots of movement so I started this one with a thick pink background. I scraped the lines at the bottom right in with the tip of a sharp woodless pencil and the dots on the top left are finger prints of the super crushed charcoal with medium placed on top of it.
(Backwoods Sermon; Encaustic, Oil Pastel, & Graphite; 12" x 12")
I had this fresh green that I made and my husband said, "Slap that all over the place!" haha So I did! I used the oil pastels directly on top of the wax and also as a mixture from the hotplate as described above. I fused them until I was happier with the mixture and kept layering it all. Then I took my sharp pencil and scraped in these tree images. There's a nice dimensional quality to it with the indents that the lines made all the way through the wax until it hit the board.
I had this fresh green that I made and my husband said, "Slap that all over the place!" haha So I did! I used the oil pastels directly on top of the wax and also as a mixture from the hotplate as described above. I fused them until I was happier with the mixture and kept layering it all. Then I took my sharp pencil and scraped in these tree images. There's a nice dimensional quality to it with the indents that the lines made all the way through the wax until it hit the board.
I'm very happy with the results and looking forward to painting more! I love how this painting challenge made me think of moving in another direction-- it's just the pull I needed at the right moment.
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These are great! I love the vibrant colors and the texture is very fun. The added charcoal is really neat.
These are really very nice. I don't do encaustic, so I have enjoyed reading about your process.
Gorgeous colors and texture.
wonderful vibrant color & texture!
Came to peak at your new work. These are great!
THANK YOU, everyone!!
-Jamie
Your paintings are absolutely stunning! I absolutely love the first one on your blog!
Nice work my frined!
Thank you so much, Lolly B-uncut! Sometimes the best things come out of experimenting. I'm glad I decided to follow a vague idea and see how it turned out-- still going to explore this technique.
-Jamie