Showing posts with label challenge. Show all posts

New paintings


(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'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.

Maine Team ACEO Challenge

The wonderful Etsy Maine Team is having an ACEO team challenge.  The idea was to make an ACEO with a Maine theme that was also recycled/upcycled.  I made these three while at Jes' craft brunch on Sunday.  They are all made on top of recycled cereal and cell phone boxes courtesy of my hubby, and the collaged images are all from Country Living magazines that were in desperate need of being recycled.  Here's the skinny on them:


-"Friggin' Fiddleheads" This one was made with Kellie in mind since she loves to say "friggin'".  This one features a beautiful image of a yummy fiddlehead on top of some other local greens.

-"Sabbathday Lake Shakers" My official entry to the challenge-- Made in honor of my favorite group of people and the only remaining active Shaker Village in the world, Sabbathday Lake in New Gloucester, Maine.  Among their many beautiful beliefs is the thought that everything must be made with as much skill, love, and piety as possible- even a chair for they thought that an angel might come and sit on it.

-"Silliness in the backyard" OK, this one was done as a joke and Susan's daughter Nell thought it was hilarious and prompted me to glue it down for real.  Featuring the many faces of Maine: Lobsters, wild turkey, roses, and ferns :)

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