Sunday 13 November 2011

Encaustic - great fun!

Encaustic painting - "Melisande, alone" (paper, wax crayon, seeds & hot wax on board; 25cm x 25cm)
Encaustic painting - "In the Woods" (paper, wax crayon, seeds & hot wax on board; 25cm x 25cm)

Finally I've set up a corner in my studio for encaustics.
My basic knowledge of this marvellous technique comes from a few good books as well as instructional videos featuring some inspiring encaustic artists (I'll give some titles & authors in my next post).
However I imagine it would be so much better taking part in a workshop, run by an experienced artist, with a few other passionate students. There seem to be no encaustic workshops on offer in the UK. Whereas in the US, it seems to be THE art technique to learn. And of course, I'm so envious about all the wonderful material for encaustics on offer in the US! I felt like a stone age explorer when I tried to gather some basic stuff like encaustic medium, wax or even a hot plate on ebay.
Anyway, I am quite proud now having produced some initial pieces without too many burn blisters on my hands.

5 comments:

Carole Reid said...

Owwwww those burns hurt! These are lovely works.

layers said...

I have tried encaustic as well.. taken 2 workshops in the past.. but have not quite gotten the hang of it or mixed it into my mixed media collages.. yours are wonderful though.
I thank you for the well wishes for my trip.. I had a wonderful time in Japan.

Gaby Bee said...

Your encaustic creations are fabulous, Sue. Looks like you had a good time doing these:)
Love especially the second one. The addition of the seeds really makes this sing!

Thanks for stopping by...so many days ago. Gosh am I behind, the days are just flying by again.

Have a lovely week!
Gaby

Sue said...

Gaby Bee, Donna & Carole - thank you for the encouraging comments. I'm still at it - the house smells of wax and not everything goes by plan. But that's probably the fun of it!

Living to work - working to live said...

There's a corner of my local Hobby Craft that has encaustic material - and quite frankly I have dismissed it as a bit of a gimmick - but these are lovely, particularly the seed heads. How accurate is it or is it a fairly serendipitous process?

Hilary