Friday 23 March 2012

Encaustic collage "Winter Fern"

"Winter Fern" - Encaustic painting (35x25cm, paper & wax on board)

Experimenting with encaustics is full of surprises. This new work involves shellac (left side) which actually didn't turn out as I would have liked it. It didn't create these large crates and web patterns - don't know what went wrong.
On the right side, my first trial of photo transfer, using a photocopy of a picture of the wonderful Karl Blossfeldt. Not easy to find a photocopy machine doing laser prints, as my inkjet copies wouldn't do the trick.
I made some incisions with sharp old dentist's instrument, filled them up with burnt umber oilpaint, put on a layer of medium, and finally collaged in the music. Although I'm not quite sure about this last bit, maybe I'll take it away again. It's there thanks to a musician friend, a cellist, who recognised two cello necks instead of the ferns.