Encaustic Wax Painting - Artist Trading Cards

Framed Canvas En Plein Air

Artist Trading Card - En Plein Air - Landscape

Walnut Oils on Canvas - Artist Trading Card

Leaves on the Water - 6"x8" Oil on Canvas

Stormy Weather Swap ATC's - Encaustic Wax Paintings

First Oil on Canvas - 18" x 24"

I've never worked in oils before, so I decided the quickest way to get a feel for this medium was to do it the Bob Ross speed painting way. I learned a LOT, some of what NOT to do, & some of what I really need to practice to do well. 

The palette knife is not my friend! I felt like a 2 year old handling it, & that's what the mountains are done with.

Another discovery - I'm a sloppy oil painter. Even though I wore an apron, I still got paint on my top, on a pair of scissors lying on the table, on the table. My brand new easel has so much paint slopped on it, it looks like it's been in someone's studeo for years & years. Ummmmmmmmm, I didn't purchase enough paint thinner, so my brushes all have a sap green tinge to them.

Will I continue to works with this medium? I have to admit, as much as I stumbled & bumbled around, I still enjoyed it. As for what the painting itself looks like? It is what it is - a first-time oil painting, so I'll just let that speak for itself. I didn't have high expectations, so I'm not disappointed. I do have a new flame burning, though fueled by the desire to paint a better picture.

Encaustic Wax Painting - Winter Pines ATC

Winter Pines

encaustic wax painting

Encaustic Wax Painting - The Pond ATC

The Pond
encaustic painting

Encaustic Painting - Take Time - Artist Trading Card

I've had this picture in my head for a while. Nothing earth shattering, just roses. I painted this picture with encaustic wax & a stylus  tool only. It's 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" - artist trading card size, but until I do another one, I'm really not wanting to trade this card.

Take Time
encaustic wax painting

Encaustic Wax Painting - Fall Glow

5.8" x 4.25"

 

Artist Trading Card in Window Greeting Card

Encaustic Painting - Spring in the Valley - 8"x10"

Well, best laid plans you know? I was going to do another abstract encausic so I could do the shellac burn. I ended up doing this rather realistic one & just couldn't ruin it with the shellac burn.

Encaustic Wax Sellac Burn - Mountain Landscape

I tried out a really unusual technic this week-end. I found this Youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjdd7GzxViQ

I started with an abstract encaustic wax painting done on an 8"x10" clay board. I added a layer of shellac, then dabbed on shellac colored with PearlEx powder. I sprinkled on some silver PearlEx powder, then ignited the picture with a match. Once the burnable component in the shellac had burned off, I repeated the process. My PyroMuse loved it! Here's the picture. I'm not crazy about the brown spots, so I'll rub those with some PearlEx powder before I seal it. It's much more abstract after the burn process. I love the light blue just below the center - that's from the burn. They look like a field of blue flowers.

I'll be making a stop at Hobby Lobby to buy some more clay board tomorrow.

Encaustic Wax Paintings for Artist Trading Cards

By the Stream

The Rocky Path

More Encaustic Wax Painting ATC's

More Encaustic Wax Painting

Encaustic Wax Painting Controlled Landscape

Encaustic wax painting with a hot iron. Controlled landscape.

Encaustic Wax Painting

Impressionist Landscape done with encaustic wax and a hot iron.

Helping Hands to Japan - Hands To Be Auctioned Off

Winter Tree, Life is a Daily Commute & Fall Tree 
Handpainted with acrylics.

The Tree Swap

I just completed my atc's for the Tree Swap at atcsforall.com. I wasn't sure I could really do trees justice, but I pushed myself to try anyway. They're hand painted with acrylic paints.

Polymer Clay Pendants

I was challenged to do a Fine Arts Pendant swap, so I used  Christi Friesen techniques to make them. I used polymer clay, Pearl X micas & I wired in some beads.

Ranger Alcohol Inks

I love working with alcohol inks. These are my first projects combining alcohol inks with stamping using acrylic paint. Not as controlled as my later dominoes done with alcohol inks that I posted last week.

 Chat Noir Cool

 Dusk

 Night Bird

 Sunset Fauna

 Bird

My Version

Here's my version of Paulette Insall's Rest in the Shadow of His Wings. Mixed media - watercolor pencils, acrylic paint, Prisma markers. The grid lines are stamped with the back of a Starbucks coffee sleeve & a red ink pad.

Sleeping Angels

Here's my sketch of Pam Carriker's My Eyes Make Pictures

Art at the Speed of Life at Amazon

Here's a link to Art at the Speed of Life:

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Speed-Life-Inspiration-Mixed-Media/dp/1596682612

Art at the Speed of Life

I just got this new book - Art at the Speed of Life motivation & inspiration for making mixed-media art every day. It really is motivating & inspiring! The book is by Pam Carriker, but there are a lot of chapters by familiar names.

Suzi Blu has a chapter. Here's a quote from her pages that made me smile, & will make it in some form into my art journal. "By creating, you are manifesting something where nothing existed, and this in itself is amazing. You are a little god, creator of your own universe, so any mark you make is sacred. Remember that."

I wish the book was more specific in some areas, but on the other hand, there are lots of specifics in others. There's a part entitled Becoming an Artist as a Second Career, but no specifics on how to do that.

There are lots of projects that are not the usual run of the mill projects. These have substance, & sent me looking for some art supplies I don't normally use.

Paulette Insall has an infomative section called Be an A+ Student in Online Workshops. She listed lots of tips & links to some great online classes. A couple of her paintings made it into the book, & I've done my version of her Rest in the Shadow of His Wings. They say you can learn by copying the masters. I learn by copying artists whose work I admire. I admired Pam Carriker's My Eyes Make Pictures, so I did  a sketch of it.

The Seven Day Journal Project is fun & challenging & the Artist Spotlight Projects are amazing & are keeping me challenged. My next project is by Glenda Bailey - Encaustic Encounter Collage.

I'm loving this book!

Here's Looking at You ATC's

I'm dong an ATC swap that requires that eyes take up the majority of an ATC card. ATC is artist trading card. I decided to start with watercolor backgrounds, so I floated some color on a wet card, let it dry, then spattered it with paint. I used graphite pencils to draw & shade, then colored the eyes with watercolors.

So, here's looking at you kid!

Altered Domino Brooches - Alcohol Inks, Micron Pen & Stamping

Using Ranger Alcohol Inks isn't difficult, but they're a bit like using watercolors as far as controlling them. After lots of practice, I was able to place the colors exactly where I wanted them, & with a bit of intuitive watercorlor technique, I was able to actually make flowers that looked like specific flowers by adding some line work with a .01 Micron pen.

 

Bird #1

Bird #2

Morning Glories

 Rose