Two mediums come together digitally

I didn’t realize how long it had been since I had done a post……much longer than I thought.  But today I decided it was time to get back to it.

I haven’t been creating too much art this past while except for some water colouring in my sketch book but I am starting to feel more inspired to get back to mixed-media.  Over the weekend I thought I would see what I could create digitally and decided to take the water colour painting from my last post and incorporate it with one of the sunset pictures I took while spending time in Mexico this past winter.  So here it is.

Bliss is a beautiful sunset

I used the sunset photo as the background then selected the girl from my water colour painting and then added a photo of one of my Encaustic paintings to add a more painterly look to the sunset along with a couple of little butterflies.  I used a number of different filters to get the effect I wanted.

Here are the image layers I used to create this in Photoshop Elements 10.

     Until next time, happy creating!

Michelle

Canvas, Wax and Cardboard……..

I am always eager to try new things and as I get braver with my art and not so worried about making a mess or mistakes by just letting things flow I enjoy the results much more.

So keeping with experimenting with Encaustics I decided to take a piece of canvas that I had done a photo transfer on using one of my digital collages and incorporated it into this piece.  I added some corrugated cardboard to add more depth and texture, glued the canvas and cardboard and some papers onto a wood cradle board and then did some layers of bees-wax.

Love, Focus

Next I scraped some of the wax off of in some areas, incised into the wax in areas and then added some India ink, oil pastels and pan pastels to create some shading.

I love that I was able to take one of favorite digital art pieces and create a new piece that has an aged encaustic look to it.

Until next time try something new and creative and don’t worry about the outcome just enjoy the journey.
Michelle

 

 

 

Organic Art in Encaustic

“Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we`re supposed to be and embracing who we are.”

A few weeks back I went to a Sunday demonstration on Encaustic Collage at the Opus Art Store http://www.opusframing.com/how/demos in Langley to see if I could hone some more techniques while working – and I was delighted with what I learned.

The artist doing the demo was Nancy Crawford and she had lots of samples of encaustic collage work using different techniques.  She also offers workshops in Encaustics check out her website for more info http://www.thecreativecommitmant.com .

Attending this demo inspired me to get back to working with wax again as I had basically been working with acrylic and venetian plaster for the last few months.  So here is one of the pieces that I did.

Just Be

What is different from what I have done in encaustic before is that I attached my collage pieces first using glue and then added layers of clear bees-wax rather than adding a few layers of wax first and then adding collage items.  Then I scraped back some of the wax so that the letters were more prominent and I also incised various areas and added oil paint and India ink to give it more colour and texture.

This is what the cradle board looked like before adding the wax and paint.  A good tip from Nancy was to paint the base of the frame with black acrylic and then cover with masking tape once it is dry to protect it from dripping wax which eliminates having to scrape off the wax.  It worked perfectly!

Before adding wax

Until next time happy creating.

Michelle

 

Wine Glass in Encaustic

Since taking Serena Barton’s Workshop at the Art and Soul Retreat in Portland I have tried different ways of creating a canvas using bees wax. This is one that I did a little while ago and I really like how it turned out.

I started with a wood panel and then used several layers of bees wax adding various pieces of collage papers and cardboard. The wine glass I cut out of crimped paper and adhered it to the board with wax. I then used oil pastels to add some shading to create more depth.

I think I was on a bit of a wine glass theme for a while.

Wine glass in encaustics

Until next time
Happy creating
Michelle

Mind Your Bees Wax With Encaustics

After taking the encaustic workshop at the Portland Art and Soul Retreat in October http://www.artandsoulretreat.com/ I fell in love with the technique of incorporating wax into my collage process.

I ordered a supply of wax, resin crystals and soya wax from Swans Candles http://www.swanscandles.com/ for a very good price considering how much the supplies would have cost at my local art store.  It was definitely more economical to order in bulk then to buy it by the package.  I also had the order delivered to Ship Happens so that the shipping costs were a fraction of what I would have had to pay if sent to Canada.  Fortunately I live very close to the USA border so it is not an issue to go and pick up my orders.

Since receiving my wax I have been practicing on smaller substrates of 5″ x 7″ so that I can try different things and see what results I get.  First I made up a large batch of clear wax using 4 parts bees-wax with 1 part Damar resin crystals, note the resin takes a very long time to melt and blend into the bee’s wax, so be patient – I used an old crock pot the first time I made it up and then poured the combined ingredients into a muffin tin and when cooled I popped them out and stored them for future use.  For melting my wax while working on a piece, I bought a pancake griddle and then used cat food and tuna tins to melt the wax in – remember to keep your temperature below 200 degrees and no higher than 250 while melting the wax.  I have started some of the pieces by attaching  various paper to the board and then adding at least 2 layers of clear wax, bonding each layer in-between with a torch or heat gun – it is very important to bond between each layer and then adding coloured layers and more papers here and there.  I used pieces of oil pastel for most of the colours I have made or you can use a little bit of oil paint – acrylic paint does not work with the wax.

 In this collage I used some cheese cloth, various papers and a real dried flower blossom adding some incising where the red is and rubbing red oil paint into the crevices, and then taking a paper towel with a bit of vegetable oil on it to wipe off any excess oil pant I didn’t want….the oil works really well for removing the oil paint from you hands as well.  I like my first attempts at encaustic on my own and love that I have Serena Barton’s book Wabi-Sabi Art Workshop http://www.serenabarton.com to refer to for ideas and techniques.  Before trying this be sure to read up about melting wax and safety while using it, etc. and also how to clean your brushes with melted soya wax – natural Bristol brushes are best.

I look forward to working more with wax and seeing what I can do I am sure the possibilities are endless and how wonderful is it to have art that gives off the lovely fragrance of honey.

Until next time, happy creating.

Michelle

 

 

Art and Soul Retreat – Portland

I was fortunate to be able to attend some workshops at the Portland Art and Soul Retreat the week of September 30. artandsoulretreat.com It was a wonderful experience and I loved all the workshops that I attended….4 all together.

My favorite was the first one with Serena Barton – Wabi Sabi Encaustics. I have her latest book and had not tried the encaustics until the workshop. I absolutely fell in love with this medium it is so organic and natural and there are so many things you can do. I have included a couple of photos of my encaustic creations – love the earthy colours and being able to add in fibres, fabric, paper, etch into the wax etc. I already love creating collages and now I can incorporate encaustics into the mix of things. I have ordered wax and I am gathering the other necessary tools and I should be creating more with wax soon.

If you ever have the opportunity to attend an art retreat, I highly recommend it as it is a great way to learn new techniques and meet other artists. I do hope to attend again next year.

Until next time
Michelle