This 24" x 17" encaustic piece was based off the sketch I posted yesterday. I wanted it to look like some kind of root system going deep into the earth. I worked on this for about 5 hours straight, so I'm beat. Today I worked from my apartment so I was able to keep the door wide open and a fan on full blast. I could tell a noticeable difference in the way I feel, even though when I stepped outside for a few minutes and walked back in, there was a heavy, beeswax smell in the air. I tried to wear my face mask but didn't like it so I took it off and opted for just covering my mouth and nose with my shirt when I bent down close to the painting. I'm happy with this piece. I'm learning something every day. I love the way the blue underpainting came out when I scraped off the top layers. The cool blues and a nice contrast to all the warm earth tones. The photos I've been taking are just quick snap shots from my iphone, so it doesn't show all the details, but nevertheless, it's a good representation of how it looks overall. Here's a close up of the blues:
Since this piece is fairly large for an encaustic, I added a little oil paint to my wax medium. This allowed me to cover a larger area without burning through the pigmented wax that I just got in the mail. It's so expensive and it goes soooo fast! I'll probably start doing more painting in oils first to build up the base color and then layer up the textures where I need it in wax. Jasper Johns first started using wax because he couldn't get his oil paintings to dry fast enough. Well, by adding it to the wax, it sets up instantly when the wax drys. Now, it does blend a lot more when it's reheated. Again, all part of the learning process.
On another note, I just sold three paintings. Spiraling #2, Alphabet in Reverse, and Owning the Sky. Now I can buy more wax!!
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