Encaustics

My latest passion is encaustics. I love the textures, colors, depth and feel you can create with them. I just started learning about encaustics fall 2013 with a friend. I watched many you-tube videos to get the gist of what is involved. And had my friend Donna answer my millions of questions.

Now I have my own tools and supplies. Found a hot griddle at the goodwill for $12.99, lots of used utensils, metal dishes and kitchen gadgets to hold wax, carve wax and add texture, also goodwill…you don’t need to spend a lot of money on tools for encaustics, they’re going to get messed up, so buy what you can used. Kitchen tools average about $1 a piece. And it’s kind of fun looking for them. I found they would inspire me also.

Bought my beeswax and damare resin off amazon and a few enkaustikos art sticks for color.

I love the fluidity of encaustics and the quickness of them. I can create a small piece in an evening, or day. I love their ability to encase and preserve things. I’ve been enjoying using leaves that I pick up on my walks with my dog Daisy. Seasonal leaves, if you will, I bring them home and put them under a sketch book for a few days…let them dry and keep them flat.

The ideas start brewing in my head when I collect leaves…then dry them…see what color they turn out. This pieces I call “Puddles” incorporates fall maple and ginko leaves. The ginko leaves are a beautiful pale yellow and have such a wonderful and unique shape. I also used some antique watch springs as the water rings for my puddle. The colors are dark and moody. There are actually some parking tokens in there too…but they’re so buried in the puddle that they will not be found until summer. 🙂