Watercolor minis

Finally, I'm painting and in the medium I normally work in, watercolor. Only very different from my normal work in that they are tiny. I'm going to be one of 10 watercolor artists in an exhibit in May. Each of us is to have 3 new pieces and 1 mini.... 2" by 2". That's tiny! I only need one but I'm going to have to paint several to get one good one... I've never worked that small before unless it's to take a 2 x 2 mat and run it around on a painting that didn't work to come up with some sort of abstract piece. Anyway... my post this week, 4 of them. Only one of these may be a contender... the light. I've also started one of the larger pieces that will be in the show. I should have that done by this time next week.

More Encaustics

Once again, I had an opportunity to work with encaustics... they're addictive. I'm not as happy with these but I will be able to do more work on them later so all is not lost. I worked on three this week... the first one is pilings and I'm pretty much finished with it I think. I don't like it as well as last weeks but I like it. The other two are portions of old abbeys, The first, a single arched window is almost complete.... I have to look at it for awhile to see if I need to do more. Those white spots at the bottom are from the flash. The second is just barely started... that's all I had time to do so I know this one will get more work.

Textile work and trying encaustics

This is last week's project.... a sweatshirt jacket based loosely on a Gail Abloe pattern titled "I can't believe it's a sweatshirt." I say loosely because the pattern called for a new sweatshirt two or three sizes too large, unwashed, and a variety of fabrics, also unwashed. The object was for everything to shrink. Well, we have sweatshirts.... lots of sweatshirts.... and some of them are no longer wearable as they are. I also have lots of fabric... some of it already washed and some not. That's what I used. It didn't shrink the way it should have but the color of the sweatshirt works with the patches so it doesn't matter that it didn't disappear under them. Since I'd used scraps and an old sweatshirt, the finishing touch... the buttons. I have my mother-in-law's button box so I dug in there to find some buttons... five different buttons. I'm happy with the jacket and with spring coming, I'm sure I'll get a lot of wear out of it.

And this week....

What fun I had this week... playing with encaustics. For those of you who don't know, encaustics are a combination of beeswax, pigment, resin and heat. Damar resin is added to the wax as a hardening agent and to prevent air from escaping. Resin also gives the encaustic paintings their rich, glass-like sheen when they're buffed. It's similar to painting in oils but once the hot wax is on the support it dries almost instantly so no need to wait.

A friend of mine has been working in encaustics for some time. She invited some of us to her studio to try it out... this could become addictive.... I love texture and this gives one so many options ... This was my first piece....