Miniature Watercolors, Encaustic Frames

This one is my favorite... I'm a hat person and I loved the two white hats they were wearing.  I finished it last week but didn't get it posted.   I also finished the elephant earlier but added the frame this week.  The frames are encaustic and New York Times magazine pages again.

An Encaustic Frame for a Watercolor

This week I've been working on more encaustic frames; however, instead of the navigation maps I'm using New York Times Sunday magazine pages that have been treated with Citra-Solv. I spray the Citra-Solv on the pages and hang the magazine over a line to dry. When it's dry I get some wonderful shapes and colors. So far this is the only magazine I've found it works with. Here's the first piece framed with one of the frames, it's 2 1/2 2 2 1/2". The next photo is one of the pages of the magazine so you can see what happens to it. If you aren't familiar with it, Citra-Solv is a cleaning solution that I get in my local health food store.

The house that Grandpa Built

I wasn't going to do this but.... last week a friend and I talked about doing a house for a project being done by the Holland Area Arts Council. Another friend has recently taken the post of program coordinator for the Arts Council and she is in charge of the event. I had decided building a house wasn't my thing and wasn't going to do it. Then I learned that friend 1 had told friend 2 we were going to and friend 2 was so excited because it's one of her first programs and she so wants it to succeed... what could I say... I built a house. We used a template provided by them. I added a porch because we were suppose to tell the story of our growing up in the house, illustrating our favorite room... well, my favorite wasn't in the house... I lived on a lake and my favorite place to be was either in or on the lake. But going inside I did have a place I was most comfortable... the porch. The house is 8"x8" without the porch. And yes, the house I grew up in was red... fire engine red actually. It's the house my dad grew up in too. In fact, my siblings and I still own it... anyone want to buy a house on a lake? I used foam core... it's stamped all over, then glazed with the red. It was a fun project even though it brought up some not so good memories.

Three more this week... new miniature paintings and new collaged frames. I wish I had purchased a few more of these frames. I'm finding the small images are fun to do and the encaustic on the frame is a challenge I would love to master because I really like the look. It has a nice sheen to it when it's buffed.

Aside from the miniature paintings, I am once again trying to reorganize my studio to make it more efficient. I waste so much time going from one space to the other and leaving things laying around so I don't know which space they're in or which pile they're under. I visit a friend's studio every week and it is heaven to work in there because she is so well organized. Frankly, I don't know how she has time to sleep but perhaps it's because she's so well organized. I wonder... can I get there... and then I look at the sign above my desk...
"One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries."