Last Week in the Studio

Last week I did further investigations into Encaustic painting, both in theory and practice. I also finished the acrylic under painting of 'My Prince Charming' and coated it in two layers of fast drying clear oil paint.  I'm adding the layers of oil to the surface before I put wax on because acrylic is not absorbent enough for the wax to adhere to. I want my images to be archival and done correctly so they can last a very, very, very long time.

I also got myself an iron and played around a with using it to fuse and flatten the surface. The iron is great for pushing colour into the groves that have been scratched into the surface. 'Fish Whispers to Bird Lady' is coming along nicely, as you can probally see I am slowly adding detail to the image, but I'm still not ready to call it finished.

Once the oil was dry on both pieces and my fish painting had been fused, I added a layer of encaustic medium to both my fish and frog paintings and smoothed the surface using the iron, now to get into the surface and scratch in detail and add some oil.

At the end of the week I backed a few paintings, two from the famous bird series (which are going to new homes this week) and two blank ones for painting on with encaustic. Backing a painting on board involves cutting wood on a 45 degree angle and gluing it onto the backs of the board. Here is a full description of how I mount a board ready to hang. Below is a photo of the books weighing down the backing overnight and also a photo of the backing before they are painted white.

 

Here are a few helpful links that I've discovered last week:

- Tips on using a heat gun: http://encausticartist.com/hot-tools/using-heat-guns-with-encaustic-101/

- Applying Encaustic Medium and Fusing with heat gun, as well as great technical information:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA5mmGij9ps&feature=related

- Fantastic box making video, specifically for displaying, presenting and transporting encaustic painting. Can be used for acrylic or oils too. I'm thinking this is something to keep in mind and implement for my studio: mms://video.vcu.edu/agower/Packing_and_Shipping_by_Rodney_Thompson.wmv



I hope everyone has a great week, that is productive and fun filled.




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