New Encuastics

I did 6 paintings in the last 2 days... LOL :)

They're all encuastics. I was playing around with my tjanting tool, and my simmer plate and stuff. It worked out well.

Heres the art:

River Current
Seep
Sunday
Wind
Leaf
O Canada

As a Side note: They're all priced out for sale. Contact me if your interested.

Encaustics blogs

Encaustics How to Blogs

limnides expressed such an interest in Encaustics when I started posting mine, I started posting the blogs I've been wanting to do for a while. So far I've done 2 parts complete with photos:

Part 1

Supplies and tools. I went really in depth into which tools you would need, and how I improvised to make mine in a pinch. I've also included a list of pigments that should not be heated, so should be avoided in encaustics. I'll be expanding on that list as I get more information. I'll have to bug Maria again, I think I've asked her 100 times now HAHA!

Part 2

Making encaustic Medium. I step by step instruction on making encaustic medium from beeswax and resin crystals.

whats next?

Part 3-5 are coming up. I'll be making a walk through on doing an actual encaustic painting in the style that I use, since the internet is plugged full of tutorials on how to paint with the iron, but none on painting with brushes. I will also be doing a blog on safety for encaustics, and caring for encuastic paintings. So hopefully I will have sort of the definitive guide to painting with encaustics, since there doesn't seem to be anything that complete anywhere else.

What do you think?

Encaustics2 - evolution of decay

So Today was my second adventure in Encaustics. I'm doing pretty well with it i think, All things considered.
so there is my panting 'Decay'. It looks a little mouldy. I was surprised i ended up liking the finish result after my distressing melt-my-whole-painting-with-an-iron-and-watch-it-drip-on-the-floor fiasco.
So Encaustics is pretty interesting. If you haven't tried it, you should. its great fun :)
I used many transparent oil paint colours, R&F encaustic Medium (I'll be making my own from now on, i have 15lbs of beeswax, i just need to buy the resin), and some iridescent powdered pigment. Check it out:
Thats my little silicone muffin wrapper that I use as my palette XD I have tons of them I set them on a cookie sheet over the burners on my stove LOL. The irridescent looked like melted gold :D Neat!

I've discovered that the biggest enemies of encaustics are impatience, and too much heat. I burnt some of my pigment when I wasnt watching the temperature of my pots, and I melted off most of my painting when I had it looking pretty good, and I was never able to recover it. Oh well, Life goes on.


So here is a detail close up of the bottom corner. I used some Opaque pigment in Medium to achieve that mould look. I was surprised it turned out as well as it did. OMG I had one heck of a scare with it :D I accidently spread that colour over the whole thing HAHA! I melted it off though, thank goodness :B


I buffed it to a shiney shine with a nice soft cloth and I was pretty pleased with it over all.
If I was smart, I'd get painting that humming bird I need to do, but I'm out of mineral spirits too. Oh well :B HAHA!
Hope you like it :D




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Now playing on Winamp: Gordon Lightfoot - Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald

Painting Updates

I have even more on the go now, HA HA! I can;t seem to stop starting new things and experimenting. I think my "on the go" painting count is up to 5 now. One Acrylic that will likely be finished in Oils since I'm not terribly fond of acrylic, one Oil abstract, the humming bird, once concept for an Encaustic painting, and a plein-Air piece that I probably wont touch anymore.

Okay First off, the Humming bird for my aunt Cathy. I work on it very infrequently because I am using oils, and a great deal of layering. I've gotten to a point where its starting to look done ish, but there is a lot of work to do on the branches in particular. The preview I've posted here is a bad photo that took a bit ago. Its drying in an awkward place with bad light so its hard to get a good picture and getting it down from its tower is a bit tricky. So deal with it. A good photo will come when it's finally done... Anyways, as you can see, its coming along. The humming bird is a little bit fantasy but you know... thats me bebeh!

I think it should be pretty nice when its done... I hope. When its done Mum will pay me the remainder.

What do you think? Any Suggestions for how I should finish it?


Next up, The encaustic painting I did today. Whoo! after so much anticipation I finally did one! HAHA! Anticipation for me anyways, I've had the supplies for so long now. I'm not 100% pleased with it. I think its a bit gloopy for me, but I still like the effects, and I had fun doing it. The luminosity of it is really stunning.
I used a few transparent oil colours, and some B.C. Beeswax, and R&F encaustic Medium since I havent gotten up the courage to make my own medium yet (and i haven't got the Resin... its sitting on hold at work).

I painted with it on my easel in a verticle position to get the nice drips, and I even took a heat gun and melted spots on the panel to create some lighter areas where the wood of the panel shows though and make more drips. I like the over lapping textures of the smooth wax pouring over the scrumbly wax.

I collaged a couple bone photos into it as well, as an experiment for a future project. Overall It turned out well and it was a promising experiment to lead into more adventurous encaustic work.

I've got a little Plein-air wet canvas carying apartatus I'm going to share on Experimental Guru later on as well! I made it to hold and carry my wet canvases when we went plein-air painting last weekend. It served very useful! That should be interesting! check it out :D

Daqueran in FHM

I'd like to say Ive been creating up a storm, but I haven't. I've been mostly experimenting with my new toys. I spent a ton of money getting the supplies I need to get my encaustics going, and finally tried to do it, except the hot plate I had didnt get hot enough to keep the wax molten, so I'm on another quest to get more stuff.
I need:

• A hot plate that will get to 200ºC
• Resin (it's on hold at opus, forgot to buy it)
• Mortar and pestle (To grind resin)

So, that's not too bad. I got a decent old timey scale for weighing my ingredients, and some metal bowls to make my hot palette and tons and tons of wax!

We've also been experimenting with the airbrush a little. I wasn't too happy with how this paint behaved on my sculpey so iI got some airbrush medium and I'll see if I can get better results with gouache. I've also got to experiment with how the airbrushing looks and reacts to marker paper. I got illustration board though, just in case, and because I like it! I bought bigger boards because the smaller sizes were out of stock, and then spent 20 minutes cutting them down to my sizes. Then the shipment came today with the sizes I wanted. Woof. Next time I'll get the full sized sheets and cut anyways, since its $1 cheaper.

SO anyways, ya, Daqueran was featured as one of the top 20 webcomics in the Estonian For Him Magazine (fhm). Thats pretty exciting! Kitty scanned the article! Check it out :D we translated it sort of, online and it seems like just a little synopsis, but it put it at #18 for the top 20 webcomics. Thats pretty impressive :D The #1 spot is pretty dissapointing. Stick figures with no real humor except whats been rehashed. I'm happy Kitty was choosen at all, and #18 is pretty respectable too, but still, stick figure comics being #1? c'mon! lets get some artists in the #1 spot sometimes!

So tomorow is Conflagration day! I plan to spend the entire day working on Conflagration and getting SOMETHING accomplished. I find it really difficult to work on it most days, because I need full concentration on it, and I'm never alone, so tomorow being my day off alone, it is a good plan to dedicate! So I hope to post something soon. Would anyone be interested in a trailer Animatic? of should I just wait and post the trailer? rough animation? anything? Feedback would be awesome! thanks :D