What have I been up to in the art world?
Well, I am still up to my ears in wax-making and creating. I am getting the hang of heating wax and so far haven't had any accidents.
Spreading and fusing the wax is quite tricky if you want a smooth finish. I tend to have lumps and bumps from the heat gun or brush lines if it cools to quickly while painting it onto my substrate. At this stage I just have to settle for texture.I've experimented with a whole lot of different techniques such as adding colour, mark-making and embedding papers to name a few.
Three encaustic books have arrived in the post and another one is on the way, so I have plenty of ideas to play with.
The name of the books are:
'Wax and Paper Workshop' by Michelle Belto
'Encaustic Mixed Media' by Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch. I was also gifted a book by the same author titled 'Encaustic Workshop'
'Encaustic Art' by Lisa Rankin.
At the same time I have been trying out my tin of Gamblin Cold Wax that arrived from Melbourne. The drying time is so much longer than the heated wax and I'm still not sure what I am meant to be doing with it to create a art piece. There is no manual or art book for Cold Wax as yet.
I have also made my own which works out a lot cheaper but I'm not sure of the ratio's yet between the pure bees wax and the 'Zest It' orange solvent. I simply tipped some wax beads into a jar and poured the solvent over, put the lid back on and left it to stand over night. In the morning it was ready to go. I spread some like thick butter over a piece of pinewood board today at the studio and I will see what the transparency is like and how long it takes to dry before I can layer it up. It is all trial and error but lots of fun!
Oh yes! I also have a new camera. A Nikon 3100, so I should be able to get some decent shots of my work soon. I'm just wading through the manual at this stage. Oh...always so much to learn!
