Family History

Hallo,

   Another encaustic collage painting for you today.  I like this one but it was a bit of a struggle!! I am not all that good at collage - always seems to get too cluttered and then when I try to paint over things to reduce the clutter and add focus it just seem to go blah on me, but this one went a bit better.

   The first 3 photos are the finished painting. The last 2 photos are in progress. That last photo was a big sticking point for me as that dark bottom right hand corner was too dark and distracting and the painting didn't feel cohesive...

  I was reluctant to paint over things and didn't want to use white - too stark - or ivory - would blend in with the vines too much - or the turquoise blue - too much blue. The gold oil stick I have is almost too bright and would have been distracting too and it was more opaque and I didn't want to wipe out what was below completely.....so I tried the gold gilders paste figuring I could always go over it, but it was just the thing to tone down the dark spot under the vine and to tone down the tiny spot of flower paper next to it that didn't quite fit either.

     I finished off the edges with gold acrylic paint which looks really cool in real life!!

   All for today - Take Care

       Tera

 

Circles of life

Hallo,

  Another mixed media encaustic today - rubber stamps painted with watercolor and covered with several layers of clear encaustic and then several stencils with pan pastels.

   This one is a bit more structured I guess is the word but was fun to do.

   11H by 14 W framed in a float frame.

   All for today - Take Care

      Tera

 

Oriental Flair - mixed media

Hallo,

   I am taking a year long art/encaustic class - 'Painting with Fire' and the class that inspired this painting was using mixed media with encaustic.

   The black are rubber stamps with black stazon ink and then the teal is stazon with a stencil. Added some lines with walnut ink and then some watercolor for the tan lower part and the flowers.

  After a couple layers of clear encaustic I added more teal leaves using the stencil with pan pastels and also used the pan pastels to add more layers to the flowers. 

  I framed it out into a float frame. It is 10 H by 8 W for the art with a bit wider for the frame.

  I am having alot of fun with this class even if I cant do much with my right arm yet - healing well after my rotator cuff surgery but am restricted on how much I can lift and certain movements.....and alas, I have to go back to work this week......

    Take Care

         Tera

 

Mango Koi

Hallo,
  Been busy in the studio playing with alcohol inks and wax, and its soooo much fun - I had forgotten how vibrant the alcohol inks are!!!
  This piece started with a stencil of the koi fish and when it was dry I colored it with alcohol inks and then did the background.
  Once the inks dried - very quickly with alcohol inks - I added a layer of shellac, let it dry a bit and then did a burn.
   I then taped off an area near the top and added encaustic wax to the areas not taped off.
  Taped off a smaller row and added some red microbeads.
  Lastly I added resin to the area I initially taped off to seal it and to add a bit extra pop and shine.
  I framed it in a floating frame with gold edges and it is now for sale on my Vangoart site.
   www.vangoart.com and my user name is 'Tera Fujan'

                                                                                 All for today - am off to my real job.....
                                                                                           Take Care
                                                                                                  Tera