Sunny day in the marsh

Hallo,

  Finished off the third in my marsh series this weekend. 8 by 10 inches, encaustic with pan pastels. I used the pan pastels mostly for the sky and water. The grasses and trees were all done  with my hot pen.

   The first pic is finished. Then I show the progression of the painting.  I am hoping to do some bigger versions of these eventually.

   Have a great day!!!

       Tera

 

Foggy marsh

Hallo,

    Love my weekend studio time. This is a painting I thought I finished last weekend, but all week long at work he kept talking to me, telling me he needed something more. Sometimes I really hate not being able to paint every day, it is sometimes hard to stay in the rhythm of a painting only working on the weekend. But sometimes it gives me a chance to step back and look at a painting for awhile and get a sense of what it needs.

   The first photo is were this painting ended up last weekend and I was happy but the more I looked at it... I take pics of my paintings not only in progress but at the end of my weekend in the studio and look at the photos throughout the week. I feel like it keeps me in touch with the 'flow' of my paintings in progress so I can jump in quicker when the weekend comes.

   The second photo is how this painting ended up yesterday at the end of the day and like a sigh or a big breath of fresh air, I KNOW he is now finished. Sometimes I get that feeling and sometimes I just have to look at it awhile longer.

   I darkened some areas in the sky a touch and even more in the water to 'ground' the marsh grasses. I made the fog darker/thicker too and then added some grasses back in with the hot pen. The sky, water and fog were done/colored almost totally with pan pastels(I started the painting with a white/gray/light blue encaustic base). The grasses are encaustic paint with a fine tip hot pen.

   Total all there are a ton of layers - the sky, water and fog is probable 8 to 9 layers - pan pastels, fuse, very light layer of medium and repeat. The grasses are about 10 layers total all -the fog pan pastel applications flattened the textures there a bit and then I would add more on top - several times.

   The third marsh painting is in the works....

   Take Care

        Tera

    

 

Coiled baskets

Hallo,

   A rainy saturday here in NW Florida - spent some time in the studio painting and now trying to catch up on some computer stuff.

  In the last couple months, I have finished off these 2 vases made with thrift store yarn and a 1/4-inch cotton rope core. I started coiling as an off shoot of an encaustic project and decided to make up a bunch of bowls, baskets and such for my Grandbaby to play with. 

   The first basket I made was to hold a bunch of books that I bought for her.  So far I have done 3 small bowls and a small basket and now these 2. The taller one is about 18 inches tall and the other one about 10 inches tall. 

   I have plans for a really big 'laundry basket type' basket that I will fill with all the smaller ones. 

   It is a great way to keep my hands busy for the hourish that we sit and watch TV in the evenings, and I am always finding yarn at the thrift shops or have people give me yarn so now it is getting used.

    Eventually when I get a bit better at this coiling thing, I have a couple fancier projects in mind.

    Have a great Day!!!

        Tera

 

Irish Cottage

Hallo,

   Happy weekend!!! A bit cool here in NW Florida but sunny and not humid so I am happy. Too cool for yard work so I can catch up on some computer work with the sun shining in my window.

  I finished off this painting last weekend. It is 11 by 14 inches. I used a photo that I took back in 1998 in Ireland. I went on a horseback riding trip starting at a riding complex that was just being built up at the time northish of Shannon. We rode for 6 days and stayed at B&B's. We rode north and east and ended up riding along the cliffs of Moher - north of the more popular tourist spots.

  I used the photo as an under drawing by printing it in black and white onto tissue paper and then embedding it into the wax background that I had already layed down. (I did a smaller version - 8 by 10 - with just the window a couple weeks ago, this time I added in a thatched roof. The roof in the original picture was shingled but there were alot of thatched roofs in Ireland for me to draw inspiration from!!).

    The first 2 pics are the finished painting - under slightly different lighting condition - the top one shows the colors more accurately but the second one shows off the textures better.

   Starting with the third pic, I show the progression of the painting. I started with an off white/slightly gray background that was pretty smooth and added the photos. I then started adding texture and some color to the brick wall part of the painting - this time with a brush and many layers. The smaller version I did most of the texture with my hot pens. The fourth pic shows off some of the texture.

   After adding some colors and more texture to the wall, I then started work with my hot pen - mostly with a fine tip ( like an old fountain pen to write with only heated). I carved in the bricks an added paint back into the lines and then used the hot pen to do the containers on the window seal, the window and finally many layers to make the thatched roof. 

   I plan for this painting to be in a show starting next week and then after that will be up in my Etsy shop.

   Have a great weekend!!!

       Tera