Daisy Kind of Day

Encaustic is a very unique technique I have to say.  There are so many ways in which you can manipulate the medium.  Some like to use an iron to create their images, some apply layer upon layer and scrap away to reveal their image, and I....well I like to carve.  Yep.  My concentration in art school was actually printmaking.  I learned all the old world styles of printing, including woodblock cutting.  And it was my favorite by far!  Of course I preferred the buttery linoleum over the wood, but they produced the same type of affect.  So after I've applied the medium and painted all the little sections like a coloring book, I get most exited at the last step, the carving and filling of the lines.  I LOVE the way the brush strokes look like wood cuttings with the oil pastel rubbed into them.  Love.

I am also playing around with adding some fun collage elements to the wax.  I found that fabric works it's way into the texture better than paper.  And since I have oh like 100 pieces of scraps from bird making, it's fun to add that little pop of something extra! 

Well, I've got about 3 more ideas in my head to paint and then it'll be time to put the wax away and get back out the acrylics.  The larger paintings I'll have to do in texture layers and paint.  My patience would wear too thin if I did a large waxy painting.   I hope you have a daisy kind of day at your house!