Forty four

I’m awful with numbers - they mean nothing to me. I have to tally my checkbook register five times to get the same balance.  I can’t remember a phone number that I’ve used daily for ten years.  And really, I hate to admit it but I get anxious when count out change at a cash register.  

But today, I caught myself counting my strokes with a single edge razor blade as I smoothed the surface of my encaustic.  Yep, forty four strokes then wipe the blade, inspect the surface, and start again.  I realized I was in a rhythm of forty four swipes across the surface EVERY SINGLE TIME.  

I’m sick.  I can honestly say not a single other thought in the world was in my mind except counting to forty four and keeping the exact same pressure with the blade as I worked across the surface.  This could be a form of meditation.  Or I might need medication.

Meditation or medication.  Hard to say….. 

Plan with a small p

Starting this piece on Thursday, I realized I was going through the same mental process I do with any medium.  And again, I realized I was finding my rhythm with encaustic.  THANK GOODNESS!  I was losing hope.  Maybe that is when we always find our rhythm with anything - when we’re almost out of options.

For me it’s best if I don’t plan too far ahead - it just limits my possiblities.  And frankly, it’s a waste of time.  The painting will take it’s own turns anyway.  I tend to get a basic plan on paper - not a detailed drawing but a basic design plan for the major light and dark shapes.  With encaustic, I do it on tracing paper so I can lay it over the wax as the piece progresses and press my lines into the wax where needed with pencil.

Before I start to paint, I decide on a:

warm color

cool color

a color that will tie the two together

and I think about which direction my darkest value will go as well as my lightest.

With that general plan in mind I feel like I have my values covered so I won’t go too far astray.  I mix colors that interest me and work well together — and test them on scrap paper.  

And I start.  From that point, every decision rest on whatever is on the board.  The painting is dictating decision after decision and the original plan, such as it was, no longer has any bearing.  The original colors that I mixed are changing on the palette - whether I’m adjusting them on purpose or they are getting mingled as I dip my brushes in each one.  Either way, there is harmony as the piece moves along.

Or not.  Either way, it is natural progression and from my position in the chair, an adventure.  It’s actually sort of a journey.  When this 10” x 12” is finished, I’ll feel like we’ve been on a road trip together, like a friendship has developed - built on all the little things that we shared during our time at the encaustic table together.  

Still On the Rails

I was back at it again today.  Carving away details, filling with pigmented medium,and scraping back with a single edge blade.  I got in the groove and the day flew by.  Here, I’m using a dental tool to carve.

Scraping back is delicate work and the further along I get with a piece, the more up tight I get about it!  There are more layers of wax so the piece might be less “level”.  That means there may be low spots where the blade will go deeper than I intend.  Also, with a lot of detail I’m working over an area several times before I add a layer of medium — the more I work in an area, the easier it is to pick up details previously worked out.  Trying to flow while being careful is tricky!

I continued to develop and it dawned on me.  I’m doing ANOTHER blue and orange piece.  How does this keep happening??

This is where I left it today.  Lots of glare on the left side in the photo but I was too tired to care!  This one came a long way in one day.  Not sure how that happened but I’m okay with it for now.  I’ll start tomorrow with a layer of clear medium to protect what I’ve done so far and then continue with what will probably be the final layer of detail.  

At the end of my painting day, I always go in the front room and hang out with the studio cats for a while.  It’s a good time to thumb through a book, Tweet, and catch my breath before I head home.  Today, Carmella did not BUDGE the whole time.  Evidently she had a busy day too.