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….. 

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.