Dana and…..Dana

I spent several hours today on a new encaustic.  I prepared the board yesterday with the first layers of wax medium, finishing with blues.  Today I started cutting into the wax and creating my leaves, beginning with the ones that are farthest from me.  

Using a dental tool, I cut the leaf shapes away, fill with pigmented wax, then scrape the excess away with a straightedge blade.  I work until the surface needs to be protected by a layer of wax medium then scrape it back to a very thin, smooth surface.  Then I begin again.  

This is where I left it today….branches, more leaves, and eventually berries will come, pretty much in that order. 

Little Cornell was adopted by a wonderful family so I went to the shelter yesterday and asked this beautiful lady if she’d like to hang out with me for a while.  Her name is Dana and she’s a perfect companion.  After three weeks in a dog cell, she was THRILLED to get in the car and blow that joint!  And I learned today that when Dana sleeps…..

She burrows!!  A few minutes after this she was all the way in and didn’t come out for a couple of hours.  She’s so darn cute.  

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.