promises, promises

I've been working so hard and so so busy... I'll have a blog up by this evening... promise.

As Promised:

Today was hot... HOT! Not Texas hot.... but hot and muggy. Too hot to put encaustic paintings in a car... One woman asked me if it was this hot in Texas. I almost laughed... thinking, if anyone in Dallas knew I was complaining about this heat, they'd roll their eyes.

We are officially done with class class... today we cleaned... the auction is tonight... I didn't donate anything, because I really don't feel like I have anything %100 completed... I have somethings that are %96 completed... but I don't want to auction off something that isn't ready... and I don't feel is done. But, I'm about to go meet my class for dinner, and then go to the auction... and when the sun goes down, I'll load up my car with my paintings and take them back to the spider-infested house... just incase you thought I was kidding... this is a small spider... and my hand on the other side of the screen... to give you some perspective... that is the closest I'll get to a spider this size...

In the last few days I've been using oil paints. I wish I knew something about oil painting before taking this class. I don't even own oil paints... I've had to use other students'... I've attempted one oil painting ever... it turned out okay... but it was a struggle and frustrating... I didn't know turpentine cleaned the brushes and it was a huge mess... After that, anytime I would start an oil painting, I'd end up just finger painting... it looked stupid... and was still a big mess.

Today I learned a technique that I wish I'd learned last week... When I carve into the wax and smear in oil paint into the lines, I use Linseed oil to make it more liquid and easier to wipe off the excess... this will be a great tool for me... I started a painting today using this...

I got a LOT accomplished. I'll go into the funny stories about classmates, huge spiders and living with a roommate in the little cabin in the woods, when my days slow down... For now, I'll just write about the paintings and the techniques I used..

Jeez... where to even start... ?

I added some tissue paper moths to the owl piece... I don't think they're in the right spot... he seems a bit unbalanced... something's off... but he's still cute.

Then instead of scraping off the hummingbird on the long piece, I found a really cool pattern and cut it out and put it inside the halo... then I used a patterned tissue paper for the butterflies... I like it because it's white, black and gray striped and sometimes the white part is invisible. I think I'll end up cutting this piece in half, and make it two.

I added more collage to the Beeswax label piece I did on the first day. I like this collage a lot... a lot more than I thought I would... it's amazing what happens when I quit thinking and just start making art... it helps when I just put something down and then respond naturally to that... I used tissue paper, and found paper and collaged on with plain encaustic medium (beeswax and resin). This is a small piece... maybe 5x7... but I want to cut it in half to make it two...

Then, last night I was trying to finish everything up... and I picked up a tissue paper owl I drew several days ago and with hot wax, I attached it to the masonite board... Then I just started painting adding texture... Then I decided, hmmm.... trees would be nice.... so I scraped in some trees... Then with oil paint and glaze I added some orange and pink highlights... I need to outline him or something... maybe string? Everyone really likes this one.. this is the biggest one...

I think I'm gonna sleep tomorrow after show and tell... maybe I'll wake up in the evening.... or maybe I'll sleep for a few days... I'm worn out... pooped. In good spirits... and doing well, but really physically tired. zzzz