Sisters: A Sneak Peek at Faux Encaustics

The background in this piece is my first attempt at trying the"faux encaustic" technique from the workshop I'm taking. I decided to enhance it with some digital imagery from a Degas painting and the word "love".

My sister had to put her 16-year-old cat to sleep Thursday. I was so sad after talking with her; I know what she's going through. I had to do the same for my little guy when he was 20 1/2 years old. After we talked, I got to thinking about when we were growing up and how she would follow me around trying to do whatever I was doing. All of these emotions were going through my head when I finished this canvas today. I was looking for something to enhance it and when I looked in my files I came across this Degas painting that brought those memories back. So I took the image of the two girls and put them in my background.

Here is the canvas alone:

The technique is really cool. I didn't have the correct gel medium for one of the steps and had to use a soft gel gloss (it called for semi-gloss). This little town doesn't have much in the way of art supplies so I'll have to stock up from Dick Blick. I went ahead and used the gloss on all of the canvasses since these are only 5" x 5" samples used just to try the technique. I'll definitely do bigger canvasses when I get the correct supplies. I get the cheapie canvasses that they sell at JoAnn that have simple pictures printed on them. They are with the art supplies for kids. I just Gesso over that and use them for my samples. These were 2 for $1 so it's a good way to try a technique without having to use your good canvas.

This is a great workshop and can be found at Creative Workshops (see side link). The teacher is Jodi Ohl and she's really thorough and fun to watch. I'm loving the possibilities with this technique!

I'll post the rest of the canvasses after I do the final step on those. I decided to jump in and finish one today. I wanted to make a little something for my sis, hoping it would at least make her feel loved. :)

Twilight

Kimmie, the wonderful host over at Digital Whisper.ning, posted a really nice piece of art that got me thinking. It featured a haunted house and it was for a group she belongs to called, "The Darker Side". It stayed with me all day...I just couldn't stop thinking about it. It's strange how some images can just grab us, demanding our attention!

This got me thinking about the latest trends in fiction right now, vampire fiction especially. As a kid I was terrified of vampire movies. I had to sleep with a light on; yes, I admit being a chicken! I've been meaning to start the Twilight series of books written by Stephanie Meyer. She's definitely found a following! I know her "audience" is the teen sector but I think a lot of older people enjoy reading her, too.

Anyway, after thinking about all of these things I wanted to create a somewhat darker piece of my own and came up with little montage of images. I marvel at how often I'll gravitate to different subject matter! I'm mulling all of these little bits around in my head while anticipating the next couple of workshops I'm taking. Beginning tomorrow: Suzi Blu's "The Goddess and The Poet" and over at Creative Workshops, "Faux Encaustics". Both of these look to be fantastic workshops and I'm making notes about all of these ideas I have swirling around in my head right now.

"The Goddess and The Poet" will be cool because not only are we drawing more lifelike portraits but we are adding our own poetry. What a great combination for art! And the "Faux Encaustics" looks to be really inspiring. I love encaustic work but after investigating the cost of the equipment I decided to hold off on that for awhile. From the samples that the instructor posted in her promo video it looks like the next best thing!

So maybe my next couple of pieces will have a darker theme (not vampires but not so whimsical). These workshops will give me lots of space to explore!