His & Hers

Here are my first encaustic painting results I'm willing to share.

I titled these "His and Hers." They're made from leftover wax scrapings I received in class last week. I especially like the pink which is a mixture I probably could not have come up with on my own, and it is a color I'm really attracted to working with.

The set up with the new griddle and sardine cans worked great. I didn't blow any fuses or catch anything on fire. (Note to self: get a fire extinguisher for the kitchen and garage. My house has a fire alarm and sprinkler system, but I'd hate to see it go off with all the water damage that would ensue.)

These pieces are 9x9 on cradled gesso board. I used the Holy Grail as a primer, then 2 coats of clear beeswax (without damar; that hasn't arrived yet). A tracing paper drawing of gears went on top of those 2 coats of wax, after a good fusing. I was able to get a very nice smooth and milky surface, which I ended up covering up, but fun to practice with the heat gun to get rid of all the bubbles.

The stripe is a combination of wax pastel overlaid with the wax paint. When I went to fuse these areas, the wax pastel broke up underneath. The detail is gorgeous - very ephemeral - but hard to capture in this photo. (Tip: click on the photo and it will pop up in a new window, enlarged. I can see the speckly details on my iMac; can you?)

Now on to a couple of little pieces on the press.