So I went down to the studio this morning. Figured even if yesterday’s experiment was a bust it might be edible.
It was. And it wasn’t. Note to self: Real cream cheese has to be refrigerated. That should’ve been my first clue.
Couldn’t eat it. Nothing else to do but scrape that sucker down. I even took a photo of that, best I could with one hand holding the camera. Turned out okay. I can’t post it though because the quick fingered screwup fairy hit delete when she didn’t mean to. Or maybe she did. Just close your eyes and picture a well manicured dainty hand with skin as soft and smooth as (fill in your cliche here) holding one of those high tech scraper tools. Like a hand model.
Scraping was like slowly unwrapping a luscious present, the kind where you carefully untie the knots, peel the tape away, stick your finger under the flap and-oh-so-slowly lift off the paper while everyone around you is jumping up and down yelling, “OPEN IT ALREADY!!!” And you just sit there humming Carley Simon’s ANTICIPATION. Driving. Them. Crazy.
Go ahead hum a few bars. Right now. Because I put that song in your head and if you don’t get it out of your system it’ll be there ALL DAY. I’ll wait. In fact I’ll go one better. I’ll bring you the concert.
Back already? Good. Because I’ve got an important lesson to share. There I was, slowly and patiently scraping away. Then I started getting excited as landmarks began to emerge. A row of accretions looming just under the surface like an undersea mountain range. Excavations faintly visible under layers of tissue and wax. Each new revelation daring my common sense to keep on going. So I did.
And I went too far.
Then it was back to square 1. Wax. Layer. Scrape. Buff. Gold leaf. A little ground pastel. A little oil paint. More wax. The final piece the same…but different.
I’ve got a show coming up in three weeks. THREE WEEKS! Pause here to breathe into a paper bag, in case you’re getting anxious for me. And you might be if you saw what I did in the studio today.
Because today I gave myself permission to get in there and make a mess. Push the envelope. Practice some of the new stuff I’m learning in Judy’s class. I gave myself permission to make nothing. NOTHING. Just experiment.
I took a 6″X6″ board. Covered it with wax one way. Scraped most of it off. Covered it another way. Scraped most of that off. Scribbled on it with chalk pastel, water crayons, charcoal. Cut up an old art history book and made a transfer of a painting I should know the name of. Covered it all with more wax. Scraped a whole bunch of that off.
At the end of the day I figured I should have something to show for the day–besides the bucket of wax scrapings, that is. So I went back into my comfort zone and threw together something I was happy with.
Except I didn’t like the surface. It was too uneven. Not uneven in a deliberate way (part of it was that). Uneven in a sloppy way.
So I decided to try something I never did before…a wax pour.
I constructed a barrier… (fuzzy photo alert!)
and poured the wax. A bit too much. But it was even, oh yes it was. And thick as cream cheese on a bagel. When I left the studio it was still white. We’ll see how it looks tomorrow but I suspect there’ll be more scraping involved. But if it was cream cheese…ahh, I’d be in heaven.
I had another piece similar to this that I made last week. I decided to do another pour, this time with no barrier. Look at this carefully because I want you to compare it with the final product.
I propped it ever so slightly over a spoon so the hot wax would have a direction to flow. Then I poured. This time I did it right–imagine that!
I added just a touch of gold leaf to highlight the depth of the wax. It’s not the best photo but you can see what I mean. This is what I love about encaustic!
I woke up in the middle of the night, dog must’ve woofed or sumthin’. Not a totally unheard of event, living in the country. A lot of distractions going on outside in the big woods. Four legged distractions. Sophie in particular fancies herself a watchdog. Twelve pounds of Maltipoo vs. the wild beasts.
Bean tends to sleep through it all. Most nights I roll over, stuff a pillow over my head and go back to sleep.
But last night was different. I was in the middle of a dream. And there was a blowtorch involved. Which meant I was making art, doing the encaustic dance in my sleep.
I lay there thinking about that. About sleep as a means of recharging and refreshing and yet here I was carrying on the activities of the day on a whole ‘nother level.
As I write this many hours later, I have no memory of the the dream itself, of the content. But I still see the image I woke up with, the torch in my hand, the flame on the wax.
And I’m thinking it’s a good thing I don’t sleepwalk. And if I ever did, there’s a couple of locked doors and a gauntlet of wild beasties between me and that torch.
Time to sit back and take a deep breath. In….Out…. Oh, that’s so much better.
Between building three websites, preparing for an upcoming show, working a day job AND taking an on-line encaustics class taught by the fantabulous Judy Wise, I’d say I’m stretched a bit thin–except my pants would say that’s a lie. They would say, “Umm, Susan? There ain’t nuthin’ thin about your butt.” And I would say, “STOOPID PANTS!!!” I hate being bossed around by denim, don’t you? So, on top of everything else, I’m exercising. Hard. Yoga. Pilates. Running absolutely nowhere on the eliptical. Every day something.
AND I’M LOVING IT!!!
I’m writing this post at 9 PM. And I’m tired. No, no–beyond tired. I’m exhausted, ready to crawl into bed and konk out. And it feels SO GOOD!
Because before I got back into exercising, I was busy from the time I got up in the morning–and I’m talking early AM, to the time I went to bed ALWAYS after midnight. Sometimes hours after midnight. And when I finally went to bed I couldn’t sleep. I was tired-wired.
Another prep day in Studio Grande, making encaustic wax medium. Which is basically beeswax and damar resin crystals magically melted together with much hocus pocus and chanting of spells. Bats flying around the room and everything.
Oh, sorry…Halloween. That time of year, you know, and I’ve been pretesting the candy. Mini-Reeses. Oh yum…. Now back to encaustic medium.
I learned how to make my own today in Judy Wise’s Hot Wax on-line class.
It’s killer expensive when you buy it ready made in stores. Roughly about the same price per ounce as gold. Which is why encaustic artists are all independently wealthy, every one of ’em. Don’t believe me? Well, you shouldn’t because I’m lying to make a point exaggerating a little. But just a little. Check out the photo.
See that thing in the middle, that little bitty microscopic tin of wax—that’s commercially prepared encaustic medium. And that little thing cost as much as all those other BIG, FAT. ROBUST cakes of homemade medium combined. And mine were made with love. Because I loves me my wax. Seriously, do you think wax factories do ruffles?
Here are some others I added oil paint or powdered pigment to, although it looks like there are still three virgins in the crowd, right there in the middle.
The four in the front, the ones that look kind of boring, are anything but. Those are magic shimmer and shine interference colors. The ones that look white–one is shimmery gold. The other is shimmery, just shimmery.
Here’s a close up. This one is red/blue. I can’t wait to see what it does in a painting.
Heavy on the carbs tonight and now I’m nodding off to Z-Land. Or maybe it was the yoga with weights DVD I did this evening, which happens to be my new favorite workout. Comes with cool little weights and a foam prop and it’s even on sale. No one is paying me to say this either, just my thighs. Which are screaming, by the way.
Or maybe I’m tired because I was in cleaning mode all day. Got half the studio done, the room where I make my boards and paint. Thought that was the most logical place to start since I had boards to make. And plaster. And/or gesso. The boring-but-gots-to-be-done prep work before painting.
Normal people reading this are probably thinking what the —? It’ just a bunch of unArt. There’s nothing there but white stuff. Please, don’t think of it that way. Think of it as…possibilities. As masterpieces waiting to happen. And then raise your hand, jump up and down and say, “Oh! Oh! I WANT one of those when it’s done!!!”
And FYI, Art Peeps? There’s MORE of these in the wax room! But I’m not going to show you the wax room right now because it’s such a mess. It will be cleaned tomorrow, so I can get down to business with Judy Wise’s new encaustic class.
