Palmtree

Quite pleased with this. It came about through playing and wanting to do something a bit different with foregrounds. Like the foxgloves below, it's an image I'm happy to use on notelets.

Foxgloves

This little pic was done around October 2008. It's still one of my favourites and even though I've tried to recreate it a couple of times, I can't do it. It's one of the frustrating things about trying to learn something new - things happen by accident and you've no idea how you did it.

For instance, I can't for the life of me do foxgloves anymore! I suppose these must have been beginners luck and I need a lot more practice before I can paint them on demand. The same goes for the mountains in the distance. I like the way these tail off into a headland stretching out into the water, and they do seem to be just the right shape and size for the perspective of the picture.

The foreground is muted, with the iron marks not being as obvious as in many encaustic paintings, and this, again, was achieved through happy accident. I laid the finished painting on top of the iron so that the wax melted.

Crippled Dragonfly

Trying dragonflies. Not easy is it? This one looks as though it's either got an extra wing or a broken leg. By now I have got a stylus and a whole new world opens up. There is so much to this art form that I want to try that I just wish there were more hours in a day.

Having no art training, and certainly having no painting ability whatsoever, encaustic work is a real revelation to me. To be able to produce little pictures like this, that actually look like something real and recognisable gives me a real sense of achievement.

Early attempts

This is one of the first encaustic pics I painted. The path is pretty naff but the rest I was quite pleased with. I like the colours. It was done entirely with the iron.

New Passion - New Blog

I discovered Encaustic Art last september at a craft show. A lady called June Drake was demonstrating basic encaustic techniques and I was hooked.

This was the first time I'd seen encaustic art 'live'. Previously I'd only seen it on television. That was intriguing enough, but to actually see these marvelous little pictures appearing so effortlessly (or so it seemed), using just a lump of pigmented beeswax and a small iron - I couldn't resist. Had to get myself some kit.

We (my daughter and I) bought a starter kit from June, and have been hooked ever since. A stylus has been added to our tool kit, and more is planned. I'm no artist, but with encaustic art even I can create artwork I'm proud of.

I intent charting my encaustic progress in this blog. I'll post a few paintings and invite comments. You're welcome to join me in my new journey.