Olive Trees

Olive Trees
8" x 8"

This piece was inspired by a recent trip to Italy during harvest time.
There were so many beautiful fields of Olive Trees everywhere. They look, "oh so delicious", ripe and juicy, ready to be eaten. But don't eat one off the tree, they are not delicious at all. They are very bitter. Ha, ha ha,we learned the hard way.
The technique I used on this painting is called incising and each of those thin lines are made with a sharp needle tool, another clay tool, that works well in wax.
To make the line black, an oil stick in pushed into the recesses, let dry and buffed away.  Tube oil paint can also be used, but must be exposed to the air for several hours to thicken, then used.
This painting was donated to Arrowmont School of Art, in Gatlinburg for Auction. It's a beautiful campus here offering a wide variety of classes in all mediums.

Achieving a smooth encaustic surface

A Bird In This World
10" x 10"

This piece has the luminous, smooth surface that is typical of encaustic medium. Many layers are built up in the same way as a textured surface, so this painting still has approximately 8-10 separate layers. In order to get a smooth flat look, the surface must be hand scraped after each addition of paint. The paint should be slightly warm to the touch. If it is too warm, or if you scrape too deep, all the color from that layer will be removed. It's a judgement thing and takes a little practice to avoid making ridges.
For years I used single edge razor blades or long handled razor blade scrapers that house painters use.
These become dull quickly and are awkward to keep level.
I have found the perfect thing for the job, and it is used by potters for sculpting clay. It is a loop clay tool and comes in many sizes and, can be purchased where pottery supplies are sold.

I have utilized my hand dyed papers for collage and stenciling to create the crisp, bold images.