Category: Encaustic

Finished art, painted with heated wax and other multi-media.

Earrings

This is the last batch of store-bought wooden discs that I painted with wax. Elizabeth, who had the idea for earrings, finished each piece with hardware. These two pair have contrasting backs and fronts.

Modelling the different sides.

This last earring is more conventional. I learned, finally, that if I wanted to stamp an image it’s best to do it first. Once the wax is applied, the surface, no matter how beautifully fused, has imperfections that keep the ink from printing consistently.

Elizabeth improved a rather simple design by adding the perfect hardware. Thanks.

Death of a Tap

On the right is the new tap pull I made for our Still Water dispenser. On the left photo, it’s installed next to the Bubbly Water tap pull, as seen from the backside. That was its proud situation seven months ago.

This is its situation today:

The valve became a little sticky (not my fault!) and the smaller encaustic pull couldn’t withstand the torque.

I will say I’m not sorry to see it go. The vertical lettering was surprisingly difficult to get right, leading to many do-overs. Although I applied shellac to the encaustic, this tap didn’t get the epoxy treatment that the other tap got. I don’t feel particularly inspired to create another one. Those of you who drink still water (not me!) will just have to use a boring, plain stick as a tap.

Fish earrings

A few months ago I made a YouTube about my process of laying watercolor over this stamped fish image on a wooden disk. I now present the finished product. Thanks to Elizabeth for preparing the substrate, finishing the hardware, and modeling the earrings.

Summer Hiatus, revisited

I’m reminded of a post from just over a year ago.

I told you I would be working on an Encaustic/Enneagram book. The above photo is of a wall in my studio. These are the pieces I so enthusiastically anticipated finishing. I hung them so that I could look at them every day and continue to think about how to make them better. They’ve sat like this for many months now.

Frankly, I don’t think I’m a good enough artist to bring these pieces to fruition at this time. Even the ones that are close to finished don’t tell me how they can be made better. I don’t have 10,000 hours of encaustic time, and it shows.

I wanted to be honest. The process is as important as the product to me. I’m still excited for the project, though. I like the idea, and some day I will continue. Meanwhile, this wall of incompletion waits for me.

St. Veronica

I’ve always been impressed with St. Veronica’s bravery. Peter denies Christ and Simon of Cyrene tries to avoid carrying the cross, but here’s Veronica, surrounded by Roman soldiers, calmly wiping Christ’s face.

I also love the cloth as a relic. In my screenplay (The Fifth Husband) adapted from Chaucer, I enjoyed writing the Pardoner. He has a sack of Veronica handkerchiefs for sale, each one the “official” cloth that touched Christ. I gave the Pardoner a villainous intent based on his fraudulent profession.

These are fun details, but the foundational reason I’m painting St. Veronica is because she is one of the names my father chose (the other is Colleen) for the two miscarriages my mother had after I was born. As Catholics we believe that, from conception, an unborn baby has a soul. Even though these two young ones miscarried before sex characteristics could be identified, Dad wanted to pray for their intercession and remember them as part of our family. He hopes to reunite with them in heaven. He gave one the name my mother wanted for me, and the other was named in remembrance of his beloved aunt who died young. I’m comforted and fascinated by the thought of two sisters, unknown and unmet, who may be praying for me at this very moment.