Jaime Lyerly Art : Art Techniques

Showing posts with label Art Techniques. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Segment Collaboration with Sunshine Vekas – Part 3 – Process: Embroidery and Exchange

In Progress, detail of SC #5d (in the mess of my studio area) © 2010 Sunshine Vekas and Jaime Lyerly

Are you enjoying the step by step process of this? Because I am enjoying writing about it!

Just found out about this collaboration? Here are links to catch you up.
Part 1: Establish your System
Part 2: Process: Nomenclature and Waxing

Segment Collaboration with Sunshine Vekas – Part 3 – Process: Embroidery and Exchange

The image above is where we are starting today's post. We left off at me letting the encaustic wax to cool for the day.

Later that night and the next day, I used my new skill that I learned in my Fiber Surface Design class to enhance the piece - embroidery.

Embroidery on sculpture you say? I know. It is different. But if you have not seen all the super cool things being done with contemporary embroidery, check out the art show "Pricked: Extreme Embroidery". It is not your grandmother's sampler.

Also on the subject of embroidery as/on fine art, there is a great book called By Hand: The Use of Craft in Contemporary Art that I suggest. It notes that with our very technical, computer-driven life, people are turning to hand work to connect with something personal. I concur.

Back to the process: I hand embroidery with white floss intuitively on the segment tufts. I don't follow patterns or do particularly fancy stitching. I just make it up as I go along. Surprised? I didn't think so.

However, my new found knowledge of embroidery stitches influence what I do with the floss. For example, this piece of embroidery is based on the traditional Cretan Stitch. Here is a video on how to do it.

The waxed fabric was surprising easy to hand embroider, although like leather, it leaves a permanent hole. Taking this to my advantage and poked holes through some of the tufts without embroidering through it.

I worked with the segments that had disconnected and rearranged them again.

Finally, I took a photograph of the work and put it away to be exchanged the next day.

On Friday, I brought SC #5d in a humble plastic Vons grocery bag and waited for Sunshine to show up to our classroom. She never showed.

I finally asked our instructor if he had heard from her and found out that she had hurt her ankle and wasn't coming to class. It would be another week until I could exchange it. Rather than work on it anymore, I worked on my Fibrous Waximus project.

When we exchanged the pieces next week, I was delighted that she loved it. There was no "you ruined it!" moment that I had anticipated.

She especially liked the rose madder "mistake" that if I had an "undo" button on my encautic, I wouldn't have done. How's that for trusting the process?

Sunshine said that pieces had a different feel separated from the rubber holders. So my mistake began a start of a new direction for her piece.

Here is a sneak preview of SC #5e-1, which is Sunshine's modification on the piece.

Summary:

This process has been so exciting to share with you! From my self-doubt, working intuitively, to trusting the process, to watching the piece unfold in a whole new direction -- it is all about process. In that process, and sharing it with you, we all learn.

Want Sunshine's side of the story and her process? ME TOO!

Sunshine's documents her process via pictures and text. We are figuring out a way to have her process to fit the formatting of this blog, and when I do, you will get to see more of this project.

Thanks for sharing in this journey with us! ~ Jaime Lyerly

Segment Collaboration with Sunshine Vekas – Part 2 – Process: Waxing

Did I hook you yesterday with this picture or my list? I do hope so!

If not, that is okay. Here is more to whet your appetite for process art.

As I said in Segment Collaboration - Part 1 – Establish your system, my cohort Sunshine Vekas and I are doing a unique art experiment where we work separately on each other’s art pieces therefore making it a collaborative art piece without actually working together in person.

We are both process-oriented artists, so this leads to exploration with materials that we normally wouldn’t chose for ourselves.

In this post, you get to peek into inside my head and my studio to see how I changed Sunshine’s piece above “SC #5c” into Fiber, Rubber and Encaustic sculpture “SC #5d.” This post is part one of the process.
__________________________________________

Before we jump into the process, I need to make a note about the naming system of this collaboration.

Sunshine has developed a system to track the progress of these process pieces. She assigns each piece Segment Collaboration with a number and a letter.

This piece as started in her possession as SC #5a. Each major modification has been assigned with the next letter.

When I received the piece, it was entitled SC #5c. My modification will change it to SC #5d.

I love scientific nomenclature.

The nerd in me cannot resist the twist of taking this fiber and rubber piece, and assigning it a technical, scientific name. It expands it from the realm of art into art as exploration. Onto the process...

Segment Collaboration with Sunshine Vekas – Part 2 – Process: Waxing

After much fighting with my inner critic and self-doubt about myself as an artist, I finally got started on my half of the collaborative project, SC #5d.

The piece has a history before I got to it that (if I can convince her that you readers are interested in it) Sunshine has documented via personal logs and photo documentation.

For now, this post will consider the pictures above and the beginning of this project.

As with many of the fiber creations I make on my own, the first thought for this piece was that it "needed some wax." On a Wednesday afternoon, I heated up my griddle and set up my video camera and camera to document the process.

My encaustic griddle was melting two loaf-sized containers of mixed natural yellow and white beeswax, R&F's transparent Rose Madder, Indian Yellow and Sap Green encaustic paints, all undiluted with medium, so that they are in their richest, creamiest, most potent state.

This photo is not exactly the same palette I used, but it is similar enough to give you an idea of my set-up.

I dipped the first little tuft of fabric. I loved the way the beeswax clung to the transparent cloth, making it more and less transparent at the same time.

I dipped the second tuft into Rose Madder encaustic paint. It was so thick it looked shocking on the transparent cloth. "Oh no, I ruined it!," I gasped.

But I let it stay and trusted in the process to develop.

After dipping each piece in beeswax, I was enjoying the process. However that blood red piece needed to be connected to the rest of the segment. I lightly brushed the Rose Madder encaustic paint, catching only the tips of some of the pieces.

I used my heat gun to soften the edges of the red color, fuse the wax, and shape the tufts. The heat helped to melt the wax which had covered the rubber at the base which looked sloppy compared to the tufts.

Excessive manipulation of the piece with my hands and the heat led to a few tufts at the end of the segment to loosen from their glued rubber holders. What to do now?

The removed the loose tufts from their rubber gaskets, and rearranged them on the segment. I connected the ends together which formed a traditional feminist icon of the V shape.

At this point, I took some photographs and let the piece cool for the day.

Waxed! Want to see what happens to it next? Come back for Part 3 next time!

Your turn:
Am I being a tease by only showing part of the process? Maybe, but the posts are detailed which should make up for it. The process of documenting while it is being made and blogging with critical thought is exciting for me. But I have to ask you...what do you think of the process so far? I would love to hear your comments!

Happy Collaborating! ~ Jaime Lyerly

Monday, November 9, 2009

Encaustic Sculpture Experiments - In Progress Wax Works by Jaime Lyerly

Three pounds of beeswax in cold pan. "Warm it up, Jaim!" "I'm about to!"

It has been a busy weekend preparing to teach Encaustic Technique at the San Diego Women's Caucus for Art Retreat this weekend, November 13-15, 2009 at Camp Stevens in Julian, CA.

I admit that I haven't been doing encaustic often within the last month because of my super busy school schedule and the fact that it has been 90+ degrees during the day! But now that it has finally cooled off here in San Diego, I couldn't resist doing some wax experiments even though I was supposed to be preparing medium for the retreat.

Preparing about 7 lbs of encaustic wax medium was one of my goals this weekend. This should have been the final result. Pretty cakes of clear medium cooling. This image was taken when I was making encaustic medium for the Escondido Municipal Gallery Workshop in July 2009.

Saturday started off just fine with me melting 4 lbs of wax in my pan. It seems so good! (We need smell-a-vision screens for this blog post!)

However as it melted, and I added the damar resin to harden it, the urge to USE the wax instead letting it melt overcame me. I thought about all I had been doing recently without my wax. I have been knitting and knotting fabric and rope pieces to be dipped in wax for my Art Actions. I won some fabrics from artist Carolyn Brown Sadowski. I have some vintage books pages that needed to be waxed, and some more books that my friend Starry just gave me. I rationalized that I haven't turned on my wax in a month and that I NEEDED to wax just a few things to get back into the swing of working with wax to teach at the retreat...

It was a lie.

I WANTED to use the wax for myself. So I did.

I ripped up a vintage book and tossed the pages in the beeswax bath. The damar that I put in was melting and sticky. I soaked these papers. I also dipped individual pieces of paper and shaped them. It was fun to experiment and get messy with the wax.

After experimenting with the paper, I took out the fabric pieces. Dipping materials, especially things like fabric uses A LOT of wax. As I was dipping the fabric pieces, some of them made a sizzling noise. This tells me that there was probably a synthetic material in the fabric that had a lower burning temperature than my wax does. But these are all experiments; so I share my knowledge with you. If it sizzles, it is too hot! You knew that right?

Even though I burns some of the fabrics, they turned out more interesting than I expected after only one trip to the wax bath. They look like leather and I think they are so cool. The images are not the best, but they give you a taste of what they are like. Check them out below.

The last image I only covered partially in wax, which kept some of the original coloring while shaping the piece. I am not in love with these pieces, yet, but I am intrigued enough with them to ask for a second date.

One thing I know about them is that they need a place to hang out and lots more friends! I plan to do more experiments soon, but this time without any guilt of what I SHOULD be doing.

Warning: for all of you ready to start dipping object in wax - it "taints" or "dirties" your wax. The wax that I used for these items was clear refined beeswax. Now it is brownish yellow. Not a big loss, since now it has been labeled "collage wax."

After pouring my collage wax into the muffin pans, I cleaned out the pan and put in fresh pounds of beeswax and made some medium. Here they are cooling in their mini muffin pan.

So I ended up making about 3 lbs of encaustic medium for the retreat and will finish making the medium later this week.

I am so excited to teach this weekend! It will be a full house, but I hope each student will get a taste of working in this exciting medium. I never tire about explaining, showing and working in encaustic.

For those of you not coming to the retreat, I will have some pictures up for you to experience it online. Let me know what you want me to post on my blog. I aim to please!

Until then, happy experimenting! Enjoy the journey! ~ Jaime Lyerly

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

5 Art Actions for Busy Artists to Ignite the Creative Spark and Keep it Burning Bright

"I'm so busy!"
"I have no time to make art!"
"If there were only __ more hours in the day, then I could make art!"
"I'm so tired after my long day, all I can do is watch TV..."
"My brain is fried... how am I supposed to be creative, NOW?"

I have heard them all before. I have SAID them many, many times. And with this semester's schedule, I really don't have much time to make art. I am so busy that all you will get in this post is words, not how to pictures. So what can we do to keep the creative fires burning or ignite the creative spark that has dwindled? ART ACTIONS to the Rescue!

My idea of Art Actions are a modified version of SARK's Micro-movements, laid out in her book Make Your Creative Dreams Real: A Plan for Procrastinators, Perfectionists, Busy People, and People Who Would Really Rather Sleep All Day (and awesome book with a ridiculously long title!). Micro-movements are about making an movement toward your goal by doing actions that take no longer than 5 minutes. Each action gets you moving without the pressure of having to do it all. Brilliant! To learn more about how SARK helps artists and writers, Click here to visit Planet SARK.

Art Actions are my own way of tricking myself into making time for art. Even though I love to make art, it can be overwhelming to even get started on project - especially working in encaustic which takes me 45 minutes even to set up and heat my wax! While these Art Actions make take longer than 5 minutes, help push you towards bigger and more complex projects, while keeping the creative fires burning. They also can BECOME larger projects or a series if you love what you are doing. Or they just can be a way to keep your hands moving. I admit to doing all of these Art Actions while watching movies with my family. TV time gives me about 1 - 2 hours worth of uninterrupted creating time. Not bad!

The trick is NOT to put pressure on yourself to make art. These are just exercises, like word association and free writing for writers or blind contour line drawings for figure artists. Onto the actions....

Top 5 Art Actions to Ignite the Creative Spark:

1. Organic shape cut outs
Materials: exacto knife, cutting mat, Bristol board or thicker colored paper

Action: Grab an exacto knife and some paper and start cutting. No straight lines; no rulers; no thought. Keep flowing like a smooth line of charcoal, and see what shapes come from your subconscious. Cut out a shape; put it aside. Cut another one out. Cut out a hole in that one. But no trying to make it look like anything! That can come later, if desired.

2. Abstract Oil Pastel coloring
Materials: Oil Pastels, smooth paper (such as Bristol board or poster board)

Action: Choose a pastel, and scribble on the paper. I call oil pastels "adult crayons" because they have all the excitement of being able to lay down color quickly and easily like crayons, but use artist grade materials instead. So color all over the paper and then when it is filled with color, blend them using your fingers covered in paper towel. Again, don't stress about what flows on the page. I lean towards abstract color blotches because the moment I try to do something with a figure or object, it becomes too analytical. Try coloring in the organic shapes that were cut from Bristol board.

3. Paper art re-purposing
Materials: Old art, drawing exercises, or "failed attempts" on paper, acrylic or mat medium, brush, substrate (board, canvas or paper)
Optional: Scissors

Action: Have lots of art that didn't turn out as expected? Rip it up and make it into something new. I choose to rip things up because it is freeing to separate it from its original intent of being art. Now it is just a scrap of paper - nothing intimidating about that! Glue down the ripped pieces onto a blank piece of paper, canvas or board. Or you can add it directly to another "failed attempt." It is wonderfully freeing. The pictures can become a background for something else, but don't stress about that now. Just rip and glue it down with the mat medium.

4. Stamp Carving
Materials: Blank soft rubber carving blocks, carving tools, pencil
Optional: Transfers or images, tracing paper

Action: Stamp carving is so much fun! It requires a little more attention to what you are doing so you don't cut yourself, so make sure that the TV show you are watching isn't too enthralling. I found this wonderful Stamp Carving Tutorial which will help you with the basics. Personally, I don't do transfers onto the block; I draw and then carve using one of two bits. These are addictive. I wait until I have more time to actually ink the stamp and use it.

5. Intuitive Knitting
Materials: Yarn and knitting tool of your choice (mine is the Knifty Knitter)

Action: Grab your favorite yarn and knitting tool and start knitting. Leave all your patterns and stitch counting for another time. Just explore what the shapes you can make with your tool and the rhythm of your stitch. I set limits for myself to work in; such as one type of yarn, and use a 8 inch rectangular Knifty Knitter loom. Just knit. Have curiosity about what is going on with the piece, but don't try to force it into any shape - especially into something functional! That is the easiest way to kill the creative spirit is to try to give it a function. They can become fiber art pieces later, or hidden inside something bigger...it is up to you!

Ready to ignite the creative spark? Try one of these Art Actions! Turn off your analytical mind, send your inner art critic out on an errand and intuitively make something. It is the act of creating, even for a few minutes that will keep you connected to your art even on your busiest days.

Your Turn: Try one of these Art Actions or one of your own design. What kind of Art Actions do you do to keep your creativity alive? Sketching? Collage? Sewing? Taking apart typewriters? Whatever it is, keep doing it! And share it here with us. I would love to hear your ways to keep the fires burning so that when you do have time, it flows out into beautifully crafted art.

Happy Creating! ~ Jaime Lyerly

Monday, October 5, 2009

Still time to Register for San Diego Women's Caucus for Art Retreat. 3 great Workshops - including Encaustic Painting w/Jaime Lyerly

There is still time to REGISTER for the 12th ANNUAL Women's Caucus for Art/San Diego (WCA/SD) RETREAT for 2009!

Here is all the information from the WCA/SD Retreat Coordinator Jen Bottoms:

The retreat offers a special time to make art, make new friends and reconnect with old friends.

WORKSHOPS INCLUDE:

THE FAMILY FIELD AND CONSTELLATIONS, group healing session with Ellen Benfatti
PORTRAIT PAINTING with Judith Burnett
ENCAUSTIC TECHNIQUE with Jaime Lyerly
(More details about the workshops below)

When: November 13, 14, 15, 2009

Where: Camp Stevens in Julian
1108 Highway 78
Julian, CA 92036
Phone: (760)765-0028
We will be staying in the new Wolterstorff Lodge.

Fee: A $135 (member), $155 (non-member) or $180 (retreat plus basic membership) fee covers registration, 2 nights and 5 meals (organically grown and prepared by Camp Stevens), and all workshop fees. Note: There might be a small materials fee.

Directions:
From San Diego: Take highway 67 to Ramona, then Highway 78 east to Julian. Camp Stevens is located 2 miles east of Julian on State Highway 78.
There is a “Camp Stevens” entrance sign on the left side of the highway exactly 2 miles from Julian.

REGISTER EARLY!
A deposit of $35 (refundable before November 6, 2009) is required to secure your reservation, and the full amount of $135, $155 or $180, is due at registration.

Registered participants will receive a detail map, a packing list, schedule, and other details via mail. Please let us know if you require a special diet, or have physical restrictions.

Note: There is no cell phone service.

Workshop Descriptions:
(A WCA/SD membership is NOT required to participate in the retreat)

The family field and constellations; group healing session with Ellen Benfatti
There is a “life force” that flows through families, generation after generation. This force is one, which relates family member’s to each other. This is part of the family field of consciousness. We call it the Family Soul. Ellen will be facilitating a healing session which works with the energetic patterns held within the family. Come ready to heal and restore balance to your body, mind, and soul. The time spent together during this workshop will most likely change your view of yourself, humanity, and your family in a way that fosters more love, compassion, health, and vitality.

Portrait Painting in oils with Judith Burnett
You will learn a basic portrait painting technique. You will learn how to pose your model in order to get a good likeness and a satisfying painting; what materials and colors you will need, and how to mix and apply your paint.

Encaustic painting with Jaime Lyerly
Encaustic is beeswax, damar resin and pigment applied to a surface hot and fused using heat. You will be learning the basic techniques of encaustic painting is this workshop. We will cover history, materials, substrates, tools and safety. We will explore layering, collage, incising, embedding, and transfers. There will be plenty of time for hands-on experimentation. Bring your own collage elements and get ready to try this “hot” way of painting. (see more of my encaustic work)

About Camp Stevens and WCA/SD retreat
We will stay in the new Wolterstorff Lodge, which is built from the ashes of the Bishop’s Lodge; destroyed in the “Angel Fire” in September 15, 2007. The lodge has 24 beds; 4 six person rooms with shared bath, and a meeting room with a fireplace. Outdoor Facilities include a tree house, outdoor chapel and other outdoor meeting and gathering spaces. Visitors can also enjoy a swim in the pool (seasonal), a stroll in the botanical garden, games on the lawns, basketball and volleyball, or an evening campfire.

For more information, or to register for the Retreat, contact Jen Bottoms at (619) 892-3429 or via email.

If you missed my encaustic workshop in Escondido, you can join me for this one! Hope to see you there.

Happy Art making! ~ Jaime Lyerly

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Embedding String in Beeswax Video

"Stories -1," Encaustic, beeswax, string and collage on 12 x 12 x 1.5 in panel
© 2009 Jaime Lyerly

I am working on making my own tutorial videos on sculptural encaustic painting. However, I do not want to repeat what is already out there. So rather than fill up YouTube with stuff that already exists, I have been searching to find out what is already on there in the way of encaustic painting and sculpture. I have been amazed by some of the videos I have found and need to share them here with you. Once I know where the information gap is in encaustic, I will eventually fill it with my own videos. But until then, here is a gem from my diligent research!

This video is from Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch, author of Encaustic Workshop: Artistic Techniques for Working in Wax. Her book is a great way to get step by step directions on how to start in encaustic. My favorite parts of her book are the sections called "Lay it on" and "Break the Rules." "Lay it on" is about collage and embedding, and "Break the Rules" is about using other mediums than you would not expect with to be compatible with encaustic (such as watercolor and shellac burns).

The video below is about embedding fibers into encaustic. This is one of my favorite things to do in encaustic. If you have been checking out my blog, you see that I don't often "just paint" in encaustic (you can see my "just painting" in encaustics here). I usually collage, embedded, texturize and sculpt my encaustic and beeswax. String and fibers are amazing to work with and if you haven't tried to add them to your encaustic beeswax paintings, now is the time!

After watching the video, you can check out my own work that is related. Here is a link to a blog post that I did of Mixed Media Encaustic Sculptural Paintings a few months ago. These were obviously done way before I found this video, but the general idea of creating depth through embedding of string is the same. I love this particular variegated, maroonish-red fiber so much that I used it to create my free-hanging 3-D encaustic sculptures. I hope these inspire you to add some fiber to your own work. Enjoy!

Happy Art-making! ~ Jaime Lyerly

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Women's Caucus for Art, San Diego Annual Retreat

IT’S TIME TO REGISTER for the 12th ANNUAL Women's Caucus for Art/San Diego (WCA/SD) RETREAT for 2009!

Here is all the information from the WCA/SD Retreat Coordinator Jen Bottoms:

The retreat offers a special time to make art, make new friends and reconnect with old friends.

WORKSHOPS INCLUDE:

THE FAMILY FIELD AND CONSTELLATIONS, group healing session with Ellen Benfatti
PORTRAIT PAINTING with Judith Burnett
ENCAUSTIC TECHNIQUE with Jaime Lyerly
(More details about the workshops below)

When: November 13, 14, 15, 2009

Where: Camp Stevens in Julian
1108 Highway 78
Julian, CA 92036
Phone: (760)765-0028
We will be staying in the new Wolterstorff Lodge.

Fee: A $135 (member), $155 (non-member) or $180 (retreat plus basic membership) fee covers registration, 2 nights and 5 meals (organically grown and prepared by Camp Stevens), and all workshop fees. Note: There might be a small materials fee.

Directions:
From San Diego: Take highway 67 to Ramona, then Highway 78 east to Julian. Camp Stevens is located 2 miles east of Julian on State Highway 78.
There is a “Camp Stevens” entrance sign on the left side of the highway exactly 2 miles from Julian.

REGISTER EARLY!
A deposit of $35 (refundable before November 6, 2009) is required to secure your reservation, and the full amount of $135, $155 or $180, is due no later than Sept.13, 2009.

Registered participants will receive a detail map, a packing list, schedule, and other details via mail. Please let us know if you require a special diet, or have physical restrictions.

Note: There is no cell phone service.

Workshop Descriptions:
(A WCA/SD membership is NOT required to participate in the retreat)

The family field and constellations; group healing session with Ellen Benfatti
There is a “life force” that flows through families, generation after generation. This force is one, which relates family member’s to each other. This is part of the family field of consciousness. We call it the Family Soul. Ellen will be facilitating a healing session which works with the energetic patterns held within the family. Come ready to heal and restore balance to your body, mind, and soul. The time spent together during this workshop will most likely change your view of yourself, humanity, and your family in a way that fosters more love, compassion, health, and vitality.

Portrait Painting in oils with Judith Burnett
You will learn a basic portrait painting technique. You will learn how to pose your model in order to get a good likeness and a satisfying painting; what materials and colors you will need, and how to mix and apply your paint.

Encaustic painting with Jaime Lyerly
Encaustic is beeswax, damar resin and pigment applied to a surface hot and fused using heat. You will be learning the basic techniques of encaustic painting is this workshop. We will cover history, materials, substrates, tools and safety. We will explore layering, collage, incising, embedding, and transfers. There will be plenty of time for hands-on experimentation. Bring your own collage elements and get ready to try this “hot” way of painting. (see more of my encaustic work)

About Camp Stevens and WCA/SD retreat
We will stay in the new Wolterstorff Lodge, which is built from the ashes of the Bishop’s Lodge; destroyed in the “Angel Fire” in September 15, 2007. The lodge has 24 beds; 4 six person rooms with shared bath, and a meeting room with a fireplace. Outdoor Facilities include a tree house, outdoor chapel and other outdoor meeting and gathering spaces. Visitors can also enjoy a swim in the pool (seasonal), a stroll in the botanical garden, games on the lawns, basketball and volleyball, or an evening campfire.

For more information, or to register for the Retreat, contact Jen Bottoms at (619) 892-3429 or via email.

If you missed my encaustic workshop in Escondido, you can join me for this one! Hope to see you there.

Happy Art making! ~ Jaime Lyerly

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Encaustic Paintings by Jaime Lyerly - Process

It was a productive weekend! I spent many hours on Friday in 90+ degree weather working on encaustic (hot wax) paintings. In the beginning, each time I turned on the heat gun to fuse my layers of wax, I thought "wow, I must be crazy to do this in the summer." But the wax would flow so nicely and beg me to put more layers and I quieted that inner voice with a steady stream of music on my mp3 player. Thus these 6x6" paintings came into existence despite the heat of the day.

So I am here to share the process of how they were made. The weekend of the 25th, I spent a Saturday teaching a Basic Encaustic Painting Workshop at the Escondido Municipal Gallery. It was an amazing experience for me. I love to be able to share my knowledge of encaustic and to show people the versatility and potential of this medium. Watching people who have never worked in hot wax tentatively layer on their first coats and fuse it reminded me of my own first explorations with the medium.

So this weekend, I challenged myself to just paint. Not carve, not embed, not collage - just paint. These little paintings are the results. Some are more finished than others, but they are all purely encaustic paintings. I have documented the process of a few of the paintings to show their progress, and images of other paintings done on the same day are included.

I started with 6 x 6 x1.5" Studio Gallery Panel cradled Blick Studio Artists' Boards, that I had already pre-waxed with two layers of refined beeswax. Some of the wax on the boards were applied roughly but thoroughly, which leads to an inherit texture to start the painting. I like to begin with texture and work color into it. The layers of wax need time to cool if they are applied thickly, so I work on multiple paintings at the time (see the set up shot above).

Here is the first one, with its' progress numbered.

1. Paint was dropped into dots and flicked from the brush onto a pre-waxed panel, and fused lightly with a heat gun

2. More layers of encaustic paint are added, fusing in between each layer. Drops of Indian Yellow highlight the texture of the piece. The texture is also muted and emphasized by the layers of encaustic medium brushed and fused on top.

3. More layers of encaustic wax medium are added and left to cool. A red spiral is added and fused. Other colors are mixed on the hot griddle and are added to the stripe. Here is the finished painting.

4. Here is a detail of the brushwork, texture and dots.

Onto the second one, with its' progress numbered. I did not take a photo of the first few strokes of color.

1. Dots of color (blues and greens) are dripped onto the board, fused and allowed to cool. The entire surface is covered with Indian Yellow encaustic paint, applied with a dry brush.

2. Blue is added and fused. Clear encaustic medium is added in layers to subdue the colors.

3. The board is flipped to put the yellow on the bottom. Ultramarine blue and a cool red are applied in layers and fused until they move the Indian Yellow into swirls. The texture is emphasized by application of red only to highest ridges of the texture. Fusing it again moves the wax into the hollows. Here is the finished painting.

Here are two more paintings which show in progress shots and the finished work.

These next two painting were made by pouring the wax onto the board, fusing it and painting on top when it cooled. Of all the paintings, I think these two are the most "unfinished." They do have an interesting look.

Finally, the last five paintings done on Friday, all with varying textures and colors.

Your Turn:
I would love to hear your opinions about these works and the telling of the process. Too much description? Not enough pictures? It is all about the journey of making art, so I am open to suggestions on how to share my journey. Artists, Do you post in progress pictures? If so, let me know! I would love to see your process.

Happy Art making! Enjoy the journey! ~ Jaime Lyerly