Thursday, March 13, 2014

The challenges of working large...



It may not look too difficult, but getting melted wax onto a 30"x30" surface without making a crazy stupid mess is pretty challenging.  The last time I made a piece this size was about 7 years ago and I ended up with lots of black wax on my studio walls, the floor and on me.  This time I have more space and a little better set up.  It's still pretty tricky to get good coverage and the repeated heat setting required is not a good activity to follow shoveling a hundred foot driveway (even though i had two very good helpers).  But, I love the painting and I am really looking forward to seeing what the wax brings to the table.  I still need to wax the second half of this massive-for-me dyptych but i'm hoping to be able to share both here soon. Now my arms are rested so it's time to get back to work ;-)

5 comments:

Jamie Ribisi-Braley said...

One trick I used to use when working large in encaustic was that when I as ready to fuse, I put the painting on the floor or a low table, that saved my arms from hurting too much (they still did, that's a lot of back and forth movement, but it was less than it would have been on a regular table due to the angle).

tangled sky studio said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
tangled sky studio said...

great suggestion and one that i will use this evening... : )

Carole Reid said...

Hi Beth. I watched a You Tube or was it Vemeo video about an encaustic artist who pours the wax onto larger pieces by placing the support cradle in a tub. The excess just flows off the support cradle into the tub. No mess on the floor, table, or artist!

Your lovely little painting arrived in yesterdays' post. I'm thrilled with it!!!! Thank you.

Have a great weekend. I hope things are warming up for you down there.

tangled sky studio said...

hi carole-i watched that video too but can't even imagine the amount of wax that must take! i think i might be up for trying that method with a slightly smaller piece OUTSIDE once the weather changes. so glad you like your painting : )