Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Not one to leave well enough alone...



I know, I know, in my last post I was totally committed to embracing the dead matte finish of the pastel on wood block pieces I created but they turned out to be quite fussy little things.  I didn't want to use fixative and I didn't want to frame them under glass...I wanted them to be easy to handle and wanted no barrier between the work and the viewer...like an encaustic piece.  So, I created a few more pastel blocks and messed around a bit before finding a way to get my original image, created with the soft pastels, covered and embedded into the wax.  Once the wax was on and heat set I was able to add more detail and color to really bring them to life.  I have five more to do but am not sure I will get back into the studio this week.  My oldest is home from college for Spring Break(yay!), my middle child is in a play that opens on Thursday (and is sick but on the mend), C is gone all week and my in-laws arrive day after tomorrow.  It's busy times here as Spring says hello to the upper mid-west but I'm enjoying having the windows cracked open, switching out wool coats for wool sweaters and seeing the 1st tiniest bits of green outside.  What's making your days these days?

-b



ps:  this is a brilliant piece of writing on a gorgeous song.