A Painting From Start to Finish

This new series is evolving in its own direction. The technique is something new and different for me. I am starting with an ink drawing over milk paint on a board. I choose milk paint because it creates a porous surface that is compatible with encaustic. After I get the ink drawing to meet my satisfaction, I apply several coats of clear encaustic medium. It has been challenging because my studio is cold and the encasutic hardens fast and is difficult to get as smooth as I would like. I've tried putting the painting out in the sun to warm the surface before applying the encasutic, but as soon as I bring it back in the studio, it cools off.

I use oil glazes for color and charcoal to get the blackest blacks. Both the oil and charcoal have to be fused to the encasutic for permanence. I then go in and do some scraping with a razor blade and/or a ceramic tool. Here is the result.

Me and the Boys, 100 x 80 cm. $2,800

Process of a New Painting

Do you remember the painting that I destroyed? I scraped off as much encaustic as possible and covered it as well as I could with milk paint, and started a new one.

Here is the process of the last several days:

You can see the ghost of the other painting

ink wash on milk paint

Iwill make some corrections on the drawing and I can start putting on the layers of encaustic

Grandma's Photo in the Attic

When I was a child, there was a large photo of my Mother's mother on the wall in the attic. My grandmother died before I was born, but I visited that image often and hoped she could hear my conversation and connect with me.

This painting is the second in my Remembrances series. The photo of Grandma is long gone, but this has been inspired by those memories of our time spent together.

It is 60 x 80 cms. ink, encaustic, charcoal and oil paint on cradled board. @Artfinder.

Starting a New Painting - Again

I got rid of the bad painting and began a new one. I found that I hadn't completely removed every bit of encaustic, so the ink wash is reacting a bit differently.  I am adding charcoal for the blackest blacks.

Here is the begining of the cover-up painting. The ghost of other one can still be seen under the milk paint.

What to do with a bad painting?

 GET RID OF IT!

It is depressing to realize that after several days of work, the painting is not good and not fixable. I spent most of the morning scraping the surface, then put it outside in the sun to melt all the layers of encaustic and finally put a couple of layers of milk paint over what was left.

ink drawing on milk paint

3 layers of clear encaustic

melting

just the ghost left.

New Year, New Series

I enjoyed the holidays, while thinking about the new series. It had been forming in my mind for quite some time, but I wanted to finish, "Women Who Changed the World"

The new adventure is "Remembrances" These paintings are inspired by old photos that I saved from family albums and moved to Mexico with me. I don't know who some of the people in the photos are.
There is no one to ask, since my parents and brother have died. Others, I recognize family from before I was born, 

I will be using mixed media, ink drawing and washes, encaustic, oil glazes, transfers, and charcoal.

There is the progress and finished first painting.

ink drawing and washes over milk paint on cradled board, 24" x 32"

3 layers of encasutic medium, oil stick glazes and charcoal

Finished Painting, Vienna 1910

Last "Women Who Changed the World"

Here is the last painting in the series, Women Who Changed the World, Hermila Galindo Acosta (also known as Hermila Galindo de Topete) (1886–1954) was a Mexican feminist and a writer. She was an early supporter of many radical feminist issues, primarily sex education in schools, women's suffrage, and divorce. She was one of the first feminists to state the Catholicism in Mexico was thwarting feminist efforts and she was the first woman to run for elected office in Mexico.