Studio day! Yay! All day in the studio!!! Pinch me pinch me pinch me–I can’t believe I got to make art ALL DAY–except for the part of the day when I was loading up at the feed store and then back here unloading a truckload of hay. All by myself. But the rest of the day, well, most of the rest of the day… I WAS IN THE STUDIO–

Burning, torching, scorching, playing with fire. Literally. Experimenting with some new (to me) techniques. I love love love trying new stuff. Allowing myself to make mistakes…which is a good thing since I make them regularly. And often.

Some samples from today–but first the disclaimer:

• That picture up above–that’s just part of my wax counter. No burning was done in that room.
• I did NOT burn anything down. Like a building. Or the mountain.
• I used proper ventilation had all the fans going, blowing out.
• And I wore a respirator. Which proves I value self-preservation over vanity.
• Yes. I HAD A PLAN. I didn’t just go in there with a torch and start firing away. I had a book, “Encaustic Mixed Media” by Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch. I read it (looked at the pictures) and then I started firing away. Sorta knowing where I was going. Art by the seat of my pants.

So this is a closeup of some texture attained by burning wood glue. It was on a cradled board and there was plaster involved. Looks like there was some green paint too. But that unfortunate lapse of judgement came after the fact. It will go away.

Reminds me of a toasted marshmallow. Haven’t had one of those in years. I had a two part marshmallow technique. Stick it in the flames. Burn it to a crisp. Eat the charred part then toast the sticky wet inner part to a nice bubbly brown.

But no mistaking this for a marshmallow, especially after I added some more plaster, leaving the texture alone. Can’t do any more until tomorrow so the plaster can dry. Right now I’m thinking I’ll sand the plaster smooth and sand off the paint as well. But who knows what I’ll do when the time comes.

It’s butt ugly right now but, like all of us, it has potential. I’ll post a photo when it’s finished.

The second piece I did was the same technique sans plaster. Just glue and wood, fire and wax. And a few beads.This one might be done, might not. I’ll live with it and decide later.