Drawing on Words

 

Several years back I was strolling through our Saturday Market, visiting various arts and craft booths.  Suddenly I spotted the most beautiful abstracts practically glistening in the sun.  I made a bee-line for the booth.

“What is this?”  “How did you do it?”  “Could you teach me; I’ll pay for lessons?” She must have thought me mad.  I was not usually so bold.  With grace and kindness, she declined to give me lessons.  However, she told me the medium: Encaustics, painting with melted wax.

I went home and learned everything I could about the medium.  Local art stores did not supply the materials, so I bought them online.  I could not wait until I held the richly colored bees wax in my hands.

Luscious, melt-y fun!  A bit like the grown up version of melting crayons.

I practiced with the tools and became more disciplined, making the wax move where I wanted it to go.  The originals that I liked were scanned and I’ve made greeting cards, posters, and business cards with the electronic copies.

I will be sharing many of these in my blog.  However, for today I present “Peaceful Hills II” inspired by my trips from Monmouth to McMinnville.  The straight road and flat landscape reminds me of Kansas and my teen years.  The only difference (and it is a big difference for me) off the in distance are the foothills and on the other side of the mountain range, the sea.

It was important for this blog to include my art.  If you look carefully, a slice of the lower part of this painting is the blog’s border.  It reminds me to keep playing with that wonderful waxy goodness.