New things going on!

Today we created a promo video for our new company, White Iris Arts!  So it must be real:-) White Iris Arts was created by Brenda Holtzman and myself to promote Artist Workshops and Retreats, and some of our own original art.  It's been months in the making so it's pretty exciting to have something to finally announce!

Our first workshop will Intro to Encaustics by Shari Replogle.  Find more info at White Iris Arts and visit Shari's site to see her amazing work.

Thanks for stopping by!

Debbie

Time Flies...

...when you're having fun!  And I have been having fun.  Continuing to dabble in encaustic painting. I've taken a few on line classes from Shari Replogle and last weekend I was able to take an "in person" class from her at Artiscape.  Lots of information, lots of wax, lots of Shiva Oil Paintstiks, lots of fun. I am hooked! Here's a look at what I came up in class.  It continues to evolve. At some point I just need to stop...

And while on the topic of Encaustic painting, Shari is teaching an online workshop " Encausticology" Encaustic Image Exploration! (click the title to find out more). There are just a few more days for the early bird special price of 55.00. On April 21 it will go up to the regular workshop price of 65.00.  

And one more advertisement, if you are in the Dayton, OH area on May 8, join me for the monthly Art Journal class at Marco's Paper from 10-1. We'll play with a plaster page, beeswax & PanPastels.

Enjoying the Journey!
Debbie

An Encaustic Journey...

is where I have been traveling! Several months ago I began an online class with Shari Replogle called Metal and Encaustic Journal.  So. much. information.  I had to soak in it for a while before I jumped in and began creating. 

This is my cover. I made the book as a memorial to my mom who passed away several years ago.  In some ways that made it more difficult because I was trying to capture her from my memories.  But it was good to remember! And I found her diary and was able to incorporate some of the pages into the book. The cover is layers and layers of encaustic medium with collage and embedded items.

Pages 1 and 2 are created using different encaustic techniques. Page 1 is colored with oil pastels. The mustard seed is the pendant that she wore regularly.  Page 2 is colored with Pan Pastels and features part of an oil pastel that was hers. As I embedded it in the wax the pastel got on my brush and I accidently painted the orange onto the page. A happy accident for sure!  I added orange highlights around the page.  My favorite part is all that amazing texture!

"Page 3" is actually a little book.  Front and back are bound together with a little accordion book in between that are pages (copies) from my mom's diary.  They are covered in Ice Resin. (Thanks for the idea Shari!)

The inside of the cover isn't from the class so here's what I did - On the back of Ten Second Studios Apple Green art metal (metal painted a color on one side) I stamped Donna Downey's Poppies stamps (the outline) with Staz On ink. Placing the metal on an embossing pad (or mouse pad, something with a little give) trace the pattern with a stylus. Flip the metal over and a raised flower design should be staring at you :-)  The next step is to take a paper stump and refine the design - basically trace around both sides of the raised lines to define them.  The problem now is that the flowers are green. To fix that take a little metal brush & in a circular motion scrub off the green paint in the flower area; bits of aluminum will be peeking back at you now.  Using your finger and acrylic paint rub the color into the flower. Let it dry for just a bit then rub some off. The paint will catch in the nooks, crannies & scratches. To highlight the flower even more sand the embossed design.  I forgot to take pictures but hope to have a little video up soon.

Ice Resined diary pages

On the back of the book I coated the cover with green oil pastel, then painted clear gesso over it.  While it was wet I stamped into the gesso with a cool little wooden stamp from Donna Downey's store (which I don't see on her website). When the gesso was dry I highlighted the pattern with the salmon colored oil pastel and a bit of white pastel.  Using Archival ink I stamped a Donna Downey stamp to finish the back.

Thanks for visiting with me and if you want to take an Encaustic Journey, head over to Shari Replogle's page!

Debbie