Encaustic Challenge Process

Where to begin....what to do?  Here is what happened

As part of the etsy encaustic artist "Beeswaxteam Challenge"  I received a panties pattern and a nylon stocking in the mail from another encaustic artist on etsy.  The challenge and it was one to start with, was to create an encaustic painting incorporating any part of the items received.

At first I really had no idea where to go with these seemingly random but connected items.
Then I started going through some vintage family photos thinking something might click and I came across several of mother as a young woman with her friends.  I vacillated between two photos then decided I like this one of my mom and my "aunt Margie"  under an arbor.  These two were life long friends. 
The other image I considered was one of my mom and her friends actually in their panties outside probably on vacation somewhere.  I saturated the cradled hardboard with encaustic medium and dipped the nylon in it as well.  The nylon began to form a sculptural frame for the image...hmmm,
I began to apply some transparent colors of encaustic paint....ie R&F paints very diluted with encaustic medium.
I wanted the words from the pattern piece to show through.  However I wasn't really enthralled by the colors at this point.

The center where I was planning on tranfering a copy of one of the photos was too lumpy over the pattern so I scraped it down to the medium.
Placing the copy onto the board I burnished and then peeled away the layer rubbing it with water.
Here is Addie and Marguerite peering through...I love the mystery of photo transfer.

From this point on I kept adding color and playing with possiblities
Hmmm, not sure about the gold rickrack but it needs something...
Its a bit dull and needs more contrast and something more done to it
Taking it another step with more color and starting to carve into the wax a bit here and there.
Then I decided to darken the blue a bit...This is where I left it after the first day of working on it. One thing is for sure, this challenge has challenged and inspired me.  It has been a while since I heated up my hot plates and worked at it again, and this really got me engaged and excited.  More to come..