Encaustic-ly Speaking - Pushing the limits of my creative process.

i have been struggling with another encaustic ...which started out with high hopes and has shifted quite a but through the process.  Here is the background I began with....planning on transferring an image of a suspension bridge that I photographed this summer up at Howards Creek Ranch .  A magical place I love to stay at,  up on the Mendocino coast, in Westport.  

It reminds me of a pregnant spirit of some sort.

Here is the photograph I tried to transfer.

The resulting transfer reminds me of a tower, golden, and lighted, but its wasn't the image I was working toward. I realized there was too much dark, not enough contrasting light, and I had to presss and scrape and still didn't get an image that in any way resembled the bridge or what it was I was trying to convey. I also realized my background wasn't light enough....so ...

So I decided in the process of scraping off the ink transfer with a bone folder, to keep playing, and I transferred a tree and a bird over it, began scraping into the dark transfer grasses and the textured became as important as the image.   This is where I am so far, taking it into a new direction.  I am liking it, and plan to paint more encaustic into it, and rub some inks into the scratching and see where it goes... This is what I have been up to, following  my process and seeing if I can take this somewhere new.  Learning all the while. 

New Encaustic.....and its process

I am finally back working in my studio and have just begun a new series.....using photo transfer on encaustic.  

Here is the final piece....using a series of photographs made into zerox's over the encaustic paint

I really love how it turned out....so I decided to show the stages of the piece.

The Gateway..

I am having soo much fun...who knows what comes next. 

Encaustic Tree Series - All of six them......

I have finally completed my summer time encaustic vision....photographing  trees and doing encaustic paintings and  phototransfers of the tree images on top of the paintings.  

I have learned alot in this process.  Working with the encaustics in a new way, exploring color, line and form...as well as developing a finer eye.  I have been noticing and photographing trees for months now and began to look at trees as individuals with unique personalities, flaws and idosyncracies....as if they were people.  Here is the completed series.

I found myself looking for the perfect tree.  What were my criteria, unique tunk, branches that stood out, no background to divert attention and alot of sky showing through the branches.  Then I began to think about standards of beauty, in not only trees but people.  What is beauty, what makes imagery stand out.  Each tree had flaws, the branches were changed by life and wind, and trauma.... again and again the parallels with people began to emerge.  This has been a very powerful and evocative process for me.  

My final tree in this process, is the most subtle and evocative.  I am ready to move onto another series...I am all fired up with the possiblities.  My work with encaustics has taken another turn.  I am looking forward to more exploration of this new direction