Friday, May 4, 2012

Friday:: Sink or Swim

No Parking
encaustic, paper and photo transfer on Birch Panel 9x12

Have you ever been faced with that old addage - Sink or Swim?  or.. Fish or Cut Bait... however, you want to say it - it holds the same decision.   Its a choice to either take part and be a "doer" or just be on the sidelines be a "watcher". 
Photo transfer work in encaustic has been elusive for me.  Its not that its a hard process, in fact its quite easy.  I've decided to take a run at it for the next month.  I have been thinking for a long time on how to combine the two things that I love - photography and encaustic.  There are lots of examples of work out there of people who do just that.  You can check out this website or this one or here.
One of my favorites is Ben Hecht and his amazing waves. 


So, I'm on board.. I'm going to give it a go and try to work on combining photography and encaustic painting.  This is one of my first attempts.  I used this procedure to transfer the image to the wax.  Her swimsuit is a photo I had taken of a reflection in some building windows.  The door to the left and no parking sign... mine too.  I enhanced the door with some strips of book pages - why... well, the photo didn't transfer well and that's what came to mind.  Don't you just love when something appears to be going badly - then ahhhhh... Genius strikes and it all turns out OK.
I'm hooking up with Paint Party Friday today. 

25 comments:

  1. wow, this is cool! good luck with your continued experimentation :)

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  2. I think it looks great - a very interesting piece. I haven't tried photo transfer with encaustic yet, but I've found that transferring from a photocopy is actually pretty easy to do.

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  3. I love it and can't wait to see more.I've never tried encaustic, but I have the wax, so that's a start. :)

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  4. Wonderful creation ~ I really love what you have created ~ have tried some encaustic myself and see lots of creations coming from you ~ Wow! ~ thanks, namaste, ^_^

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  5. Wonderful piece, awesome first attempt!

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  6. wow-- this is a new technique for me... i have never seen it in action before. thank you for sharing that video because it was amazing to watch! i can only imagine how much beeswax was needed for that huge canvas! :-)

    your painting is stunning (i'm still not quite sure i understand all that you did) but it has the look of a vintage postcard-- which i love.

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  7. sounds a wonderful technique and loving your results. Happy PPF, Annette x

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  8. This is stunning- love the bathing suit! Looking forward to seeing more of what you do with this technique!

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  9. this piece is wonderful
    i can only imagine you are thrilled with your first piece, i can see why you are inspired to continue on!

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  10. This is just great! Thanks for sharing your process.... I could see it with a total different eye! I never noticed the buildings until you pointed it out! I love her stance! The whole thing is just fabulous!! Very inspirational!!

    Hugs Giggles

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  11. Just gorgeous, loving those shadows on the work.

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  12. So pretty! Love your artistic style. Happy PPF!

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  13. I like his work and the video is very interesting.

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  14. This is verrrrrry interesting. You've got me going now. Would love to try that some time. Nice work. She really came out beautifully. Nice going.

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  15. I SOOOO love your art!!! Thanks for the links too, I know nothing about that technique & love to have a peek!

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  16. Okay, seriously!? This is AMAZING, brilliant!! One of the best transfer pieces I've ever seen. The swimsuit is gorgeous and the strips of paper really make it! LOVE this, xoxo

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  17. Love the texture which makes your work unique and wonderful. Thank you for sharing!

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  18. This is fabulous!! Love it! It seems very original and unique to me. I am definitely following you:-)

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  19. This is amazing, thank you for sharing this and I love your piece, it's super cool and unique!

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  20. I love this, the whole process fascinates me, and it makes for such a rich, interesting painting.

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  21. Awesome art work! :) And I like your heading a lot! :)

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  22. The first thing that caught my eye was the swimsuit!! So brilliant!! This piece is amazing - I can't wait to see what else you come up with!!

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