Encaustic Landscape Painting, Texture and Unsticking the Stuck

Somewhere Between Here and There
encaustic mixed media on birch 30"x30"x2.75"

Encaustic lends itself to painting landscapes quite well.  In fact, encaustic + landscape are meant for each other.  Imagine being able to just slash away at the wax to create all kinds of luscious texture, melting and dripping and more gouging to create the beautiful textures of nature.  How fun is that!?

Landscape art is new to me - but somehow I couldn't resist the want to try it. I actually started this painting the early part of summer and it got stuck in the ugly teenager state and ended up kicking around the studio for the entire summer until I just got tired of looking at it and tripping over it.  Its rather large at 30x30, so it was hard to ignore it.

After a late summer visit to Eastern Washington and a drive through apple country, the landscape of the great wide open with billowing fields of grasses stayed in my mind.  I roped in a couple of good artist friends and got their opinions on how to unstick the stuck painting.  Lucky for me their guidance was what I needed to get at it again.  Can't tell you how important it is to have artist friends to discuss arty things with.  I mean who else would listen to the woes of stuck paintings, color choices and the benefits of diagonals in composition?  Definitely need these people in my life.  *thank you - you know who you are :) 

I pulled out all the stops for this one - paper, fabric, oil paint, pastels, and Plej radio on Pandora - anything and everything to create texture.  I figured it could only get better from where it was, and if it didn't then it would become an under layer for the next big idea.  This big guy takes up my entire work table and its hard to reach the entire surface from my usual spot.  So, I hopped up on my little step stool so I could be above it a bit and went at it with pokey tools, ice pick looking things and scraping tools.  Heat, oil sticks, paper - more heat, more wax.  Standing it up and heating it til it dripped - laying it down and scraping away.  I just let the creative process take me away.  It was fun and nice to be loose.  A little of this, more of that and so here you have it - the first of many landscapes to come.

Happy Friday everyone!

PS - the Art Walk last night was well attended for an October evening.  Thank you to those who came to share the evening!