Encaustic Art Workshop

Yesterdays workshop was a little different to the normal ones I run... instead of brushes and paints, we used electric irons and special coloured beeswax..everyone had 6 postcard size pictures to create before they tackled a 40cm x 50cm picture..

It was interesting to see how everyone tackled their pictures--I showed how to do different techniques, and they followed in their own way..

there are so many different things you can  do with the wax...

we used the iron upside down as a hot-plate..

Jan and Siomed -below had booked over the phone as they had gift vouchers to use..turned out they had never looked at the website at all--and we waited for them to arrive, and waited, and then I rang to see where they were! We are 1 min 25 sec away they said-obviously using a sat-nav.. and still we waited... they eventually turned up after another phone call from me when I found they were at my home...After giving them the venues postcode they got to us! Then it turned out they were expecting to do Batik not encaustic art!!! After sorting it all out they loved the experience--even if it wasn't what they expected to do LOL

Siomed created a lovely landscape  using oranges and gold..

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and a Darth Vader in the middle of the black one..

the students get to take away the 6 small paintings and the framed large paintings too..

Libby had some amazing things going on in her large painting..underwater and outer space combined!

The detail isn't showing up in Ana's painting but we all agreed that it was very Monet-esque in the end--lavender fields..

The lovely Irene was with us for the 17th time-- she has wanted to do this workshop for over 3 years now but every date I set she couldn't make..at last we were able to get together ,, and how she loved it!

After getting over the shock of doing this and not batik Siomed created a lovely cornfield , the gold /bronze wax isn't showing up on here though...

Jan's picture looks bit wishy washy on the photo but there was loads of detail in there-including a wonderful mountain range- they all loved the experience and said it was better and cheaper than therapy!  I only run this workshop once a year, so keep checking out the website for the date next year!

Mellow Moods Workshop

It was lovely to see Caroline again, third time for her--this time she bought alone her other daughter also Caroline!

Caroline was not convinced that she would be as good as her Mum! But as she found , following my step by step directions she was soon creating her own masterpiece very easily!

First time for Vanessa, who came along with workmates Karen and Katrina..

Katrina had never painted before, but soon had the hang of the brushes and acrylic paint!

Karen painted quite a  delicate background..

4th time for Pearl, though we have not seen her for a few years... her daughter bought her a gift voucher to use...they are an ideal gift for anyone who has been to the workshops already..

Lovely to see Liz again. 3rd time for her..

Paul was back for the second time..stayed nearby as they were down from Liverpool again... there are some stunning places to stay nearby--very handy if people live a long way away...

At times during the workshop you could hear a pin drop as everyone concentrated on their paintings!

Its always a little magical when the oil colours get added to the monochrome paintings.

The paintings transform into completely different pictures to what had started out in the monochrome colours...

getting just the right amount of white paint on the waterfall can be a bit of a challenge..

Katrina is adding a little detail here..

Liz's painting started off quite bold but ended up quite subtle..

The students had the choice of spring or autumn colours..

Its always amazing to watch the paintings transform as the day goes on...

ooops Paul is a bit blurry on this one!

Amazing results from everyone-- some bold, some delicate--but all as individual as the people who painted them!

Big Poppy

We had a lovely time with 4 ladies on Saturday. 3 of them were friends who meet up to do creative things together...They have done various painting workshops together before but never used acrylic and melted wax..Judith chose the lovely browns and beiges for her painting..

Sue has been to me once before to paint Summer Day--which is completely different to this one!

Sue chose to do the bright reds with a touch of yellow,

Jackie chose some lovely purple,lilac and blue for her painting,,

Once we had done all of the acrylic painting we dried them off with hairdryers in order to add the melted wax ..

The ladies used a wide range of colours for the wax middles...

I love the colours used by Heather,,the wine colour works lovely with the purples..

Lovely results from everyone...

Latest Commission

One of the reasons I'm behind with my blog is the latest commission I have been working on...its a big one!                       2 Canvas each 40in x 12in to hang above each other on the wall.. What the camera does not pick up is the soft metallic gold paint I have used on the birch trees.                                                                                                                             The light catches it beautifully.. Nicki who commissioned it also asked me to include some foxgloves--which again do not show up in the photo... but do look very effective in 'real life' ..As I usually do with a commission I had been sending Nicki photos of each stage so she could tell me if she liked it or wanted anything changing..                                                          When it was finished Bill gave the artwork 3 coats of varnish to protect it and it was ready to deliver to Nicki..... now as you know we have had some awful experiences with couriers-with canvas and paint arriving here damaged, so Bill said ''we will deliver them to Nicki and you will know they have arrived safely with no damage to them.''.               So today we had a 180 mile round trip to Macclesfield  to personally deliver them!     It was worth it to see her happy face when she saw them for the first time in the flesh!        Plus we got to have a lovely steak at the pub over the road and a mooch around Newcastle Under Lyme on the way home! Nicki said she will send me a photo of them in situ in her living room so will look forward to receiving that!