Encaustic landscape II

September brings my brother’s birthday and along with it the usual problem of coming up with a design for a masculine card. And this year was worse because it was a big number birthday. I’ve done camper vans and sheep and bikes and even sheep and bikes in past years and I didn’t want to repeat myself if I could help it.

All of which, combined with the general lack of card-making inspiration this year, meant I was struggling for a suitable idea.

I had a chat with my mum and started thinking that I might try for something a bit more sophisticated, rather than resorting to cartoony digs about how old he is 🙂 Then I remembered that he’d been curious about encaustic wax work way back when I first had a starter kit on my Amazon wishlist.

Now… I have only made one encaustic wax artwork before and I was convinced that it was beginner’s luck at the time. And my first attempt this time around… well… let’s just say that that is not what is photographed on this page! And it isn’t my second attempt either. That one was better, though not great, and then I slipped with the iron and got pink wax where pink wax did not belong. I turned off the iron and walked away.

But I came back in a calmer mood the following day, did a bit of practise first, and managed to create what you see here. Not perfect, but not bad. I really need some structured practise if I’m ever going to feel like I’m at all in control of the wax and I’m thinking about signing up for the Encaustic House online course. (Because I really need another course to add to my collection!)

Supplies:

• colour:
  wax blocks
• paper and card:
  Arts Encaustic A6 white card
  Arts Encaustic aperture card base
• tools:
  Encaustic Art painting iron
  Encaustic Art stylus pro
• misc:
  Encaustic Art wax acrylic sealer