Moment of Zen- Moment Collage Series

Paper, tissue, sewn fabric, text, inkjet print out, paint, ink & encaustic medium

12x12 

Power in the Moment- Collage Series

Fabric, hand made paper, transparency, digital cloth, interfacing, & stitching
12x12

Disposing of acrylic ink and paints OR more fun ways to use paint you might have thrown away!

     I think that the paint left on the brush is such a waste to wash down the sink! Now there is a reason not to! Golden Products suggests it may eventually clog your drain pipes!

     

What I do, and recommend when I teach, is to have a cloth or paper near by to wipe the excess paint onto. You can even to squirt water on brush to wash more paint off and encourage mixing directly on the cloth or paper. Some of these wipe cloths can really be artful! They can become backgrounds for other surface design. If you work in collage, you can also do this on most papers for a painted paper stash.

Do work on Plastic- nothing sticks. I use 4 ml- slightly heavier that regular painters tarp

    ANDDDD !also!

     I back my mounted work with a medium weight interfacing. This came about when I was figuring out my Holographic Images- ( plug- still available on Interweave! Here)

I needed to mount a transfer on the back to make it all work. The point is, the plain old white interfacing is soooo boring. 

Often, now, I cut a large piece and do the same wash technique with my leftover paint. I use lots of water so the spread is greater and the brush is cleaner. Then, I have some ready when theres work to mount.

back of work

     If you do art journaling, another thing you can do with leftover paint is to swipe your white pages. If the paper can take it, add water, but even without it, you can add color to the page ready for any further work you add- even just writing.

    Best part! You can do print-off's! Sometimes when I wash my brush off onto fabric or whatever, I'll take another piece of cloth, interfacing, paper or even my journal and press it onto that lovely wet paint- lift and you get a really cool print! 

The Easy Clean UP gets even easier!

I keep an old recycled yogurt container in my studio, filled partly with water. I plop the brushes in there for the final rise. Sometimes I just leave them there soaking. Any paint left basically just soaks off. 

     Once the yogurt container gets a little too dirty for that, just let it dry and recycle with your plastics! Paints and mediums are basically plastic- example- the peel off from bottle tops?

paper & fabric mix

inside a journal

Encaustic Collages #'s 24, 26 & 54

Encaustic College #24

Digital Photograph

Paper, paint

Stitched

Canvas panel 6x6

Encaustic College #26

Digital Photograph

Stitched

Canvas panel 6x6 

Encaustic College #54

Digital Photograph, silk organza

Stitched

Canvas panel

6x6

Dusk, Calm Waters & Just Our Tree Encaustic works

Dusk

Encaustic Photograph

6x6 birch panel

Calm Waters

Encaustic College

8x8 birch panels

Just Our Tree

Encaustic Photograph , silk organza, painted papers, scrim, oil stick

6x6 birch panel

Out to feed my soul...

"Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth." Herman Hesse 

Out to feed my soul

Among the wise trees 
and shining snow.

The leaves all nod "yes" in affirmation. 

I set off in the direction,
my heart tells me to go,

to drink in the sky, the cool air
& listen to the wild wind.

Journaling 2014

Deciding on a new journal to use for am upcoming workshop, I reviewed some of my ready to use journals I've made. 

 Coptic Binding- hard for me but worth it. These open completely flat.

Paste Papers for Covers and Signatures. I make several when I'm in that 'space'.

 I like to use recycled papers from older journals when I used spiral notebooks and the heavier drawing paper for pages

When I work on painting fabrics & collage papers, I lightly paint with leftover paint or clean my brush so I don't rinse all that down my drains.

I take them with me to do free drawings on long car or plane journeys
I love these books!