I am so thrilled to be here with you to share my new class, Ethereal Encaustics! You may be asking yourself, “What is encaustic painting?” The term encaustic means to fuse or burn in.
Simply put, it is the technique of layering a beautiful coat of wax over a piece of work that you’ve created. There’s something so dreamy and mysterious about the effect of encaustic wax. It can really give a painting a magical and ethereal quality!
In this class, we will learn the basics of creating a beautiful, encaustic painting using vintage linens as a background and using your own, original photos as creative inspiration. I will show you how to incorporate these photos into your encaustic piece, giving them life, depth, and story. We will learn how to add layers and texture to create interest, depth, and emotion, continuing to tell a story with our work. I will talk about the basic supplies needed to get started with encaustic and talk about safety when using encaustics. I will also share instructions on how to care for your finished piece.
This class is for all levels, whether you’re just beginning your artistic journey or if you’re an experienced artist curious and in search of new techniques to explore.
I hope you will join me on this amazing, creative adventure!
Classroom Is Open!
Only $67.00
{ LIFETIME ACCESS & DOWNLOADABLE VIDEOS }
Let me walk you through our journey...
Lesson one:
THE JOURNEY BEGINS!
In this lesson, we will use a vintage piece of fabric and incorporate it into our background, creating the first layer of our “story”. We’ll continue by adding a photo onto our background…something that has meaning, something we find appealing to us, something that is unique to you and your personality. This is all part of who we are and what we have to say.
As we continue to add layers to our story, I will show you how to add texture and depth to your piece with modeling paste and stencils. We will embellish our photos with acrylic paints and inks and I will talk to you about composition and placement of the focal point in your piece, lessons I’m still learning!
We end our chapter by adding a beautiful, dreamy layer of encaustic wax to our work. I’ll show you the tools and tricks that you can when working with wax. It’s not complicated and any imperfections just add more charm and beauty to the piece. The more imperfect it is, the more beautiful…perfectly imperfect! This is the final chapter in telling our story with our work.
Lesson two:
STARRY NIGHT – RADIATING LOVE
In this lesson, we will use our imaginations to fill our canvas with a beautiful, starry night sky overlooking a rugged mountain range. We will dive in with a collaged background and begin by adding the dark, night sky. We will create a mountain range and add an explosion of stars to the sky above. By adding some words, we can add meaning and story to our piece. Finally, we will incorporate the magic of encaustic wax to add that dreamy, ethereal effect we are looking for.
Lesson three:
FUNKY FLOWERS - FINDING OUR WAY
In this lesson, we will work intuitively to create a beautiful bouquet of wildflowers. We will be using collage techniques, along with acrylic paints and inks. Through the magic of “negative painting”, you will be delighted and surprised as you discover the shapes of flowers in your piece! Finally, we will incorporate some beautiful encaustic magic to complete our piece.
bonus lessons:
A little something different
With these two lessons, we will complete two small, but very different, encaustic pieces. In one of the projects, we will learn how incorporate pieces of your work from an unfinished piece or possibly a portion of a piece you weren’t happy with. I will show you how to infuse this into a completely new piece of work to create a beautiful, finished encaustic piece. I will also show you how to incorporate “findings” into your work using encaustic wax.
In the second bonus lesson, I will show you how to incorporate modeling paste and stencils into an encaustic piece to create a dramatic, mysterious finished piece of work.
Classroom Is Open!
Only $67.00
{ LIFETIME ACCESS & DOWNLOADABLE VIDEOS }
Who is this class for?
This class is for anyone who is an adventure seeker, creative risk taker, or someone who is curious and excited to learn a new technique. Maybe you feel like you’re in a “creative rut” and you don’t know how to get out of the space you’re in. You do not have to have prior experience in working with encaustic or even prior experience with painting. We will go through everything, step-by-step.
The word “encaustic” may seem a bit intimidating or maybe you think there would be too many supplies to buy and invest in. In this class, we will use supplies we have on hand and you will only invest in the most basic supplies to get started. For example, you can even use a pancake griddle as your wax warmer!
The beauty of encaustic wax is that it does not have to be perfect. The beauty is in the simplicity and perfect imperfections of the wax. It gives every piece such a dreamy, ethereal effect. And, it’s so much fun to experiment with it and incorporate it into your own style!
Here are more examples of Donna’s beautiful work…
SUPPLY LIST
This is a list of what I’ll be using in the class. Please use supplies you may already have.
Clear Gesso (optional)
Daler Rowney Fluid Acrylic Inks: Sepia, Paynes Gray, Black, assorted colors
Fluid Acrylic Paints – variety of colors, including white, off white, and Paynes Gray.
Variety of Brushes, including a script liner
Fabrics – hankies, linens, doilies (Thrift stores. Use whatever you may already have on hand)
Encaustic Supplies
Tin Cans/Muffin Tins
Optional
Ephemera – book pages/sheet music, etc.
Findings – pieces of fabric, metal, buttons, etc.
Scrapbook paper
Tissue Paper
Blue Painter’s Tape
Rubber Stamps