mussel shells | Art Projects

Graphite, tissue, encaustic

I decided to try and draw on tissue and incorporate that over the stone with encaustic. I had a failure, you just can’t overwork it. But, the first one I did actually turned out the way I wanted. I was surprised that I could do the drawing on tissue without any tearing and that the graphite didn’t smear! So, I think this will work for future pieces.

oil pastel and encaustic

I am liking using the encaustic and oil pastels together. The impressionistic look is nice and it keeps me working loose. I think I might need to embrace the fact that I do best working quickly….which might make the encaustic a good fit for me. If I take to long on anything it seems to just get overworked and to tied tight!

casein, colored pencil and encaustic

This last piece I did as a lark, casein painting with colored pencil on stone. I actually worked on this in the vertical, but I like it best in the horizontal.

Now I need to get back to my lobster claw and mussel shell casein painting on panel.

This morning I decided that rather than start something new I should finish something I have already started. So, back to the mussel drawing. This piece was really the inspiration for the encaustic I did yesterday, and now that has inspired me to return to the original piece. I am really happy with the strength of the colors and the composition. I like the way the water soluble crayon handles–which is interesting because when I first tried these I really struggled. I am making a kind of light colored wash to do the outline of the composition/drawing and then laying down washes over top. I have discovered that this medium mixes perfectly right on the paper you are using–so you need to have the same type of paper available for mixing. No graphite for this, just colored pencil over top for the details. I think this is working out alright.

I am taking the free art class at the Derwent Art Academy website. It is super fun and the way it is set up keeps you looking forward to the next lesson and project. Here are my sketches from the perspective lesson.