It is empowering to start playing around with a new (for me) art technique. I like the idea of encaustic art--working with hot wax--because of the vibrant colors and texture. I have no background in this media. I bought a few books and a few basic supplies and decided to just JUMP RIGHT IN and experiment.
I bought an iron that is specifically for encaustics-the "iron" tip (right) plus a burnishing tip. I plugged in the iron/wand and pressed in onto the blocks of wax and started experimenting to see what would happen. The goal was to create a sense of a "Monet" watercolor flower garden.
Use the side of the tip to create lines, and then squiggle the tip back-and-forth (left) in the applied wax to create texture. Nothing fancy here; but a beginning. Very empowering to try something new. I used the thin burnishing tip to make the flowers (below). I chose flowers for the theme because they remind me of my mother and the theme I had designated for this journal page from previously doing the background prep was: "Mother's thoughts."
