Encaustic Christmas

Our family Christmas tree brought me much joy this year. We hadn't put one up the past two years because we traveled on Christmas Day and it seemed too much production to put it up only to take it down early. We always put up a "real" tree, and I didn't realize how much I had missed the tree and the joy that radiates forth from it being the centerpiece of our living room during the month of December. Most evenings I've been intentional about sitting for a few moments in silence and simply gazing at the tree and appreciating its beauty and the love and memories included in the decorations on the tree. Encaustic Christmas is an artsy reflection on this joy and appreciation which I've experienced through this seasonal decoration.
The mixed media piece is the last two/unused pages on an altered book that I started March 2013. The pages had been prepped with white gesso and yellow & blue watercolor which I covered with green art paper and then created a collage of six "Christmas trees" cut from different art papers. They represent

 the six different trees decorated throughout my house. I cut apart my last remaining Christmas card and scattered it about the pages. I coated both pages with two thing layers of clear encaustic wax and used a heat cut to smooth and seal the layers. I had decorated the tree with purple and turquoise with small silvers balls, and I wanted to re-create the experience of gazing at the tree with this art journal entry. I dipped the end of a wine cork in hot wax and pressed onto the collage-first with purple and then then turquoise. I filled in missing spaces on the imprint using a paint brush dipped in the hot wax. I used the end of a dowel rod (smaller) for the silver balls.  Technique Tip: To clean the brush, "brush" it on a paper towel which is resting on the heat source for the encaustics (I use a pancake griddle set on 200 degrees). I keep a "cleaning cup" of wax on the griddle; when I've cleaned off as much wax from the paintbrush as I can using the paper towel, I dip it in the cleaning cup (which gradually gets more and more muddy) and then wipe the brush clean with a paper towel. It doesn't get it 100% clean, but very close. Once the "clean cup" of wax gets too muddy, discard and start over with fresh wax.

 I'm not quite sure what it is about it, but I am fascinated with encaustics. Artsy theology mixed media art and reflection-is a great receptacle for experimenting with encaustics because the purpose of journal art is the process and not the product. In other words, there is no pressure to "produce" something worthy of hanging on a museum wall; rather the goal is the process itself of thinking, listening, and reflecting while doing art. It isn't the end result but the process.
 

Altered Art Bookmark

 I was tired of flipping back-and-forth in my art journal looking for the current page I was working on so I made a super simple bookmark. I used a piece of pretty cord (this was intended to be a belt; I purchased it on a mission trip to Guatemala but never used the belt). Cut it to size and then squirt a big blog of Sobo Premium Craft & Fabric Glue in the space in the binding; insert fabric; press tightly until the glue sets. Voila! Instant bookmark.

Texture tools

A slow cruise up and down the aisles of your favorite (super-sized) hardware store is an excellent way to find "art" tools to create texture.

The selection here includes items from hardware, septic & plumbing, fencing, ventilation, and door/ framing. Each item has multiple possibilities to use for stenciling, imprinting, texturing, and dragging the paint/medium across the journal page. Much experimentation and JOY is awaiting.

Tweaked watercolor backgrounds

 Create an interesting background for journaling by layering 2-3 different colors of watercolor on a slightly damped page. Use plenty of water so that there are puddles of color on the page. Then sprinkle table salt onto the page and allow to dry naturally (do not force dry with a hairdryer). The salt will produce an interesting pattern in the watercolor and add texture. Repeat the process using a different combination of colors. Part of the fun is discovering the color combinations that you like.

Do a watercolor wash with 2-3 colors and then splatter bits of watercolor on top by scrubbing a wet toothbrush in the paint and then zinging the paint across the page.

Background Prep for Journaling

Bronze watercolor applied to a dry page and then spritzed with a water bottle and the page up-ended to allow the spritzed paint to run free.

It is fun to experiment with different types of art techniques which can become the “background” for journaling and layered art in the coming days, weeks, and months. Spending time experimenting with several different techniques at one time also is a great way to prepare “blank” pages in advance for a travel journal. You can play with technique, combination of colors, and/or different mediums—either “just watercolor” or “just acrylics” or mixing and matching different mediums that become the background for future journaling.  It is very freeing to not have an agenda for the look of a particular page other than to try new ways of mixing color, texture, and materials.

Spritz with water and then add wet layers of light grey, dark blue, then silver. Use a wadded up piece of white tissue paper to soak up the excess moisture--adding texture to the page.

 



Image Transfer Labyrinth to a Journal Page

Including a Prayer Labyrinth in a Journal

A labyrinth needs to be printed or copied on a machine that uses toner and then the image can be transferred onto the page of a journal. Ideally you will size the labyrinth in a computer document so that it suits the size of your journal page. It is most likely that the print from the computer will be to an inkjet or laser printer which must then be copied on a copy machine that uses toner. [Important point: when you are using this technique for an image with words or which has distinctions on the left or right you need to print on a machine that allows you to “flip” the image because when you transfer the image it will reverse and make everything look backwards.] I generally drop my images into PowerPoint to do the advance set-up because there are simple photo adjustments to crop, shape, tweak, and flip the image. Then I just need a “straight print” at the copy machine. It seems complicated, but once the set-up is done and the hard copy printed you can keep a printed file copy of “inkjet/laser” master images so you can easily grab one and make more toner image copies as needed.

To make the toner transfer to the journal page, place the toner size down onto the journal page and secure with paper clips. Wear disposable gloves and work in a well-ventilated area. Using a disposable rag which has been dampened with Xylene (a solvent available in the paint section of a hardware store), slightly rub it across the back of the toner paper, being careful not to shift the page. Then use a hard plastic edge of brazing tool (an old credit card works) and rub back-and-forth across the damped paper until the image transfers. You might have to re-dampen the cloth and apply more Xylene, but be careful not to over-do or the image will run. To check, carefully peel the paper back to check. Line art images like the labyrinth are easy to transfer; photos are a little trickier because there is more inked image that needs to show up on the journal page. You can use layers of watercolors, pencils, and/or chalks after the copied image is dry.