Thursday 19 May 2016

The Road North.


Ever since my friend Stephen told me, I've been fascinated by the idea that spring makes it's way up the country at walking pace. It was the central theme of a story that I told 'once' Archie when he was young, making up and telling a new chapter on the hoof everyday.  The idea was that the protagonist, who had escaped from the Sunnyside Home For Wayward Boys, had to get to a certain point in the very north of Scotland before spring (to save the world). He was on foot and spring was relentless, with new challenges everyday. It started as fun but soon became a bit of a chore. That's a meiotic statement if ever there was one. To be honest, I was glad to see him save the planet by achieving his goal, so that I could dump him back into an institution.
Ice Road


Sunday 15 May 2016

Dry Pigments

This painting was done a few week ago. It was one of the first times that I had used dry pigments mixed into the molten wax. I'd been using oil paint mixed added to the wax, with mixed results. The effects are okay, and the range of colours available is great, but I don't seem to be able to mix decent quantities because the oils settle to the bottom of the molten wax, and after a week or so, they go gritty at the bottom of the tin. I decided to try buying some dry pigments and experimenting with those instead, especially for black and white, which seem to be my staple with the encaustics. Unfortunately it seems that some of the pigments are reacting in the more or less the same way when left for any length of time. I'll have to keep tinkering. Perhaps I should buy some ready mixed waxes?