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| "Disconnect" ©2011 Ericka O'Rourke |
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| in progress |
I had wanted to play with combining encaustic paint with my clay art pieces for awhile now . . . the clay is such a perfect substrate for the encaustic. It goes on so smooth, you do not need to gesso or prepare the clay at all, other than firing it. It is obviously rigid enough and can retain heat when warmed to keep the wax workable longer. The wax also adds a layer of depth and luminosity to the piece that cannot be achieved any other way. It allows for natural objects to be embedded as well. I carry little ziplock bags around with me so when I am out and about I can collect natural objects or other finds to use in all of my work. I also always keep some fimo type clay on me to pick up textures and make stamps from things I may find . . . this works well with various types of leaves, moss, and lichen. These small pieces are my first from this series and are set in handmade poplar frames crafted by my very skilled hubby. I love the natural color variations in poplar, particularly the purple hues that sometimes come out. We do hand select the woods that are used, usually one board at a time. I have chosen to keep the wood on these frames natural color for this reason and simply seal them. I am working on creating a more 3 dimension clay piece that will hang on the wall directly without using a frame at all so keep your eyes out for them . . . I am starting to list these pieces in my
new etsy shop!
On another note, I started a new facebook fan page for Tierra Sky that will be used as an e-mail list to promote new work, upcoming events, and shop news. My old fan page is dead . . . you can visit it
here if you are interested . . .
