I enjoy the "what ifs" of creating - What if I try doing it this way? What if I add an extra step to this process? What about going in this direction instead the one I'm used to? It may not end up being a wonderful art piece when you are through, but I guarantee you will learn something!
A while back, I asked my husband to pick up some wall putty or plaster for me while he was out. It had to be the consistency of soup to try what I had in mind. He did, and later that day I took 3 tiny wrapped canvases - each 3 x 3 - and pried open the lid of the plaster. I then took a small trowel and covered each canvas with the plaster, leaving it with swirls and ridges. Then I rooted through some items for something to press into the plaster and finally settled on some shapes and numbers. I had hearts and stars, each a different size and shape, and the numbers 2, 3, and 4. I pressed then into the plaster and waited for things to dry and harden. Normally I would not use wet plaster on canvas, because after it dried, it could easily crack and pop off because the canvas "gave" when pressed. But since these were so small, the wood they were wrapped around almost met in the back, so the support was there for the weight of the plaster.
After the plaster hardened, things became interesting. The items I had used were a light grey, and the plaster was a dark grey, so I needed to spice things up quite a bit. They were meant to be encaustic pieces, so of course my next step was the waxing process. Then I carved in the wax, rubbed color over the carved lines, and added colored wax layers. It was beginning to look pretty interesting, but the grey hearts and stars still looked dull and uninteresting, even with the colors on them. I needed to make them pop out visually. So, using oil pastels and oil sticks, I played with them some more. Then I added a light coating of oil, rubbed it in and wiped any excess off. And here's how they turned out!
They look cute hanging on the wall, and I added some more tricks to my repertoire.
A while back, I asked my husband to pick up some wall putty or plaster for me while he was out. It had to be the consistency of soup to try what I had in mind. He did, and later that day I took 3 tiny wrapped canvases - each 3 x 3 - and pried open the lid of the plaster. I then took a small trowel and covered each canvas with the plaster, leaving it with swirls and ridges. Then I rooted through some items for something to press into the plaster and finally settled on some shapes and numbers. I had hearts and stars, each a different size and shape, and the numbers 2, 3, and 4. I pressed then into the plaster and waited for things to dry and harden. Normally I would not use wet plaster on canvas, because after it dried, it could easily crack and pop off because the canvas "gave" when pressed. But since these were so small, the wood they were wrapped around almost met in the back, so the support was there for the weight of the plaster.
After the plaster hardened, things became interesting. The items I had used were a light grey, and the plaster was a dark grey, so I needed to spice things up quite a bit. They were meant to be encaustic pieces, so of course my next step was the waxing process. Then I carved in the wax, rubbed color over the carved lines, and added colored wax layers. It was beginning to look pretty interesting, but the grey hearts and stars still looked dull and uninteresting, even with the colors on them. I needed to make them pop out visually. So, using oil pastels and oil sticks, I played with them some more. Then I added a light coating of oil, rubbed it in and wiped any excess off. And here's how they turned out!
They look cute hanging on the wall, and I added some more tricks to my repertoire.
(Click on any picture if you want to see details.)
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