Natures Offering

Natures Offering was inspired by an artist that I've been following, Bridgette Guerzon Mills. I'm drawn to encaustic painting because of its natural elements. It's the reason why I wanted to become a bee keeper...little did I know that the wax is the smallest portion of a bee harvest.

It took quite a while to complete because as usual my pieces develop over time. I almost never start out with a vision of a completed piece.

I started with canvas that I distressed using a razor blade & needle nose pliers. At first I was very delicate but as my confidence built I had a heaver hand with the razor. Then I added plasterwrap that is used in sculpting. The pieces were a little flimsy so I backed the canvas with more plaster. I added some oil painted accents along with some encaustic gesso & then I covered everything with encaustic wax.

I love anything rustic and raw looking. A couple of weeks ago my daughter came home for the weekend and we spent some time in the woods. She was able to 'shuck' the bark off of a dead tree and it worked perfectly for my hanger. The bark is very strange and spongy and I've been eying it for quite some time. I was so excited to have it and that weekend happened to be quite windy. I had quite a hard time getting my bark to the car without it blowing away in bits.

Special thanks to Jesika for shucking the bark and to Keith Stewart for saving me the hornets nest. I know he thinks I'm crazy but he's a fantastic enabler.