Here is my Earth Meditator series of encaustic paintings. Encaustic is an ancient technique of painting with heated beeswax, pigment, and damar resin. The painting is then fused by heating again.
These are pretty labour-intensive to make. I grew the gourds a few years ago then dried them over the winter. The holes were cut during the next year and the dried pulp and seeds were cleaned out. Then I sanded both inside and outside. The gourd was then painted with encaustic gesso. Steev helped me make a mould and then create little meditating figures out of plaster.
The next step was the encaustic painting. As the encaustic is heated to fuse it, I have to turn the gourd while I use the heat gun to prevent all the wax from simply slipping off!
Some of the gourds have images on them which were printed on silk paper and applied to the surface. A few others have natural materials like feathers and nests.
Encaustic painting is impervious to moisture, so it seals and preserves natural materials like birdhouse gourds. The ancient Greeks used it to decorate their ships. However, these Earth Meditators are for inside use only. They won’t stand up to outdoor weather conditions.
Please contact me for more information. Select a thumbnail below for a larger image, title, and price.
