I finished this encaustic painting “Swingin’ in the 70s” awhile ago, but it took some time to get a good picture. It’s hard to get a good shot of an encaustic painting due to the shine. I was inspired to do this when a friend from the 70s posted a very low resolution image of this shot, taken by another friend. I tracked down the original image from this friend and she gave me permission to use it.

My technique for this one was to print the image on a silk fabric sheet. The sheets have a backing that can be peeled off when you’re ready to adhere it to the encaustic painting. Those of you who have done encaustics can imagine how ridiculously tricky it was trying to fuse this with copper wire spirals in it! Sproing and press quickly!!!

The image is special to me since it was taken at a beloved camp in Minnesota that we went to for years as a family and then later, as a teen. This awesome swing was so long it extended out over the water and sometimes we’d jump off into the water.