encaustics 101: art on the hill

to continue with the adventures in oregon and the first class of the weekend: encaustics 101 class, as promised! a little later than i would have liked, but such is life these days......

what do you see above? the griddle with hot wax in little tins, all ready to go, me in the middle showing karen and debi a thing of two....(and yes, it IS that green on my mother's hill!), debi fusing one layer of wax onto another,

me (again) demonstration on shellac burns (diane is looking studious!), five outta the eight that were in attendance (debi, kelly, kerry, diane and michele), my mom in red working away (with barb's head of hair in the foreground!) and just a few of the finished products on display!

a perfectly gorgeous day with perfect weather, and don't think we weren't worried a bit about that. rained like the dickens up until later in the afternoon on friday! whew.......we held the workshop outside so as to throw off any fumes from the heated wax and encaustic medium. it can get a little much in an unventilated venue. on my mom's deck was just the ticket. after a freaky-deaky scare with blowing electrical fuses (and help from resident expert, cat) we were up and running. we needed those outlets for three griddles, three large crock pots and several heat guns!

i admit to being a *bit* nervous about this particular class as i had never introduced it before, but the gals in attendance were gracious and i managed to tell 'em everything technique and trick on my syllabus without a hitch. and the thing that most surprised and delighted me to no end? those gals just jumped in with both feet and started to create - no holds barred. this is not a particularly easy medium to work with and it was a joy to see what these artistic women came up with (and they were loads of fun, too! an added bonus)! take a gander.......