Continuing on in this vein...

I made the dubious decision to sign up for a vendor spot at a neighborhood festival this coming Saturday, and have been hunkered down in the evenings, trying to stock up. I hope to bring at least a half-dozen encaustics, some sun-dyed fabric, some over-dyed yardage, and hopefully some pillows and coffee warmers. I don't have high hopes about the quantity of stock -- and have never done a vendor fair -- and might not have a tent -- and not sure what I will use for tables. Hmm. Spur of the moment decision, brought on by State Fair rejection and being kind of stalled out on the work for the September deadline. Trying to stay in gear. Work is kicking my arse though, because it's peak season at my job, and my energy level right now is only middling.

I'm getting the hang of encaustic, pictures soon. Still struggling to remain patient, to slow the process down enough that certain light effects are possible -- it all depends on layers, on heating and cooling. I took some advice and switched to working on two pieces at a time, because this keeps me from meddling with a piece before it is the ideal post-fusing temp. I'm also maintaining a larger volume of clear medium for layers, because this runs out faster, and I get impatient with waiting for medium to melt down. Some new thoughts on encaustic medium: 1. Pellets are easier to add to pigments in order to thin the pigments, but they don't melt any faster than blocks of medium. 2. Pellets create a dish of somewhat cloudier medium when melted, for some reason. I'm only using R&F materials, so there shouldn't be big compositional differences, but I like the speed and clarity with which the block medium melts down. I'm still learning.

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And so I leave you with a bit of Winslow Homer.