Monday, July 21, 2008

New Wax Collage and Some Before and Afters

Maybe I showed this before. Can't recall. It came together relatively easily.

Edge solution was to paint two edges with Alizarian Crimson, one of my favorite colors. Then coated the edge with wax. The other two edges have paper on them. But I see here there is still some white showing so more work needed.

Before.
After. A number of the collages had to much stuff in them. So, I blasted them with the heat gun which melted the wax. I then removed the unwanted collage items. I like this one better without the pink paper. The colors are so muted, the pink was a distraction. The photo, the "Forever Yours" decal and the map are all vintage items.

Before.
After. The flowers at the top seemed top heavy. I just turned the canvas around so they were at the bottom. I cut a hole in the canvas to inset the flowers somewhat, thus I can't remove them without leaving a hole. I also removed the postage stamp and the rose window at Notre Dame post card. The red wax is from my new beeswax crayons.

Before.
After.
Before.
After.
This edge I also painted in a complimentary color and then waxed over the paint.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Charming.

Suki, I never think I've asked you; are you an artist by living?

sukipoet said...

Britt-arnhild, I earn very, very little money with my craft/arts. A long time ago I did earn money with my writing. But i have never sustained myself with my art or writing for any length of time. Thanks for asking.

Unknown said...

The edges are great, suki, (oh Hi good morning first of all:) I love the Alizarin Crimson too, and the yellow edges are wonderful. I guess you sobered up everything here, it looks great to me, as if the surfaces have got a final touch which brought every important detail in them forward..
love
Andrea

sukipoet said...

Andrea, I agree, I sobered these up. great way to put it. As i look at various wax paintings on the web, so many are very simple. So, tried to simplify mine. I often do that, put in a lot and then take it back down to more simple. Whether that means "better" or not is a question, but it is different from what it was. I think when people are "in on" the process of things, either writing or artworks, they often prefer the earlier version to the later. I don't know why that is. But at any rate, I will go onward. Thanks for your comments. Suki

Anonymous said...

Suki, these are lovely. I like the afters the best :-). Except the sea one, I like both of those!

Andrea and Kim said...

Suki, these have turned out beautifully! All of the "before" work looks great...but then when you show the "after" I can see the look you were going for in the first place.

You have done a wonderful job with the edges, too! Are you using acrylics or oils for those? Either way, it works great!

Thanks so much for sharing these lovely pieces!

sukipoet said...

Annie, thanks for your reflections. I like to hear what people thing as I often can't tell about my own work. Plus, everyone is different and sees things in different ways. So, it is great to hear what different people think and see.

Kim, everything i've read about using wax says wax does not work with acrylics. Maybe the plastic in acrylics counters the wax somehow. I dont know. I havent tried it and just use oils. It was taking the oil a long time to dry though and I got impatient and just layed on the wax on the damp oil which seemed to work okay. Thanks for your reflections of before and after. Most often I dont have a preconceived idea, but just work it out on the canvas kinda thing. I guess I thought simpler looked less distracting although had I used larger canvases (these were only 8 x8) I think I could have used all the materials I originally envisioned.

Cris, Artist in Oregon said...

Charming peices. one I liked the before better, but a couple others I liked both and they all look great.
Dont over work these now. Remember the Three P's... don't piddle, Play or putter to much. :)
Edges are looking great. how about wide ribbon glued on and waxed over?

sukipoet said...

Cris, thanks for reminding me not to overwork things. I do that often. A ribbon might work on some or lace even. If I can find some 1 1/2 inches wide. Which one did you like better the first way?

Cris, Artist in Oregon said...

I liked the one with the white button on it. the first one. altho the second one is nice too but I loved the flower card and the not so perfect placement of things.
maybe you could cut the biggest ribbon you can find and place it on the edges and put another smaller ribbon in the center to cover the cut and space if there is one and wax over them. Just ideas.

sukipoet said...

Oh Cris, thanks for responding. Well I love those flower cards too. They are old calling cards my mom had given me years ago. I only have a few left. It did add color to the collage. That's a good idea about the double ribbons. That might work. I need to take a trip to a material store I think and see what they have. thanks so much, Suki

Umā said...

i'm so intrigued by a medium that let's you fine-tune and play with a piece the way you have here. sometimes less is more i think, and the way you've simplified some of these by removing elements seems very effective! and i love the yellow edges on that one!

sukipoet said...

thanks for you reflections m. heart. I find using wax just very exciting and I too love the fact that you can take the whole thing apart if you want. I'd love to try real encaustics too. Expensive though I think.

Anonymous said...

Love your wax collages. Puts me in a reflective mood. I have been scrolling back and forth. I prefer the compositions of all the "afters". The one with the white-ish button in the center reminds me of a dresser with a mirror (the photo as a reflection). The beach one appears that a photo has drifted up onto the shore... perhaps from someone's luggage in a ship wreck?

sukipoet said...

Chewy thanks for your reflections. That's interesting about the button one and the reflection in a mirror. I like that. The seaside one with the photo tipped in, that's exactly how I see it, a photo lost at sea and tipped into the sand or something. Not that I intended that, but somehow it came out that way. Thanks :)

Mary Richmond said...

these are awesome, suki!

Roxanne said...

oh, i love the before-after pictures ... it shows how a different emotion is evoked just by the shade of a colour, the angle of a picture - fascinating! and yes the handwriting in the post above is very neat!

sukipoet said...

Thanks Mary

Honor, yes it is interesting how moving things around changes the flavour of the piece. this is true in writing too. Move words around, a few paragraphs, and change the whole tone. My friend whose handwriting that is went to school with nuns, learned that perfect cursive there, and never wavered from it. Amazing. My handwriting is so sloppy.

Karen Salva said...

I am so loving these! I have so much fun with wax! Yours all have such a warm loving feeling to them. So glad I had time to stop and visit today so I could see these.

Karen

sukipoet said...

Hi Karen. Thanks so much for your kind words. I clicked on your name to get to your blog but it didnt work. Do you have some of your wax things showing there? I'd love to see them. i'll try again.

human being said...

wow... i'm speechless... just want to look at them again and again...

love your style very much...
the changes are so impressive...

Suki, your art captures my soul...
breathtaking...

sukipoet said...

thank you so much, human being. YOur words make my spirit soar. I am inspired to continue onward.

marianne said...

I think they are already so beautiful before you altered them, but again wonderful in a other way. Cool that you can alter your own work like that......
Maybe it is like an oil painting you can change it untill you are satisfied.
love >M<

sukipoet said...

Yes, but usually with a glued collage it's hard to take up the pieces. Here so easy. Just melt the wax and voila. Makes for some kind of freedom.