I have always been inquisitive...once I learn something new and feel comfortable with it, I want to learn something else. I have the spirit of an eternal student when it comes to art. Mixed media is full of limitless possibilities it seems. With mixed media encaustic you can scrape, etch, incise, paint on it, paint with it, collage with it, embed objects and do image transfers. I love to draw and occassionally used my drawings in my artwork. For this project I drew a hummingbird with tombow dual brush pen markers and micron pens, available at most art stores. The markers are water based and acid free and very blendable. I wanted to use them on wax but alas they are not compatible as the wax is non porous..so I decided to use them to draw traditionally onto paper. I then scanned the drawing and then printed the result to transfer it to the wax.
I love the results and will continue this for my new series!
Here are the steps of my drawing which was done on a mixed media paper pad. I love how the pens blend.
I then scanned the end result and colour corrected so that the background would be white
Finished hummingbird drawing scanned and colour corrected. This was then printed on regular paper using a home laser printer.
The last step involved prepping my encaustic surface and ensuring a smooth wax surface. I then employed my 12 year old to transfer the bird as he has become quite adept at it and it saves my fingertips from years of abuse. I paid him for his efforts and he did a great job..he was worried that the wing didn't turn out as transfers are not always perfect. This was easily remedied with a little pan pastel and oil paint.
Here is the end result...I may still add in some words to this, but I like it so far!
As you can see, the image is reversed when transfered! Notice how the transfer picked up all the details of the original drawing.
So there you have it.....you can use discrete, high contrast images to do beautiful image transfers....whether they are photographs or drawings. So if you want to practice drawing or have a gorgeous drawing that you have done, scan it, print it and see what happens when you transfer it to wax!