I like encaustic. It's hard to control and doesn't always do what you think it will. But painting with it makes you use another side of your brain because the process is so different. Painting with a brush, you can't get a lot of precise work done because that's slow painting. If the brush in your hand hovers above your surface for any minute amount of time, your encaustic paint will dry and will not transfer from brush to board. This is especially true when you are using a smaller brush trying to do detail work. Everyone knows I love doing precise details. It satisfies the OCD part of my brain. I love that as messy and unpredictable as encaustic paint can be, you can still make it very precise by using stencils. I got into cutting snowflakes a few years back. I love symmetry and pattern. This skill has really helped me in cutting the tiny stencils you see above. Each one is about an inch and a half. After I painted the stencils, I coated them with clear to protect all the details. Then I started making birds, because I love birds and I am on a bird kick right now. This is the smallest of the three diptychs I am working on right now.
