Entries by Anjuli Johnson
Combining Encaustic with Mixed Media Scrapbooking Techniques
I’ve been a scrap booker since I was a teenager, and I began working with mixed media elements in my scrapbooks, art journals, and on canvases as an extension of that passion. This was all long before I became an encaustic artist. I’ve been wondering for a long time if there was a way I could replicate my favorite mixed media looks in an encaustic painting.
Mixing Shellac Myself and Using it in my Shellac Burns
Dry shellac burns can be a harder than wet burns because the quality of the cells you get depends on how heavy your hand is and the size of the flame you use with your torch. It can be really tricky to get the balance right. I also learned recently that the concentration and age of your shellac also makes a HUGE difference.
Image Transfer on Encaustic
It seemed fine at the time, but looking back 10 years later, this collage is super boring and not very well made. So, I decided to rework it and use an image transfer on encaustic technique to include the original letters without keeping the large, unwieldy pieces of paper.
Experiments in Encaustic- Dry Wall Compound and Ink
It took me about three months to talk myself into posting this video. I had heard about people working with things like Venetian plaster in their encaustic paintings, but I’ve never tried to do anything like it before. I’d been fixing a wall in my home, and decided some experiments in encaustic with the dry wall compound I had left over would be super fun. I also decided to film the experiment, because I love when I can see artists try new things, even if they fail, and I managed to convince myself that others might find it helpful, as well.
Adding Text Impressions into Encaustic Paintings
Most of the time when I’m stamping on my art, I’m not trying to get a perfect image transfer. I’m going for a more abstract type of look, with random parts of the stamp popping out and a kind of blended look with the other parts that are not so clear. Because of this, I didn’t bother mounting this one before I started stamping. And because I didn’t wait until the wax was cool, I started getting these amazing impressions stamped into the wax, completely by accident!