Now that the textured panels have dried I can start painting. It's all a learning process at this point. Trying to figure out what works and what doesn't. And (as always) trying to minimize as much as possible any evidence of human manipulation (like brush marks!), while at the same time move the piece toward something that has a certain "visual pop". Here's the current incarnation of one of the textured panels --

Today's studio time was another session of battling inertia. Sometimes when I work I slip into a good zone and things just flow, while other times it feels more like I'm constantly smacking up against one brick wall after another. Today was more the latter, but I was able to keep busy and not let it ruin my day.

There's a four-panel encaustic I did last year that I never finished and which has been stuck ever since in an "ugly phase". It still has potential, but needs a lot more work. One of the things I don't like about it is the shiny surface it has due to the shellac treatment I did on it last. So today I took the far left panel and tried melting off the wax and shellac like I'd done the other day on the paste/pumice panel. Can't say it improved it any, as you can see here. I decided to keep the torch away from the remaining three panels and set it aside once again for another idea in the future --

A little side-project pictured here. This is a large peeling off a mica rock (I think it's officially called a "book"? Or maybe a "page" of mica?). I was playing around trying to stain it with some pigment --

All weekend I had this idea in my head involving metal sheeting that's been enameled. It's been YEARS since I've played around with enamels, so I'm definitely rusty on technique. Didn't have all the right equipment, either. No pickle, no fiberglass brush, and my enamels have been sitting around for a good decade or more so are "dirty" and need to be washed. But that didn't stop me from playing around. Lately I've been hearing about torch-fired enameling. I've only worked with a kiln but have been wanting to try out the torch (in fact, I'm signed up for a workshop on this in the fall). So I prepared a piece of copper, sprinkled on some enamel and put the torch to it, hoping for the best. Below is the result. I was able to fuse the enamel on the top and bottom, but didn't heat the middle part enough, so once it cooled the powder just blew off. Still, I kind of like the result, especially how the half-baked enamel powder created rivulets along the border (I sort of helped that along, too) --

Not only did the enameled side turn out kind of cool, but the back side was impressive, too. The application of heat created a wonderful heat patina on the copper, pictured below. To the right is another piece of copper that I loosely formed over one of the clay lip sculptures. I did a heat patina on this one too, and then fumed it with some salt and ammonia for the specks of blue-green. Mmmmmmm... gotta love those patinated metals!