Encaustic on Wood

"AFFORDABLE REAL ESTATE" is the name of the class that Denise Kelly and Linda Moore are teaching at Stamping Details on Saturday, August 22.

The Real Estate Houses

The reason I mention this is that myself and five other artist friends of Denise and Linda had a terrific play day at Linda's home.

Deborah, Denise, Debi, Laura
Sally and Linda

August will be the first time they are going to be teaching this class and wanted a "dress rehearsal" to make sure they didn't miss anything when they teach the class. There were so many different treasures to enhance our little houses. Obviously they had been out scavenging the local junk and vintage (used?) hardware stores. Who knows where all they had been, but the selections was great. Everything was provided. We didn't need to bring anything unless we truly had something specific we wanted to use.

In my case, I had no idea what we were going to be doing. My creativity didn't start until I saw the wonderful samples.

Sally's House

My project developed slowly with the painting taking me the most time to get what I wanted.

My final touch was the addition of black buttons of different sizes on the side of my roof. It needed a little texture.

What to put in my windows? Linda brought over a miniature Sear's Catalog and started flipping through it and came up this page of undergarments for men and women. I thought the size of the heads would be fine and then I had a light bulb moment. The two women were posed perfectly to be sitting on my window sills and there was one woman standing. Yes! Then I decided the woman standing need to have a key over her arm. Linda rushed into her organized stash and brought out many different choices but kept saying "this one is good but wait." Her last choice was the one I used and she knew it would be the best choice. Thank you, Linda.

"Happy Mistake" on the roof

I did have a "happy accident." I first painted my room an eggplant color. Then I decided to use a Lumiere to jazz it up a little. That was to slick so I made a wash out of some craft orange paint. Finally I was using some black oil crayons and rubbing that in to get a smokey affect when the Lumiere started lifting. I ended up pushing the skin of the paint around until I formed a keyhold shape that showed my original paint with a little flower peaking out from below all those layers that I obviously had let dry completely before adding addition paint. OH, well. Lucky me. I love this little key hole in my roof.

With all of us sitting around the tables it was so interesting how our minds all went in a different directions. Everyone was helpful and offered suggestions when asked. Very friendly atmosphere.

Deborah was finished first! She said that was because she has done this before. The hardware she used and the way she used it was so bold. She helped me with the oil crayons and how to use them to bring more interest to my background.

Laura's House

Laura had come with her idea ready to execute. She was making a "house of cards." She cut up some playing cards and used them as a stencil that she adhered.

Georgia's House
(unfinished)

Georgia came with some things from home but get hers completely finished. She said she had more things at home to add. Can't wait to see the finished project.

Debi's House

Debi went with her favorite colors and "Debified" her house. The numbers that started out silver she colored with alcohol inks. Her colors are so yummy and happy.

Denise's House

Denise was almost done with her painting when she decided she didn't like it at all and started all over. I don't know if you can see the door nob and realize that it is covered in wax and ended up looking like a bird's egg. She certainly achieved success with her finished project!

Linda's House (unfinished)

And then there is Linda's house that went to the fishes! Spectacular. It's hard to see how wonderful this house looks in the picture. There is copper scrubber that was pulled apart and fits like a nylon over the wood panel. Then there is cheese cloth(?) that had been dyed and attached. The wood itself and the roof look wonderful in person. And then there are all the little charms that she sewed onto the netting.

The final touch to our work was the application of encaustic wax. I had only once used this before - a long time ago at Georgia's. I remembered nothing. . . Linda and Denise gave excellent directions as to how to apply and work with it after you covered your entire board with the wax. And then you polish this wax with a shop cloth. Deborah's house glowed from her polishing.

You will love this class and it's teachers. But, what you will miss when you take this class at Stamping Details is the wonderful lunch Linda provided for us and the setting in her patio where we ate lunch and took a break. What a wonderful host and hostess she and her husband are. Yes, Wayne was there also and we all wanted to borrow him in our home to do various and a sundry things. The man has neat and organized down to a science. . .

Thank you Denise and Linda for inviting me to play at your home.