cleaning the studio...

...and other adventures in art
Original artwork by Barbara Downs, The Daily Bird, Encaustic/Oil/Photo on Panel

Day thirteen of the Sanchez Art Center 50-50 show, 50 pieces in 50 days. Encaustic/Oil/Photo on Panel, 6″ x 6″

‘Where’s the bird?’, you ask? If you look closely, you’ll see the names of several birds in text. And there is actually a bird under there–a photo that I shot of a great blue heron in a natural history museum, stretched out flat on a display shelf.

This piece was stubborn. I added wax, hated it, scraped it away again, added more, scraped more, and eventually ended up with more wax off of the piece than on! In the end, I think I’ll be satisfied with it. The edges still need to be finished after I replenish my butane supply.  (I promise I will post some details about my encaustic process in the next few days!)

Below is a detail of the upper right, with some bird names visible:

Original artwork by Barbara Downs, detail of The Daily Bird, Encaustic/Oil/Photo on Panel