I often add barbed wire, nails and other metal materials to my encaustic images, but the relentless (!) schedule of doing fifty pieces in fifty days has thus far precluded that sort of work. This piece called for it, so I added a strip of painted hardware cloth.

It’s not yet permanently wired into place, because I’m not sure that it will hang well with the other pieces unless some of them are altered as well. If not, then this piece will be finished in some other way.

The story behind the photo: I found this taxidermied bird in a natural history museum, sitting in front of a window as though it was looking outside. It had such a wistful look that I couldn’t resist taking the photo. What an odd choice of placement for the museum curator.

The photo alone is interesting, even without my additions. The hardware cloth provides a barrier much as the window does, but of a different sort.

Day forty-one of the Sanchez Art Center 50-50 show, 50 pieces in 50 days, Encaustic/Oil/Photo/Mixed Media on Panel, 6″ x 6″