Anyse Bray - Artist

Encaustic Christmas ornaments now in the shop for a limited time!

Playing with some granulation using white + blue encaustic today. Very interesting effects!

Working on a few very small cloud studies! Completed 3 out of 4 on my list today, so far. Which do you like best?

Bluebonnet Window
2023
Cast encaustic, pastels, mica
6x12 inches

Finally revealing this piece is a great way to celebrate my birthday today! This one has solidified the new direction I’m taking in my art, and I can’t wait to bring the other million or so ideas I have to life 😍

Last touches of pan pastels and a metallic finish for the sides of the panel. Now for a title…

Great progress on this piece! I’ve added wax pastels and the linework is now at home on a field of white encaustic.

Here I have applied powdered mica to the encaustic. A whole new vibe! ✨

It turns out that the encaustic sheet was trickier to adhere to the panel than I expected! I was cautious not to risk melting it too much and losing detail. So I gently pulled it off and began carving through the thinner areas of the encaustic, leaving the what you see here intact.

Here the encaustic sheet has been affixed to the wood panel and the next step is to start adding color!

While in progress… I think this is going to work! Encaustic is just the coolest to play with.

Impressions in clay to try a casting technique! Big plans for this piece 🌷

Bluebonnet ecoprint. My bundle wasn’t quite secure enough for a solid contact print, but I kind of like the suggestions of lines here. Too bad lupines are toxic! I’ll be sticking with safer picks for future ecoprinting adventures.

With our severe drought persisting, I didn’t know if there would be any bluebonnets this year. But I’m finding them in places I’ve never seen them grow before! There’s a life lesson in there somewhere 💙

Trying out a more ambitious carving technique with some wide abstract swirls.

It’s time for some terracotta.

A little blue landscape

Gel print monotype, 5x7

Next up, sun bleaching raw beeswax pastilles ☀️

A fresh layer of that raw beeswax encaustic. Next up, to see how it fuses!

I made some encaustic medium with local raw beeswax. It smells so good! Lots of bee friends came to investigate what I was doing.

Love the satisfaction of a smooth gradient roll.

Detail; gel plate print & encaustic

An older design I had set aside gets new life with a few layers of encaustic medium!

After all that scraping, here is the finished piece. It was such good practice, I learned a lot! I had a bit of trouble with bubbling and gapping in the incised lines but I have some ideas to improve the results next time.

Detail, encaustic sketch on paper

Detail; gel print monotype + encaustic

Now that they are finished I’m not sure what order to arrange them in! I like this nod to seasonal progression, what do you think?

[Gel print monotype + encaustic]

Buffing up the finished pieces is THE most satisfying part. [Gel print monotypes with encaustic]