If I ever get to that stage.....SHOOT ME!
Last night I did something I never ever thought I'd do! Yes....I went to a Womens Institute meeting! It was all in the name of art....I'd NEVER in a million years consider going to something such as this unless I absolutely had to! But last night was one of those occasions where one just had to bite the bullet. Barry Moulton, a local encaustic wax artist, whose work I have seen much of this year at the exhibitions I attended and that I greatly admire, was giving a demonstration! Seeing as how I am going to be doing this kind of artwork next year I had to go, so I got my friend Rachel (a staunch WI member) to take me as her guest.
The actual WI was as bad as I had thought. Rachel and I were by far the youngest there....the mean age being about 65! We were all called to attention by the chairwoman ringing a bell, then made to stand and sing Jerusalem (I stood but remained tight-lipped all the way through, which earned several hard glances from the committee people!) Then we had to sit through about an hour of thoroughly boring minutes, correspondance and voting on various motions (I had totally switched off by then and was busy watching Barry preparing wax pictures for his talk) and I honestly almost lost the will to live! How anyone can say they enjoy things like this is beyond me!
Anyway, it was soon time for Barry's demonstration and it was absolutley wonderful! He showed us the basic techniques and then we were allowed to have a go too. He had prepared a few cards with coloured background and we could use the hot iron on them to create pictures out of the wax. I was there like a shot and made 2 small cards (only about 2x4 inches) but considering I hadn't done this before I don't think I did too bad. This is the first one
Then I went back later and did this:
I am rather proud of these! If you can imagine this but on a larger scale, then this is the direction my work will be going in next year! I just love the vibrant colours and the fact that you never quite know what to expect until you get the finished painting. It really stretches the imagination!
I feel quite excited! Next year is going to be an interesting one, methinks!
Right...off to pick up the kids from school....Tom was in a right strop this morning, so I daresay his teacher will be in full body armour by the time I reach his class!
Happy days!