I don’t usually draw or paint adorable little sea side towns, but the adorable ness of Ocean Grove wasn’t the focus here, it is the overly dramatic rain clouds that were taring apart and wringing their last drops as the sun was setting and illuminating the water vapors with menacing indigos and charcoals as well as glowing cadmium yellows and alizarin pinks.

It was done with a technique I have been using more and more frequently. After preparing the panel, I sketch out my drawing roughly with pastels, I try not to cover every bit of the panel with pastel as it does affect how the encaustic adheres to the panel a bit . it’s dusty ness essentially clogs the pores of the wood weakening the bind to the panel….I think. I haven’t had one self destruct yet.

after the pastel sketch I can go back with a graphite pencil and bring out details and shading if need be. The rest is done with hot encaustic wax, in several layers.