Prep, Process and Problem Solving

our garage workshop with all three cut panels glued, sanded and ready to go.

The doors arrived to my supplier the day before thanksgiving. A huge sigh of relief. Next step was to cut them down to size, and fill and sand the exposed ends (picture below).

this is what the doors look like when cut open.

the wood filler needed to be stripped to the correct thickness, and cut to size.

Now in the studio, my images are adhered to the panels. Although my canon printer can print up to 50 yards long, it maxes out at 17 inches wide, so I've had to splice the paper sheets together. I'm not sure if it's a result of the cold weather we're having here in Seattle, but the paper seems to be moving as the glue drys on the wood, leaving a small gap along the length of the splice. I've filled the gaps with R&F Encaustic gesso, and then tinted the gesso with guoache to get closer to the correct color.

detail showing the gap in the spliced image

It takes a bit more work to make the line disappear once I start painting, but with enough paint and wax and texture, it all comes together in the end.

The first board is on the waxing table. In this photo, I still need to trim the paper flush to the edges of the panel. And I'd better clean up the work area before I make an even larger mess of things. In the upper right corner of the photo, you can see a smaller scale photoencaustic painting I did as practice for getting the colors right before embarking on the finals.

Check back next week for the next progress report.