This is another test piece exploring some new techniques with photography and eco printing in my encaustic process. This is part of a set of tests I’ve been doing for my online residency, with the goal of exploring self portraiture in new ways. This image was created with several interesting layers. First, I printed out a copy of one of my recent eco prints that had a lot of speckled rust and some interesting warm and cool tones. (I print them often instead of using the originals so I can re-use them in different ways). I mounted the eco print to cardboard and left to dry…

After dry, I put several thick layers of clear encaustic medium over top and fused. Then I transferred the black and white self portrait over top of this, melting it more than I normally would to push the transfer around and create some cracking. I loved the feel of this, because it mimicked the original photo that had dried mud cracking on my face. White I don’t know if I’m happy with the final result using this eco print and this portrait, I am really pleased with the added layers of depth and meaning that this experiment gave!