Encaustics is da Bomb

“The kitchen looks like a bomb hit it.”

Those were my husband’s last words before he drifted off to sleep last night. I knew the kitchen was kinda messy but I didn’t think things had gone to hell. Besides, I always do a good job of cleaning up.

Every time I’m in “priming” mode (when I coat the surfaces of several canvases with white encaustic paint), I take over the entire kitchen. I need a studio. I need a place where I can melt beeswax and resin together, where I can make a mess with wax drippings and not worry too much about it, where I can lay out large wooden panels without the risk they’ll tip over, where I can spread out.

Not that I’m complaining… For the most part, I paint in the bonus room over the garage, which gets good light and happens to be, well, hot… in the 80s and to my liking. It’s just that encaustics is more tedious than other media. I need a stove, and a sink, and proper ventilation, and paper towels, and large tables… the list goes on.

One day, I say. For now, though, the kitchen is a mess because encaustics is da bomb.