The above piece began as failed watercolor that I had begun as part of series I'm doing for my September 2023 show at Lunaria Gallery, Silverton, Oregon.

My intent was to make a Northwest Rainforest version of Frederic Leighton's 1895 painting, "Flaming June." His painting is itself based on Michelangelo's statute "Night" in the Medici Tombs in Florence, Italy. Leighton's painting echoes the position of "Night." But Leighton's woman has absurdly long hair and bright red dress. . She sleeps cured up on a couch in front of a window with a sea view. One of her legs is tucked up under her arm and the other sprawls down to the floor. Her flowing hair and dress give her an Art Nouveau feel.

I intended to use the pose for a figure cured up in the woods with mossy hair and clothing. It is not an easy pose to render a figure in, and I was not pleased with the body of my first attempt, but I loved her face. So I decided to use here for an experiment with mixed media and encaustic. Encaustic paintings are made on wax and other mediums applied hot. I'm using the most traditional combination, a mixuture of bleached beeswax and demar resin and pigments. The demar resin raises the melting temperature of the wax, making the painting harder and more durable.

I began by painting a watercolor board with a dark background of watercolor. Then I applied a coat of clear encaustic to the board and burnished the torn out face and arms from my watercolor figure the the board. I painted over her with wax, covering her face with clear wax, but adding layers of color to her hair and blouse. Finally I dipped dried seeds, moss, and oak galls in encaustic and stuck them on the painting. I'm pleased with the result. She looks both like a dream and a dreamer.

But I still wanted my Mossy June. So I began her again from scratch. This time I tucked her leg underneath her, which gives her a cozier feel.