Mixed Media Frenzy

One of the things I love about my teaching work at a local community college is that I get wonderful breaks between quarters to pursue other interests. I wasted no time after turning in my final grades this week to work on art projects. First up, a small painting I started awhile ago:

It's a combination of watercolor, ink and acrylic, with stencil and alcohol spritzing for texture.

 And here is a little flower sketch I did to try out my new Daniel Smith watercolor sticks.

I decided my little flower might look nice on a background I'd already painted, so I collaged it on and did some stamping with my leaf stamp.

Then it was time for encaustic class. This week was our last class, so I decided to work on painting in a representational way with the wax, something I hadn't tried much of yet. My inspiration came from this African mask:

Here is what I managed to paint in class.

 My nose avoidance technique was in full operational mode during class, so I'll definitely have to work more on that!  I'd like my colors to be more muted. The "palette" in encaustic is a black pancake griddle, so it can be difficult to see the true color until it's on the painting. Anyway, I'm pretty happy with my mask so far. I'm going to work on some more next week while the kids are in school and I am still on break! Did I mention that I love my job?

 I also set up a shop on Etsy this week -- on a very small scale -- any tips you might have are welcome.

 Thanks a lot for visiting everyone! I appreciate your comments very much.