Working with the Wood - Earth Day Inspired Paintings

I've been working on some new paintings. These paintings celebrate the beauty of the forest and nature.

In these paintings, I am focusing on the wood from the panel I paint on to show through the clear encaustic wax and highlighting the beauty of the natural color of the wood.

 I first paint the wood panel with a clear encaustic wax. Then I add the pigmented encaustic wax in blues, greens and black to achieve the colors. I have also added some gold leaf in this painting.

 On this mini bird painting I burnt the wood with the blow torch I use in my encaustic painting. I then added the image and colors.

I really like the rich deep colors in these paintings. I find them strong yet at the same time calming.