The Party DRESS

When I was a little girl and I was invited to a friend's birthday party I would always wear a pretty party dress. These party dresses were extra special and I think by getting all dressed up it made the party a little more special too.  This  new encaustic painting  is a tribute to those frilly, girlie party dresses.

This painting was so much fun to make. First, I glued vintage sheet music and other vintage papers to a cradle back frame.

I like using the original vintage papers in encaustic painting because when the papers are encased in the wax they become somewhat translucent allowing the text and images from the backside to show through.

I then covered the sheet music with white and blue encaustic beeswax paint leaving some of the sheet music showing through. I also added some vintage lace that I dipped in white encaustic paint as well as a couple of vintage buttons. The dress is covered with clear encaustic paint. The encaustic paint protects and seals the paper making the sheet music look somewhat like parchment paper.

There is a lot of texture in this encaustic mixed media painting and the colors are soft and muted. I think this is such a pretty little "party dress."