HOW TO DO AN ENCAUSTIC WAX LANDSCAPE

• Use glossy card,(the picture above is done on A4 size), to work on, and use encaustic waxes. You need an encaustic iron, although you can try it with a travel iron, (as long as there are no steam holes) but you don't get such a good effect.
• First put some blue and mauve/pink wax onto the upside down iron. Then turn it over and smooth it across the top of the picture to create a sky. If you don't like what you get just do it again.
• Put some mauve and blue on to the iron near the tip, hold it vertically so the tip is towards the top of the picture and wipe the wax across the glossy paper, slightly staggering it to create a ridged effect. Do this several times and move the iron up and down, to create a, "mountain range."
• Put some green onto the underside edge of the iron and smooth it several times to create a few hills/fields.
• Put some green and other colours onto the iron. Press part of the iron down onto the paper. This causes the wax to spread out in air pockets and create a nice foliage effect.
• Do another layer of smooth green to give the impression of fields or valleys in your landscape.
• Add in some more foliage as before. You should be gradually working your way down the paper.
• Put lines of blue and mauve,(whatever colours you used for your sky) along the length of the iron. Starting at the edge of the paper, working horizontally, slide the iron across the picture, creating the lake. You can go back across this with an empty iron to pick up some of the wax, creating a water effect. If you are not happy with what you get, just do it again until you are. Wax is very, "forgiving!"
• Create a bit of foliage in the foreground, and maybe smooth a green path.
• You can do reeds by putting wax onto the very edge of the iron and running it at an angle along the paper. On the picture above they have been done using a heated stylus, (like a heated fountain pen). You can put a few extra flowers on by touching the paper with the tip of the iron covered with a wax colour of your choice, or touching the paper with a stylus.
• These instructions are for the picture above, there are many other ways to do a landscape using encaustic wax.