Tom Wagen's Art

I attempted to do a batik on scrap fabric - the positioning of the hot air ballon on the cloth was a bit off - the cloth was waxed after the drawing was done - but the stain did not adhere to the cloth when I melted the was off - however, I was pleased with the result - a rustic image on a piece of scrap fabric.

The first print is done on cloth from a surgical gown; the second id done on drawing paper; the third is done on wallpaper; and the fourth is done on rice paper.

The first picture is of the actual block that has been inked before printing the two prints

I applied white acrylic paint to a wallpaper like printed material -  using my body paint brush - then took a picture of the painted paper and tried to envision some object in it - I saw iris - I drew with pencil and ink the outline of the flowers and the stems - then applied crayon to some of the petals and stems - then applied watercolor paint to the petals of the flowers (the watercolor beaded up in spots) - finally I took a photo of the piece with my laptop and then applied software to enhance some of the features

I was not completely satisfied with the crackle paint version I did of this image - so I decided to take my rough draft drawing that I used as the basis for the crackle paint piece - with this pencil draft on newsprint, I applied black and white crayon - then crumpled the paper up (the same technique I use for paper batik0 - then after unfurling the paper, applied a stain of black water color - then let the paper dry,  I prefer this image a great deal more than the crackle paint image I did in January of this year.

I cut pieces of colored glass and fused them to the back of the second bee stencil that John Paul gave me at Christmas.

Don and I went to an event at the MO State Historical Museum - there was a multi-media art workshop there - the theme was Mermaid of the Mississippi - they supplied the canvas and acrylic paint.