More Depth

I really love encaustic, but I haven't figured out how to combine fast-drying, oil-compatible layers of hot wax with my acrylic-compatible way of slowly building my imagery. I made a piece previously (see July 5th posting) using several layers of pouring medium and decided to take that to greater depths.

I have 12 layers in the 12" x 6" work above:
1 - base layer of strips cut from three different digital manipulations of a photo of Dailey Lake, Montana
2 - acrylic pouring medium
3 - acrylic pouring medium
4 - additional strips of imagery applied
5 - pouring medium
6 - pouring medium
7 - additional strips
8 - matte medium
9 - pouring medium
10 - pouring medium
11 - strips of imagery and matte medium
12 - strips of imagery and matte medium

The pouring medium is glossy and I don't like the glassy surface it leaves, so I cover it with matte medium. It doesn't absorb the medium like paper does, so I get much more visible brush strokes on the surface. If you click on the above image, I think you can see that this piece ended up with a definite feeling of depth, luminosity and texture.