I’m hesitant to post this image because it didn’t turn out. Every artist knows this feeling of frustration, disappointment and failure. It is the failure that happens in the privacy of your studio, between you and your production. I’m talking about the failure that has taken a lot of time and energy and deserves an autopsy. There’s a lot to learn. You gain experience and wisdom during both the doing and the examination of a failed piece. The initial idea for doing the piece might be a good one. You don’t have to throw the concept out and you may find new ones. But repeating the things that failed is just plain stupid.

When it comes to art, I have to practice my skills and experiment with my materials. I complicate the materials part by being a mixed media artist. Experimenting for me requires finding out what each material does and what it can’t do. Then discovering how the materials will interact with each other. For artists, this can be where the straw breaks the camels back. Being patient is not my strong suit and I have experienced many moments of ‘just giving up!’ Fortunately I’ve learned to treat failure as an educational moment and accept my own harsh criticism. Then the failure can be its own success.

I began this art session in my 9″x 12″ mixed media notebook. The goal was simple: practice drawing figures. I used a system of measurement where 8 heads equal the height of an adult human. I chose to use Stockmar Wachsmalfarben Wax Crayons. I bought a bunch of these crayons on Amazon and I have yet to find their best use. These crayons are pure bees wax. They are lovely, but my failures using these crayons are: I can’t achieve dark values. I can’t erase. They don’t blend or mix with other mediums. I can’t move them around with my finger. They resist paint unless you glob it on. And it is extremely easy to OVERWORK. Here you can see the overworked figure in the middle.

Next mistakes: I used as reference, a magazine featuring summer outdoor adventures. I started by putting my first figure smack in the middle of the page. She was a bad reference choice because there was awkward leg placement and foreshortening. Also half of her body was covered by spelunking equipment. I ended up trying to invent a figure, rather than diagramming an existing figure.

I like to use neon paints. I hoped to cover some of my mistakes with white paint. Nope! Under black light, white paint, white pencil, white everything, looks pink. (Good knowledge to retain.) Also, water-based neon paint loses its transparency if painted over anything dark. I tried erasing and scratching off my mistakes. I even tried to cover my mistakes with BLACK MARKER!!! Now there’s a desperate idea every day of the week. Realizing that the outcome was doomed, I added wings and antennae for no reason! This would have been a good place to stop and throw, but I knew I would learn more.

The two figures in the upper left are the most successful proportionally. They serve as the best example of how the wax crayons alone can look. The fisherman in the bottom left looks short because the bottom half of his body is under water. However, I managed to use a black Aquarelle pencil. It’s meant for use on paper, glass, plastic, and metal. I was able to do some shading with it on top of the wax. Also the wax crayons made a nice hazy underwater look.

Until now in my geometry learning journey, I have drawn the geometric shapes first. Then, I add my artistic elements and/or figures. This time I thought I’d try drawing geometry after I had already drawn some figures. To me the figure in the middle already looked like an angelic seraphim. So, I chose to create a round Rose Window like the stained glass windows in chapels. I used neon paint to fill in. This worked great except over the wax crayon!!! The trees at the end were an after thought. I like how the neon paint glows through the black pen.

My take away from all of this expended energy is to pack up my wax crayons. I think they might work well in a hot wax application like encaustic. But until I move I don’t have the space for encaustic. The figure in the center where I added wings, makes me think of a seraphim. I like the idea of a Seraphim in a Rose Window. Maybe I will try again. I could make a sacred geometry, spiritual type piece. I would keep the fisherman as the biblical Fisher of men. I learned a lot about my materials. I discovered that white looks pink under black light. I found that wax is a great resist.