More Encaustic Techniques

Happy Holidays to all.

As most of you know, I have been working in encaustic for more than 20 years. Most of that time I was a purist and would only use the hot wax, resin, pigment  mixture to create my paintings. I felt that incorporating other techniques was somehow cheating.

Now I am on a different path. I use encaustic to accomplish the effect I want, and use it  in any archival way to assure my collectors that my work will outlast me and them.

Two of my encaustic paintings in a gallery

textured encaustic

Figurative Encasutic

Here I added cold wax textures over the encaustic

My latest series, Lightness of Being, ink, watercolor, painted rice paper, encaustic

Lightness of Being,  ink, watercolor, painted rice paper, encaustic

Lightness of Being,  ink, watercolor, painted rice paper, encaustic

From the Memories Series, milk paint, ink, oil paint, transfers, charcoal, encaustic

Process of an Encaustic Painting

This painting started out as watercolor and diluted inks on a couple of layers of milk paint. Then I covered that with clear encaustic. I wanted to keep layering, pushing back the color and pattern and adding more shapes and mark making on continuing layers.

It turned out I wanted more and more white and the only way I could achieve the look I wanted was to paint in white encaustic that had been softened with clear medium.

At the end of each day, I would think, "It is finished", then the next morning when I looked at it I felt "No, it still isn't right" Finally yesterday afternoon I feel it is finished and time to more on to another in this series.

And here is the process:

After the first layer of encaustic medium.

I didn't like the composition with the three shapes in the center and the heavy black shape on the left.

I turn the abstracts around on the easel for a different view. The middle shapes are softened and the heavy black shape is being scraped and layered over.

center shapes are changing; more white over the top black shape.

That shape that is on the left in this view still isn't right

I am happier with it now and call it finished. Lots of white was added.

A horizontal view