Monday, March 30, 2009

The end of a semester -


Here we are. Missing from our photo are Loralei and Babette. It's the end of the semester. Much wax has been painted and friendships have been formed. A very worthwhile effort.

Barbara - Windy Active


Tessa - Spirals


Tessa - Earth


Alix - No and Yes


Alix - Ds and Ws


Alix - Lay of the Land


Alix - Stripes


Alix - Surging Waters


The end . . . for now.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Encaustic Painting - open work week

This week is a continuation of last week so bring your usual suspects to work on.

Alix - Emotional Interplay


Alix - Thoughts From the Red Dot Door


Alix - Subtle Insinuations


Alix - Mask


Suzanne - World Produce


Tessa - Treetops


Tessa - Curves

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Sources for Encaustic Painting, Winter 2009, BBAC

I'll add more to these as I think of them.

SOURCES

PVA (polyvinyl acetate) - I got it from Hollanders but it is in the catalog of Dick Blick, Utrechts, probably many others

anything having to do with plexiglas - Plastic Tech in Ann Arbor: 734.665.3580

beeswax - www.dadant.com

Books
The Art of Encaustic Painting: Contemporary Expression in the Ancient Medium of Pigmented Wax by Joanne Mattera
Encaustic Workshop: Artistic Techniques for Working with Wax by Patricia Seggebruch

R & F Encaustic - for everything encaustic and lots of information: www.rfpaints.com

Enkaustikos: art supplies including encaustic: www.fineartstore.com

The Scrapbox in Ann Arbor for bits and pieces to use in mixed media

Blogs, websites, pages:
http://www.davisandcline.com/Artist-Detail.cfm?ArtistsID=372
http://encausticopolis.blogspot.com
http://joannemattera.blogspot.com/
http://www.pbsartist.com/galleries.shtml
http://rfpaints.wordpress.com/2009/01/08/using-our-encaustic-gesso-for-tempera/
http://www.conradwildegallery.com/

Next Encaustic Painting Class

Hi everyone. Here are the images for last week. Below those is the information for this week. I'll post "Sources" on a separate post.

Loralei - Street Target


Loralei - Street Trash


Loralei - Street Trash 2


Tessa - Curves in progress


I don't have any demonstrations in mind so if there is anything you'd like to ask me to demonstrate, please do. If Tessa, Barbara, Suzanne and/or Babette want to bring work for a little group critique, do so.

Bring your normal encaustic load.

I'll bring:
PVA
plexi adhesive
Jon Wilson's work so you can see how he "paints with fire"

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Encaustic Painting on Plexiglas

Alix - "World's Oceans"

Tessa - "Woodland"

Tessa - "Evolution"

Hi everyone. I'll demonstrate painting on plexiglas this week. The main thing here is to think in washes of sheer color. I'm told I'll be able to pick up the plexi on Wednesday. Babette, I have one 12x12 square plus cleats for you if you want it. If you don't, I'll keep it.

I plan on asking each of you what you want to do during the following 2 class periods. If you read this in time, bring in your favorite pieces of what you've done so far. They don't have to be finished. Maybe we can do a bit of a group critique and help each of you sort out where to go next.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Acrylic Transfers

About acrylic transfers - if you want to try these at home and bring them ready to collage in wax, here is what you can do -

- your image has to have toner in it for this transfer process to work. Not every copy machine works well for this so you may want to take your image to various machines and get a copy from each machine. You can do the transfer process on all the images at the same time to see which machine works best.

- cut out your image leaving a scrap edge around it.

- tape it down, face up, to a smooth surface - plexiglas, glass, marble table

- day one: paint the surface completely with a thin coat of acrylic medium *

- day two: paint the surface completely with a thin coat of acrylic medium

- day three: same

- day four: repeat until you build up 6-8 layers

- at this point you will have an image on paper with built up layers of acrylic medium on top. Now comes the revelation of the transfer bit. I'll bring mine to class at this stage. We're going to free it from its surface, turn it over and rub off the paper backing. It the image has transferred from the paper to the acrylic we'll be left with a transparent transfer.

About acrylic medium - I'm using Golden GAC 100. Another one that works is Golden GAC 700. Also try acrylic gloss medium or any other acrylic media. We'll survey the various media and see what works best.

I use a disposable foam brush. I keep it in a baggie and tape the brush/baggie to the bottle of medium between uses. I don't wash it out between uses. It stays moist in its plastic bag.

Timing - you may paint faster than every 24 hours. Twice or even 3 times a day may be fine. For the sake of useful information, keep track of how many coats you apply.

Bring your transfers to class, done or in process, so we can all see.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Encaustic Painting - Poured and Painted

Hi everyone. Here is the latest crop of photos from the last two weeks. Below the photos are words about our next get together.

Alix - Blue


Alix - The Barrister


Alix - Bingo Ballet


Barbara - Our New House


Suzanne - Sou Prairie


Suzanne - Sur Prairie


Tessa - Not About the Dots


Loralei - Woodward 1


Loralei - Woodward 2


Loralei - Woodward 3


Loralei - Woodward 4


This Wednesday, 25 February we will try out some mixed media in wax. Bring your encaustic supplies and bits you may want to encase in some of your panels. You may start panels from scratch or continue on some you have already worked on. As far as the bits to bring, you can encase very fine things like feather boas, lacy bits or very heavy things like bolts. If you want to do heavy things be prepared to build up some wax on your panels first. Also, of course, photos, magazine pictures, newspaper - anything, really.

I will demonstrate pouring and painting wax over images adhered to panel again.

That's all I know for now.