Wax on January 28 - Encaustic Monoprints

Alix - "Draw the Line Here"

Alix - "Nine Layer Cake"

Hello everyone. The snow is white but the sky is cloudy. Hoping for Colorado's blue sky soon.

This is a reminder to bring the things that Leslie suggested to the next class on the 28th - 

- paper small enough to fit on your heated surfaces

- encaustic, oil pastels or encaustic bars if you have them

- cakes of sheer color in wax

- graphite, pencils, carbothello pencils if you have them

For paper, Leslie suggests both kozo or printmaking papers. The less size on the surface, the better so printmaking paper is better than watercolor paper but nothing is written in stone.

Check out Leslie's website. 

Also, if you can paint two panels (including the cradled one, if you wish) white with some white gesso, acrylic or watercolor before the class on February 4, that would be great. If not, I'll bring the correct stuff this time and you can paint it in class. For those of you who do have your panels painted, please bring the images you want to adhere to the panel and we'll glue them down. I'll bring some PVA but if anyone else has some, please bring it also. We'll probably have enough with mine. You'll be backup.

I don't know if I've mentioned it before but the panel that you want to pour wax on (one of the white painted panels) should be of a size that will fit in your hot gizmo. You will need to get the white painted panel with the image glued on warm before you pour hot wax on it. The other white panel can be any size as you will be painting wax on top of the image. If you're confused, email or call me.

See you in February!

wax in week three

Alix - "Yellow Dot"

Hello everyone. Tessa reminded me of something. If you're new to encaustic you should use this semester to explore and experiment. Set yourself some goals - I'll help you with that if you want - but don't make "producing a work of art" one of them. Some goals to help you learn the wax process might be:

- try to bury some imagery or marks under layers of wax so they appear faintly on top

- blend a nice gradation, from white to black or blue to pink, or red to black. Anything really so you begin to see how transparent/opaque work in this medium

- paint a portion of your board with texture and make the other part smooth

- practice line making then bury it in wax, do more line making, bury it, etc. After you have built up a bit, scratch back through to some bottom layers.

I'll think of some more of these exercises.

Here is the link to the slideshow of mostly encaustic work that most of you saw last Wednesday : wax and fire slideshow - Jan. 09 

About 21 January - week 3

Our itinerary says we are to:

- continue gluing panels

- paint 12x12 white - I'll bring white gesso for everyone. If you have both panels that are to be painted we can paint them whether or not they are glued.

- make some cakes of very weak colors to use with Leslie next week

- I'll demo the use of stencils

- I'll also demo making pigment paste (with cold wax) to fill lines. I talked it but didn't do it.

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What's coming January 14. . . . and beyond

Hi everyone. Here are some thoughts about our next class. The agenda says:

- begin gluing cradles - I'll bring the Titebond Glue
- begin attaching cradles to 12x12 panel if you have it
- paint with wax
- demo on introducing lines

- while our wax is melting we can look at the slide show of encaustic (mostly) work I grabbed off the internet

To do these things you will need:
- encaustic medium - if you have to continue making it in class that's ok. It will slow you down on painting but, I promise, no one will frown at you.

- pigments, oil paints or encaustic sticks - You may refer to the materials list I gave you for basic colors but if you don't have those you can really start with anything. We talked a little about other coloring/texturing elements - things like spices, fireplace ash, dirt. Whatever you think of that isn't too toxic.
- you will need some wood panels - 12x12 and smaller - to experiment on - 20 of various or same size should allow you to keep some you like and repaint those you don't care about
- bring back your cradle pieces if you have your 12"x12" panel
- brushes
- electric skillet, hot palette or flat heating device
- tins to contain various colors, medium on your heating device

Bring if you have but don't go out and purchase:
- strap clamp
- pigment sticks
- grease pencil
- tool to gouge lines in wax

You will need eventually:
- dorlands cold medium
- PVA adhesive or acrylic medium - we won't need this until February
- 12x12 x 1/4" plexiglas - I'll arrange to purchase these for everyone unless you want to get your own
- 2 - 12"x12" wood panels (I recommend 1/4" birch plywood) - one of these will be used with the cradle
- optional: a larger piece of wood to paint on - say, 18" x 24". If you want to work on a larger piece like this you may want to cradle it before you begin painting so it will be ready to hang when you finish the surface.

Sources to check out:

- R&F Encaustic   http://www.rfpaints.com

- http://encausticopolis.blogspot.com

- The Art of Encaustic Painting: Contemporary Expression in the Ancient Medium of Pigmented Wax by Joanne Mattera

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Welcome

Welcome to our blog! This is for the Encaustic Painting class at the BBAC, Winter semester, 2009. We'll use it to post photos of our work, notes, extras and communication. See you Wednesday evening.