The largest East Coast ART retreat has begun! ART IS...YOU! This is my annual retreat and I look forward to it every year! It is like a family reunion of sorts. Everyone reconnecting with old friends and making new.
My first class was with an encaustic painter named Serena Barton. She is from Portland Oregon and her knowledge of encaustic is amazing! Her work is pretty amazing also.
Encaustic is basically painting in wax. The word encaustic comes from the Greek word 'encaustikos' meaning to burn in, and that is exactly what we did.
First you need a palette of colors
and some beeswax mixed with resin.
(that is one of Serena's portraits)
After coating your substrate with beeswax you 'fuse' it with a torch. yep, we are using tools here!
then you paint with the wax
and fuse and paint and fuse until you get a finished product.
My piece
What I learned about encaustic -
It isn't a medium you can control.
Surprises happen at every turn.
Fusing is tricky.
In a way it is very meditative.
You need a lot of wax for one portrait.
It is pricy.
It is for texture lovers!
I would love to explore this medium more, but want to take a couple more classes. The layers achieved with encaustic are amazing. I have some ideas about mixing this with some of my woodburning techniques. I'm not finished with this medium yet!
2 comments:
What fun, and a GREAT finished piece!
thanks nancy!
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