Painting with the hot stuff

This weekend I put up the money and attended an Encaustic Painting workshop with a professional artist at our local Fine Arts Center.

So what is encaustic painting?


It involves applying layers and layers of colored wax to a wood surface.


Each layer is fused with a hot gun or a propane torch--not a blow dryer because that doesn't get hot enough.


For one of my pieces I started with a simple sketch of a sunflower--my favorite flower in case you're wondering.


Beeswax is mixed with various pigments and heated in individual containers on an electric grill.  The temperature of the medium needs to be between 180 and 220 degrees.  If it gets over 220 degrees then it become a danger to the artist's health as the wax beads can be inhaled into the lungs.


There has to be all kinds of ventilation in an encaustic studio.  There are all kinds of fumes that you don't want to be around.  Above you can see my second piece which is a stand of Colorado aspen trees.


My friend and co-worker is here.  She's the one who invited me to the workshop.


The class was made up of a variety of artisans, each with their own technique.

It was a really fun day hanging with like-minded people.  The six hours went by so quickly.


My studio at home is beginning to look like a real studio.  I have pieces in a variety of states.  Several are drying, some are in progress, some are finished.  Irv likes to make fun of the number of easels I've acquired in such a short time.

I've already decided I'm going to invest in my own encaustic studio.  Well, studio might be an exaggeration.  Since it has to have good cross ventilation I'll just set up a "studio" on my workbench in the garage.  I may need to set up a Go Fund Me page to make the initial investment.


In one corner of the room I have a huge stash of my mom's, grandmother's, and aunt's paintings.  Nobody but me wanted them from my dad's house last summer and I was unable to part with them since I understand how much of a person's soul goes into their artwork.  I don't have enough room to hang all of them so I just rotate the art this is displayed around the house.

It was an art weekend so I was in my happy place!  I'm also so bummed when it's Sunday night and I have to go back to work on Monday.  Why does the weekend go by so fast?

I've had another of my paintings posted on my instructor's website.  Check it out here under Student Achievements.

Comments

Yogi♪♪♪ said…
That encaustic technique is amazing. Thanks to you I learned something. Careful with the fumes and vapors though. Stuff that goes in the lungs often doesn't come out.
February 4, 2017 at 8:02 PM
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