Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Encaustic...

Today I thought I'd add some information about method.  For those of you who are not familiar with encaustic, it is a beeswax-based paint with ancient origins.  (If you have specific questions or want to try painting with it, I highly recommend reading Joanne Mattera's book  The Art Of Encaustic Painting.)  
Encaustic has to be melted on a temperature controlled heated pallet.  First, the panel or ground is prepared by painting the entire surface with the encaustic medium and then fusing it into the wood, usually with a heat gun.  Then more encaustic can be applied with a brush or a pallet knife or as I did with this piece and the previous 2-D posts with dots, melted directly to the prepared surface with a craft iron. This means each circle was individually mixed in a circular pattern and fused into place.  
My niece tried to count the circles in my piece "Bubbling Up" ( posted here earlier today)...I don't remember the final count. 
Maybe I could start a contest, something like guessing the number of marbles in a jar...

2 comments:

janetvanfleet said...

It IS amazing how many dots there are in that piece, but I imagine it's very meditative as you apply them.

I would love to see some photos of the work in process -- the tools you use, your hands doing the work.

And I'm glad you're writing more now!

AllanB said...

Thanks for describing the process. One day I hope to try this.