"LUSCIOUS" wax! ... two videos of artists who pour encaustic

The month of December brought some very large challenges in my life . . so I'm "switching gears" so to speak! I will be posting the two paintings from my last post, when they are completed.

I so appreciate seeing your icons here, and I hope you enjoy viewing these videos . . . . .

The two artists' videos here are Leah MacDonald and Howard Hersh. Leah uses encasutic medium with her photography, and Howard Hersh uses pigmented encasutic medium in his paintings.  


I came across Leah MacDonald's video on pinterest. She combines encaustic medium with her photography. (Damar resin crystals are melted and combined with melted beeswax to produce this wax medium. The resin gives the wax more strength, as the beeswax alone is not strong enough to give a painting the durability and resilience it needs. It may be tinted with pigment or oil paint or used clear. The clear medium produces depth and transparency. The more layers that are used, the more transparent the surface becomes. Then there is the scraping to selectively reveal.) It "feels" very, very luscious to me, and I believe that is the reason I was so drawn to using it. Viewing these videos "feels" really luscious to me! I am entranced.

If you click on this youtube's video link above, there is a description of her "In My Body" project that relates to this video.

Visit Leah's website to view her luscious images. She also has a blog . . www.bliss-etc.com and she is having an upcoming workshop in her Philadelphia Studio on March 11th and 12. I don't have a set-up to pour encaustic, but I would LOVE to be "a fly on the wall" to watch her process . . luscious!

The next video shows Howard Hersh pouring pigmented encaustic paint to create his paintings . . 

This video is also on his website as well as youtube.
(This video was created and produced by, Cari Hernandez, who also paints with encaustic.

Click on her name (her website) to see her paintings. She also has a WaxTwist website . .
 a resource for artists who work with encaustic plus information on her workshops & DVD's.
 On her youtube channel you can view her encaustic demonstrations
as well as videos she has created and produced of 
 other artists who work with encaustic.)
I love watching encaustic process!

Howard has a much different set-up for pouring wax to create his paintings. As you can see, he places his painting surface on workbenches and pours the pigmented encaustic. The paint drips over the edges of the surface and sticks/hardens on the benches, creating multi-colored horizontal lines of paint. As encaustic dries quickly (as soon as it is cooled by the air), his benches become three dimensional wax "sculptures". I also would like to be "a fly on the wall" of his studio.

Thanks so much to these artists for sharing their process on video! I could (and will!) watch them over and over and over . . LUSCIOUSNESS!!! . . and . . I love being able to satisfy my "hunger" for viewing art through the internet!

Continuing to build the surfaces . .

So here are some pics of the last paintings . . still evolving. I've let these rest a while to see where I want to go next. Looking at art on the web always helps me. When I see a painting that draws me in, I get ideas for compostion, tonal value, line, etc. I never copy. I examine what it is that I like about it, store it somewhere inside, take some time . . then . . "bam!" as Emeril, the chef says, something clicks, and I know where to go next. I will describe some of the mediums I've been using with the wax. The pic below has rubbings of oil pastel and oil pigment stick . . 

. . and some encaustic paint

The next image of the above has some verticle lines at the top and bottom in grey oil stick and graphite oil stick . . . 

BUT . . I didn't like these

I could have scraped them back (wax surface), but as they were rubbed into the surface and the underneath is a combination of wax medium and wax paint, I decided to go over the top ones in a warmer color . .

In this photo I toned down the brown in the top and bottom with clear encaustic medium and rubbed oil stick into the top vertical "lines" that were grey. I plan on "knocking" this back a lot, it's got "too much" for me.

The warmer oil stick I used looks like yellow . . but . . not in person. Coating an encaustic painting that has color on the surface with clear encaustic medium, depending on how thick of a coat is put on, starts to mute the surface. This is where much practice with applying the wax comes in. Too much wax will start to take the image away. Even though it's described as "clear" and is a vehicle for the paint, it is not totally clear when it's hardened (cold) . . kind of a slight haze. The beauty of working with this wax medium, to me, is that I can scrape back areas where the medium is too thick. It isn't easy to apply a smooth, thin coat of the medium. When I start a painting I have to decide how "bumpy" I will allow the surface to be, as I think of how I want it to look when finished. There are many, many decisions and techniques that are involved. But I love the tactile and reductive possibilities of this medium. It showed me how much I love process and actually showed me that I may get into assemblage at some point or perhaps a more 3 dimension surface.

I haven't worked on this next one as much as the one above. But I have decided where I will go next. This was the one I had used a tack iron on, then rubbed graphite oil stick into the surface.

This image shows some tan encaustic paint and more graphite oil stick.

The verticle section is encaustic paint and the hard edges are done with graphite oil stick. Anything that goes on the surface, from oil mediums to the wax paint and medium must be heated, or fused, into the surface that accepts it. I've found this is an art unto itself. It doesn't take much for the flame to alter the surface where no alteration is wanted!

I plan on muting the second horizontal line at the top as I explore altering the composition. Both will have one or more circles when done. To me, less is more, and it is a struggle for me to not add a "this" or a "that" . . "here" or "there."

Again . . just letting you in on the evolution of these two painting processes. In doing this, I realize I may risk the fact that what I consider as an unfinished surface may be more appealing than what the final result is. I consider this an exercise in artistic vulnerability . . something I value in other artists but find difficult to do. I've always been one to test the "edges of my safety zone". I so value vulnerability in others and the generosity of other artists sharing their process, that I have chosen to start pushing myself.  :-)

The beginnings of two encaustic paintings . . .

I've had a painting block for a while. My knee "went out" after I completed my painting wall (also decided to finish some painting on the studio walls and shelving) and was moving/organizing things in my studio. The next step I had planned was to paint the floor. That thought must have been a little overwhelming. So I just shut down for a while. Painting with hot wax is enticing to me, so I pushed on. I usually don't post my process, as the finished piece is SO different from the beginnings. But I know how much I enjoy it when others show their process. So here goes . . The following are the beginnings of two paintings . . each 16 x 24. The colors are not accurate, as "I" am photographing!

After priming and fusing (butane torch) the wood surface with clear encaustic medium (beeswax & damar resin), I painted two layers of white encaustic paint and fused. (From now on I am creating a background surface . . far from the finished painting). Then I rubbed some brown pigment oil stick into different areas. At the top I rubbed in some black oil stick. After very lightly fusing I let it rest 24 hrs.

This next picture is after I started using layers of encaustic paint mixed with medium (this is like mixing acrylic paint with water or oil with solvent). Some colors were tan, some rust, some brown, fusing between all the layers. I am fusing very lightly, as a heavier fusing would distort the surface. 

The beginnings of my next painting . . .

On this wood surface I did many overlapping layers of beige, tan, and grey paint. This time, as I was fusing, I purposely used the flame of the torch to move the paint around.

In this image (above) I used a heated tack iron to flatten some of the surface and blend some of the colors.

This next step (above) changed the more golden tones to greys and charcoal. As you can see in this next detail shot of the above, the iron left the kind of surface texture that happens when an iron is used. I had decided to rub the surface with graphite oil stick to bring out this surface texture.

This last detail show shows the oil stick that is "caught" in the wax that was created from ironing the surface.

This paintings will most likely be entirely different as I progress. I also thought I'd show you the fans that are running as I paint with the molten wax. The first pic below is a fan that was original to the 1932 building. No air conditioning then, so this sucks air from the inside to the outside. It is on the wall just below the ceiling.

Originally, when I moved in, the wiring had been cut. After getting it rewired, I discovered that the suction wasn't strong enought to pull the fumes (when the surface is fused, it goes above 220 degrees and creates fumes that need to be ventilated) out of the room. I was going to create something to direct it out toward the exhaust fan . . a pretty daunting task with dryer duct over the work area to the ceiling and into the fan. But I tried directing the fumes away from the work table with a floor fan directed toward the exhaust fan . . and it worked!!! Whew!! Much easier!

So when I paint with encaustic I have two fans going at once. The large old one near the ceiling is pretty loud, but when I'm working I don't notice it and have gotten used to it. It works!

So there you have it. Aaahhh . . . the little "extra" steps that involve creating art!!!! That's why they call it "WORK"! . . but . . fun work!