And here it is....I've had fun the past few days playing around with this new body of work and posting pictures of the progress. As promised, today I present the first finished piece in this series of mixed media brooches, "Marvelous Light", which comes from a song of the same title. Three simple elements; steel, paper, and encaustic wax are brought together to tell my story. A story you may well feel belongs to you as well. A story of a life spent running in circles, repeating cycles of painful relationships, feeling lost, misunderstood, sometimes seeking isolation as a protective measure, sometimes no matter where I turned or who stood before me, I just felt alone, inexplicably alone. The wearer of the brooch, in this story it is me, is represented by the small black circle. The outer circles are the world and the universe around me. The line is the hand of God reaching down. On yesterday's post showing the work in progress a comment was left by the author of Sunshine Dew saying in part: "Initially it reminded me of those old models of the planets and how they rotate around the sun." which pleased me as much as Catherine's comment from the day before that it reminded her of a cell. I intended to evoke both an awareness of the universe as a whole and the feeling of autonomy within, as with a single cell unit, through the organic shape and design. Into the darkness God reached his long arm of love down. He lifted my face to His radiant love and showed me my connectedness, not only to Him, but to the universe around me. He showed me that trying to run from the past only kept me repeating the very cycles that were causing all the pain in the first place. He took me by the hand and promised to walk with me through this season. One where I will turn and face the past, feel it, learn from it, and finally be able to release it, to be healed from the hold it has had on my life. It is a shadow that has always been with me, but now I lift my face and see His Marvelous light and I know that I am free. Into marvelous light I'm running, Out of darkness, out of shame. By the cross you are the truth, You are the life, you are the way My dead heart now is beating, My deepest stains now clean. Your breath fills up my lungs. Now I'm free. now I'm free! Lift my hands and spin around, See the light that i have found. Oh the marvelous light Marvelous light Lift my hands and spin See the light within... From Marvelous light by Charlie Hall To purchase visit OPF Studio at Etsy.
Some encaustic art Fantasy examples. Lots of different styles with mostly hotplate & hot air gun techniques used in this collection.
Encaustic and paper on panel, 24" x 15.5", 2012
Tips for sourcing and using stencils in encaustic painting
I am in the studio every day now working towards my next show in Sun Valley, Idaho. I’ve been creating large encaustic panels that are really luscious with tons of wax - I will post a few highlights from this body of work when it’s complete. The show runs August 28 to Sept.30 at the Gilman Contemporary. In the mean time, I have a new painting up at the Pacini Lubel Gallery in Seattle along with several older works. The Piece is called Boundaries (see image at left) and now that it's out of my studio I miss it. Pacini Lubel Gallery is having a group show opening August 7th and I should have some additional new work included in that. For a bit of playful distraction I have been taking an experimental painting class once a week in an old Boeing warehouse in Seattle– It’s been really fun, chaotic and messy and has allowed me to stretch as an artist. I will post a few images and more details from the class next week.
Explore Linda Virio’s 318 photos on Flickr!
Prepare your substrates using gesso that is made for encaustic. Never use acrylic gesso. R&F makes a good encaustic gesso.
In just a few weeks, Linda Lenart McNulty will be teaching some amazing encaustic workshops at Art & Soul Portland . One of which is We...
Encaustic on Birch
Tips for finishing the edges of an encaustic panel with encaustic medium and using the encaustic iron to fuse to a smooth surface.
Furniture chalk paint is mineral based. No acrylic, no latex. Chalk Paint creates a perfect ground for encaustic painting. Use as you would encaustic gesso.
Instructions for making Encaustic Ribbons | Scrape off strips of encaustic wax to reapply as one would a collage element to other encaustic paintings
Join our Encaustic Pinterest Board | Showcase your Encaustic Art on the All Things Encaustic Website
Cloth Paper Scissors magazine spent a day learning encaustic art from artist Nancy Tobey, who showed us fantastic techniques to create unique artwork.
Ink can be used to great effect in encaustic painting. Ink when dry, is permanent. I tested colored dye-based & pigmented ink
As would happen to most artists, I found myself continually staring at a piece I’d created several months ago that didn’t seem to hit the mark. There were aspects I […]
Recently I've been working with plaster surfaces on jute or burlap before adding layers encaustic. Here, I share my experimental work and process.
How to paint with encaustic: 1. Prepare a substrate 2. Melt encaustic medium 3. Brush medium onto the substrate 4. Fuse every layer 5. The sky's the limit
Dietlind Vander Schaaf is a New England Wax member who lives in Portland, Maine and shares a studio in West Falmouth with artist Anne Strout. Recently, fellow...
Mixed Media Artist
by Linda Viro
Five Experiments with Encaustic Photographs are outlined in this post. How have you experimented with photographs in your encaustic artwork?
An Encaustic Collagraph Printmaking step-by-step tutorial with Elise Wagner. In encaustic collagraph process encaustic wax is used in place of, or in addition to, collage materials. Wagner Collagraph wax has been specially formulated to easily release from the paper when collagraph printing.
I had another Wax Day the other week, with Jeri MacDonald (as soon as she gets her web site updated, I will post a link). I love working wi...
Questions about how to do Encaustic Painting: Is it Toxic? Can I use wax crayons? Can’t I paint just with beeswax? Do I need to fuse every encaustic layer?
In my recent encaustic experiments I've been trying to embed texture such that it sits just beneath the smooth polished wax surface. I'm also exploring techniques for creating line. In the top image, I used Friskars plastic texture plates to get the swirly pattern pressed into the warm wax, then I applied further layers of encaustic medium, and scraped it back with a razor blade. The circle is made by incising a line into the warm wax, then filling it with black pigmented encaustic, and scraping it back. In the second piece, I scraped texture into the first layers of encaustic with various tools, then rubbed oil paint into it. After another coat of encaustic medium was applied, I incised the lines, filled them with paint, and applied yet another coat of medium. I am not looking for any particular result at this point. My experiments are just that, experiments, in search of whatever comes out. I got a sheet of birch faced plywood and had it cut into 8" squares. That makes 72 panels! Before applying the encaustic, I'm laminating each panel with a sheet of watercolor paper to give it a white background. Stay tuned! I am finding these two books VERY helpful and inspirational: Encaustic Art, by Lissa Rankin, and The Art of Encaustic Painting, by Joanne Mattera. I'm also taking an encaustics and collage workshop at Studio Place Arts in Barre, VT, on November 12. Beth Kendrick is a fabulous teacher!
Disclosure: Diamond Core Tools sent me two free tools to review. Artists painting with encaustic use clay tools for scraping, incising and carving into the wax. Thanks to this Instagram […]
Looking for instructions on what to do with encaustic scrapings? Here's how to ensure that that precious encaustic medium doesn't go to waste.
by Linda Viro
